Happy Birthday!

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Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! His hesed endures forever.

Give thanks to the God of gods! His hesed endures forever.

Give thanks to the Lord of lords! His hesed endures forever:

Who remembered us in our lowly state, (His hesed endures forever;)

And rescued us from our enemies, (His hesed endures forever;)

Who gives food to all flesh, (His hesed endures forever.)

Oh, give thanks to the God of heaven! For His hesed endures forever.

Psalm 136:1-3,23-26

Today is my birthday, and as I go through the routine of getting ready for another yom of life I am remindeed of two things: 1) I am a survivor, and 2) I am loved.

The first is simply a statistical observation, one that applies to others as well. I've had my fair share of close calls, from a risky birth to car wrecks to illness to making the wrong enemies in school. I've known people who haven't survived these things, and some who have survived worse than I've endured. Yet, the one thing my whole generation has in common is surviving the cultural convenience of abortion. Since 1973, almost 50,000,000 children have been murdered in our country. That means for every 6 people you see today, 1 is missing, sacrificed to Molech. 1/7th of our population has been denied the right to life!

The second thing on my mind is how amazingly loved I am. I've been thinking about it all night. I truly believe that Olivia is more excited about my birthday than I am, which tells me a lot about how much she cares for me. I'm honored to be loved by such a woman. My family also, and even my co-workers, have already shown there desire to celebrate my life today. I find this amazing and encouraging.  Not only this, but the Bible tells me that God's love, His hesed endures for me forever. My birth, my life, matters to God! That's saying a lot since the only birthday we celebrate from Scripture is that of God's son (and we don't even know the date for that).

Olivia said the sweetest thing last night. She told me, "I'm glad you were born." And, as those words covered me in my rest, as they sank into my life and my story, I heard the Father echo "I'm glad you were born, too." 

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