Blessed be Your Name

"Blessed be Your name
When the sun's shining down on me
When the world's 'all as it should be
Blessed be Your name

Blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name

Every blessing You pour out
I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

...

You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord, blessed be Your name"

I have a hard time with this. It is just a little ditty that I first knew from the Newsboys and Matt Redman, but we do it often in worship, and every time it seems difficult. I can't help but put myself into the song, but is it a little too close for comfort.

At this time it seems the sun is shining down on us. We are blessed with health, prosperity, and some some stability. And God be praised, and blessed be His Name. But the road has been marked with suffering. I still feel it, and know the possibilities are ever with us. But blessed be His name in all of it.

Ian had his chemo today and everyone is doing very well. Caleb and Ian had a terrific game on Monday. Caleb went 2 for 2 with what should have been an easy triple and a couple of good plays in the field, and Ian went 1 for 1 with a strong single. I asked Ian how the chemo went today, and what he really was excited to talk about was how he got 2 bags potato chips for the 1 dollar he put into the machine. It is the little things in life. All in all things things are good, and God be praised.

Well, some time has passed since my last post, but that is not all bad. We have been to the mountains, done a little skiing and sledding, and had our first winning game on the diamond. We've also had our 18th week PET, CAT, and MRI scans, and things are good.

Ian's doctor had some stern warnings about helmets and sun screen, but the chemo schedule we are on seems to doing it's thing and there is no cancer to be found. We praise God in this, and life seems pretty normal, with the possible exception of the bi-weekly chemo. We will continue on this path for the foreseeable future, but with some comfort and peace.

This weekend here on the coast has been beautiful, with plenty of sun, and the temps have been up to a balmy 75 or 80, so we broke out the shorts and had a really nice time. Personally, I'm still a little concerned about the economy, my job, the family's health, and the downward spiral of capsaicin content in commercially available jalapeno, but we are surviving, and God is providing the Grace to go on.

Yall take care, and if you haven't already, drop me a note, or drop by for a visit.