Christina and I arrived in Georgia for my graduation ceremony which is actually tomorrow night. It has rained a lot for our drive here but we arrived safely this morning. I actually want to write about yesterday's events for a moment. While we are sitting in our hotel waiting for our graduation banquet to begin in a few hours it has given me time to reflect and just to think about things in our life right now as a family.

Wednesdays are always very busy but they are easy to deal with because it is a day when I get to see all of our students and see how their weeks are going. Last night was our senior night in our student worship service where we had the privilege of honoring fourteen graduating high school seniors. It was a great time of laughter and a time of tears. It was obvious for the seniors that the full impact of what was upon them was begin to soak in a little better. There really no words to describe how I feel about this group. Even though I have only had eight weeks to work with them and to know them I have actually been praying for this group for years.

After our senior night, we attended a mission trip planning meeting with Dan Moran Ministries about our upcoming trip to Honduras. While we were in this meeting (where Jameson tortured Dan with the U of A fight song.) my senior pastor, Bro. Tim, called me and his tone appeared very urgent. (DEFCON 2)For the rest of the meeting, I hardly thought Honduras because all that I could think about was "What has happened now?" When the meeting was over I ran outside to call him where I found out that he needed me to meet him at our house to talk. (DEFCON 1!) As I frantically drove toward those attempting to appear calm, I arrived to see something that I will truly never forget. A crowd from our church, First Baptist Church of Sylacauga, was there to surprise me for my graduation. This post would take forever if I went into all of the details about the night but it was truly overwhelming. It was truly awesome! You see, as I said above, I have only been here for two months and there is really no reason for these people to give up their time and resources to have done this for me. But they did it anyway! What a picture of the grace of God! We absolutely do not deserve it, but God makes it available anyway. You see, these people could this because they have experienced this grace and want to make it available to others.

So. I am extremely thankful. For my family, our new church home and family, the staff that God allows for me to work with and those that we serve. But most of all I am thankful that God loves me and gives me so much more than I deserve.