A GREAT Day!

I awoke this morning very early and did two loads of laundry, cleaned my kitchen, threw dishes into the dishwasher and ran it. Then, I ran up the stairs to take a shower and get ready for church.

At one point as I was talking to God about the blessings He has bestowed upon me, I began to do that activity that I have become quite proficient at: I beat myself up.

Oh, I use time like today to assess all the stuff that I feel like I screwed up. In today's edition, I gave myself quite a thrashing over the fact that I feel like I haven't been too spiritual lately. I told God that I was sorry....and that I would try to do better. But I also told him how much I appreciate all the good things He has given men and how He has guided the rebuilding of my life following a series of personal traumas.

I told Him that I would not have survived these past few years without Him.

For all His faithfulness and help...I felt totally awful about my shortcomings.

I pledged to do more.

Then I ran off to church.

I am a member of a wonderful church in Fairfax VA. It's a fairly young congregation. Today it celebrated its 28th anniversary of being organized As a part of that celebration, it gave out a series of Anniversary Awards.

I was settled in for a wonderful church service when the first person was called up to present the first award.

It was the "SPIRIT" award.

Imagine my shock when they said that the 2009 SPIRIT award was being presented to me!

I was so shocked.

They gave me a certificate and a t-shirt. The certificate celebrates 28 years of life-changing ministry.

The certificate reads: "The Metropolitan Community Church of Northern Virginia proudly presents this SPIRIT AWARD to Frank in recognition of his spiritual depth and giftedness and in gratitude for the many ways in which he serves and inspires our community. Presented on the 15th of March 2009.""

I was speechless: one of the few times in my half-century of life that I had nothing to say.

They applauded. People smiled and nodded.

I returned to my seat. Folks I sat close to patted me, squeezed my shoulders and told me how much I deserved it.

Then, the tears began to well up in my eyes. I discreetly left the sanctuary and went into the lobby area. I lost it. The tears flowed.

So even when I feel like I am so insiginificant and that I have done very little, apparentlly my perceptions are a bit warped and I am not seeing things so very clearly.

God never ceases to amaze me with the depths of His love.

My church never ceases to amaze me with their unconditional love, support and acceptance.

I could never have come back from the abyss without all of them!