thankful for beat up, run down shacks

the last couple of years, my friends and i have facebooked (is that a legitimate verb? if it's not, mr. webster needs to get on it and add it)...anyhow...we have facebooked daily during the month of november the things that we are thankful for.
this year i'm going to switch it up a little and blog my thankful thoughts instead. some of you would prefer my short summarized thoughts in a status box. some of you, for whatever reason, seem to enjoy getting a glimpse into what goes through my mind (what the heck is WRONG with you? LOL).

for you, here we go...my thirty days of gratitude (in no particular order).

day one:

the other day austin and i were heading out to get a mailing tube. he has something special he is sending my friend heather. http://teamcarterjay.blogspot.com/ if you haven't read heather's story, you must.


anyhow, we were on our way to office depot when i spotted a mom & pop mailing store in an unexpected location. i did a u-turn and we found a place to park. as we walked toward the building, a sign caught my eye across the street. and it made me laugh. (i'm also thankful for laughter).
i didn't say anything to austin on the way in, but on the way out i told him we needed to cross the street because i had to take a picture. he knows that if he questions me on this stuff it will only take longer, so he humored me and we headed over.
i took THIS picture.




it amuses me. i mean, for REAL? REALLY? are you KIDDING me? would you trust this architect?

and while the initial thought was amusing, as i have thought about it over the last couple days i have come to realize that sometimes this is what it seems like with God.

i mean, he's GOD. he obviously knows what he's doing, right? sometimes it sure doesn't LOOK like it. and it sure as heck doesn't FEEL like it.

sometimes his plans are packaged in ways that don't make sense...they look like shambles...
think about noah...it had never even rained and here he was building an ark...(a whaaaaat???? what's an ark, right?). i have often felt like i can relate to noah's wife and i hope someday we can chat (though i hope by then all that animal aroma has worn off of her LOL). i mean, how much flack did she take for having a lunatic husband who probably LOOKED like he wasn't caring for his family...when actually he was doing EXACTLY what he was called to do? was she having to bear extra burden because he was too busy with the ark? i mean she was a busy mom right? did she ever resent him? did she ever wanna tell him to just GO GET A REAL JOB? were her parents alive? what did THEY think about their crazy son-in-law? i'm sure they may have thought that maybe if only she'd married that other dude down the road...maybe then her life would have been normal...BUT GOD USED NOAH...and he allowed noah's wife to go along (quite literally) for the journey.

then there's abraham...God telling him to just pick up and move to someplace he'd never been...don't worry about the details...just GO. take yer kids, take yer wife, take yer husbands cause they're...oh wait...i just got a little distracted. hee hee hee...

hebrews 11 says: "By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God."

abraham never got to receive the things he was promised...what the HECK?

more from hebrews 11: "They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them."


so today, i am thankful for God the architect. God. i mean, he's GOD, right? looking back at my life there have been lots of things that look like mistakes. it's a messy life. but thankfully, i have a creative God who doesn't NEED a fancy sign...he's not worried about his reputation...he just continues to work out his plan in my life and SOMEDAY...some DAY...i will leave this screwed up country that i live in at the moment and go to a better country...a heavenly one.

and for THAT i am forever grateful.