Happy Tuesday!

My hilarious 18 year old son Coree Balsamo (photo above) was outside on the phone last night… wasn’t paying much attention to his surrounding… wasn’t wearing his contact lenses. He was out there for a while just talking away… comes running in after the call… absolutely FRAZZLED… says to Emily and I, “MOM-DAD, you wont believe what just happened to ME! I was outside on the phone talking to Kady and I saw this creature coming to me… I thought it was a cat! It just kept getting closer and closer and when it got RIGHT TO ME, I reached out my hand to pet it… I TOUCHED ITS NOSE… and ALL OF THE SUDDEN, I realized IT WAS A SKUNK!!!”

Coree continued pouring out his HIGHLY ANIMATED play by play skunk story, “As soon as I recognized it was a SKUNK, my body REACTED… I tried to stay calm but I TENSED UP… I was like, ‘woooooo’… it was enough to FLIP THE SKUNK OUT… and HIS HAIR ROSE UP ON HIS BACK… and he went CRAZY like he was gonna SPRAY ME! So I sat there FROZEN in my chair trying not to WET MY PANTS! And amazingly, he had mercy on me! He just walked off!”

Then, Coree says to us, “I’m not gonna lie to you guys… there was a really big part of me that WANTED TO GET SPRAYED!” LOL

The bizarre thing about this story is that Coree was telling the truth about wanting to get sprayed. He’s like this about EVERYTHING in life. He seems to LIVE for inconvenience… those times where all hell breaks loose and the whole crowd goes to crying and yelling and running and hiding… NOT COREE! He comes ALIVE in moments of trouble! Coree finds A BELLY LAUGH in the smelliest and most potentially smelliest occurrences! Coree sees a MEMORY to be made… a STORY to be told! He has this very unique gift for laughing in the face of disaster. And I LOVE THAT ABOUT HIM!

James 1:2-3 Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an OPPORTUNITY FOR GREAT JOY. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.

Today is one of those days when the MASTER has become the STUDENT: Even though I love to pride myself as the Yoda of this family… and I love teaching my handsome young Jedi apprentice everything I know… I’m starting to REALIZE how MUCH I CAN LEARN FROM HIM if I’m just humble enough to recognize this!

My prayer this morning: God make me so much more like COREE in the way I VIEW hardship! I really DESIRE this GIFT of his! I want to be able to BELLY LAUGH IN THE FACE OF EVERY DISASTER! I want to have that WIERD DESIRE FOR GETTING SPRAYED BY A SKUNK! And IF this should ever happen to me… I want to SEE IT AS A MEMORY MADE-A STORY TO BE TOLD!

Dear brothers and sisters… when TROUBLE comes YOUR WAY… CONSIDER IT… an OPPORTUNITY… for GREAT joy! Because God is working in your life… and you are GROWING strong through all of this! Look at you STANDING there in front of that mighty mountain of apparent disaster… with ALL THAT FAITH of yours! This is your opportunity to SHINE… to show the whole world what you’ve got to offer! These circumstances may have come about to take you down… but you CAN TURN THIS AROUND in a WEEK or a month or just a little bit longer than that!

Matthew 6:25-27 That is why I (Jesus) tell you NOT TO WORRY about everyday life-whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? CAN ALL YOUR WORRIES add a single moment to your life?

Maybe you really are facing some painful hardship today… and up to this moment all you could see is the overwhelming PAIN of what you’re going through! Change your mind on the matter right now! Come on, I dare you! You’re not going to be able to FIX anything with WORRY… and God doesn’t respond to pity… he rewards FAITH! So WIPE YOUR EYES and LOOK AGAIN! This is another OPPORTUNITY FOR JOY!

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 hope todays blog adds tremendous value to your amazing lives! I just finished praying for you all… hoping you all feel the difference all day long! I believe that after God gets finished working in your current situations, the devil will wish he’d never laid eyes on YOU! Have a most triumphant day friends! Yes, I really do believe this! (smiling and winking)