On Acceptance

Update on life.

Outcomes acheived.

I thought it would take a long time. But when he wants to God works fast. My life is filled with love, community, purpose and call and it only grows day by day.

There is so much that has happened, I don't know where to begin or how to explain it -- except to say that a turn of heart, a true turn of heart on my behalf has led to an outpouring of God, love, life and purpose in my life.

To highlight the changes I can say:

• A woman, Amber, with a hard life and a really rough 2010 moved into our house in January. As she was moving in, some of the most important people in her life passed away. Mom happened to be here. As a family we held her up and helped her through the roughness of it all. As that has passed, her life continues to improve day by day. She is growing more confident in herself and growing in every direction like a flower.
• Scott moved in. He has thrived here. He helps a ton around the house and takes care of Eddie. He has had lots of chances to "be the man." He is on his game and really exploring his career. He has a good chance of landing a good job and has been really engaged in church and biblestudy.
• My business partner, Chris, has had a hard couple of years. Her life also seems to be filling with joy. Just recently, her daughter is got engaged. She and I are sharing life in deep ways -- talking about everything like best friends from highschool. We have grown our business - have paying customers and have hired our first employee. Mom and Dad are signed up as clients as ours and my partner is really helping them take the business to a new level.
• I was signed up at church to help with these Haitian dancers who are coming to visit at Easter. More and more people at church are starting to know me and talking to me.
• We started our biblestudy and its really really good. It is deep and meaningful and we are very honest and open about faith and growing together. We pray together at the end of the night. It seems that more people will start coming soon to that and I can feel a small church beginning.
• The homeless woman, Sonja, that I was helping has gotten on her feet - stopped drinking and got an apartment. I have hired her to clean my floors once a week. She is really happy and cracks jokes with Scott and Amber.
• Over all, it feels that my family has grown. From me and Ulrich and Eddie to now include Scott and Amber and Chris and Sonja. And it is still growing... new employee, people from church, people coming to biblestudy.

It is not often that God turns things around so quickly. But sometimes it is amazing to see his hand at work bringing different people together in new ways. I love to watch that. It feeds me and my faith. It makes acceptance of people easier. The life God is building around me feels so much like a parable. Feels like the kind of life that Jesus lived. Filled with people who are amazing and inspiring -- even though many of them may be overlooked by the world. I find I am learning lots by being open to their stories and God is growing and stretching me.

So, I am looking inside and trying to find deeper pockets of resistance -- pride, snobishness, self-absorbtion. I am working on honesty. Finding honesty in myself and trying to connect with authenticity to the people God has put in my life.

More to say for sure, but that's just a short overview of where I've been.

PS Toni - I met with my financial planner today. I thought of you. How's the saving going?