I may have just graduated Kindergarten

Some revelation that is probably obvious to others…

I have recently been thinking about my relationship with the Lord and how it focused mainly on me. The things that I am going through, the things that I am worried about, etc. I don’t necessarily think that’s bad. For we are to “cast our cares upon Him, for He cares for us.” – “His Yoke is easy, His burden light”. But, when I am saying self centered I mean I was thinking in a way that felt like everything about those issues I took to Him, were about me only. It’s hard to explain…but, kind of like God would answer or not answer and shift the world around on my behalf. Honestly, I think He has altered the world for me…even though that may be incorrect thinking.

 

The crux of what I am saying lies in “Love your neighbor as yourself” and “Love your enemies”. I could see the first one, how it is important…but, love my enemies? Then, as everyone else in the world probably already knows, I realized that God loves my enemies. He loves the murderer. He loves the thief. He loves however many people have been involved in stealing stuff from me since we’ve moved here. He would prefer that “none be lost, no not one”. Lost sheep is how he refers to them I believe. I had thought that meant believers that are wandering off…while I still do to an extent, I really think it’s more encompassing than that. It’s not the Lords desire that ONLY the believers be His. But, ALL should come.

 

Luke 15:3-10 

³Then Jesus told them this parable: ⁴"Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? ⁵And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders ⁶and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.' ⁷I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. ⁸Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins^[a] and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? ⁹And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.' ¹⁰In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

 

Seriously, what was I thinking??!!??!  This sort of came to light in a weird way. I have been in a bad situation for a little while and was praying for God’s hand in it. I felt compelled to pray for this person in light of the “praying for my enemies” verse. The kind of hard part was that this person was also a believer.  Honestly, not knowing what to pray for him or about him or me, but just kinda saying, “Lord, this dude…amen”  Then, it appeared that in answering my baffling and empty worded prayer, he found a way to bring His goodness to BOTH of us. Are you kidding me??? The dude loves Him. Yes, He loves the “dude” too. So, apparently, Jesus doesn’t only work things for good for those that love Him for one side of it only. Man, GOD IS AMAZING.

 

Lord, I am sorry to have been so elementary in my faith…so selfish. Thank You for teaching me, thank You for Your patience, thank You for Your love.

We didn't make the top team

It’s disappointing around the house right now. My oldest boy tried out for the Nike team (the top team in his division) and, unfortunately, didn’t make it. Things they don’t know that would have help the coaches make a better decision:

1.       He’s extremely smart with the ball.

2.       He has tremendous vision and can see lanes and openings that others can’t.

3.       His moves and maturity in handling the ball exceeds all the other boys – actually, they acknowledged that when they talked to me.

 

Things that I hope will become of this – He becomes more driven for his own sake, not mine. Not only in soccer but in every aspect of life. That we can take this disappointment and grow with it. That he would see how important working hard to become excellent at something is.

 

He’s a good little man…I’m sorry for him that he didn’t make it.

People to pray for:

1.       Ben

2.       Kristina

3.       T

4.       Mike N’s dad

5.       Mom and Dads

6.       Sister and family

7.       Christy and Les

8.       Jeremy

2 weeks into it...

We have had Saturday services for 2 weeks now. All I can say is that God has blessed me by being a part of it.

Test everything. Hold fast to what is good.

Funny 6 year old

The other day there was dissention amongst the ranks and a squabble busted out. It seems that #2 amd #3 were having an argument as to what to do while mom ran to a friends for lunch. Both of the kids thought they knew what mom wanted while she was gone and both were being very stubborn. Talking led to frustration, frustration to shouting. The 6 year old was very brave in trying to be a peacemaker but things had already escalated to DEFCON 4.
#4 had her wits about her and called mom. Mom came home and 2 and 3 were trying to work it out....enter the Dad.

The interrogation was intense, thorough and revealing. As I got to the heart of the issue, I used a military simile. I compared soldiers and officers and the like. The short of it was that they should have obeyed the one in charge...if there were questions about the decision the one in charge would ultimately be responsible. So, it would behoov the one in charge to validate with her leader...etc.

Well, since the 6 yo was also guilty of not obeying the one in charge, he received the speech as well as some extra! However, before we could take care of business, he made his way to the trampoline. I definitely was not pleased with him just thinking of himself and taking off before punishment was issued...so I let him know about that too.

Well, all that occurred during my lunch break. So, as I get back to work I get a phone call. It's my lovely wife. She was asking if it was ok for the 6yo to jump on the tramp... She told him it was but he insisted on having her call her commander to make sure!!! LOL

I guess he was listening.
Test everything. Hold fast to what is good.

Where did it go?

Where did my desire to learn go? I heard a statistic one time that talked about how adults stop learning at about my age…27 ;-) actually…the stat was something like 42. An ancient age. I am finding that I am slipping into that stat. I am getting “set in my ways”. I definitely do not want that. I guess the biggest battles of this is two-fold.

 

1.       I think that all I need to know I know and the rest is irrelevant..

2.       You end up thinking that everyone else is wrong all the time!

 

I know many people like this and I always wondered why it was so easy for me to spot them. Typically, the thing that you identify and that which repulses you the most is a blind spot that is unknowingly owned by the one that is repulsed. For so many years I hated that dumb childish saying that goes something like, “when you point at someone else, there are 3 fingers pointing back at you!” na – na – na – na –na

 

But, really, doesn’t even scripture say the same thing? Something about a spec and a plank…I think you know the story.

 

How do I regain that hunger? How do I remove that humility costume and make it permanent? It’s kind of difficult to explain but I think it’s a common occurrence with many different things…people often 1^st desire wholeheartedly to have something like humility, then they get pretty good at doing it, then they become proud of how humble they are, then it becomes an inner thing that says – “yeah, you don’t know me…I am the humblest guy around, just ask anybody.” Sheesh, that’s DE-SCUSTIN.

 

There have been a lot of things going on in life right now that has helped me to identify this shortcoming – one was thinking that my life it getting busy and difficult, but “handlin it”. But, the other day I emailed an old friend back home and found out what struggling really was. Man, I am sad for him. A vast and sudden realization that my world had become centered around me.

 

And the problem is this
We were bought with a kiss
But the cheek still turned
Even when it wasn't hit

And I don't know
What to do with a love like that
And I don't know
How to be a love like that

When all the love in the world
Is right here among us
And hatred too
And so we must choose
What our hands will do

Where there is pain
Let there be grace
Where there is suffering
Bring serenity
For those afraid
Help them be brave
Where there is misery
Bring expectancy
And surely we can change
Surely we can change
Something

And the problem it seems
Is with you and me
Not the Love who came
To repair everything

Where there is pain
Let us bring grace
Where there is suffering
Bring serenity
For those afraid
Let us be brave
Where there is misery
Let us bring them relief
And surely we can change
Surely we can change
Oh surely we can change
Something

Oh, the world's about to change
The whole world's about to change

 

 

Waiting

While I'm Waiting :
I'm waiting
I'm waiting on You, Lord
And I am hopeful
I'm waiting on You, Lord
Though it is painful
But patiently, I will wait

I will move ahead, bold and confident
Taking every step in obedience
While I'm waiting
I will serve You
While I'm waiting
I will worship
While I'm waiting
I will not faint
I'll be running the race
Even while I wait

I'm waiting
I'm waiting on You, Lord
And I am peaceful
I'm waiting on You, Lord
Though it's not easy
But faithfully, I will wait
Yes, I will wait
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve you while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting on You, Lord

 

That pretty much sums up my life right now – there are so many irons in the fire. But, I will wait upon the Lord to make a way. I will wait for an answer. His timing is perfect and His ways are so far above mine. I will wait.

 

Standing

Standing for what you believe in is destined for ridicule especially if you're 13. My son is a fine example of a warrior for the Lord. In recent events, his soccer coach was fired. The coaches boss had asked the boys "who thinks he (the coach) should be fired?" Apparently, Christian was the only one to raise his hand. And, he was right to do so. The kids haven't stopped ragging him since. He now gets frequent comments like, "the new coach said a bad word, do you hate HIM now?" And "God wants you to pass the ball!"

What do I tell my son? I am definitely proud of him for choosing correctly. He understands scripture about standing firm..his reward is in heaven for that one for sure! But, how does he talk to the boys that do that? If I had my way he'd be talking to them but they wouldn't be able to talk back due to their jaws being wired shut from the fracture I would have recently given them. But, obviously that's not the way. I plan on speaking to him about it tomorrow and discuss his mother's advice in more detail. See, he talked to his mom about it...I love that he does that. What a good little man.

This morning I read the beattitudes again. Matt 5 -7 has tons of relevant goodness for him. However, as I was showering another thought came to me...have I explained well enough the parents actions toward the coach? See, if we wanted him gone because we hated him, well, obviously that's the wrong reason. The primary reason we (as believers) discipline, is love. When my son messes up and needs correction, the correction is for his benefit in the long run. I discipline him because I love him. It's all throughout scripture. It's the same with the coach. He needed correction for many reasons, but primarily to help him understand that the responsibility he had as a coach should outweigh anything else when he is to be acting as coach. We want him to be prepared in any future engagements that he should have so that other parents will not encounter the same things we did.

Perhaps we'll have a heart to heart tonight.

Things my son should know;

I have his best interest at heart

I think he's becoming quite a great little man

I am proud of him

He's courageous in the Lord

He's a wonderful son

I love him

His mother loves him

God loves him more

He can always talk to me - even when I am angry or he is angry

Ouch!

Z-boy split his eyebrow open on the wooden side part of the bed. Of course, I was wrestling with him at the time...so, I feel pretty guilty. He was so tough though. He cried just for a minute...then when I got the blood pretty much cleaned off of his face, and put a bandaid or 2 on it, he was good to go. The wound was gaping so I was a little concerned. It definitely could use a few stitches and it's right on his eyebrow. But, we threw a butterfly on it and we are hoping for the best. We called Nana... She's our official, "is this a serious injury?" answer lady. She said it "should" be fine. So, we're going with that.


Here's a picture of our little tough guy...

FLIP OUT!!!

One of the kids past times lately has been spending hours at a time on the twamwene. (Baby-est's version of the word)...

Check out some of the fun...