Here are some old pictures of Anna and Norah for those of you who appreciate nostalgia:

Unless There is a King

Disclaimer: I fully intend this to be my last post involving The Lord of The Rings for quite a while. I know it’s been a little excessive lately, but humor me just this one more time...

I just finished reading an article saying that the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee held hearings today to determine just how bad the threat of a terrorist attack on the U.S. actually is. At the end of the hearing they basically decided that we’re hosed. The reporter I read suggested spending the weekend hiding under a couch. Janet Napolitano said, “The threats come from a broader array of groups and regions. It comes from a wider variety of harder-to-detect tactics. And it is aimed at harder-to-secure places than before.” Translation = the world is scarier than ever! How are we supposed to protect ourselves against these threats? How are we supposed to decide who to trust? How are we supposed to sleep at night? If the findings of these committees are right, we live in a dangerous, scary world and should probably be shaking in our boots all the time!

Well, that is to say, we should be afraid all the time if there is no God.

On the other hand, if the Bible is true and the Risen Lord Jesus Christ is seated on a throne at the right hand of God Almighty, then we shouldn’t waste one more second being afraid! If the Lord Jesus is the King of everything, we should take all that energy we invest in to fear and reallocate it to loving and reaching those who would seek our harm. If Jesus, who died and was raised on the third day is Alive and in control as the Bible says He is, then we should remember and obey His command in Matthew 10 which says, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”

Folks who believe in and love Jesus ought to be intensely passionate about loving and reaching the lost, but cool as a cucumber when it comes to the ever-mounting threats propagated by fear mongering news outlets. Jesus told us not to worry about tomorrow, but demographic analysts and experts who study population trends would have us quaking in our homes about what they say will happen in 15 years’ time. They would have us desperately trying to biologically reverse the growing numbers of our so-called enemies by going on some kind of crusade of procreation, but those of us who have and love the Word of God know that we have been “predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity to the purpose of His will.” There is absolutely nothing outside of God’s control and He already knows how this all ends. You see, there is a King over everything and soon, He will reveal Himself to this world.

At the end of The Lord of The Rings, the beloved Hobbits made it back home to the Shire to find everything changed. All the land had been ravaged. The leadership was overturned by cruel and hateful men. Their entire way of life had been destroyed and every Hobbit was hiding behind their doors, afraid all of the time. That is, until Sam, Frodo, Merry and Pippin returned. They saw the changes and although they were troubled, they were not afraid. In fact, they laughed a little. Why? Because they had been with the King. They knew he was in charge and would be coming soon to make all things right and all things new. When one of the new ‘Ruffians’ tried to scare the Hobbits, Frodo replied, “For one thing, I see you’re behind the times and the news here. Much has happened since you left the South. Your day is over, and all other ruffians’. The Dark Tower has fallen, and there is a King in Gondor... your precious master is a beggar in the wilderness.”

The world is indeed a dangerous and scary place, unless there is a King on His throne, and if you know and love Him, you never need fear another moment in your untouchable, eternal life.

Knowing What To Do

Warning: The following essay is rife with content that is graphic in nature, which may disturb those who have a weak constitution. The experience described is commonplace for parents of young children, but has the potential to shock those who have not undergone the various trials of parenthood. I have recorded the experience with what I believe to be a redeeming spiritual insight or two which I hope will edify the reader, so you may choose to read on, or stop right here. Either way, you have been warned...

Fortunately, it was bath night, so I was already intending to dunk Norah into the tub. I had already given Jack his bath and had taken him into his room to dry him off and get him in his pajamas when I heard Norah scream. It wasn’t her loudest scream, but it was troubled and I could tell as soon as I heard it that she was on the verge of crying. I left Jack sitting on the changing table and rushed into the bathroom to find that Norah had diarrhea, but had not made it to the toilet... the poor girl was standing there not sure what to do. It was on her clothes, on her and all over the bathmat. I called out to Christy for help with Jack so that he didn’t take a swan dive off of the changing table and rushed back into the bathroom to sort out the you know what.

I managed to get Norah out of the rest of her clothes and onto the toilet. I managed to start the new bath water and I managed to comfort Norah, I think. The situation was fairly under control with the exception of one huge factor: I had no idea how to handle the bathmat. I mean, I knew it needed to go into the washing machine, (if not the trash can) but what to do with all the excess stuff? I felt like I need to get rid of that first before I could head to the washing machine, but I was at a total loss. I was thinking hard, tiptoeing around the problem with the grace and skill of a ballet dancer. Norah watched me with wide eyes and said, “Dad, be careful. You don’t want to get any poo on your socks!”

Finally Christy finished with Jack and came to check on us. I just looked up and said, “I’m not really sure what to do at this point.” I have to pause the story here and say that this was one of those moments in observing motherhood that filled me with awe and thankfulness for my wife. Without hesitating, without even blinking, she said, “I know what to do” and got to work. In the blink of an eye she produced a cup out of thin air and started scooping up the offending spot. In about two seconds, she had the problem solved, Norah in the bath, laughing and singing, and the bathmat in the washing machine, soaking in detergent and oxy clean. I had a meeting at church that night and by the time I got home, Norah was sleeping peacefully in her bed; clean, happy and at rest. The bathmat was back on the bathroom floor, clean as a whistle and Christy was on the couch paying all the bills with a smile on her face as if nothing at all had ever happened.

What!?

When I think back on that little scene, I am reminded of our Father in heaven who always knows what to do when we’re sick with sin, stuck, confused, helpless, upset and dirty. I think about 1 John 1:9 which says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” I think about Zechariah chapter 3 when the High Priest Joshua stood before the Lord covered in dirty clothes with Satan on his right side accusing him. Joshua didn’t know what to do! He was helpless and stuck, but the Lord said, “Take off his filthy clothes... See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put rich garments on you.” Just like a mother in the midst of the mess, our Lord knows what to do and He has done it! And we rest at ease in our beds on the other side of mercy, clean and at peace.

Here's our Anna on her first day of First Grade!!!

Fly On...

Anna started first grade this week... FIRST GRADE!! Are you kidding me?! I know I probably said this when she started Kindergarten last year, but: How did this happen!? And how in the world was Kindergarten a year ago!? Was it really almost seven years ago that I first held her in the hospital? Didn’t she just start giggling a few weeks ago? Wasn’t it only yesterday that she started walking? Oh man, this is going so fast it’s making my head spin... I can’t slow her down and there’s no hope of stopping this madness. Everyone said that these years would fly past us and they were right... Anna just keeps on flapping her sweet little wings right in front of us. Before we know it, she’ll be gone.

As we dropped her off for first grade on Monday, it hit me just how desperate my prayers for her are becoming. I find myself gripping my pen a little too tightly as I scrawl out frantic pleas to the Lord. I’m begging Him to help her, to draw her to Himself, to pour out His love into her heart through the Holy Spirit and to give her a heart that loves to be His. I pray that He’ll guide her, shepherd her through the mess of this world along the pathway of some beautiful plan that He’s hatched for her very best. Everyday she gets bigger and older and more independent of her little ‘ole earthly dad and the more aware of it I am, the more desperate my prayers become.

In Psalm 127, Solomon said that children are like arrows. “Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth.” As much as you want to, you’re not supposed to hold on to your kids, you’re supposed to shoot them out there and send them flying through the air, blazing the trail of God’s will for their lives. The night before Anna’s first day of Kindergarten, as hard as it was for her to utter the words, my wife held Anna’s hand and prayed over that little arrow, that the Lord would shoot her out there far and swift. Maybe I’m overreacting... it’s only first grade after all, and we’ve still got a long way to go, but it’s tough. I’m putting all of my eggs in the basket of the Holy Spirit.

This is a good thing and it’s teaching me some difficult, but necessary stuff about control. See,the main reason I’m scared about the future and about my kids is that in some way, I must still think that I have some control over them and over what’s going to happen to them. Well, I don’t. We don’t have control over anything! In fact, our Lord said, “Don’t swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black.” Anna is in God’s hands. She belongs to Him. She’s really His child anyway, and so am I. It’s good to let go, to trust God and to let Him do is job. As these painful truths were hitting me in the face early one morning, this song eased its way out of my quaking little heart:


LITTLE BIRD

Fly on my little bird
Right up above the clouds
Sweet wind, won’t You carry her
She’s in your hands now

I can’t see where her feet are gonna light
But You can keep those little wings in flight,
She’s in Your sight
(CHORUS)

Hold her near when she breaks her little wing
‘Cause I long to hear the flying song she sings,
So let it ring
(CHORUS)

A couple shots from around the house:



And then a couple shots from our excellent vacation:

Debt

Being is debt is the worst. It feels like a trap. See, if you’re in debt, it’s because you couldn’t afford to pay for something in the first place, but you got it anyway and now the amount you couldn't afford continually grows more unaffordable all the time even though the whatever it was you couldn’t afford is getting more and more old and worn out. Wow. Not only that, but sometimes you may even get your debt turned over to a collection agency, which is about the worst feeling ever. I’m not totally sure what a collection agency is actually like, but when you get a notice from one in the mail, all you can think about is how much you like your thumbs, how useful they really are and how much you want to keep them. Figures of imaginary and very large Russians with big fists and even larger guns fly into your fragile mind unbidden and all you can think about is getting out of debt!

I remember when we got our first cell phones... we were newlyweds and didn’t know anything about anything. We got the phones, signed the contract and spent the next couple of days calling everyone we knew and talking to them forever. We had no idea that the first bill included two months fees plus a start-up fee. Combined with our naive and outrageous overages, our first bill was over $600!! And did I mention we were broke, collegiate newlyweds?!? It didn’t take long for us to open up the mailbox and find that little yellow slip of paper letting us know that our delinquent bill was being handed over to a collection agency! My heart dropped down into my shoes as I started nervously looking around for the Russians...

Being in debt is like being in prison, and until you’re free of it, your trapped. When you wake up, your joy is sapped and you wind up living the whole day in a state of oppression. Debt is the worst... unless its the good kind, that is. You see, the other day I was reading Romans 13 and it turns out that all of us are actually in debt all the time. You may not know it, but you woke up today in debt, and tomorrow, you will wake up in debt. This will be true of you for the rest of your life, and it’s actually a very good thing. Paul says, “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another.”

You are in debt right now to the people around you, and what do you owe them? Love. Here’s the thing about this debt though: it doesn’t have to be an oppressive prison. In fact, it can be awesome! The reason debt is usually so awful is because you don’t have the money; you can’t pay your debt. You don’t have what it takes. But this debt is different! If Jesus lives inside you, the love of God is flowing through you like rivers of Living Water, giving you the power to actually love everyone. It’s cool... it’s like, you have a debt to love everyone, but you can actually pay this debt, and what’s more, it feels good to pay it! When you ask God to give you the power to really love the folks around you, you’re being the person you were made to be, and nothing fills you up more than that. Halleluah! We’re in debt, and it’s awesome!

His Own

“Hell on wheels.” he said. “I mean, I’m trying to slow down, but right now all He would see is hell on wheels.”

Darren’s response landed hard on the linoleum floors of that stuffy, cinder-block room. I was back at the Anderson County Jail and we were all sitting on metal folding chairs in the weekly Bible Study that, for at least one guy there, is the only church he’s ever known. I asked the guys this question: “How do you think God sees you?” As soon as I said it, three guys just dropped their heads. Others averted their eyes and some just stared blankly right past me or right through me. Darren shook his head and told us all that God basically sees him going to hell and quickly. Another guy pointed to the page of lyrics that we just finished singing and said, “The first verse of this song pretty much sums it up for me. That is me. That’s how He sees me.”

He was pointing to the lyrics of a brand new song written just this morning, and specifically for those guys. The song is called “His Own” and it’s all about pointing out the difference in who we used to be compared with who we truly are now. It goes like this:

HIS OWN

I was lost, I was aimless
I was broken, I was hopeless
I was hurt, I was lonely
Thinking of myself only
But Jesus made me His own

I’m righteous, forgiven, I’m totally clean
I’m headed to heaven, a child of the King
I’ll never be judged or condemned or alone
‘Cause Jesus has made me His own

I was hard, I was angry
I was trapped, who could save me?
But Jesus died, spilled His own blood
Gave His life out of His love
Now I am His own
(CHORUS)

I was dead, my life showed it
I needed hope and didn’t know it
Now I live, now I’m set free
Now I can be a new me
Since He made me His own
(CHORUS)

We talked about how Jesus paid for all our wrong so that He doesn’t see us in those old ways anymore and He never will again! Sure, I’ve been a mess. Sure, I’ve been a lawbreaker and a liar and a thief and host of other horrible things... yes, those things are true of me, but there is something else that is true of me and this truth is deeper and more true than anything else. It is that Jesus died for me, making me His, which means that I am forgiven and free and righteous and holy in the sight of God. I am completely loved and clean and acceptable. I am His.

This past week I got to watch my favorite songwriter, Andrew Peterson perform songs from his new album. It was a beautiful concert and I won’t soon forget it. But the moment that really stuck in my head was when he sang with such certainty these words,

“I’ve got voices that scream in my head like a siren
Fears that I feel in the night when I sleep
Stupid choices I made when I played in the mire
Like a kid in the mud on some dirty blind street
I’ve got sorrow to spare, I’ve got loneliness too
I’ve got blood on these hands that hold on to the truth
That I am a priest and a prince in the Kingdom of God”

As we left the small cinder-block room at the end of Bible Study, one of the guys came up to me and said, “Bring that new song back next week. We need to sing that one again.”

Christy and I spent this past week in Chicago serving our Missionaries there along with some of our high school and college folks. Here are a few pics I took one night with the iPhone:

The Best God in the World

Last week some folks in our church gave up a whole week just to love on the kids in our church and give them five days in a row of fun, laughter and partying in Jesus’ name. Whoa, it looked like a BLAST! Everyday my kids came home so pumped, so worn out and so totally in love with Jesus! Man, you can’t beat that. There were sandboxes, homemade t-shirts, cheers, delicious food, a bounce house, a giant slip n’ slide and about a million water balloons and the whole thing went down under the umbrella of loving Jesus... not only that, but it meant that the moms of those kids got five days off from being total, full-time moms! Man, everybody wins!

During the week, all the kids put together a little something that they wanted to present at church during the worship service. It was their version of something called ‘Cardboard Testimonies’ where traditionally, a person will basically tell their whole story in about 15 seconds, using two sides of a big piece of cardboard. One side says, “I used to be this.” or, “I used to do that.” and then they flip the cardboard over and it tells how Jesus changed their lives... well, five-year-olds don’t really have too much of that sort of thing to share about, so they just made their testimonies about “Why I Love Jesus.” Each little kid held a big board that said, “I love Jesus because...” on one side, then they flipped it over and the cards said things like, “He made the world” or, “He let my Mommy have a baby” or “He loves me.”

They were all really cute, and I even got choked up a bit when Anna and Norah flipped their little signs, displaying their sweet love for Jesus for all to see, but my favorite cardboard testimony that morning was written by a little girl named Bethany. She walked to the front of the stage, held up her sign that read, “I love Jesus because...” and then flipped it over and it read “He’s the BEST God in the whole world.”

Wow. I’ve been thinking about that unbelievable bit of theological insight ever since Sunday morning! There are so many things in this world that are trying to be like gods... so many things making promises to fill you up, give you life, tell you you’re important, and on and on, but they can’t deliver! How often do we expect things other than God to do things for us that only God can do?! We think money will make us feel important. We think the right job or the best houses and cars will make us feel like our life has real meaning. We think that government or a specific party or ideology can meet our needs. We think certain relationships will tell us we are loved and wanted and yet, none of these things can really, truly fill us up! None of these things can do for us what Jesus can! There are many things in this world making promises, many things acting like ‘gods’ but only One can really be God. Of all the ‘gods’ in this world, only One can really fill you up! As Bethany said, Jesus is “the BEST God in the whole world.”

Psalm 48 put it this way, “This God will be our God forever and ever, He will be our Guide even to the end.”

Taking Words With You

Raising humans is hard stuff. Mainly because you wind up spending most of your time furiously arm-wrestling that hereditary selfishness which was passed from Adam to the nameless generations of goofballs, through you and right on down to them. You spend years training them to use their manners and ask for things politely, only to watch them clank their fork down on the plate, down their whole glass of juice in one, (complete with raucous gulps) slam the glass down and belch so loudly the neighbors scoff and shake their heads in horrified disapproval. Then, while you’re still reeling from such a Viking-esque display of barbarous impropriety, that same child looks at you and says, “Hey, Dad. Juice. Here. Now.”

Wait, how did this happen?! You’re thinking to yourself, “They’re so cute, and we’ve been so consistent! How is it that they still don’t always use the so-called ‘magic’ words?” That’s when you, the parent, decide enough is enough. You bow up and take your stand... “No girl, I don’t get juice for people who rudely demand things.” Boom! Deal with that! The challenged child (hopefully) backs down, says I’m sorry and politely asks for the juice.

The question I’ve been asking myself lately is this: “Is it a big deal? It is really all that important that our kids say “Please” and “Thank you” about everything? Are we teaching them a true and valuable lesson, or are we merely passing down a meaningless convention? Well, I actually think it matters, and here’s why: The word ‘Thank’ actually comes from the word, “to think.” It’s like saying, “Hey, someone did something for you. Think about that... you should express your gratitude.” Please and thank you are ways of expressing the fact that you are at someone else’s mercy... it’s humbling and good. It’s as if certain words actually temper and steer your attitude.

This morning I read a really cool verse in Hosea chapter 14. He says, “Take words with you and return to the LORD. Say to him: "Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously, that we may offer the fruit of our lips. Assyria cannot save us; we will not mount war-horses. We will never again say 'Our gods' to what our own hands have made, for in you the fatherless find compassion.”

Wow. Not only are we supposed to go to the Lord, but we aren’t supposed go empty handed! We’re supposed to take words with us... take words that temper and steer our attitudes. We’re supposed to go into His presence asking for forgiveness! We’re supposed to go in asking to be received! We’re supposed to express the fact that other things in our lives we used to trust in can’t save us! We’re supposed to admit that only He can fill us up! When we go to meet with Him, we ought to go armed to the teeth with certain words that will guide our hearts into a place of worship and trust. We ought to live all day with words on our lips that express that fact that we are at His mercy! If we take words with us on purpose, we’ll prime the pump for the kinds of hearts He’s looking to find!

For His Own Sake

Jack likes walking. When he first started moving about on two legs, he couldn’t decide whether he liked walking or crawling more, but that was only because he was still a bit faster on all fours. Now that he has the balance thing all worked out, he loves to walk and I believe that one of the reasons he likes walking is that he hates having dirty hands. If Jack stumbles in the dirt or mulch, he scoffs at the debris hanging on to those little chunky mitts. He wipes his dirty paws on his hair and on his clothes... anything to get the gunk off. Back in the day, when his hands got dirty, he would just look at them, crinkle his face up and cry until someone wiped them off, but now he takes charge because he likes to be clean.

The thing is, as much as Jack likes being clean, it’s nothing compared to how much Christy and I like him to be clean. He loves his bath and even says the word “bath” with much enthusiasm, but we’re the ones who take the initiative to clean him up. I would never have been able to explain this to my fourteen-year-old self, but there is almost nothing cuter and sweeter in this world than a little baby fresh out of the bath! Toweling off that soft, pudgy skin and slipping fresh pj’s over that fluffy head is one of the best things about being a parent... there’s just something in our hearts that not only loves that baby, but loves him to be all fresh and clean. As much as he wants that, we want it even more.

The other day I was reading Isaiah 43 and I was asking God to encourage me... to tell me He loved me and fill my heart with something for that day when I came upon a verse that says, “I, even I am He who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.”

Whoa! Sometimes it would be easy to think that God simply tolerates me... that out His outrageous mercy He saved me because I was so messed up and needed to be saved, and wanted to be saved, but that deep down He doesn’t really like me all that much; but look at this! He saved us and forgave us for His own sake! Can you handle this? Sure, I need forgiveness and I love being forgiven, but that’s not the only reason why I’m forgiven! My relationship with God isn’t based on or rooted in my desire or even my need so much as His love! When I wasn’t seeking Him, He was coming after me! When I was running the other way and didn’t want Him, He wanted me! When I needed Him but didn’t even know it or want Him, He saved me for His own sake... in other words, because He just wanted to! He wanted us. As much as we love being His and being clean, He loves having us as His own even more! He doesn’t just tolerate you or put up with you... He is absolutely crazy about you!