I really should post more...

Liz has kind of taken over as the predominant blogger here...sorry about that. I've tried several times in recent weeks to sit down and post something, but I always feel like I don't have anything interesting to say. But I'll do my best to finish this one and actually post it for public viewing.

On the homefront, things are great. Sam is a good kid, and seriously has become the star of our house. We just love that boy. We spend a lot of time hanging out with him, playing with him, taking pictures of him. He's just great. And I think we've adjusted pretty well to the parenting thing. It definitely has been an adjustment, but we're doing really well. I like being a daddy more than I ever could have imagined I would.

In church world, things are also going really well. Peachtree is definitely not the same church it was when we first came here two years ago. Tonight, we had a get-together to kick off something we're doing called "100 Days of Praying for Your Marriage." We bought a bunch of couple's devotional books, and promoted it like crazy for about two months. We announced it every week, sent out invitations, made phone calls. Today, Cindy (our church secretary) and I decorated our fellowship hall. We bought a wedding cake, made punch, had candles, flowers- it really looked like a wedding reception. The whole thing is just to get married couples praying together. I honestly didn't know how many people would come. I knew we had done everything we could to advertise it, but you never know with this kind of stuff. Then, at the office today, I found out about several couples who definitely weren't coming. Some were out of town, some were sick, some were working, at least one said "We've been married a long time, we're doing ok. I don't think we need to go to that." So that was a little discouraging. 6:30 rolled around, and we had 20 couples there, which was way more than I expected. I honestly would have been very happy with 10 couples, but 20? I was through the roof. I know at some churches, 20 couples would be a small turnout, but we average about 100 people in Sunday morning worship at Peachtree, so to have 20 of our married couples show up and commit to 100 days of praying together- that's a huge deal. I am confident this is going to have a huge impact in our church, as well as in the marriages of those 40 people.

The lesson I learned? Expect great things from God. Emphasis on great. I am so guilty of expecting too little of God. I think sometimes I forget that He created the universe, and holds history in His hands. He spoke light and water and creation into being- and I expect 10 couples. He not only exceeded my expectations, He doubled them. So...

Expect great things from God,
Jared