What do you think of when someone says to you, “You’re walking on thin ice there”?  My mind goes to risky business and touchy subjects.  With that in mind one might say that I have been doing my share of thin ice walking this past week.

Yesterday morning, as I began my day reading a devotion from “Portals of Prayer,” the Bible verse topping the page got my attention.  “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” (Romans 12.12)  I think these words will continue to ring in my ears for quite some time.  “Christian hope” can be defined as “knowing the what, just not the when.”  We rejoice because we know that eternal life is ours.  We just don’t know when we will see Jesus face to face.  Or another way to put it, we don’t know when the tribulation in which we live will end.  However, since we know that it will end (because of our Christian hope) we can patiently endure it.  And the best and healthiest way to endure is by being – you guessed it – “constant in prayer”.

“Holy Cow!” is an expression I have used various times over the years to express amazement or delight, but I never thought much about the background of the statement.  In looking it up this week I discovered that the expression was used regularly by sportscasters Phil Rizzuto and Harry Carry.  Some people speculate it references Hinduism.  Others think its Irish Gaelic.  Personally I am more interested in the first half of the expression than the second.

It had been over a year since we had seen them, so it was great to finally get together.  We met at a restaurant about an hour away so that the drive would be similar for both couples.  As you can imagine, there were no lags in the conversation while we were with them – after all, in one way or another, we have been friends since day one.

Fun Times can be packaged in many different ways.  Something can be enjoyable without being amusing.  Pleasure can be found outside the realm of frivolity.  In fact some of the most pleasurable moments are often experienced while serving or even sweating.  Though some may not feel comfortable referring to some of these activities as “fun”, anything that brings a satisfactory smile to the face or warmth to the heart is going to be called “fun” in my book … and I believe our life in Christ is supposed to be fun!

It seems as though lately I have frequently been more sensitive to little things – perhaps I should really be calling them “little blessings” – in lots of different ways.  Sometimes it is in the narratives I am reading in the Scriptures.  Other times it is in the stories people are telling.  Sometimes it is just in nature or the circumstances surrounding me.