When We Pursue God... (and a little catching up)

We have had a busy 6 weeks in the Henderson household.  Trent and I have been teaching a sermon series called Conquering Mountains that comes from the book I wrote about the lessons we learned in our journey with Maggie.  Our middle son was in the local production of The Music Man and Ruthie and I somehow worked in a mother/daughter getaway to meet a few of our favorite princesses.  In addition to all of that, Maggie had another set of MRIs and we are still waiting to hear the word on what heart procedure she will qualify for.

Before I share a few pictures from our adventures, I wanted to share something that came to mind the other day.  Ruthie and I were on the bus headed to Epcot and it was in the mid 30's in Orlando.  We unfortunately packed like people from South Texas and just had t-shirts and light jackets.  While sitting on the bus, Ruthie came over and snuggled up real close to me.

At first I was super-flattered that she wanted to sit so close me and then it occurred to me that her motivations might be less about communicating affection and more about survival.  I asked her, "Are you snuggling me because you love me or because you are cold?"  She answered, "Both."  Smart girl.

It made me think on my relationship with God and my motivations for pursuing Him.  Do I pursue Him because I want to be close to Him or do I pursue Him because I want something from Him?  Like Ruthie, my honest answer is probably both.

I was thankful for the cold that morning because regardless of her motivation, it brought my daughter close to me.  I wonder if God allows the "cold" in our lives sometimes for the same reasons.

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Here are a few of my favorite pictures from Disney.  When I was planning the trip, Ruthie told me that she did not want to ride anything scary.  On the second day, she decided to brave a roller coaster called Mt. Everest.  I was proud of her for stepping outside of her comfort zone and going for it.  The highlight of the trip for me was watching her in the China section of Epcot.  She loved the video on the history of China and she was amazed by the Chinese Acrobats.  I have never seen her so proud to be Chinese.

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Sam played the role of Winthrop in the local production of The Music Man.  They rehearsed for months and he loved every minute of it.  He is already asking when he can audition for something else.  There is something pretty incredible about watching your kids find their passion.

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You can pray for wisdom for us with Maggie.  There are 2 different surgeries that can be performed for her heart condition.  One is generally done at our local hospital and the other is done in Boston.  One comes with less risks up front and the other comes with a longer life expectancy but tremendous risk on the front end.  We are praying this choice will be clear.