I adore Tim McGraw. I love his voice, love his songs .... love THIS song:

                                                          "Better Than I Used To Be"

I know how to hold a grudge
I can send a bridge up in smoke
And I can't count the people I've let down, the hearts I've broke
You ain't gotta dig too deep
If you wanna find some dirt on me
I'm learning who you've been
Ain't who you've got to be
It's gonna be an uphill climb
Aww honey I won't lie

(chorus)
I ain't no angel
I still got a few more dances with the devil
I’m cleaning up my act little by little
I’m getting there
I can finally stand the man in the mirror I see
I ain’t as good as I’m gonna get
But I’m better than I used to be

I’ve pinned a lot of demons to the ground
I’ve got a few old habits left
But there’s still one or two I might need you to help me get
Standing in the rain so long has left me with a little rust
But put some faith in me
And someday you’ll see
There’s a diamond under all this dust

...Say what you want about "cliche country songs", but this song is true for all of us - or at least it should be! We aren't perfect. We haven't conquered every temptation that will come our way. But we are working on it. We are improving. We're becoming who we want to be - who we need to be. 

Spiritually speaking we are all either growing or shrinking backward. There is no standing still. So which way are you moving??

       Sooo, I missed a week of updating - oops! Robbie was on a business trip all of last week, which totally messed up my schedule (how dare he ... ha!). Meanwhile, his Uncle Gary was put in the hospital in St. Louis - part of his intestines had died due to a blood clot, and they ended up removing quite a bit of his intestines. Now, exactly a week later, it seems to be one thing after another. They have found more blood clots, his blood pressure is unstable, and this evening his kidneys are failing. We are doing a lot of praying - and would appreciate it if you would too!

       One good thing did come out of this hard time though - since I drove up to meet Robbie in St. Louis Saturday when he flew in, we were in St. Louis for church Sunday morning, which allowed us to attend the Kirkwood meeting. We heard a sermon that I LOVED  - it was on something we've all thought about before - the purpose of life/our purpose here on earth, but it was presented in a way that I needed to hear. It boiled down to this:
      - When we think about the plan of salvation, we often think that God saved us because He loves us. And that is part of it - a HUGE part of it - but its not the whole thing!
      - We are here to serve God, to love God, and to live to the Glory of God.
      - When Satan told God "your servants only serve You because you are so great to them" (paraphrasing, of course), God allowed Satan to take EVERYTHING away from Job  -- he did that to prove to Satan wrong.
      - Every time we chose God over temptation, we are proving Satan wrong.
      - We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers (Ephesians 6:12 - paraphrased). Those are spiritual beings we're fighting with!
      - Every time we chose to serve God, even when its hard and there are lots of temptations, not only are we keeping Heaven in our sights, not only are we serving as an example to those here on earth, but as the preacher-man said Sunday we are "kicking Satan in the teeth" and proving him wrong. We are living to the Glory of God...

And what a huge responsibility that is!