Late Night, Early Morning

It's currently 9:46 a.m. as I write this. Not necessarily early by my "normal" standards, but early for me in this particular situation. It's sunny outside. Not too cold, and overall just nice. Reflecting on the events of last evening, God is good. Here's why:

Last night, I was watching a movie at home and decided to hit the sack afterward. Just as I was getting settled in, I get a text from a long time friend that I used to work with and write with extensively in the studio. His name is Michael Ripoll (click to see his website) and he now lives in Los Angeles and is the musical director for Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds - yes, THE Babyface. Michael is an extremely uber talented guitarist and artist that has moved out west and become quite successful in his work both on the road as a musician and in the studio as a song writer. He's currently in town to take care of some business and do some writing and after flying in, decided to call me first to see what I was doing.

He texted me at 11:00 seeming like he needed to talk, so I told him to come over to the house. By the time he arrived, it was midnight. We stayed up talking till 3:30 a.m! Come to find out, Mike (as he allows me to call him) is going through some personal struggles and needed some outside guidance and insight. So he comes to me??? I figured that I'd be the last person anyone would come to to try and get some wisdom and get things straight. However, he did and we had a wonderful time talking through some things that we've both struggled with in the past. The wonderful thing in all of this however, is the fact that the Lord allowed me to share some things about His grace and mercy that I've experienced that I believe really spoke to Michael. Without really being able to describe it, it was one of those God moments where He was actually there with us. It was us being real. Us being vulnerable. And us sharing our hearts and God was in the place with us. We could feel it. In fact, we talked about it. It was a special time for me and the funny thing is; I feel the Lord spoke more to me than He did to Michael through me!

I just want to be used for Him, give of myself, and be available. That's been my prayer and last night was a time that God answered a prayer and showed me a glimpse of better days ahead. God is good - all the time!

Now if I could just get some sleep. Training comes later!