Turning it in

Are you making a difference?

So, if all the Christians of the world came together and did like Jesus, that is, serving and not condemning…would the world even “want” to persecute us? Shouldn’t we be so “Christian” that the world would say “if we isolated them and killed them all off, who would provide the charity, love the unloved, help us in time of need?” I feel like that if things should be thought all the way through, we should be an asset to have around.

On to personal things..

As I worked in the secular realm (like everyone else) and now as I work in a predominately Christian environment, I see that there were a lot of NON believers what were considerably more considerate than some of the believers that I work with…it really makes me wonder more about true belief. In particular MY beliefs. If I believe, where is the transformation? Isn’t that what should happen? I used to always quote a verse that states,

“ 9 How long will you lie there, you sluggard?
       When will you get up from your sleep?

 10 A little sleep, a little slumber,
       a little folding of the hands to rest-

 11 and poverty will come on you like a bandit
       and scarcity like an armed man.

 It repeats it again later in proverbs:

 32 I applied my heart to what I observed
       and learned a lesson from what I saw:

 33 A little sleep, a little slumber,
       a little folding of the hands to rest-

 34 and poverty will come on you like a bandit
       and scarcity like an armed man. ^[a]

And it really makes me curious…have I become lazy? Yes, I have.

The other night as my wife and I were having a discussion and the question came up, “What happened to the man that TRIED to be a better father instead of resolving to ‘this is who I am’?”

Obviously, it was insulting at first. But, wow what an accurate question. All these revelations, all this frustration, all this lack of the fruit of the Spirit…It’s got to be pointing to something. Yes, I long for my brothers to hold my feet to the fire. But, if I can only do it with accountability, is that a form of pride or idolatry? One of my children recently referenced in one of their blog posts that it’s where we turn when we have the struggles that matters.

When I was a new believer, when I would get down or upset, I would throw on some of my favorite secular music and get lost in my headphones. It was soon afterward that God convicted me to lose those CDs. That I was taking my issues to the wrong place. Now, it appears that my support group is something that God has removed from me….as I would take my troubles to them…

I am orphaned. But, there is a Father that is waiting for me to turn to Him. I have been a poor man’s version of a prodigal son. I don’t have an inheritance to blow…but, I have constantly sought my own outlets for my needs or fulfillment.

It must be time…it’s not going to get much clearer I guess. I just have to figure out how.

Lumber Yard

God has used quite a few things to reveal (again) something that my old accountability partners and I used to hold each other to. That if we had a problem with somebody, it was usually US that had the problem to resolve in ourselves.

We would approach each other for each others good. Not our own. If I had a problem with someone being a certain way that offended me...that I would need to evaluate why I had a problem with it and if it needed to be addressed, it was for the offenders true benefit. Not our own benefit in someway.

That's hard...when I had people to help me it got easier to do those things in love. However, without those precious friends to help me, I have back slidden something fierce.

God said that we should remove the Lowe's Lumber Yard out of our own eye before you take the spec out of another's. Emphasis mine. But isn't it so true that we can identify the microscopic issues that others are in but ignore the quagmire of our own problems or even be blind to them.

It's been a good day of "trouble" to remind me of this.

Anyone have a forklift?

Soccer FUN!!!

Have you heard of Coerver's 531 tournament? It's a blast we spent the entire day after Thanksgiving in it. I took Christian to play in the U13 and Joshua played in the U9. The tournament progresses like this:

When you're scheduled to play a team you meet them on the 5v5 field and play. Then, immediately when that is finished you move to the 3v3 field and play. When that's over you meet at the pit where the team faces off in 1v1. The pit is a small little walled off area with small goals. It's intense to watch. It's like watching 2 warriors fight to the death...they battle for 60 seconds, then the next 2 face off..and so on until all 6 of the team have met. So, at the beginning of the tournament you create your 1v1 lineups where none can be the same order. The total of the wins determines the team that wins...you get 3 points for each win...for a max of nine in each round.

It's nonstop action with only about 20 minutes between matches..then they do the 5v5,3v3,1v1 to the next team. They played 6 matches...needless to say, they both slept great after that.

Joshua's team was the youngest in the tournament since they were playing up to U9 and they came in 4th place...Christian's team took 3rd in their division.

It's insane fun and the kids love it.

Joshua got to play with keepers for the first time ever. He was thrilled that he scored a few goals on a keeper. Then, he got to play keeper for the 1st time ever...he said, "I don't like that! I stink!" He was smiling the whole time though. I included a picture of him in goalie garb.

New picture

How do you like the new picture?? I thought I'd play around with it.