Some of the greatest moments in life–the moments that become lifelong memories–are the surprises. You have probably forgotten most of your birthdays, but not the surprise party. Without surprises life become routine and monotonous. And the greatest surprises are what I call holy surprises. Those are the moments when God appears in a burning bush or turns water into wine or sends manna from heaven.

I love surprising my kids! In fact, I just did it yesterday. I told Josiah I’m taking him on my trip to Minneapolis this weekend and he got so excited. Honestly, it was hard for me to keep the secret. I couldn’t wait to surprise him. But I knew that the surprise would make it even more fun! I think our Heavenly Father loves to surprise us! And I like to them of them as holy surprises.

2010 was the year of holy surprises. Both of our launches really came as surprises! But praise God for the Gala theater in Columbia Heights and the Potomac Yard theaters in Alexandria. Then there was the $3 million gift that prompted a property search which miraculously led to what we call the last piece of property on Capitol Hill because there are so few properties that are big enough to develop with new construction. I didn’t think we’d land property for another 5-7 years, but God had a different timetable!

I had a lot of plans going into 2010. And many of them have gone according to plan. But the greatest moments have been the holy surprises.

Praising God today for Holy Surprises!