Only the Good Stuff: Multivitamins for Your Weekend [08.22.15]

Happy, happy, happy weekend!

yep, so the post crashed here & we lost the whole shebang. But you wanna know what? It’s worth the time to go back & gather all the good stuff, to make sure we share a whole lot of the GOOD NEWS, to take the time to make folks laugh too loud — because honest? Life’s hard & what in the world are we here for but to just spread around some serious joy?

Sooooo —- coming right up, for your weekly serving of happiness: Only The Good Stuff, links & stories, absolutely 100% guaranteed to MAKE YOU SMILE, exhale, laugh like a lovely hyena & just feel your faith restored in fine folk & one Always Good God who is really & truly redeeming everything. You betcha: Everybody needs to hear about the GOOD STUFF.

D. Martincová
D. Martincova
M. Béreš

completely free 2 minute virtual vacation, yours for the taking

uhhh Houston, it appears we have a (cat) situation!

Andrew Marttila

beautiful eyes — there really is beauty absolutely everywhere

caught on camera at the beach this week —

things always, always, always, look different when we look up

 new friends? gotta love ’em

José Luis Rodríguez

community, people — nothing like community

really, who knew?

making this ..without lifting his pen?

so: just staying at what you’re doing, even when it’s hard —

and yes, ma’am, you can count on pretty spectacular things happening

one for the history books:

first swimmer to win the 200, 400, 800 and 1,500-meter freestyles in a major competition

and after the meet? she quickly spread the credit around

Point is: STAY IN THE POOL. Keep on pushing on the hard things — and spread the credit around

straight up amazing

Annie Jacob
Annie Jacob
Annie Jacob

yep, dog days of summer — and absolutely no shame in saying we thought this was hilarious

maybe umm…. watch this with your eyes closed?

Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group
Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group

two guys. sorting, melting & molding discarded — crayons.  

C’mon now, who doesn’t need a second chance?  Especially when it turns out why they’re doing it  

 alrighty — ever wondered where your checked luggage has traveled?

cheering!

Craig Chandler/University of Nebraska-Lincoln

that’s right,beautiful people: at 87? she’s earned her college degree after going back to heal her broken heart  Take Note: go do that big thing you’re dreaming — even when it’s really brutally hard

uh, yeah —  nobody was expecting that to jump out of the water?!

Ivelina Blagoeva
Ivelina Blagoeva
Ivelina Blagoeva

no way,  no way, you can look at these & something deep & beautiful not happen

  okay, no shame — maybe this is the cutest ever?

Denise Marsolek‎

I’m telling you — who get’s a love story like this?

and really — don’t you think it’d get pretty crazy in here if we all did just one thing today, just one thing,  to love large like this?

“Many people … are nice to Kaden, but that doesn’t mean they see him.”

okay — this…

you can do this: go soar

we’re doing it, folks – — all of us together, just everyday doing incredible things like this

you know — sometimes even a downpour is just. the. best.

yeah, she nailed it: There is nothing left to be done but praise His name. All the time.

“Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess His name” (Hebrews 13:15).

All week, nope, have not been able to get today’s TODAY segment or Kathie Lee’s words out of my head

do not, DO NOT, leave the internet without watching this today

so maybe before this weekend is over… maybe because Frank would want us to do this — maybe because the Good Shepherd wants us to and maybe this is how a whole country, a whole world, in need of good news starts to really hear the good news — by us being a people known by our praise, by our joy, by our gratitude, by us all being a bunch of gratitude revolutionaries who just take the time to do it right now:

THANK A TEACHER, A FIREMAN, A POLICEMAN, A DOCTOR, A TRUCKER, A NURSE, A HAIRDRESSER, A MOM, A MAILMAN, THANK SOMEBODY, ANYBODY, right now, tag them, give them a shout out, and thank them for slaying giants and using their gift to make a hurting world more beautiful with His touch of amazing grace…

Because sometimes the way we leave a legacy of friendship with God — is to take the time to thank someone — because gratitude IS the revolutionary language of friendship with God & man…

… so they say some guy started loading up his Kalashnikov rifle yesterday, in the toilet stall of a train speeding south from Amsterdam to Paris —

and there were two plain clothed American servicemen, an Air Force man, a National Guardsman, with a childhood buddy from California, headed down to the city of the Eiffel Tower, who stood up on the travelling bullet, confronted the gun-weilding terrorist, took some bullets, towered over evil & simply took the guy down.

There are the brave & steady-hearted who do the right thing in the private, plain clothed moments, who stand up for good when it’s inconvenient, because that’s what separates the really good intentioned, from the real people who intentionally change the world for good.

There are people who in their private moments man up & risk their lives for the public good — and there are those who live morally risky private lives while only publicly pretending to be good.

There are plain clothes heroes all around us, on our trains & under our roofs, out on our front lines & sitting right here in front of us, the brave who live quiet lives of long faithfulness & daily courage, who are brave not because it’s their public job or mask or gig — but because it’s privately who they are, in their marriages, and DNA, and their unnoticed moments.

Long after the last train rolls out of the station, and all the spotlights of all the newsreels roll on — there are still more than a few fine men.

 so definitely, it can be miserably hard — and that doesn’t change one iota how this is possible

oh, you know — no biggie. just a mama bear and her 5 cubs, you know, stopping by for AN HOUR LONG SWIM IN YOUR BACKYARD

 then, kick off the weekend & turn this pretty loud —  leave on repeat

[ print’s free for you here ]

Hey Soul? yeah, you know what would really change everything today, just take the burden & weight right off everybody (& who doesn’t desperately need that?)

— just this:

You don’t have to be awesome & do everything.

You simply have to believe that

the One who is Awesome loves you through everything.

“God told them, “I’ve never quit loving you & never will. Expect love, love, & more love!” Jer.31:3MSG

That just takes all the pressure of to do everything awesome today — because He promises to love you through everything today, in spite of everything, & that is what is awesome…

[what’s changing my life ]

[excerpted from our devotions in our little Facebook community … come join us?]

That’s all for this weekend, friends.

Go slow. Be God-struck. Grant grace. Live Truth.

Give Thanks. Love well. Re – joy, re- joy, ‘re- joys’ again

Share Whatever Is Good.