So yesterday evening, while I’m outside raking pine-straw off the driveway in the dark (because Rebekah seriously can’t see any more where the concrete ends and the yard begins…), I get a text message from Naomi that reads: “Ummm, Dad, your grandson wants to Skype with you.”

That’s the photograph you see. Naomi captured the image of David, iPad in hand, just having touched my face on the Skype App for the umpteenth time in five minutes. If you look closely you can see that’s my mug. When I pulled Skype up on my phone I could see at least a half-dozen missed calls from my favorite two-year-old.

So we “chatted” for a few minutes. Or rather I talked at David while he went back and forth bringing things out to show me. His new Buzz Lightyear, his Woody, his zoo animals, his Legos – all punctuated with the occasional squeal of delight, or animal noises to go with the elephant, the tiger, the gorilla, or the lion.

THE GOOD LIFE: It was a sweet ending to a good day. In fact, sometimes I can barely take in how good life is right now. “You’re the luckiest guy I know,” my friend Darrell wrote recently. But it would be more accurate to say that I feel consummately blessed. Blessed, and soaked in God’s good mercy and grace.

When I woke up yesterday it was barely 38-degrees. By the time I got to the golf club for my 9:00 tee-time it was maybe 40 or 41. But the sun shone brightly, the company was most excellent, the course was beautiful and it played beautifully too (plus I hit a relaxed 80 to go with the surprising 79 I posted three-and-a-half weeks ago).

Rebekah was home when I returned, devoting the afternoon to study, so we shared a cup of tea and enjoyed the privilege of spending the balance of the day together while we both worked.

REFRESHED: It’s not just the weather that’s invigorating right now; I’m feeling constantly refreshed and renewed in absolutely everything that I do.

Life is good, it’s a simple as that, and I can’t help but be grateful for the constant blessings. It’s as if the fresh breeze of God’s Spirit is blowing through everything,

“As if” may be the wrong thing to write. Fact is, God’s Spirit really is evident; that’s for sure, and there’s no “as if” about it.

So I sit here at my desk, letting the beauty, the fresh spiritual breeze, and the love wash over me. The Skype call from David simply capped it all off. I just wanted to share with you, by way of encouragement, that this life-charged life initiative of “living like we mean it,” seems to make more sense by the day.

Joy, peace, blessings, and the kind of promises you can hold on to – DEREK 

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians 3:17)