Happy Tuesday!

Today, I celebrate NINETEEN YEARS of absolute BLISS with the love of my life, Emily Elizabeth Wall Balsamo! It wasn’t ALL bliss… let me tell you, I had to put up with sooooooo much, ohhhh you good people have NO IDEA what poor little Chucky had to ENDURE… and now after nearly TWO DECADES of intensive training, I think she’s finally starting to get her act together! Thats right… I’ve taken my girl through OBEDIENCE school! She’s FINALLY starting to do what I say, how I say it, and when I say it! JUST KIDDING… calm down baby! lol

Really, it’s me thats had to shape up! Emily deserves a few purple hearts and a great big TROPHY ROOM for all she’s had to put up with! I’m such a blessed man. She is my best friend in all this world… a gift I will NEVER be able to adequately thank God for! As I write this blog, I pray blessings over her life as she sleeps this morning. I ask that God will LAVISH Emily for the rest of her life with EXTRAVAGANT BLESSINGS for all the extravagant LOVE and KINDNESS she has given to me!

I’m getting ready to go jump on the bed and WAKE UP my sleeping BEAUTY… it’s anniversary celebration day, we can’t sleep it away… we must rise early and do something fun together! I don’t know… maybe I should let her sleep a little while longer… she’s grouchy without PLENTY of sleep… anyone out there know what I’m talking about? I bet you do… but not like I do! lol just kidding again… NOT!

Ok… I carefully weighed the consequences of my actions and decided to let her sleep a little while longer… that gives me a chance to keep a promise I made to you guys yesterday. Remember? I was going to tell you that amazing story about being a grateful person instead of a grumbler… yes, the one my friend David Kumar told me on Sunday afternoon.

Pastor Kumar is such a profound storyteller… oh, and he has a facebook now… so check it out! Here’s the story…

In a far away land… there lived a King. He had a beautiful kingdom… and a very helpful Prime Minister. Even though the King was a decent man, he did not believe in God. His Prime Minister had beautiful faith in God… and he believed that everything good and bad ALWAYS turned out for his good.

One day the King cut his finger while playing with his sword… and since the Prime Minister was at his side, he quickly bandaged the wound and explained to the King, “God makes everything turn out for our good!”

The King was FURIOUS at the Prime Minister for imposing his beliefs and called for the guards to come chain him up and carry him off the dungeon. As the Prime Minister was being carried off, the King sneered to him, “Lets see what good comes out of your imprisonment!”

A few days later, the King decided to go on a hunting excursion. At the far edges of his kingdom territory, the King speared a glorious elk… but it did not fall right away. In fact, it ran and ran… the King pursued his blood trail, not realizing that he had wandered beyond the borders of his Kingdom.

The people of the bordering kingdom were a very evil kind of people… they were cannibals! So when they noticed the King, they seized him… and tied him up with ropes… and began chanting in preparation of their human sacrifice ritual. You see they were preparing the King to be sacrificed to their gods and then EATEN by the villagers! The King was captured alone, for all his servants had fled away to safety.

The Priests came to examine the King to make sure he was not defiled in any way so that he would be an acceptable sacrifice to the gods. Just at the time it would seem that all hope was lost for our King… something glorious happened! The priests discovered the Kings cut finger and deemed him unworthy for sacrifice! So they released the King… free to go back home and reign over his people.

When the King returned back home, he went to the prison to tell this story to his Prime Minister. As the King finished up his story, the Prime Minister said, “See King… just as I told you… God makes everything turn out for our good!”

The King looked at his imprisoned Prime Minister and asked, “Then what good has come out of your time here in this dark dungeon?” The Prime Minister smiled and then replied in a very kind and humble tone, “Oh that is easy King… for you see, if I was not in this dungeon, I would have been right by your side as your faithful servant… and when that glorious Elk traveled out of the borders, I too would have followed with you… and I would not have fled to safety. I too would have been seized with you my King… and because there is no part of my body now defiled, I would have been considered worthy of sacrifice… and I would have been eaten by those cannibals! You see… God really does make everything turn out for our good!”

So the King put his faith in God from that day forward… he released his Prime Minister… and the two friends lived happily ever after as they TRUSTED God with their lives!

The end!

Romans 8:28 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

I pray that todays blog adds tremendous value to your amazing lives! Be more thankful… grumble far LESS… God can bring good out of EVERY circumstance! Have a super day everyone!