I remember as a kid when my parents took me and my sisters to see Benji in the theaters.... Very few words were spoken in that whole movie... but I remembered my sisters and I enjoying it -- until the end. Logically, it was a very happy movie... the helicopter came and was going to rescue Benji.... but in the eyes of my sisters and I, that wasnt the case because we didnt see it happen. Literally, my sisters and I were crying our eyes out on the way out of the theater.... and I remember my mom saying something like "why would they end it that way" ... Looking back on that whole situation, I now know my mom questioned why they would end the movie in a freeze frame with the helicopter still in the air -- but she never would have questioned it if it wasnt for my sisters and I crying because Benji never got rescued. As adults, we're mature so we just fill in the blanks and complete the story... Isnt it funny how Jesus said that unless we become like little children, we will never see the Kingdom of Heaven? I mean, look at us big and mature people.... we can fix anything, right? Makes me think of a conversation I had with a friend a few weeks ago about global warming.... We were talking about how everytime man tries to fix something that we screwed up in nature, we mess it up. We cut down trees, kill of a species of animals which throws things out of whack because of the balance of species so we introduce a new species into that area and that species ends up killing the others.... that kind of stuff. If we are so smart and so mature, then why are we so unhappy and screwing so much up? Sure we can work miracles but doesnt it seem that the miracles that man can create are only able to be done because of something else that we completely screwed up?

I think there is more to the becomming like children than we realize. We have to abandon the hope that *WE* can make it better and just let God make it better. Maturity is a good thing but often times spiritual maturity contradicts worldly maturity. Sometimes God does put some "magical" thing in front of us to speak to us... and satan is right there with someone talking to us about it to totally discredit it as an act of God by saying "thats just a coincidence" ... We need to believe in fairy tales because alot of times when God does something in our lives, its something like a fairy tale. It's something we've wanted to happen but was impossible. In 1985 my dad was in a motorcyle wreck and was given 10% chance of living. I was 5 years old and had no idea of what 10% chance of living meant. I cried as he was taken out of the hospital he was first taken to on a stretcher to be put in a helicopter to be taken to Allegheny General in Pittsburgh because they were the only hospital in the whole side of the state that was willing to even attempt to make him better. A few years later I remember my mom telling someone a story about a doctor talking to her at one point saying "You have to realize that if he actually does make it....." and her response was "what do you mean if he makes it"...... I lived my life as tho my dad was not dying.... My mom did the same.... and here we are in 2006 and my dad is not only alive but is completely walking under his own power. To anyone else, my dad living was a fairy tale -- but it was a fairy tale that my family believed in and God made it happen.

Living in Northern VA is a struggle for me because of the attitude of the entire area. People are obsessed with being better and making more money and getting a bigger house and a bigger car (and being able to afford the gas for that hummer). It's not how I was raised. Yet, at the same time, living in Northern VA is one of the best things that ever came my way. Maybe its a fairy tail that I enjoy living in an area that I hate? :) I have my share of problems -- ok, I have alot of them. I think one thing about Northern VA is the absolute abundance of children and schools and day cares in this area. Sometimes you just have to wonder why that is. Maybe all of us are so busy about becomming better and better that we surround ourselves with kids to bring a little bit of happiness into our lives because we can watch them believe the fairy tales that *WE* should be believing. At the same time, those kids are forced to grow up and think rationally at such an early age. We create a rational thinking teenager and they out smart us and make our lives a living hell. Alot of this is, of course, said tounge-in-cheek, but there is a reality to it. Maybe the biggest reason for me being in Northern VA is to be smacked in the face with what people do wrong? Im convinced the NoVA draws alot of people to the area and that 90% of those people it draws are totally self centered. Hey, this is where the money is at so if your not totally focused on money, this area has less of a draw to you, right? I wonder why New Life is spoken of in areas across the nation sometimes -- but maybe its because we're up against more than your typical church?

At any rate, I am in Northern VA and I know the people I know for a purpose that is grater than what I realize. What lies ahead for me, for New Life, for the people around me, and all of God's Children is nothing more than a fairy tales -- except, just as in the eys of those children watching [insert favorite kids movie here], this fairy tale is a reality -- and thankfully it happens whether we believe it or not. I think the best thing we can do is believe that fairy tale and enjoy it instead of not believe it and make our lives misserable.