Rainey Days

When my niece Sydney started playing soccer at age three, my family got involved in a variety of ways. We were spectators, trainers, and my brother even started coaching. For the past few weeks, he's made the rounds of the growth groups of Severn River Church, sharing a devotional thought based on his soccer coaching experiences. One of his points was that having the right players really makes a difference. You can have a deep bench of players, but if none of them are any good, it doesn't help you win. The right players are worth pursuing because they will help you accomplish the great things you envision. We've been applying that value to our church growth plan, but this weekend I saw it in action in my own personal life. I moved yesterday, making a few runs with a small trailer full of boxes and "small stuff." Today, the men in my family moved the "big stuff"--furniture for the living room, dining area, and bedroom. We were aided by Michael Mart...

Yesterday was my thirty-mmphmpm birthday. To celebrate, I had a wonderful dinner with my family on Sunday night, where I ate my favorite steak and opened presents. I took the day off of work, and oh, yeah, I bought my first home. Two months ago, a friend mentioned an open condo unit in her building; was I interested? I looked through it one night, and thought it wouldn't hurt to check on financing. As it turned out, I reconnected with an old family friend who sells real estate, and she helped me find financing. She also helped me find a great condo in Sun Valley, right between my parents and sister's homes in Millersville and my brother's home in Glen Burnie. At first I couldn't believe that I would actually get a loan; then I was amazed that I found a place I actually liked in my price range. Quite often I felt that God was really blessing me throughout the process, and yesterday at settlement, I was sure that He had given me more than I've ever deserved....

While I was having some writer's block issues, friends and family started telling me that my blog had disappeared. After some research, I discovered that my domain name (www.arielrainey.com) had come up for renewal, but my credit card expired, and my email address was an old one that I no longer use, so I wasn't getting my notices from the company for renewal. I finally got it hashed out and updated over the last few days, and finally I'm back online. Now, if only I was over the writer's block . . .