clay shoot.

this blog is about me.

a lot of the time.

today. it is about my man.

what he likes. what he doesn't.

this is one of the ways he likes to have fun.

and it looks like a few of his friends enjoy the same thing...

our property is adjacent to all the buildings in our public school system.

the crack up of this day was that there was little kid football all afternoon.

and clay shooting at the same time.

i find that kinda funny.

my man likes adventure. fun. guns. hunting. activity. people. busyness.the mountains.skiing. ice hockey.
he likes thursday morning breakfasts with the guys. when the comradery is way better than the food. :)
he likes to travel. it doesn't matter much how...motorcycle, plane, etc.
he hates the beach. crowds of people. reading. writing- by that i mean, he doesn't write cards, journals,
notes, he doesn't like writing. he doesn't like cities either.

i am so thankful my man has a supportive group of christian male confidants.

christian is a huge component.

because. well. christian or not. we all mess up.

each of these men are trying to do the best they can to provide for their families.

to provide. to lead. to father. to protect. to follow Christ.

it all looks very different. but it's all a lot the same too.

in talking with my sister the other day, we again realized that when it rains it pours.

when life is good. it is really good.

when life is hard. it is really hard.

this is a hard season.

we are walking beside friends, people we care about, thru hard, difficult stuff.

and it was asked of me last night.

you know. this is when our faith counts.

do you really, really believe in prayer?

or do you pray, and then try to do your own thing, and say God is working?

hmmmmm.

when the pain is so intense, so real,

that an end seems "better".

that is scary. matt and i have not been there.

but you better believe we are trusting God to walk our friends out. alive.

bigger. better. healed. free.

we are trusting in our big, huge God to help us know how to help them.

how to help us. you know it's kind of a great pressure to do the right thing these days.

well. more for me than my man.

he is the kind of guy who doesn't worry much about what other people think.

i guess. he way tries to balance me out the other way.
he's big on the "it's up to you how to respond. how to react. you are in charge" mentality.

i don't want to offend. i don't want to hurt. i just want to help.
but that can look so different for everyone.

so. i am trying my best to pour my energies into trusting God with all these things much bigger than i can fix.
much bigger than i can even fathom.
God has a plan. i have no idea how he's working it out.
but it's times like these where i am drawn to him. all i can do is trust. and walk in blind faith.
because i can not see a clear purpose thru all this pain.
and pray and cry out to God like crazy.

so. not only can you pray for our friends who are going thru trials.
(i don't even think that sounds like a great term for it...that's too nice a term. :)  )
pray for my man.
(and me too.) but these trialed people in our lives right now are men.
they are men of God. they are men of faith.
pray that Christ would continue to reveal himself to them. to us.
in tiny little ways that we can see. a glimmer. that's all i need.

[i am excited to start my beth moore bible study today. on James.
one of my most favorite books of the bible.
it's so practical. you don't have to work your way thru jargon. it's an easy to read book of the bible.
this is the book that starts off with the verse "consider it pure joy when you face trials of many kinds."
so fitting for this season...
i cannot wait to be challenged in my thinking...]