Please pray for these folks...

A Revelation

It struck me this morning that it's been awhile since I last posted. So when I checked the date of my last post, it wasn't really all that surprising to see that my most recent log-in was almost one month ago. Sorry to be so out of the loop and out of touch, but it's actually been a much-needed respite... not that writing is really all that taxing... the past year, however, has obviously been an indescribable emotional drain... and one more thing on the to-do list has been more than I have cared to think about lately.

All that said, here's a little update for you and a revelation I had the other day...

--We are doing okay, whatever that means. It's still up and down. It sometimes feels like we should be further down this road than we are. And then we remember the words of several individuals/couples who are further along in this journey than we are, folks who have told us that it took them 3 or 4 years just to sort of turn a corner, for life to begin to feel a little bit normal again. We also remember that we are and from here on out always will walk with a limp, so today may be pretty good, tomorrow may be pretty good too, the next day may be yuck-ville, the next day may be even worse, the day after that may be fantastic... and I am once again reminded that our journey is all too difficult to describe to those who have not experienced the same pain and virtually impossible to predict.

--Our house... it STILL hasn't sold. :-( We did have a showing today though (which went well, but the couple wants to think about it... famous last words!), and another couple will see it on Sunday (pray about that for us!). Don't know what else to say. We are waiting, hoping, praying, trusting... and trying not to be anxious and fretful (is that a word?). Any creative selling ideas???

--The revelation... the other day I was talking to Summer about sharing her toys with some her friends (she had had a hard time with that concept the day before!) and she quite emphatically said, "But I don't want to!" I went on to say all the predictable things... about how it's the right thing to do, that it's important to treat other people like we want to be treated, etc., etc. And then Jesus' words in John 15 streamed into my mind: "...apart from me you can do nothing." Yes, as a father I need to teach Summer the what's, when's, where's, why's and how's of life. But as important as those things are, it is equally (more?) important to remind her that Jesus will help us do the things He asks us to do if we will just ask Him for that help. I can give the rules and expectations, but if I don't point her to the only One who can help her, if I don't stop right then and there and say hey, let's ask Jesus to help with this, I will fail her as a dad. I know this isn't a new revelation to you all, and I know that most of you probably figured this out a long time ago, but it clicked for me the other day for the first time in relation to my role as a father... and it also reminded me of the desperate need I have to do the same thing in my own life with regard to the things that I respond to with an emphatic "But I don't want to!"

--One more thing... if you have the time, check out this Eugene Peterson article: "The Cure of Souls"... it's more than 25 years old and it's about pastoral ministry, but it's well worth the time for anyone to read... pastor or not. And it's themes are strongly related to what I've just written here re: my revelation.

A Little Bit o' Summer

Summer FINALLY meets Miss Patty Cake!

How about pancakes and hashbrowns for breakfast on your 3rd birthday? 

That's what Summer wanted. (May 18)

Carnival 'copter ride.

There's no doubt... mommy enjoyed this more than daughter.

May 27, 2009

Chillin' at Chick-fil-A.

A little speed work on the track at Dick's Sporting Goods...

...and then a bike ride.

Combine these sports with how much she loves to swim 

and maybe triathlon is in her future.

Seriously, do you like my new glasses?

Honey, for real, they don't fit.

Nouwen Quote

Thinking about this...

"It is such a comfort to know that Jesus' wounds remain visable in his risen body. Our wounds are not taken away, but become sources of hope to others." -Henri Nouwen

John Piper on Twitter

"'All things were created through Christ and for Christ' (Colossians 1:16). The world does not know it, but that is why Twitter exists and that’s why I Tweet."

How cool is that! If you carry this logic far enough and apply it to other scenarios, it breaks down; but hey, in my mind it's an amazing and obviously God-honoring perspective on Twitter and Tweeting and all things social networking.

Must See...

A.W. Tozer : On "Possessing Nothing Yet Having Everything"

"The way to deeper knowledge of God is through the lonely valleys of soul poverty and abnegation of all things. The blessed ones who possess the Kingdom are they who have repudiated every external thing and have rooted from their hearts all sense of possessing. They are 'poor in spirit.' They have reached an inward state paralleling the outward circumstances of the common beggar in the streets of Jerusalem; that is what the word 'poor' as Christ used it actually means. These blessed poor are no longer slaves to the tyranny of things. They have broken the yoke of the oppressor; and this they have done not by fighting but by surrendering. Though free from all sense of possessing, they yet possess all things. `Theirs is the kingdom of heaven.'

"Let me exhort you to take this seriously. It is not to be understood as mere Bible teaching to be stored away in the mind along with an inert mass of other doctrines. It is a marker on the road to greener pastures, a path chiseled against the steep sides of the mount of God. We dare not try to by-pass it if we would follow on in this holy pursuit. We must ascend a step at a time. If we refuse one step we bring our progress to an end."

==========

I have fairly strong affections toward things, a certain handful of things in particular; my keen ability to pretend otherwise is probably far more stifling to my soul than I am willing to admit. 

I don't want that to be true.