Full of Thanks

I am in a thankfulness mood, I guess I am in the spirit of it all...so here goes!

My God, My Savior, My Lord, I can not make this life without you!
My Wife, "She is the wind beneath my wings"...ha ha to me she is more than that!
My family, so diverse and abundant. I am rich in Mothers, Fathers, Brothers, Sisters some of which I have never even lived in your homes! Some of you don't even have the same skin color, that's what I love about family! You mean the world to me!
My Friends, and your recipes to make my face hurt from the smiles and laughs!
The Churches, that have given me the road map to be used by God to reach his kingdom, and the students and leaders that you have allowed me to invest my life!
My Daughter, for puking and peeing on me yesterday, I could not have been happier!
My Mentors, thank you for showing me what it means to be Godly.
Steve Jobs for making my whole life a soundtrack!
Bill Gates for allowing me to leave this world momentarily through video games like Call of Duty and Halo!
Soldiers now and then, for going to distant lands to sweat, bleed, work, and endure for my freedom!

What Have You Been Seeing?

Yesterday I took my precious family of three(!!!) to Memphis to see family and friends. It was our first outing with Lyla Pate, and guess what...we forgot to take a camera or take any pictures with our camera phones. We didn't even notice until we were driving home for the evening, and we survived. OK, if you are on Facebook you can see one that I posted of the stroller in the mall.

It was awesome because we didn't have any distractions from living the moment and building memories (versus snapping moments). Susan and I often catch ourselves living life through a camera lens. I am not bashing the camera lens life, but we loose a lot of peripherals when that is all we look through.

I am reminded of the rich young ruler in Matthew 10. He had it all, but was unable to see the peripherals around him. He stood in front of the creator and was unable to recognize the potential of it all. I know you are not the rich young ruler, but like living life through a camera lens we miss peripheral things, what spiritual things are we missing in the peripherals of life? Have you looked for the creator outside of the camera lens?