#450 - For Jordan, my dog from the Sacramento Animal Shelter. His quiet love and his not-so-quiet silliness when it is dinner time or time for a walk or jog...brings a smile to my face so very often. I wonder what God was thinking about when he created dogs? :-) Probably about the joy they would bring humans. How precious is that?

#451 - For Mike Cassidy, the chairman of our elder board, and his tireless service to our church body. What an amazing man of God. How fortunate we are to have him.

#452 - For Tony Cordova, an incredible Youth Pastor who is a wonderful example of a godly Christian young man. I am so blessed that my young daughter sees Tony with his very young family...that she can aspire to experiencing that instead of what this world so often portrays as "true love." I am thankful for Tony's willingness to engage Michaela in dialog about things...wow, what a gift not just to Michaela and to me, but to our entire church. I am SO thankful for him...and his wife, Abbi!

#453 - For the adventure our Church is now on with the Lord as our Shepherd. What will we learn about Him during this time? How will we grow closer to Him and to one another? I am excited to see what He has in store!

#454 - For Facebook...I know that sounds so nutty. I have found Facebook to be an interesting tool for getting to know real people in my community and church! Sure, it can be a time waster, but just this morning, I got to read how God is at work in our Youth Pastor's wife's life and chat with one of our most amazing bass players! Where else can you DO that? :-) I am so blessed to say that God is using Facebook to encourage me so much and to cause me to connect with people in my TOWN that I wouldn't otherwise connect with as much! Sad, but true!

#455 - For the pleasure and privilege of being on the worship team. I don't have much to offer but a heart that LOVES to worship God. I just LOVE to fix my eyes on Him and lift up a song as I pray the words in my spirit. Being on the worship team has been SO good for me as I have to CLING to GOD so much or I will freak out about the people and about being on the stage. I know that sounds awful...but I am SO self-conscious. I am one of those people that really hates any attention being on me (most of the time) and I know that the enemy could use that SELF-consciousness to destroy my worship. Instead, God has used it to cause me to cling to him so tenaciously. I love that...my worship of Him has been rocked and intensified since starting to be on the worship team. I am soooo thankful for that...

#456 - I know that God has a man of God that he is RIGHT NOW raising up to be our new lead pastor. I am so excited that He is at work. Thank you Lord!