Happy Birthday to Me!

It's my birthday today; I am 38. It was a very good day all in all....my kids and wife came to my work and took me to lunch at Chipotle, one of my favorite places to eat. We ate, I opened presents, and we had choclate cake. I always like birthdays and New Years....both are a good time to look back on the past year and reflect, get pensive, contemplate your naval. I also went to Starbucks 3 times today: early A.M. with a friend, mid-day after lunch, and tonight during my daughter's soccer practice....going to Starbucks is one of my favorite things to do.

I want to be pensive but mostly I feel tired......I want to ponder what God has in store for me during this next year, but like I said, I am so tired....weary actually. I will sign off my monthly blog entry with a few of my favorite passages from the Bible:

Matthew 11:28-30
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

Jeremiah 29:11-14
For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile."

Psalm 62:5-8
Find rest, O my soul, in God alone;
my hope comes from him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.
My salvation and my honor depend on God ;
he is my mighty rock, my refuge.
Trust in him at all times, O people;
pour out your hearts to him,
for God is our refuge. Selah

John 4:13-14
Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

Hopefully I can embrace the spirit of these passages and trust Jesus in a deeper way during this next year, knowing that I so desparately need the grace of Jesus to permeate my life, my heart, & my soul.