Have you ever noticed how the smallest things can cause big problems? Let me tell you about a small thing that just caused me big problems.

I had just finished the Smart Ones pizza that I had for lunch and headed out the door. I jumped into my truck, pulled out of my driveway and driving toward my office. I was riding along singing when I heard a buzzing right behind my head. I turned to look and there was a bee as big as an airplane right in front of my face. It may have looked bigger than it was because IT WAS TOUCHING MY NOSE!

Now, if you have ever seen my truck you know that I barely fit in it and there definitely is no room for me, and a bee! I like bees when they do not enter my space but when they do, the fight is on. Just in case you are starting to think that it is silly for a big man to be afraid of a little bee, let me tell you something. Some people are allergic to bee stings and can die from them. I am not one of them but I am a big chicken when it comes to being stung.

Anyway, this is where the fight began. I swatted at the bee and missed. The bee got agitated for some reason. I’m guessing he didn’t like a big ugly human in its space swatting at it. A this point, I am twisted in an awkward position trying to keep my eyes on the bee. Swat…miss…buzz….swat….miss…buzz (louder)…swat…hit…no buzz…squish…no bee. The fight was over and I was off the road with my right tires buzzing on the, “Your now way off the road” things. I managed to recover and continued on my way to the office.

I learned something that day. My irritation and fear of that little bee almost caused serious results. Sometimes our panic and over reaction in small things can lead to much worse things. A bee sting would have been better than a car wreck. I know you are thinking I should have pulled off the road and dealt with it but I did not. My advice would be to take some thought in dealing with the small fears and irritants before they cause a bigger problem. Have a great day!

I love finding little life lessons in the most unexpected places. This week I learned a couple lessons on seizing the opportunity, from a crow and a woman. I will share what I learned with you.

Story #1 - The Daring Crow

Monday morning, I was driving to work when I noticed, well ahead of me, the carcass of an animal in the middle of the highway. I also noticed a crow standing on the side of the road. Obviously, it wanted a chunk of meat. The traffic was heavy, so the opportunity for the crow to grab a bite was slim. I was almost at the carcass when that crow flew out into the highway grabbed a chunk of meat and flew back to the side of the road. I could not believe what I saw. I thought, “That crow has guts.” Literally, that crow had guts from that dead animal. It also had the guts to seize an opportunity and it succeeded.

I learned something from that crow. If we are going to reach our goals, we will have to be alert to the opportunities that come our way, but being alert is not enough. We have to overcome our fears and be willing to take a risk. How many God given opportunities do we miss because we cave to our fears and refuse to take the risk required to seize the moment? Have you ever asked yourself how your life might be different if you had seized those God given opportunities? It is not too late to start seizing. Once you start, the question will be irrelevant.

Story #2 – The Daydreaming Woman

Wednesday morning, I was on my way to work when I noticed a car sitting in the right turn lane at the intersection. The light was red, so I slowed my approach getting ready to stop. I noticed the car had the left blinker on so I sized up the situation on my approach. It was obvious to me that the woman driving the car had gotten in the right turn lane, when what she really wanted to do was go straight through the light. What she needed was an opportunity to switch lanes when the light turned green.

Being aware of her predicament, I stopped a car length back to give her the opportunity to move left when the light turned. Well, the light turned green and I sat there waiting for her to move left. She didn’t move. I honked my horn, and she just sat there. I couldn’t wait any longer because of the traffic behind me so I proceeded to move forward. About the time I was beside her, she suddenly awakened to the situation, leaned forward and was ready to go but it was too late. The opportunity had passed her up. I don’t know how many lights she had to sit through before another opportunity came but I do know that it could have been a while.

I learned something from that woman. If we do not remain alert and aware of the opportunities that come our way and seize them, we may have to wait a while before another one comes. I do know that she finally seized an opportunity because she was not there when I went by this morning. I also know that she missed a great opportunity because she was daydreaming when the opportunity came her way.

The Beverly family took a road trip to Pigeon Forge a few days ago (if you read this in a few weeks or a few years, substitute that in place of a few days). I love getting out of town occasionally with my family for some special time with them. When we go places, it is usually an adventure.

On Friday night, I took them on a tour and I did not tell them where we were going. After getting them lost on a dark road a time or two or more over the years, they are a little anxious when I decide to just start driving and see where we end up. This time I knew exactly where I was going and I knew exactly where we would end up. Their job that night was to trust me.

The road was dark and a little scary as one of my kids described it but I knew what I was doing. After a few minutes, they settled down and realized that though they were in the dark, I knew where we were and where we were going.

We eventually ended up in Gatlinburg where we enjoyed the scenery but more than that, we enjoyed each other’s company. That little trip ended up being a pleasurable little adventure for all of us.

In life, there are times that our Heavenly Father leads us into places that seem dark and scary. We may not understand where we are in life at the time and we don’t really know where we are going to end up. The scariest part is that we cannot see the destination for the darkness. In those moments, we have to trust that though we do not know how things are going to turn out, He does. If we choose to trust Him, the trip will turn into a joyful adventure.

Are you going through something right now with no obvious answers as to why or where? Trust that your heavenly Father loves you and will lead you through the darkness to the light. Do not panic! When we panic, we tend to make unwise decisions. Trust Him and enjoy the ride.

Once upon a time, two kids had a diabolical plan. Their names were Bud and Teresa (my sister and me). They were just youngins. Bud and Teresa had been playing outside as they often did when the bully next door started picking on them as he had done many times before. This time they had enough. Something had to be done and if it were to be done, they would have to do it themselves.

Those two kids began to plot and plan and plan and plot. What could they do to stop the bully that they called Dougy the brat from bullying them or any other kid ever again? He had to be stopped once, and for all. As they hid behind the tall pine tree that gave them the cover from the roaming eye of the bully, they hammered out their diabolical plan. It was a brilliant plan as far as they were concerned and it would have to be executed flawlessly.

There plan would require some things from the house which posed a problem. If they were caught gathering their things the plan would not work so this would require a great amount of secrecy. Bud and Teresa headed for the house, entered the back door and gathered their things. Their mom noticed that they were acting rather odd. They seemed to be very focused and eerily quiet. “What could they be up to?” she thought. She watched carefully as they were heading toward the door to go back outside. Each of the kids seemed to be hiding something from her sight.

“What are you two doing?” their mom asked. “Nothing!” they replied. “What do you have in your hands?” she asked. Teresa turned around and displayed a toy plastic hatchet that she held tightly in her hand. She looked at Bud and asked, “What do you have in your hand?” “It’s just a tator sack,” he replied. “What on earth are you two going to do with a hatchet and potato sack?”

Realizing that they had been caught they began to confess and in their confession, they revealed their “almost” perfect diabolical plan. “Dougy the brat started picking on us again so we decided to chop him up and put him in the tator sack,” Bud said.

Bud and Teresa’s mom began to share a better way for them to deal with the situation. She told them that it could be that Dougy was a bully because he felt like nobody liked him. She suggested that they try a different approach. “Try being nice to him and play with him and see if that works first,” she suggested. The two little kids did as their mom had suggested and it worked. Dougy did much better. He still had his moments of being a smart mouth but he no longer picked on Bud or Teresa.

To this day, I am not sure if it was the kindness that we showed him or if it was the fact that we told him that we were going to chop him up and put him in a tator sack if he didn’t stop picking on us. Whatever the reason, Dougy straightened up.

You may have someone in your life that is being very difficult to deal with. You never know what someone may be going through at home or elsewhere that is causing them to be the way they are. You never know the hurt or pain they may have in their life. Maybe they feel that no one could ever love them so rather than feeling rejection, they act in a way that keeps everyone away.

If you have someone like that in your life, try showing unconditional love and kindness. They may never respond to it but you will never know unless you try. It could be the love that you show them that sets them free from a life of anger and pain. It is worth a try.

One last note: If you are the one that is being so cantankerous, you might want to straighten up. Someone might be plotting a plan to straighten you up.

We had just arrived home from the hospital where I had, had surgery the day before, when the little adventure that I am going to share with you took place. Before we left the hospital, we heard the weather reports that were calling for some serious snow that evening. My wife, Carla, had planned to finish Christmas shopping that evening but due to the snow headed our way, decided to go as soon as she dropped me off at our house that afternoon. She had not slept the night before due to a difficult night at the hospital but she said she would be fine. She gave me a kiss and off to the mall she went.

My daughter, Nikki, was waiting on her boyfriend to arrive from Washington DC. They had planned to do some Christmas shopping too but he was still three hours away so she decided to beat the snow and get a head start. Off to the mall she went.

I was sitting comfy, in my recliner a couple hours later, oblivious to what was taking place outside. Pain meds tend to make one oblivious. The phone rang and it was Carla. “Have you looked outside lately,” she said. “Not lately,” I said. A load of snow had dropped while I was in oblivion. She went on to share that she heard people at the mall saying that the roads were getting really, bad. I told her just to leave Nikki’s car at the mall and both of them head home in her car immediately.

They were only a twenty minute drive from home but that twenty minute drive turned into an over night trip to the mall. The Interstate had become treacherous. Carla was calling, giving me updates on their progress, which was little to none. She said it was a mess with car wrecks, cars in the median and stand still bumper to bumper on the highway. Nothing was moving. I told them to just sit tight and stay warm. She informed me that she was almost out of gas. I was, immediately reminded of a conversation we had a couple days earlier about never letting her tank get below half. It was too late to do anything about it now.

By this time, the Interstates were closed, so the people on the highway were in for a long night. My brother, Rob, and my son, Joshua, were going to see if they could find a way to get to them. They were only gone a couple minutes when they came back in the house and said they couldn’t even get out of our subdivision. Our contact with Carla and Nikki was minimal because the Verizon towers were overloaded with calls. I finally got through and said, “What is your status now?” “We still haven’t moved an inch and we are almost out of gas,” she said with fear in her voice. I told her to get into the emergency lane if she could and take the exit that was less than half a mile from where they were.

The pain from my surgery seemed to be slipping past the pain meds. I think it was heightened due to the stress of the situation but the greatest pain was knowing that two people that I love were in trouble and I could do nothing about it.

The next call that we were able to get through was about thirty minutes later and they had made it to a gas station off the nearby exit to get gas. I told them to go to the Holiday Inn Express, get a room and settle in for the night. She called back and said, “There is no room in the Inn.” I had been sitting there praying for them and feeling totally, helpless. My son, Joshua, and my daughter, Kayla, were home with me so I told them to put on their Facebook status that their mom and sister were stranded and there was no room in the Inn. I really didn’t know why I said that but we would soon discover why.

Kayla got an immediate response from a young man that she knew from High School. He said He had a room reserved at the Holiday Inn Express but decided not to use it. He called the Inn and told them to give his reservations to Carla Beverly. Carla and Nikki ended up with a nice warm place to sleep that night and those of us at the house rested much better knowing they were, tucked in safely for the night. Nikki’s boyfriend, Ryan, called and said he had gotten a motel room near Roanoke and was in for the night as well.

We all breathed a quiet thank you to the Lord that night for taking care of Carla, Nikki and Ryan. I thought about how God used a Facebook status and a young man named Tony to give our girls what even Jesus didn’t get: A room in the Inn. “Thank you and good night Lord.”

Are you a procrastinator? Most of us probably find ourselves procrastinating occasionally but some people make it a lifestyle. Those that do can usually come up with some pretty good excuses for procrastinating. The problem with that is the excuses do not take away the consequences. Here is my story.

Late one evening two years ago, I began to have severe pain under the lower right side of my ribcage. It gradually got worse as the evening went on until it was unbearable. I told Carla that we were going to have to go to the emergency room so we did. That night started a chain reaction of doctor visits, tests, and an ultrasound. The conclusion was that my gallbladder was the culprit and surgery was the fix.

“What will happen if I wait?” I asked the surgeon. “You may make it a month, six months or a year but it will happen again, so you can choose to wait or have the surgery now,” he said. I really did not like the idea of them sticking tools through little holes in my belly and sucking something out, so I decided to wait…or should I say procrastinate.

Over the next two years, I had many of what I called tremors of pain and sickness but no earthquakes so I continued to put it off. A few weeks ago, I had another attack and the earthquake of pain measured by my internal seismograph ranked it equal to the 1960 Chilean earthquake, which was the strongest earthquake measured by seismograph at a Richter magnitude of 8.5. It lasted almost all night. Since I had been through it to a lesser degree two years ago, I didn’t go to the ER, I toughed it out. The thought that kept going through my mind was that I would not be going through this if I had not procrastinated.

I sat in the surgeon’s office as he shared with me the details of the surgery that I would be having two days from that moment. He would do the surgery laparoscopically, which meant only three small holes and a quicker recovery. He said there was only a 1 in 200 chance that it would be more complicated and he shared what he would do if that were to occur.

I arrived at the hospital and prepped for surgery. “Take off all your clothes and put this pretty little gown on,” the nurse said with a grin. I sat with my family waiting to be carted out. Two men in green scrubs arrived, so we said our goodbyes and I was off to surgery. In the holding area, a nice nurse told me she was going to give me a little something to help me relax. Within seconds, the room started to spin and that is the last thing I remember until I woke up in recovery.

I was told that the surgery was more complicated than expected. The surgeon said that my gallbladder was terribly diseased and that scar tissue had attached to linings inside that it was not supposed to be attached to. That required a little more, extensive surgery. They had placed a drain tube in my stomach and told me that I would have to spend the night in the hospital. If everything went well, they would remove the drain tube and let me go home the next day. Then the surgeon looked at me and said, “That thing should have come out of there two years ago.” Two years ago, the surgery would not have been as complicated. I thought, “I wish I had not procrastinated.”

They got me settled into my room for the night where I would have a constant barrage of nurses checking stuff, changing stuff and shooting stuff in me. The powerful pain meds kept me from feeling much pain. My wife, Carla, was there and I don’t know what I would have done without her as she gave constant care and support.

They told me that I would not be able to go home until I was able to “Empty” myself of fluids. The IV continued to pour fluids into my body and I was drinking a lot of water. I tried all night long to “Empty” but to no avail. By 4am, I was ready to explode and still nothing. I called for the nurse and explained that I still had not been able to “Empty”. She checked me and said I had 700cc’s of fluid in my bladder. Most people pass 30 to 40cc’s and hour so I was definitely overdue. The only remedy was the dreaded catheter. It worked and I finally got some relief.

Later that morning I was able to “Empty” all by myself which met one requirement for getting to go home. The doctor came in and checked me. He said that he was going to release me and gave me some instruction for later. As he was leaving, He reminded me one last time that I should have done this two years ago. The nurse came in and pulled the tube from my stomach, took the IV out and told me I was ready to go home. And I did just that!

I learned a lesson that day. Procrastination comes with a price and sometimes a painful one. Because I procrastinated, the surgery was more extensive, an extra night in the hospital was required, the pain was more severe, and the recuperating process would be a little more difficult.

Have you been procrastinating in some area of your life? Do you keep telling yourself you will do it when…? Is your marriage suffering because of it? Is there a wedge in a friendship because of it? Is your job in jeopardy because of it? Are your finances upside down because of it? Are your children feeling the affects of it? Is your relationship with Jesus cold and indifferent because of it? Is your health suffering because of it?

If you answered yes to one or more of those questions, it is time to do something about it. Do not procrastinate as you deal with your procrastination. It may be much more costly than you think. Our procrastination not only affects us, it also affects the people around us. Who is being affected negatively because of your procrastination and who will reap positive benefits if you stop?

To my friends and family who read this and are wondering if I will heed my own advice, the answer is yes, and I am going to start next Monday! Just kidding.

Have you moved lately? If so, you know that moving in is only half the battle. Unpacking boxes can take awhile. We have been unpacking boxes for two weeks, a little at a time. I had a round with one box this morning and the box won. It was not a pretty sight. I will tell you about it.

We have not gotten around to hanging pictures on the walls yet but somehow the box with the pictures made it from the garage into the house, prematurely. It had been setting in the same place for days. Since it wasn’t in my pathway, I did not bother with it. It just sat there waiting for its time to be unpacked like the others, until yesterday. My parents bought us a recliner that I picked it up yesterday and put it in the living room. I had to move the box to put the recliner where it needed to go.

The large box had been sitting on the left side of the kitchen entryway posing no real navigational issues. When I moved it, I slid it to the left side of the kitchen entryway, which is between the kitchen and my bedroom. I had been navigating my way all evening with no problems. With the house lights on that big box was easy to see so I did not even think about moving it. I wish I had thought about it!

I got up this morning (Sunday morning) and headed for the kitchen to make my breakfast and coffee. Somehow I walked right past the box with now problem. I didn’t even realize it was there. I got busy pulling together my two eggs, toast and coffee breakfast. It was time to relax in my chair in my bedroom, enjoy a good breakfast and cup of coffee to get my day started.

I came out of the kitchen and rounded the corner like a NASCAR driver holding a tight turn in the curve. At that moment, I found the box. My left foot hit that box and I started falling. When I tried to stabilize myself with my right foot, it caught a guitar case sitting near by and my entire body pitched forward. I had no more feet to use to stabilize myself. I became air born for a couple of seconds, flying down the hallway. I hit the floor with such force it sounded like a bomb went off. The plate of food and coffee went air born too and then they hit the floor. With the forward momentum, they slid all the way to the other end of the hallway, spilling their contents as they went.

It looked like an explosion had taken place. The coffee splattered all over the wall and floor along with the eggs and toast. My knee was in some pain but not bad. What scared me was looking down at my hand and seeing it covered with blood. I did not even feel it cut. Maybe the plate or cup broke and sliced my hand open. I once had a cut that was so deep that I did not feel it so I figured that was what happened. I was not sure how bad it was because I could not see the cut for all the blood. Lying there in the floor, I took a closer look at my hand. It wasn’t blood; it was jelly (All-Fruit). I wasn’t bleeding to death after all.

After hearing the explosion, bedroom doors started opening as everyone jumped from bed to see what dad and husband had done this time. Carla helped me clean up the mess. It looked like a crime scene but did not call in CSI. We had it under control.

I went back to the kitchen and made myself a toasted peanut butter and All-Fruit sandwich and another cup of coffee. I just did not have it in me to make two more eggs. That incident wiped me out for a few minutes.

I did learn something though. Sometimes you have to slow down a little and be aware of the things that are in your path. If you don’t, someone could get hurt!

I am guessing that many of you reading this story have dogs. We have two. Roxie is our part Chow female and Tucker is our part Cocker Spaniel male. Before we moved a week ago, they had a medium size fenced in area to live in, with no trees. At our new house, they have a very large, in comparison, fenced in backyard as their new home. It is like, doggy heaven equipped with tree’s, which made things complete for Tucker. If you have a male dog, you know what I mean.

I was sure they would be completely satisfied living in doggy heaven and would never try to leave. I was wrong! One morning I was looking out of the kitchen window when I saw Roxie walking around the fence line. It was hilarious to watch her, though I was not sure what she was doing. She started at one end of the fence, lying down in front of it, and then she would move a couple feet and repeat, up and down, up and down. I thought, maybe she had some weird ritual that I had never noticed. I was wrong again!

Roxie was looking for an escape route. She decided doggy heaven was not enough for her so she found a place to push her way under the fence to the outside world. I was able to get her back in rather quickly but there were consequences. I put her on a 20 foot, rope until we had time to fix the escape route problem. With that entire yard to roam in, she was stuck to 20 feet of it because she was not satisfied with doggy heaven.

My first thought was that she is a stupid dog. She had a nice yard, people who love her, Tucker as a friend, food anytime she wanted to eat, an endless supply of water, and a nice place to sleep. What more could a dog ask for. She would never have to worry about being run over by a car, shot for being in some one’s stuff or starving and because of her actions; she ended up on the end of a 20-foot rope.

My next thought was that we humans are much like that. It started with Adam and Eve and continues with us today. Adam and Eve had heaven on earth but lost it because they went for the one thing God told them not too. They had a beautiful place to live, a personal relationship with God, no sickness or disease, no bad days or sad days, and no death. They did not have to wash or iron clothes because they did not wear them. They had it made and all they had to do was enjoy it but they chose to do the ONE thing God said not too.

How often do we do the same thing? God has lovingly given us spiritual and moral boundaries for our safety. He asks us t o follow Him, worship Him, obey Him, trust Him and find joy in life, and yet we find ourselves dissatisfied and looking elsewhere for purpose and fulfillment.

God has given us boundaries that will enhance our lives not hurt them. Outside those boundaries is a lot of heartache. That is where we find friendships, marriages, families and our lives destroyed. We set boundaries for our kids, not to cheat them out of something better, but because within those boundaries is the best. Roxie may have felt we cheated her out of fun by providing a fenced boundary but she was actually, given love and safety within the boundary. Adam and Eve felt God was withholding something better from them when He gave them a boundary but that was not the case at all. He was actually giving them the best within the boundary.

I have decided that Roxie’s decision, though unwise, was not a lot different from decisions we humans make everyday. Maybe we can give a little more thought to the loving purpose of the boundaries that our heavenly Father has given to us. Sometimes we miss the treasures and pleasures under our nose because we are too busy looking outside the fence, wondering what we are missing.

Note: The names in this story are not the real names of the people in it, nor do the names represent the real gender of the people. Any of the made up girls names could really be a dude and visa versa.

I walked into the door of one of my many offices, ready to get a cup of coffee and do a little reading and writing. This particular office has thousands of books in it. I usually go to the coffee area, order my coffee, put my stuff in the chair that I generally sit in and go back to get my coffee. Then I go pick out three or four books that I want to glean and go back to my sitting area.

On this particular day as I stepped up to order my coffee, I noticed Debbie behind the counter. It was unusual, because Debbie does not ordinarily work coffee. I asked her how she was doing. She said, “You don’t want to know.” “Having a rough morning?” I asked. She explained that James had not shown up for work at the coffee area and she was now wearing two hats for the day. “I’m sorry, but I will make it easy on you this morning because all I want is a tall bold coffee,” I said. She smiled and I could see the look of relief on her face as she said, “Coming right up!”

I got my coffee, grabbed the books I wanted to glean and took my seat. For the next few minutes, I did more watching and listening than I did reading, as you will see. Mary walked up and relieved Debbie for a few minutes. I could see the frustration on both of their faces but I will give them credit, they tried to hide it with smiles that seemed somewhat heavy. Underneath the heavy smiles, I am sure they were thinking, “How on earth are we going to cover here and get our own work done for the day?”

Mary was now working the coffee counter and she was having a tough time. She paced like a caged animal waiting to be, released. Her furrowed brow revealed the serious thought process going on deep below the surface. She needed to be doing what her job responsibilities required for the day but because James did not show, she couldn’t.

Cindy entered the coffee area so quickly you would have thought she was walking on hot coals. Cindy was another employee that worked in the books. She began to share with Mary a problem she was having in her department. Like a machine gun with a hair trigger, she fired away. “I scanned the stuff on my cart and it said to put it in the children’s section but there is no place to put it and I don’t know what to do,” she said, loudly. Mary spoke calmly and direct, “I can’t come back there right now but when Debbie gets back up here, I’ll be there.”

Debbie came back to the coffee counter after a few minutes and I could tell from the conversation what she and Mary were doing. They were taking turns doing coffee and their regular responsibilities so they would not get too far behind. A voice over the loud speaker requested Mary come to the book counter. With a low but visible sigh, she headed that way.

It was obvious to someone paying attention, and I was, that things were chaotic. I began to wonder if James had any idea what kind of situation he left his co-workers to deal with. “Maybe he is sick and maybe he just woke up late and decided not to work today,” I thought. Whatever the reason, he had left his team in a precarious situation.

It made me begin to question how often in life we overload others by not carrying our own load. More than that, how often do we do it without giving it a second thought? I saw something that morning that James did not see. I saw the result of his not showing up for work. He left his team in chaos trying to figure out how to do his job and theirs, and though they were handling it, it was not easy.

I realize there are times when we get sick or an emergency comes up that prevents us from carrying our load but I also know that there are times when we just opt out with no prior warning to those who will have to take the extra load.

It happens at work, it happens at church and it happens, a home. They all require cooperation and without it, things get chaotic. The load can get heavy for those having to pick it up and important things may go undone. Stress and strained relationships will often be the result.

Leading a church presents various opportunities to witness the scramble and chaos that occurs when one or more individuals wake up and decide not to show up. Marriage counseling often uncovers the stress a husband or wife is feeling because one or the other has opted out of their responsibilities. People often experience strained relationships with co-workers when they feel like they are being, taken advantage of.

Maybe the next time we think about opting out of our responsibilities for a day, we could give a little thought to the people that will be affected by it. If it is not necessary to miss, don’t. If it cannot be avoided showing gratitude toward those covering for us would go a long way. In addition, for those who are faithful we should tell them how grateful we are.

Sometimes it is easy to take for granted the faithful ones while complaining about those who are not. If you have a husband or wife who takes their responsibilities in the home serious, tell them you appreciate them. If there are people in your church who are faithful to their responsibilities, let them know that you appreciate them. If you work with someone that consistently fulfills their responsibilities, thank them. Expressing gratitude is good for the heart of the one expressing and is encouraging to the recipient.

The Beverly’s are in! We finally closed on our new house and moved in on Saturday. To some, it may not be a big deal but to us, it is huge. It is the first house that we have ever lived in that is ours and we are over the top excited.

In August, we were not even thinking about purchasing a house. It had not even crossed our minds. A dear friend of ours for many years, Amy Patterson, who is a Realtor/Broker and the Team Leader at Keller Williams and who I have worked with for years at the church, told us that it was time we buy a house and she would help us. When we came to Tennessee in 1990, we moved into a church parsonage. We were there for ten years and have been renting since then. With Amy’s encouragement and help, we began the process of house hunting which would prove to be an adventure.

We spent two months looking at houses, most of which were drive bys and out of those we picked a few to look at inside. At one house, I fell through the deck. We didn’t pick that one. Another house was so saturated with cigarette smoke that we didn’t make it past the entrance area. We looked at one where the downstairs reeked of animal urine even through the forty thousand scented candles burning and another we didn’t even get inside because two giant dogs about took Amy’s hand off as she started through the door. We didn’t pick any those either.

We did see some nice houses and made offers on a couple of them but could not close the deal. I was getting frustrated with the whole thing and was ready to give up. Amy encouraged me to slow down and enjoy the process. I took her advice and continued.

We saw one house that we absolutely fell in love with. It was clean and ready to move in to. No painting, fixing, or remodeling would be required. We loved it and it felt right. We decided to make an offer on it but after a couple offers and counter offers, we were unable to come to an agreement. That took the wind out of our sails. The whole family was tired and discouraged. Amy told us to take a few days off from looking at and thinking about houses and just pray. That is what we did.

A few day’s had passed when I got a call from Amy saying that the people from the house we loved decided to meet us at our last offer, if we were still interested. We were definitely still interested. We started the process of securing financing and then waited. A target closing date was set so we began boxing up our house. We spent three weeks living out of and around boxes as two target dates for closing past. It felt at times like it was never going to happen. Finally, on November 24, we closed on our new house.

Since it was so close to Thanksgiving, we decided to wait until the Saturday after, to move. At 8:30 am, on Saturday morning, friends and family began to pour in and the work began. It looked like a colony of ants working together in unity. It was a beautiful sight. With deteriorating discs in my back and a partially torn ligament in my knee, I would have never survived the move without all the help. All of those beautiful people stuck with us until everything was moved.

Friends and family are also blessing us with house warming gifts. With those generous gifts,  we are purchasing some things we need. We are thankful and excited to have been able to purchase our first home but the thing I am most thankful for is good friends and family who went out of their way to help us get here.