I didn’t really finish my last post, so here is the continuation…

I was thinking the last few days, and actually longer than that, how strange it seems that in a time of such upheaval and uncertainty, we are actually doing very well. I mean, like extremely well. Financially, we have been in a cycle of abundance that started over a year ago with refinancing the house and the big raise I got, and it has just continued. We just got $2900 for the “coronavirus relief” or whatever, and honestly, I feel a bit guilty. We were already doing great financially, and Debbie and I are both working, haven’t lost any income. The only real “loss,” if you could call it that, is the rescheduling of the trip to London, and the headache of that, as well as changes to the Nashville trip in a few weeks, and the trip to New York in June. We haven’t yet planned the trip for the honeymoon in October – it’s sounding like that might change anyway. But outside of that, things are great. In fact, even the kids are all doing ok. Galen, and Tessi (and Alex) are all still working. Emilee, well, she hasn’t been doing well mentally, but what else is new there. Jonathan seems to be hanging in, and Scott is still working, so Megan and the grands are ok. Truly blessed, all of us.

And it just seems like a lot of other things have been going “right” too. Today, for example, I am using a standing desk I ordered for home for the first time, and it is awesome! It was only $150, and is built much better than I expected for that price. It’s perfect for what I needed and better than expected. Along those same lines, we were looking to get a patio set (been wanting one since shortly after getting this house), and we happened to find one at Fry’s that was on a KILLER sale – normally $699, selling for $250. We grabbed that puppy, and now have a much nicer set than we had anticipated. And it goes on like that, with great masks we got (both locally, cloth, and online, filter), stuff I have ordered for the altar – just all good really. And of course it’s not necessarily about the materialism of it all – it’s about the great fits, the great deals, the great timing. Again, lots of blessings.

You know, I always said or thought that in the “end days” or whatever, while some people were suffering or struggling, those of us who had tried to keep the commandments and love one another and love our God, we would do ok – in fact, we would flourish. I always felt like we would finally have “our time,” when things would go right for us, fortune would be in our favor, and the scales would balance back out a bit. It really does seem like some of that is going on now. And I certainly don’t mean to say or imply that those who are really struggling or suffering now have been bad people and somehow deserve it – not at all. And I also don’t want to imply that “I deserve this,” because honestly, as I said before, I feel a bit guilty – like how can we be doing so well when so many are struggling and/or suffering? I don’t know, and I certainly think about and pray for all those who are going through tough times.

All I can do is be EXTREMELY grateful, and hope that I can be lifted to a place where I can help more people – or, more appropriately – God can help people through me. Because if this is all showing me anything, it’s that there is a God, and that God is doing so many things for that I could not even imagine doing for myself – that I wouldn’t even think possible for myself. So I say “thank you God,” for everything. Hopefully someday I can give back at a greater level, of that which has been bestowed upon me.