Usually Friday night is “Family Night” in our house, but last week we were able to have “Family Day” because both of my kids had no school. We had a great time together! We went to a few stores in the morning and then to IHOP for lunch. Tyler ate the “Who Cakes” in anticipation of our future visit to the movies to see Horton Hears a Who. From IHOP, I checked the show times from my phone for the Regal Theater (where The Summit will be located) and I thought it said the movie started at 12:35pm, but when we got there we discovered that the next showing was not until 2:30pm. So, we made stops at Target and Wal-Mart to do the shopping we were planning on doing later in the day. A few hours later, we were able to see Horton Hears a Who - it was a pretty good movie.

After the movie, we drove around Green exploring the area where our church’s second campus will launch in September 2008. Green is a wonderful, growing community with much to offer. Our final stop of the day was Boettler Park, an awesome, kid-friendly park in Green (we never had parks like this when I was a kid). The park includes a playground which is 30,000 square feet and boasts an award labeling it the “best new recreation facility in Ohio in 2004.” Our kids had so much fun riding the zip line, crawling through the wooden structures, scouring the climbing wall, and sliding down the numerous slides. I got tired just watching them! As were getting ready to leave, some idiot pulled up in his customized truck/van into the parking lot…you might know him as the “ice cream man.” The air was filled with music which makes the hearts of kids think of one thing - ice cream. When I was a kid, I loved the ice cream man strolling through our neighborhood because…well…I love ice cream. Things have changed now and I am a parent who almost NEVER carries cash. This is a combination for disaster - my kids are asking for ice cream but I have no money. All the other kids art sprinting to the ice cream truck with big smiles on their faces while my deprived children are dragging their feet to our car with tears streaming down their faces. All the other parents whose children were lustingly licking their orange push-ups and popsicles were probably looking at Leah and I thinking we were the worst parents in the world. Leah, being the wise parent, reminds the kids of all they have gotten to do that day - going shopping, eating out, seeing a movie, and playing in the park. She was trying to say “we have had so much fun today - don’t dwell on what you don’t have, but what you do have.”

Separating myself from that moment, I thought of how many times I do the same thing to God. He has been so good to me, yet I find myself focusing on that which I do not have. I guess it stems from thinking there is something else out there which God has withheld from me. The Psalmist reminds us about the character of God when he writes “For the LORD God is a sun and shield; The LORD will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly” (Psalm 84:11). God has given us everything we need to be content in life. Now before you start listing the “things” you do not have, let me remind you that contentment is not found in a possession, but in a Person…the person of Jesus Christ. This is a promise - God will never hold back good from you when you are seeking to live in obedience to Him. The longer I live, the more I begin to understand that “good” is not defined by the tangible, but rather by the peace, contentment, and joy provided by God in times of good and bad. Are you living your life by the ice cream truck wishing you had more?