I went to a friends shop looking for a pair of jeans and found a pair that fit perfectly, but didn’t buy them. I said, “I’m church hopping and need a pair for church.” She was surprised by the words, ‘church hopping’ and neither of us were sure what church jeans were supposed to look like.

TobyMac dropped a new song and I’ve been thinking a lot about the goodness in my life. It was 7 years ago I was standing in a post office in small town Texas, when a man walked in whose presence engulfed the lobby. I asked, “How are you?”, and still remember what he looked like and the conviction in his voice as he spoke these words, “I’m blessed and highly favored.”

Not only did he say it, but he owned it, and I knew right then, I wanted to be able to respond like that.

Earlier this year at another friend’s shop, I saw this pillow and picked it up and held it every time I walked in. It’s a frivolous purchase, like I need one more pillow, but still remember it and how it made me smile. The original pillow sold, but a couple of weeks ago I was talking with my friend and mentioned that pillow. She offered to special order me a new one.

My daughter says it looks like I killed a Yak, but I see God’s favor.

When this post airs, I’ll be sitting in the same church for the second time and I’m treating it like a date, so let’s see if we make it to number three. Sometimes God’s goodness is tangible like this pillow, but it isn’t always so obvious. The true goodness in life is God Himself consistently showing up. Maybe I’ll practice saying, “Blessed and highly favored”, at church. That’ll reveal pretty quick if I’m at the right building.