Thankful

In Sunday School, we are going through the book of James verse by verse. Scott and T (my brother in law) have started teaching through this book and they rotate chapters. Scott does a chapter, T does a chapter... so, we are in chapter 4 now and it's Scott's chapter. We just started the chapter on Sunday and at the beginning of last week, Scott told me we should make it through verse 10. Ha! Anyone knowing my husband... well, that just isn't gonna happen. Guess how far we made it? Verse ONE. James opens chapter four saying, "What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?" We spent the Sunday School hour talking about how we must make war with our sins... we must make war with the things of this world. We have two choices. We can either make war for the lusts of this world or we can make war against the lusts of this world.
Now, what in the world does that have to do with my title "Thankful"? Well, Scott used a simple illustration (simple, I said) on selfishness and our desires about what happened at our house on Saturday night. We ALL know what went on Saturday night, right? It was the b-i-g-g-e-s-t football game of the season. Alabama vs. LSU. And we ALL know how much we like football around this place, ay? So, we made steak potatoes (of which I promise to post a recipe) and planned on watching the game. Without going into a lot of detail, we have been struggling lately with the amount of time that we aren't spending as a family. We seem to all be going in four different directions. And Scott knew that spending 4 hours watching a football game (THE one to see, mind you) wasn't the best idea and that he needed to "make war" with his internal desires. With that said, the past few weeks, we've been playing Monopoly as a family and Ella absolutely *loves* it. She wanted to play this weekend but there just wasn't enough "time". So, making war against those desires, Scott decided we would as a family, play Monopoly. Saying that Ella was thrilled was an understatement. We sat down, while THE biggest gave EVER was on and played Monopoly. Now, what's going to stand out in Ella's memory when she gets older? Will it be watching a football game or playing a game? Exactly. So, as Scott told that story in Sunday School, he couldn't help but choke up. And that is brokenness. That's how God works. But what made me so thankful was the fact that I got the sweetest compliment after class. I had someone tell me that I have a precious husband and they are thankful for his transparency. Wow. One year or so ago, all I would have gotten was "you know, we love Scott, but he comes across arrogant, like he knows everything and very provocative". I'm not saying that he wasn't some of these things. (Truth be told, I think he was provoked more than he provoked, but whatever). But I praise God where he has us in our life. I am thankful for Gracepoint Community Church and I'm thankful for my precious, transparent husband.
I tried to keep that as simple as possible so your eyes won't glass over and you won't fall asleep. So, if it's choppy or seems to be stream of consciousness then I apologize. I don't claim to be the best writer but hopefully the point was made. And I'm gonna give this clip of John Piper from a sermon as he is pleading us to "Make War" on ourselves...

http://youtu.be/wrY0h33coR4