I have a blog?

So some of you have been wondering about my blog... I heard reports that it was feeling lonely, neglected, and abandoned. Well, such rumors may have some truth to them... but they aren't completely true. I've been meaning to write an update post for a while, and I'm just now getting around to typing it.

Okay, so where have I been? All over. All over what, you say? All over the Arlington Baptist ministries that is. It seems as though I've been working non-stop between the church as music director, the college as registrar, and the day school as the computer and pre-algebra teacher. All told, I've been putting in about 70 hours of work each week. Add to that my interest in having a social life (or more specifically, a social life with Kim), and I think you'll understand why I haven't posted anything on my blog for a while. Not that this is much of a post either, but at least it's something. Hope is on the horizon though... Teacher's Convention starts Thursday, Thanksgiving break is coming up, and Christmas break will be here before we know it. Hooray!!!

And just for kicks, if you ever begin to lose hope and think that you're drowning in your work, look up all the times that the word "joy" is mentioned in the Bible. I went through and did a quick study of this last week and gave part of it as a devotional. By far, the largest category seems to be that of people having joy over the circumstances around them (winning a battle in war, having plenty of food, a birth of a child, etc.). Two categories caught my attention though - those where the joy is based upon God, a specific activity which God did, or an attribute of God. This second category would include things such as rejoicing over God's protection of His own, rejoicing in the joy of our salvation, and the like. The last category of interest to me was the times that the Bible speaks of God having joy. There appear to be four times/places where this happens -
1. He had joy in bringing His people out of the land of Egypt - Psalm 105.43.
2. He had joy in enduring the cross - Hebrews 12.2.
3. He has joy in presenting us faultless before His throne - Jude 24.
4. There is fullness of joy in His presence - Psalm 16.11.
Also of interest is the passage in John 15.11 where Christ prays that His joy might be in His disciples and that their joy might be full. What a request that is! That we might have the same joy that Christ has! Wow... And after looking at the long list of specific events in life that we can be thankful for (and have joy in!), why are we sad? Why are we discouraged? Why is our soul disquieted? Hope thou in God! Let's praise Him together and find our joy in Who He is and what He has done for us!