Tonight we cooked burgers on the grill. After all the kids had eaten Kimberly and I were cleaning up and I realized after looking at both of my boys plates that they had literally eaten as much as I had. Joshua and Caleb are my twin boys, and they were born premature. So they have always been a little smaller than most kids their age. As I am writing this, I am very full from dinner and can not imagine where someone their size manages to put the food.

I am also doing the math. If at five they are matching what I eat, will they at ten be eating double what I am eating? Oh, brother, I don’t think our pantry is big enough.

The Boswell family went to Lancaster, PA for the weekend for an annual ministerial get away. We stayed at the Willow Valley resort center and dined on some wonderful food (www.willowvalley.com). We prepped the kids for weeks on how to “act” at a real restaurant. Their closest experiences have been at fine dining establishments like McDonald’s and Famous Dave’s B-B-Q. Willow Valley has linen table clothes, full place settings, water goblets, etc.. and you can get as many Alaskan King Crab legs, cut beef, home made pastries, etc… as you can eat. One of my favorites of the food, were the omelets made to order as you wait (I got one with everything). The kids did great.

The conference center also has multiple indoor pools. My children loved a giant frog that you slide down its’ tongue. We swam for hours!

Just between you and me, one of my favorite things in life is to give my children gifts. I love the way their faces light up. I love how their minds begin to imagine. I love playing with them with the gifts. So I gave Joshua and Caleb a Transformer toy a piece, and I gave Hannah-Grace a ballerina Barbie.

To be honest, I just simply needed some time away. I thank God that He loves me and provides wonderful things like this weekend simply because he loves to bring joy to His children. One of things that I have learned about having kids, is that they have taught me about God’s relationship as a Father to His Children. I love my children, but how much greater is His love for me. I enjoy giving my children gifts, and He enjoys giving gifts to His children. He knew I needed to get away, to spend some intense time with my family, and so He provided this wonderful weekend.

Matthew 7:9-12 “Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? ¹¹If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! ¹²So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”

So, I thank you Father for your special gift.

Several years ago Kimberly and I attended a children’s conference in San Diego, CA and I walked away from the experience thinking that it was one of the most beautiful places that I had been. The temperature was perfect, we were next to the ocean, and the sun sets were spellbinding. So it breaks my heart to hear about the wildfires that currently ravage the California landscape. As I was running today at the YMCA I caught the tag line that there is a person they have on suspicion of arson. If it turns out to be true, imagine the massive impact.

One man intentionally starting one small fire, caused over a billion (yes billion) dollars worth of damages to property, over four people dead, and thousands of peoples are being relocated, having to live in rustic, primitive housing. Not to mention that the president stopped running a country to make a personal visit. One man with a twisted desire to start fires has drastically changed thousands of people’s lives forever.

We also have something just as potent as fire. We also have a means to radically change thousands of people’s lives. Jesus describes it like this in Matthew 5:14-16 “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. ¹⁶In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”

One man with an evil desire can change so many, but so can one Christ follower who allows his heart to blaze for God.

Below is an e-mail that I received from a leader in our church. I pass it on to you in it’s entirety to read because I think it shows why we show God’s love through service.

Hi Drew,

I got a call today from Bruce Gurley, the case worker from the ARC who referred the Little family to us. He was very appreciative of us doing the ramp for Eddie, and stated that Eddie was ecstatic with the ramp.

Mark and Stephan went out tonight and finished with the concrete work at the end of the ramp, so we should be done now. I wasn’t sure if you saw the thank you letter from the Littles – below is what they said:

Dear Kim and your entire Daybreak Crew,

Thank you so much for giving up your time to spend the day at our house building me a new ramp. Although Dad tried very hard to accommodate me, he usually did things by cutting too many corners. I never felt safe using the ramp I had.

The ramp built for me today, by the very special “Daybreak Crew” is absolutely beautiful and I will feel very safe using it. I never dreamed I would ever have a ramp looking this nice. I am very grateful for all your hard work and I will be proud to tell everyone who built my new ramp.

I know this isn’t much, but please accept these candles as my way of saying thank you for all your hard work and a job well done. I hope you enjoy them.

Ed Little

As a matter of fact, the Littles told me a story of how, at one point in the past, Ed had fallen off the top of the concrete ramp and ended up strapped upside down with his power chair on top of him. That must have been a scary moment – those power chairs are incredibly heavy.

Kim

This past Sunday Daybreak met at the Holiday Inn “Holidome” because our normal location was used for a fun raiser by the owners of the Delaplaine. We decided to only have one service, and to have all the children (except nursery and pre-school) join us in the service. As we were setting up, an older woman (who we didn’t know) came and started carrying stuff inside our room. We stopped her and asked if she was looking for another church (I didn’t have the heart to let her carry all our stuff in, and then stop her.) She named the church, and we pointed her in the right direction. That Sunday, there were three different churches all meeting at the same location. There were several other snafus similar to this, but you get the idea.

Among our people there were various responses to this fact. Some were excited that three churches were there; perhaps wanting to see the confusion as various people stumbling into the wrong locations. Some were nervous that somehow, there would be some kind of conflict. Others were just excited about meeting in another location. But why is it that we sometimes see other churches as competition, rather than fellow soldiers who are in the same army, who fight the same enemy, and worship the same God?

There was a church who is beginning a new church in our area, and they were meeting there. They had a fleet of various trailers and huge display signs. Instead of thinking they are competition, perhaps we could learn from them, and them from us. I plan to contact their pastor and sit down over lunch to see how we can work together.

If you are wondering about the other church (there were three, right?) – they never showed. We find ourselves in the middle many churches in our area. Some are thriving and exploding, others are dying – I want Daybreak to be apart of bringing churches together for the purpose of working together to reach people for Christ. The sooner we stop seeing each other as competition the better.