* Living in the -ish

For many who know me well you know that I do not do "on time" very well. I have read in some places how that shows that I do not respect the person or event for which I am late. I will not argue at this time how I disagree with that. It is, at times, quite true and I can see how being late is a passive aggressive way of showing your distaste. I can not say that I have not been passive aggressive in that way, but generally I am just running late. I never seem to judge the drive time quite right, or someone needs to go potty after they are buckled, or shoes are forgotten, or I can't find my keys despite using a consistent location. In my efforts to not be late due to key loss I often pick them up a few minutes early while I am still giving shoe and bathroom reminders. "Whew I already have my keys" I blissfully tell myself only to put them down when momentarily distracted. Now the consistent key spot is wasted and I am re-looking for the keys because I drug them all over the house looking for the white flip flops my daughter has misplaced.

It would be convenient to say that time was easier for me when I was younger and had no small children, but that is not so. My friends in school never expected me on time, a fact they often pointed out. Judah also tells a great story about me being late to my wedding, which was totally not my fault. I did fairly well at time when working. I was very conscious of not scheduling 8 o'clock patients and made up for the few minutes I missed at 8 by working well past 5. I was blessed with a boss that truly cared only for the bottom line, if my time sheet showed 8+ hours and sufficient billable time then all was right and beautiful in the world. Who cares if it was 8:15 to 5:45 and not 8-5?

Judah lives on time, and frequently early. When going together we are never late. We can both be frustrated by this. I am "going too slow" and he is "rushing me." Sometimes he pushes us out and we arrive waaaaaaaay early and he looks at the clock and ADMITS "we really are very early." I admit a very small inner smile on these occasions. Times I do not smile are when he calls my cell phone at 11:45:30 to see where I am, when we were to meet t 11:45:00.

I love those things in life that help me in my lateness, such as movie previews and billing grace periods. Don't we all need a grace period? If not in time maybe in other areas. Where I may need some grace to cover my missed minutes, perhaps others need some grace to cover some words they "missed."

Several days ago a friend (who shares my tendencies) used a phrase that I will now steal and call my own. We were planning a time to meet, lets say 5. And I said 5-ish. She said "I live in the -ish." What a fabulous way to describe the chronic just behind scheduleness. I am no longer late, just wallowing in the area that surrounds the concept of "on time." I am embracing the fringes of the bell curve of timeliness. I am living in the -ish.

* Superpowers

I debated on the title for this post - I wanted to do the quirky quote title since it is related to a statement by my son - but I decided not to. This is contrary to other posts that have little to do with a quote yet get labeled as such. Such is the joy of blogging - I can do whatever I want and since my readership is limited no one will really care.

A few days ago my son and I were watching the first Fantastic Four movie. He has never seen the movie in its entirety or the beginning part at all. This sitting only fixed the beginning part - we still didn't watch the whole thing. Anyway... the beginning of this movie really tries to explain the scientific way that these ordinary folks become superheroes. This was an interesting topic for the seven year old on the couch. He asked lots of questions and I very carefully explain that the writers of the story made up this way of becoming a super hero. They (meaning the writers) said that some electricity in space "shocked" the actors and it changed their cells so that they would do something they had never done before. We have had previous discussions of electricity (particularly as it related to not touching the electric fence at the farm) as well as cells in our bodies. I thought my explanation of the events in the movie was very clear and I was proud of being able to translate the information into his level of understanding. In the midst of my pride I concluded this train of thought with ...

"Because you know that no one really has super powers like in the story, right?"

"I do"

Total failure of the very elaborate explanation - apparently people do have super powers, particularly my son, and I had it all wrong.

(For those interested - after I got over myself and my attempts to logically explain movie magic I asked what the super powers were ... "I can stick to stuff" and he promptly walked over to the hall and scaled his way to the ceiling with a move many of us have seen on Ninja Warrior - "Mom - you can walk under me now!!!" - Interestingly enough the super power does not extend to getting down from the ceiling. Even superheroes need their moms to swoop in and get them out of a jam every now and then)

Man Class 2

Last night we were looking at Matthew 22: 37 - 40. Jesus says the two greatest commandments are to love God with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. The teacher for the evening used an analogy of the laws being arranged on an archery target, and these two right in the center. If we aim for those two, and hit those two, then we capture the rest of them. Wow. I like that. I can visualize that.

So the question came up, "why do we focus on stuff like worship, color of the carpet, you hurt my feelings, who is qualified to teach a class, etc.? Why don't we focus on these 2?" The answer: I like check lists. The "Laws" are a checklist. Went to church? check. Are you married? check. Love your mom and dad? check. Did you pray 3 times today? check. Did you call 5 Christians? check. Have you taught a class this year? check. Did you give more than 10% Sunday? check....

But not only is it checklists, but I think if we are honest, it is also difficult for us to put people first. And by people, I also include God. Loving God, and loving others as yourself sounds easy. And I like the idea that if I only follow two rules, I am going to be OK. But if you think about it, Those two rules encompass every single decision you can ever make. "How is this going to glorify God? She needs a couple of dollars and I got 30 in my pocket, but she might spend it on booze. I know I should read my bible, but the game is on, and these two teams are the biggest rivalry.... I didn't eat out that much on my business trip and the company doesn't require receipts.... but....." All of a sudden what seemed like something relatively easy becomes infinitely more difficult. At least from a human perspective.

Reality is, God makes it real easy. God did everything for us by sacrficing His son for us. Our focus should be doing things out of love and gratitude for what God did. I should want to help others, because Jesus died for me. I should want to do my best at work, because Jesus died for me. I should want to treat my wife with respect, because Jesus died for me. All those things in my life, and your life that are "have tos", should be "want tos". Being a Christian becomes infinitely easy when we put other people first.

Man Class 1

Back in college, Michelle and I decided to try out the church that supported the college ministry. So, one Wednesday night we hoof it over to the church to attend worship. Everyone met in the sanctuary to sing a couple songs and have a prayer. Some guy stood up and made some announcements, then asked if anyone had anything else to add. Afterwards, we all stand up to head down stairs to class. Michelle and I were kind of walking and talking at the time, when before we knew it, the crowd was separating: men on side and women on the other. The men were going to one side of the downstairs, while the women went to the other side. Two classes: A men's class, and a women's class.

In my class, we talked about: the man being the head of his family, what the man says goes, the woman is supposed to be silent in church (scriptural reference here), you need to be at church as often as possible, and a few other topics I don't really care to mention.

After about 30 or so minutes, the class was dismissed, and we started filing out towards the stairs. That is where the men and women starting merging back together. I scanned the crowd for Michelle, and finally found her. She had this expression on her face that can best be described as a deer in head lights. Walking up the steps, we don't say a word to each other. The phrase "shell shocked" comes to mind.

On the way back to the dorms, Michelle describes her class. It was of a similar nature as mine, but from a female stance: your husband (just understood you would have one) is always right, if you have questions about the bible, wait until you get home, he will tell what is right, etc. They then knitted some napkins for the shut ins.

Needless to say, we never went back. Because of this experience, I have always been very wary of men only and women only classes. Until now....

Farragut has to have one of the best Men's class that meets on Wednesday nights. Along with that, the women's class is top notch. I may be a little biased as Michelle is teaching the class currently, but that is my right as her husband.

Back to the Man Class. For a few months now, this class has been growing in popularity. For a while, however, it hasn't been that popular, and no one could really put a finger on why. But what is going on now is absolutely amazing. Well, at least for me. You see, most of those that hang out in this class are who I would consider play makers. By play makers, I mean guys that I would go to to help me with a particular decision. I ask them advice. I trust there opinion. I hang out with these guys "outside of church". When decisions are being made within the church, these men are usually a part of the committees making the decisions. Not just me, but other people trust these guys as well.

Not only do I respect these men, but they are all professionals with jobs NOT in ministry. They are doctors, sales men, entrepreneurs, scientists, and retirees. They show Jesus in their work, how they raise their children, how they treat their wives, and how they interact with each other. It is blatantly obvious that they have a love for God and a love for others. There are no egos. We all share our "personal views" on what the scripture says, and sometimes disagree. However, when it comes to the absolutes and truths of the bible, we are in harmony. Any one of these men could teach this class. And for whatever reason, they are starting to come together on Wednesday nights to talk about Jesus in one class. If you are not already involved in a bible study on Wednesdays, why don't you come and join us?

* Quirky Quotes

Again this quote is not so much quirky as it struck me quite quirkily when I heard it. Friday mornings we try to have a play group type gathering at my house and mostly we clean up before hand. There were some complications to the schedule including scheduling an oil change an hour before folks were to arrive and my ride from the car place being ill that morning. This threw off my plans - which I do not always handle gracefully. Instead of cleaning I spent time trying to find another ride. The house was not as clean as I like it to be when folks arrive - so my solution? Clean it after they leave!! I will happily announce that the house was super clean several hours after our guests left. Now for the quote. My son said something in the middle of this cleaning process that was unexpected but something I hope he continues to say to me (and his future bride)

Can I mop?

He spent the next fifteen minutes busily mopping the kitchen, after which he vacuumed the downstairs. I am trying to relish the moment for as long as possible - because I am not so old that I have forgotten how much older children like to do those things. Sigh.

Just a Normal Weekend

Our family had another awesome weekend! My personal thanks to Michelle's family (I have the best mother-n-law in the world) for watching the kids Friday night while we went on a date with the 2500+ bikers in Chattanooga Friday night. Seriously, over 2500 bikers showed up Friday night for the annual Trail of Tears ride that started early Saturday morning. Fortunately, not a lot of bikers favor Shogun for dining out, and Barnes and Noble for after dinner activities.

Along with a date with my beloved, we got to enjoy a celebration as our niece celebrated her 5 year old birthday. There is nothing like seeing a bunch of little girls running around the backyard with butterflies painted on their foreheads! And then there is my son running around the side of the house with tiger stripes painted on his face! Priceless.

This party also gave me a chance to appreciate the role of fathers with their children. If you want more clarification, you can give me a call, and I will talk about the specifics. There have been few moments in my life where I had to physically remove (or be removed) myself from a situation, or I was going to resort to physical confrontation. The cliff notes version is like I have always said: God does not tell us we have to have children, but He is pretty specific about how to raise them when He blesses us with them. Guys, if you have a son, don't neglect them, and DON'T "bully" them, especically in front of me.....

After the party, I took the jet skis to my mom's place for winter storage. It was sad to see them sitting in the garage, not being used until the next season. Mom and I spent a few hours cleaning up the shop, straining to get the skis up the makeshift ramp, and then just sitting around and talking. Men, never forget your mom. I love my mom. She is my second favorite lady in the whole world. I owe a lot of my spirituality to her. Thanks.

We spent Sunday talking about Family ministry at Farragut. The interesting thing is, this seemed like a foreign concept to most that were participating in the meet and greet with the speaker. I'll have to admit that if you had asked me about it a few years ago, I would said something like, "that's the purpose of Sunday morning bible school. Besides, I teach an adult class...." As the years have gone by, my thought process is slowly changing. Here are some facts that the speaker noted. Most of the 3 or 4 that read this blog I am sure already know them.
1) An average 4th grader spends close to 40 hours a year doing church activities. I am almost certain you can move that age up to 12th grade.
2) An average 4th grader will spend over 400 hours a year doing homework.
3) Parents have close to 4000 hours a year available to be with their kids. Wow.
4) Over 80% of graduating seniors stop going to church when they graduate from high school.
5) "The greatest challenge at Lipscomb University right now is re-educating students about the importance of Jesus in their life"- speaker. I would like to paraphrase that by saying one of the largest missionary fields in the US right now is college campuses.
6) "It is the parent's responsbility to teach their kids about Jesus, not the church."
7) By the time a teen hits 7th grade, they have "established their faith". What this means is that a teens personal belief structure doesn't change much from this point in time throughout their life. The only things that change this belief is major emotional upheavals like death in the family, births of children, marriage, and "close to death" experiences.
8) "Giving 4 and 5 year olds paper and crayons during the worship service does nothing more than teach them to tune out for the message of God's Word." Ouch. More on that later....
I'll admit that Family ministry seems hard, overwhelming, and some of the concepts are just plain "out there". But the reality is, we as parents have to give our children their faith while they are young, help them develop their own as they mature, and guide them in their own decisions as they grow up. Being a parent is hard work. What Family minstry does, is allows the church to give parents the tools they need to succeed in raising spiritual giants. We have to use the talents that God has blessed our personal congregations with. Each church family will look different. No matter what we try, the focus has to be on educating our children about Jesus, equiping the parents with tools to teach them OUTSIDE of church, and probably even having a little accounability about the whole process.

Sunday night found us at our small group, where we are trying different things with focusing on teaching our kids. This month, we are looking at concepts to help the kids understand the definition of honor. Do you know? "Letting others know, you see how valuable they are." How awesome is that?!?! The cool thing is to watch the kids in our group answer these questions, as well as, doing "barrel rolls and piorettes". We don't use babysitters. The kids are in the group with us, talking about Jesus. We are still trying new things, but it seems to be working. I think probably the coolest thing was when I announced "bible time" last night and they came running from the bedrooms hooping and hollaring, "hoorah! bible time! hoorah!" One parent even talked about how that their son was so excited about talking about this stuff DURING the WEEK, not JUST in small group, or church!! Wow.... That's me giving God the glory, all the time.....

I have to say, this is a typical weekend for us. We go see our extended family, have some "special time", see our church family, teach our kids, and go to bed. We aren't that exciting, but we do stay busy. I thank God everyday that He blessed me with an awesome wife, and some of the coolest kids ever. If you were ever curious as to what a "normal" weekend looked like for us, this was it.

* Before I Forget

My children are amazing and wonderful and beautiful to me. Intellectually I know that you all feel the same about your children. They are all the brightest and most adorable of God's creations, even more so because He lets us play a part in their lives. They are all the cutest and cleverest of children, except mine really are. :) I want to capture some of those adorable moments in time because I know they will be gone some day, to be replaced by more precious moments, except I want to keep them all! Today I remembered again that I do not want to forget how my daughter says back pack, which is basically pack pack. So this blog I am devoting to the words I need to remember before I forget.

Due to birth order I will start with some of my favorites from my sons early days

• Dis? -- A word used to ask identification of all objects
• Bundt -- Clearly this is the 18mo version for button
• Blank-ank -- Again a clearly clever extra k version of the word blanket
• Chagganooga -- A word he then passed on to his sister, we may never hear the right pronunciation of that city
• Heevy -- A word used to denote objects that were heavy. The best part about this word is that it generally accompanied a small guy dragging something too big for him and making some pretty cute faces to express his hard work.

My daughter has talked more and often even more amazingly clear than my son, who was not too shabby himself. However since she has always done so well it limited the cute mispronunciations that mark toddler hood.

• Pack pack -- As I said before her phrase for back pack, not too far off but still cute
• InLee -- An early version of my niece's name Neely, recently outgrown (sigh)
• A-tend -- Used in sentence form..."Let's a-tend we are princesses"
• Ask-a-gent (with a soft 'g' sound) -- This lovely phrase for questioning a gentleman is her way of saying "I am sorry mom, it was an askagent"
• All words needing a hard 't' sound (and some strong 'r' words)This last remaining immature speech pattern leaves us talking about wadder boddles and tripping over woots and wocks.
• I can not even begin to type her word for sushi, but trust me its cute

Later viewers of this blog may find a longer list since this can now be a depository of all words I remember later, before I forget.

* The Joy of Creation

This past weekend I was blessed with the opportunity to hang out with just my mom making home-made cards for her upcoming church craft bazaar. I do not often get to be with my mom by myself. Now that I have two smaller persons who tag along with me everywhere, they tend to claim any energy grandma may have upon arrival. They are constantly doing new and exciting things and I do not think I have done anything really new in years. However this weekend I requested some time without children so Judah drove a bit further down the road and they hung out with another grandmother. The kids came back the next day and the house got a bit louder but for several hours Friday night and Saturday I was able to sit at a table and make stuff with my mom.

Making things for a bazaar is a strong childhood memory. My mom has always been crafty and many of you who have been to my house growing up may remember the craft cabinets that were our dining room decor. Mom actually came across some old style card catalogs from the library and we had drawers full of wonderful things like beads, cross stitch material, fake birds, raffia, ric-rak, rolls of tin for tin punch( a shout out to anyone who knows what that is :) ), and numerous other items sometimes labeled on the front of the card catalog. Mom's craftiness is the reason I do not share the love for fried okra that many of my southern compatriots have. Mom put dried okra in wreaths and therefore they seem wrong to eat. Who would eat a pine cone? And they are the same in my mind.

As a young child mom made crafts every year for a bazaar to earn some Christmas spending money. A comment on the change in our culture. Who thinks of earning extra money to buy gifts - most folks just trip along with their credit cards hoping to pay it off later. Any way..... Mom would make fascinating items like lifesaver doll ornaments (which since they are labeled first means they are the most remembered - mom always said she knew what outfit I liked best because that was the one I tried on first in the dressing room - I use that knowledge now and watch my first pick for determining what items get put back - never the first outfit). She made a lot of ornaments, such as the one made from baby blocks - it had a bead head and a hat on it. There was also the felt mouse in the stocking and later we made many Styrofoam ball ornaments with sequins pinned on or fake string pearls glued around and around or fabric folded and pinned on to look like a quilted design. The bazaar concept also naturally appealed to my love of counting objects and sorting them into piles. Seeing a table with different items arranged in their proper place gives me a sense of peace. :)

A few years ago mom mentioned that her church was having a craft bazaar and I encouraged her to get a booth. We made many things and had a grand time counting and sorting and labeling. The precious souls that came through loved looking at out paper crafts but bought little. The upside was we had tons of scrapbooking materials leftover and were stocked for months! This year we are making cards because they sold best and again if they don't sell Mom will be stocked for some time. She is a card sender like I always mean to be. Who doesn't like to get something in the mail?

Other than enjoying my time with my mom and wallowing in childhood memories of lifesaver doll ornaments I truly enjoyed creating the cards. This is also why I like scrapbooking and quilting. I like MAKING stuff. There is a joy in creation. I think creating is a healthy hobby. This Christmas I suggested that Judah get a lathe and start his own creating hobby. He has spent many happy hours making some great pens, darts and letter openers. I wonder if some discontentment can be traced to how much we don't make anymore. Many years ago people worked hard to grow food from the ground (and after our garden this year I can say that is HARD) but they also had to make their clothes, furniture, and many other things we just purchase. Do not think I want to make all my clothes - I've tried that - not my skill set. However I do believe there is satisfaction and JOY in creation. This has been rolling around in my head and I have finally come to the conclusion that my joy in creation is a reflection of my creator. When I make something, step back, and say "that is not too bad" I can get a glimpse of the first chapter of Genesis in my own very small way. It makes me smile whenever I get a glimpse of God - in my children, in nature, and in a creation of my own.

If you haven't made anything in a while - I recommend it highly - there is joy in creation.

* Asterisks

For those avid readers out there - of which I have been told there are now approximately 7 - you may have noticed that some of the posts are suddenly sporting an asterisk before the title. This is my solution to a request from one of the seven avid readers. Most blogs apparently are written by one person. In our effort to do all things our own way we are sharing this blog. This has led to some confusion as to who is writing which post. While all posts eventually reveal themselves due to pronoun usage - for SOME people that is not ideal. In order to alleviate some tension I am now labeling all my posts with an asterisk. I have done this retroactively as well, just in case something was so great it needs to be read again and you forgot who wrote it (which would probably indicate it wasn't that great)

Some may ask why the asterisk and why your posts and not his. In typical Michelle fashion - I have a list:

• A symbol is easier to remember than a word for both reader and writer
• I wanted something decorative, subtle, and easily located on the keyboard
• I have always thought the asterisk to be a more feminine punctuation mark so clearly it needs to be on my posts not his
• Judah wouldn't label his posts anyway

So now whenever you open this blog you will know immediately who wrote it and can set your brain to the preconceived notions you have for each of us. :)

Love

I am speaking at a local church in a couple of weeks on love. I am using the scripture John 13:34. So the question is: what are your thoughts on loving others as Jesus loved us? Is this possible? If so, what does it look like? Now, compare those thoughts with Luke 14:26 "....does not hate his father and mother, wife and children.... can not be my disciple." Is Jesus being contradictory? I would love to get some feedback on this.

Prayer (Part 2?)

I taught the teenage class last Sunday morning. I have to say, since we got the "new guy", I have really missed that part of my previous duties. The teens are so complex. They have such a strong grasp of the world, and yet at the same time, assume way too much. These guys are really smart, so I usually try to push them in their thinking. I admit that sometimes I push them pretty hard. It may back fire every now and again, but at least it gets their wheels turning.



This Sunday we opened with a prayer. I asked for prayer requests, and one of the teens said, "you know the usual: school and college." He said it rather nonchalantly. Well, this kind of set me off on a tangent. Imagine that.....



I asked them, "If you guys keep praying for the same things, are you really turning your requests over to God? Do you really believe He is going to step in, and do what you ask?"



As you can imagine, they didn't like this too much. "Are you saying we are not supposed to pray about school and college? What would pray for then?"



"That's not what I am saying. What I am saying is, when you pray that way (nonchalantly) do you really turn your requests over to God."



"But God says for us to pray about something we care about all the time."



"Are you sure about that?"



You can kind of see how the conversation (debate, then disbelief) went from there.



Let me see if I can explain my point now. For one thing, prayer is not JUST a shopping list. Western culture for some time completely misses the point on prayer. We get it in our head that praying to God is about asking for stuff like, good health, forgiveness of sins, clarification for decisions, prosperity, etc. This is basically a shopping list. This is not at all what God has in mind when it comes to prayer. Look at the great guys from the Old Testament. They "walked with God". They conversed with God in other words. Even better, look at Jesus. He would get up early in the morning to be with His heavenly father. He would sneak off to a solitary place to speak with Him. One of the greatest prayers is the Lord's Prayer. However, if that is our only format for praying, we are missing the point.



Prayer is so much more than shopping list. It is more involved than just stopping and thanking God for the food we are about to eat, then devour only half of a meal that costs more than a lot of people make in a month. We have to set aside time for prayer. We should block it off on our calendars. It should be such a part of our daily routine, that it would feel weird NOT to do it.



Also, prayer is a two way street. We sometimes forget, usually in our haste to get something, that we are actually TALKING TO GOD. Think about that. God wants to hear from us. God wants to talk to us. And sometimes, we just tune Him out. All we want, is for Him to give us what we ask for, overlooking the great gift of one on one communication with Him.



Don't get me wrong, we should pray fervantly. There are numerous passages about doing that. But there are also numerous passages where we are just to ask God. We are to "turn our requests over to God." We are to forget about them, with the understanding that God will take care of it. And just as there are prayers for those things that we are really passionate about, and prayers where we are just to "let it go", there are also prayers where we should listen to God. And these, I bet, are the hardest of all. God loves us so much. He just wants to have a relationship with us! Why in the world would we overlook one of the most important ways of communicating with Him?

So let me ask the question: what are your thoughts on prayer? Am I way off base on this?

* Quirky Quotes

Although this post has the title indicating it has what I would consider a cool kid quote - the quote is at the very end - so hang with me for a few minutes.

Instead of spending our Saturday the way we usually do, with multiple questions of "what are we doing today?", recycling, trips to Lowe's or Home Depot, and other random home tasks such as emptying the shoe basket or cleaning out my son's closet (again!!!) we packed the kids up and headed to the Smokies. We embarked on a rather ambitious hike to a waterfall with a 5 mile round trip distance. We called it an adventure and used up our entire day. At the end of another Saturday I can say we did not waste it in trivial tasks. These are some of the things we discovered on our trip.

• A first grade boy can hike for five miles up and down (six times) all by himself without being carried, while a 3 year old girl will require carrying between the the 3.5 to 4.5 miles points during which she will get a power nap and become recharged and very hungry.
• A centipede in the wild is super cool. We got to talk about exoskeletons and that some bugs other than bees and spiders do bite and sting. And on that note....
• Horseflies are apparently territorial and prone to chase and attack the oldest female member of the hiking party. I walked through this territory on the way to the falls and found the horsefly annoyingly persistent until we finally walked out of an invisible barrier. On the way back it landed on my hiking pants and offered us an opportunity to show our son how it would try to bite you(we could actually see its pointed evil little mouth(?) trying repeatedly to get something from the fabric methodically moving around until shaken off) After our lesson it persisted in chasing only me for quite some time, even when I ran (to the amusement of many I am sure). It finally did get one bite THROUGH MY SHIRT before I passed the invisible border again. Judah suggested I smelt good but David tested my arm and said not so much.
• Snake skins in the wild are even cooler than centipedes.
• Boys, big and little, always need to go potty on a hike of five miles, little 3 year old girls need to go twice. Older adult females can just hold it.
• Leaves in the hands of little boys can feel startlingly like bugs on your neck when unexpected.
• When mom squeals once it only reinforces the action and she will be pestered with leaves for the remainder of the hike.
• Rocks on the path are fascinating and need only some sticks and twine to become spears. Luckily we did not pack any twine.
• Without ready twine rocks will be placed in dad's backpack to be taken home.
• Despite all the fascinating things we saw and did what a small boy will remmeber most is "running for our lives" from a horsefly.
• Hiking the day away is a much better use of a Saturday than watching TV.

Now for the quote...........During this hike my son turns to me and shows me a spit bubble he has created and is holding in his mouth. I say "Nice" and he proceeds to tell me he can also make one with snot. "No thank you" I say. After several more enticing comments in favor of the snot bubble I again say

"No"

"Why not?"

"Because that is yuck"

(Pause) "Yuck is goooooooooood"

Yuck.

The Gospel According to Judah

I found out yesterday that a good friend of mine that I have known for a a couple of years now has rather similar interests as I do. He and I are very busy, and it seems we hardly ever chat about stuff that we love doing. But last night, we were "texting", and different topics came up that we both enjoyed doing. Netiher of us knew the other enjoyed those same things. Think about that for a minute: I call this guy a ""brother in Christ"; someone I go to "when times are bad", and I don't even know the basic hobbies that he is interested in??

Our congregation has a men's class that meets gets together on Wednesday nights. There isn't much of a format, but it always ends up turning spiritually deep, convicting, and just flat out amazing. I think what is amazing about it, is that it doesn't have a set series, and yet we still get into a rather deep, philosophical, and even open dialogue on Jesus and what it means to be a man in our current society. Last night, was no different. We looked at a pasage out of Acts where Paul comes into Ephesus and meets with a group of Christians, then basically sets up shop for 2 years. By the time he is done, "all of the province of Asia had heard the Way". Paul focused on a select few, who were passionate about Jesus, and used them to spread the gospel. We then spent the next 30 or so minutes brainstorming ideas that we could implement now at our congregation.

Yesterday was a long day for me. By the time I got home from work, we didn't have time to eat dinner before going to church. After church some of the teens asked if we were going to the usual hangout (Steak and Shake). By the time we got in the car, I had forgotten my verbal acknowledgement, and we ended up going somewhere else. After a few minutes, I got a text asking where I was. Man, I felt bad. The teens understood, but it really hit me hard. I had this overwhelming feeling that I am doing so much, but not impacting one thing really well.

I think we sometimes put higher expections on our results than what God actually intended. If we are focused on our results, we are missing the point. As a great man said last night, "the bible doesn't say much about our results; just our efforts." All we can do, is try our best. God wants us to focus on Him in everything we do. For me, that is showing Jesus to everyone, in every aspect of my life. How would Jesus treat 'Chelle in a normal daily routine? How would Jesus interact with the little ones on a daily basis? How would Jesus perform my job on a normal Thursday afternoon?

Back to my friend from last night. I should know more about this guy. He and I spend a lot of time together doing "church stuff". I know him well enough to know what he would do in a particular "church scenario". I know what his class is going to be like. I know that if he is leading a meeting how it will be ran. I know that if someone asks him to do something in a church function capacity, he will excel at it. What I don't know is, what he enjoys to do during his personal time. What hit me last night was, there are a lot of guys that I know like that. If we look at the model that Paul did when he got to Ephesus, I don't think it is much of a stretch to infer that he knew those guys pretty well. He knew what they enjoyed doing. He knew what their gifts were. He knew them all really well. I think that is a big part of the gospel. We are to share Jesus with the world, but we are also to"know" those that are closest to us. We should know our friends' interests. We should know our friends' weaknesses. The more we know, the more impact we can have on the world. The main purpose of the church today is to show Jesus to the world. But if we don't even know those closest to us that are helping in that mission, how much impact is it going to be?

* Boardgames and More

For the three people who read this blog and may be interested in how we spent our day - this post is for you. We had a family day today, the only item written on our board. David was quite excited about the concept actually, although it didn't stop him from asking several times "What are we doing today?" Family day consisted of several small activities

• Going through the play room yet again to donate more toys. I find our best method is to plop down a large cardboard box or plastic tote and tell the little guys that it must be filled up before we can move on to another task. It never fails - we always fill it up - the toys must breed in those organizational boxes
• A very long 45 minutes during which we attempted to play (following all the rules!!!)Chutes and Ladders, Candy Land, and High-Ho-Cheery-Oh with two small children. At 45 minutes we let the smallest child go and then had some very intense games of Memory between mother and son. (His memory is great, when his strategy catches up I will never win)
• More leftover cheese pizza (I over-ordered two pizzas for the party and it is taking FOREVER to eat them)
• A nap for the youngest family member, during which the oldest child made nearly continuous star wars noises, many of which I can not duplicate - boys much have an extra sound effect gene
• Slip and slide for the kids and water gun fights for all during which Judah broke the "don't shoot at people who are refilling their guns rule" and I was required to take a shower after due to being utterly soaked upon entering the house.
• A trip for groceries - what can inspire more family bonding than that?

My favorite moment though was the end - my son cleverly got me to consent to one more game before bed, after his sister had already been put down. We sat on the floor and played four rounds of Dominoes - a game he learned at his great grandmothers. To sit and play with him as a real thinking opponent is an amazing thing. It makes me glad of the very challenging moments of game playing in the past. Rules do not always come naturally and often we all like to play the way we like - in life and in games - but rules are needed - in life and in games. To watch David play the game, lose relatively gracefully, and win relatively but slightly less gracefully is a way to see him grow. I like playing boardgames with the kids, but it is the more that I love.