For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.

1 Timothy 4:4-5

So I was posting another gallery of pictures from Bahrain, happy to pass along the good story Rebekah is experiencing, and (just maybe) complaining a little in my heart that I am not there with her… when I remembered that I am so very grateful for the story I am living today, right here in North Carolina – in our good home in this beautiful neighborhood in this lovely town of Wake Forest.

I had been reading an article about dramatic rent inflation, and the crippling bind people find themselves in when they simply can’t afford anywhere decent to live. One couple squeezing into studio “efficiency” apartment without even a full kitchen. A family paying over $2,500 in monthly rent – plus utilities – for inadequate space. Still another seeing their rent double in the past year. And here I am, sitting at the counter drinking coffee, in a kitchen Rebekah designed from the ground up specifically for me.

Here it is (and, yes, I’m doing a good job of keeping it clean!). It was kind of pokey before, not functionally designed, and with a breakfast room in the bay window. But Rebekah stripped it down to the floorboards, then redrew the entire layout using both rooms to create one beautiful space.

She designed it for me, knowing how I cook, and how much I would enjoy working in such a beautiful kitchen. It’s really pretty remarkable.

So I was thinking all that, sipping on my coffee, beginning my day, setting my trajectory in a devotional frame of mind. And, of course, waiting for the next set of photographs to come in from Bahrain.

I pray that your day is similarly framed in prayer, and in peace, and in gratitude – DEREK