Summer Breeze...

So today I came up with a new drink for our coffee shop. It will only be available during the Spring and Summer...or at least that is the idea. It got me thinking about the change in the season that is coming.

I have lived through two Summers in AR so far. I have only been to the lake once...and that was to go on a dinner cruise. One Summer here it was "too rainy" to go have fun at the lake. Last Summer was "too hot" to even get outside. It got me thinking what are we waiting for?

Sometimes it seems we spend our lives waiting for the perfect weather, perfect job, perfect vacation...etc. We don't live in the now, we are always waiting for that something that will be better than what we are going through. I do my best not to live this way, but we all fall into it from time to time.

I was reading a post on facebook not too long ago. It asked the question, "If you only had two weeks to live, what would you do?" I thought about that for a while...and in that moment I decided that I probably wouldn't do anything different, I would probably just do what I do with more intensity.

Unlike a lot of people that I know, I love my job. My whole life is about helping people. Now there are those who would say that if I really only had two weeks to live I should spend it with my family or go on some crazy vacation. Now I love my family, if you know me then you know that is true. I miss them (my brother Chris is the only one who lives here...so I see him every day) more than anything or anyone else. I would love to spend two weeks with my family! The thing about it is this: my family knows that I love them. They know that I care and they also know why I don't live in WA with them.

The people that don't know me are the ones that need to know that I love them. I care about people...all people. If I only had two weeks to live I would probably spend them on the streets of Little Rock. I would find Aaron Reddin and The Van, buy lots of caffeine and spend my last 14 days showing people that I care. The people who are downtown don't have a lot of people that actually get to know them. Most people drive by, roll up their windows or look away when they pass the homeless on the street. Aaron would give the shirt off his back to anyone who asked.

That is how I would spend my last two weeks alive. What about you? When you hear "Summer Breeze" do you think about sitting on the beach or passing out some cold water to people under the bridge. When it is too hot for you to even go lay out by the pool, there are people trying to find a spot in a doorway to get out of the sun.

That is what I thought about today.

Perspective...

I am still house sitting, so I am not in the comforts of my own home tonight. I just sat down a few minutes ago and I knew that tonight I was going to write something. I was not sure what my topic would be or how long it would take but I knew I needed to write.

Today I had a rough day. Not because anything major happened and not for any reason that I can specifically name. I just had a bad day. I got off work and I felt like either breaking down in tears (which has not happened in many years) or just driving out of town. I don't have any idea what my problem was or why I felt this way but the fact still remains I was not in a good mood.

I sat down on the couch and turned on my computer. Then I opened up my blog to write, but I thought I would check on my friends blog first. She posted a new entry that I had not seen so I read. It changed my perspective on my day and helped me break out of my funk.

I needed to remember where my joy comes from. The joy of the Lord is my strength! Also there was something else I needed to be reminded of, there are more important things in this world than my day at work. People are what matters. There is a lost and dying world that needs to know that Jesus is the answer that they are looking for. It is all about perspective. Some times we start to let our everyday life take the place that should be filled by eternal perspective. In the words of John Bevere, we need to be "Driven By Eternity."