Blessings

When people say, "God bless you", sometimes I want to reply, "He already has, with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ! He chose me, He predestined His adoption of me as His child, He made me accepted in the Beloved, He has redeemed me, forgiven me of my sins, He has given me a new inheritance, and He has sealed me with His Holy Spirit!" But, that would be kind of weird, and I usually don't have that much time. So, apart from the spiritual blessings God has given us, what is a blessing? "My company made a butt-load of money this year. God has really blessed me!" "My child got into their 'reach' (Brad's def.-a college you get into that you can brag about) college! God has blessed us!" That never sits well with me. That is great when businesses do well, when kids get into hard-to-get-into colleges. But, does that mean that God does not bless us when our business struggles financially, when kids do not get into the colleges they want to go to? A wise, old man (your dad~sounds better than a wise, middle-aged man), came up with the best definition of "blessing" that I have ever heard! Blessing=anything that draws our eyes and focus to Jesus Christ! (Long, contented sigh......)

So, Ali, Greg, Jamie, Julia, and Nick (abc order), my prayer for you today is that in times of unbalanced hormones, a light semester, a new adventure at Biola, long times of awakeness interspersed with days of non-stop sleeping, and broken ankles, you will see God's hand in everything, thank Him for giving you His spiritual blessings, and know that you are blessed!

God has blessed you!
oxo

Paul's letter to the saints at Ephesus is great! I love chapter 1!