I Have the Best Church Ever

Every year I watch “It’s a Wonderful Life” at Christmas.

And every year I cry.

You see, at the end of that movie there’s a scene where the whole town comes out to help George Baily.  They know that he is in trouble, the Building and Loan he manages has misplaced $8,000 and George is prison bound.  His wife, Mary, rallies the townspeople to help.  They quickly raise more than enough to pay the debt and give George and Mary a very merry Christmas.  And it was his life, the impact he made on others, that made them want to help him when he was in need.

And so this Christmas, like I always do, I watched “It’s a Wonderful Life”

And this Christmas, like I always do, I cried at the film’s final scene.

But this year I cried a little bit extra.

The reason I cry is not because of the scene itself, it’s the desire that I would live a life like that.  That I would make an impact in other people’s lives, however small, that they might be stirred to action if I needed them.

And this year I did.

My in-laws were in a car accident on their way to visit us, and they have been here recovering for over two weeks.  My mother-in-law had such a severe head wound that two surgeries were required, one has happened and another is pending.  And while they both have good jobs, neither one has any kind of medical insurance.  Our family needed help.

And our extended family, our church, rushed into action.  They were able to meet physical, emotional, and financial needs in our time of crisis.  They were there to offer support, meals, and even money to help get my in-laws through this difficult time.  Our family will be forever grateful to our church.

So as I watched that scene this year, I knew that my wife and I were loved and cared for.  I knew that our lives made a difference to someone else’s because so many others were willing to make a difference in ours.

Thank you, and may God bless us all this New Year!

Family Movie Night

We have started doing something on Sunday nights that has been a lot of fun at our house: Family Movie Night.  We make a pizza, grab a spot in front of the television, and watch a Disney movie together as a family.  We don’t eat in the living room very often (most meals are around the table), so to have this fun time together has been a real treat.  We don’t do these every weekend, but Sunday’s are a busy day for our family and by the end of it, sometimes it’s the perfect ending to a busy but exciting day.

 

I think that part of the reason that I enjoy this so much is because we used to do this when I was a kid.  Every Sunday our family would do the same thing: make a pizza and watch a movie.  There is just something about connecting with your childhood this way.  I think that’s why I like going to Walt Disney World so much, it’s something I did as a kid that I now get to do with my own kids.  Watching my daughter experience the things that I loved as a kid makes me feel like a kid again.  Often as adults we become so over-intellectual that we lose sight of the things that we loved as kids.

Jesus said that the only way to really connect with Him was through childlike faith.  Now, I’m all for systematic theology, apologetics, and proper exegesis (I just used a bunch of big smart sounding words to say I like thinking about my faith), but there is something about a child’s relationship with Jesus.  She doesn’t ponder the mysteries of the universe or struggle with the problem of evil, she just knows that Jesus loves her and she loves Him too.  There are certainly times for intellectual discussion of the Scriptures, but as I am in the middle of my final semester of seminary and am readying books that approach the Bible in a way that greatly resembles marching through mud, it’s nice to remember a time when all I knew was that Jesus loved me and that I loved Him too.  And sometimes I get the feeling that as an adult, that’s still all I need.

Trouble

Every day I hear a new story of something my daughter did wrong at school.  She’s not a mean kid, but she is bossy, and if she doesn’t get her way, look out!  As her parents, we are trying to be consistent in our disciple, but she is running out of toys for us to take away (and she has pretty substantial selection of toys, so that shows just how much trouble she’s been getting in).

And yet, even though she is disrespectful and disobedient (at school and at home) I still love her.  That is crazy!  Who would love someone who acts and talks like she does?  She has done too many things wrong to earn my love and she’s not even three and a half, so her future is obviously hopeless and my love for her is obviously irrational.

(Pause for effect)

The above paragraph is obviously ridiculous; no good parent would talk like that about their child.  And yet that’s the way we often think that God talks about us.  We get this feeling like our sin makes us completely unlovable and that we’ve done too much for God to ever forgive us of.  When we have kids we begin to see what unconditional love really looks like, and yet we are blown away that God might have that same kind of love for us.  I’ve learned so much about God in the way I interact with my own daughter, and I’m beginning to see that even though my disobedience may change the blessings that God has or the consequences I face, it never changes His love for me.

Who Gave Me This?

My daughter’s new favorite question to ask is “who gave me this?”  As the only grandchild on both sides, she is spoiled.  As a result, most of her toys, clothes, jewelry, etc. come from all sorts of different people.  On top of that, she has some “adopted” grandparents here in town that like to spoil her, too.  Often, when she picks up a toy or puts on a shirt she will ask one of her parents who she got that item from.  We will answer to the best of our knowledge,  she will matter-of-factly say “ok” and then go back to playing.

I found this phenomenon interesting as she was asking about everything she touched the other morning before heading off to pre-school.  Once we finally got all her things together and headed out the door, she made a comment as I buckled her into her car seat that it is always hot in daddy’s car.  This is because the car has no AC.  But this is not my vehicle’s only problem, it also has a damaged door, a messed up stereo, and a cracked windshield.  Thinking of all these ailments, I said to myself “I hate this car.”

That was when God brought my little girls question into my mind.  “Who gave me this?” I asked myself as I closed the door of the car.  God did, of course.  He blessed me with all the material possessions that I have, including my crummy car. Sure, it’s not much, but it gets me to work on time.  He has always taken care of me, making sure I had everything I needed.  In the times when it becomes easy to complain about all the things that don’t always work out, the questions of “who gave me this?” begins to put it all into perspective.

I Got Peed On

We are potty training our daughter, and nothing is working. We’ve tried pull-ups. We’ve tried panties. We’ve tried shame. Nothing.

The other day she was wearing “big girl panties” for the first time. The theory here was that if she “went” she would feel it instantly, not like the feeling, and then learn to use the potty. I thought this sounded like a great idea, until Meghan left to go exercise and I was home alone with Katie. This is when I had the brilliant idea to Skype with my mother, an event that then places my potty-challenged daughter on my lap.

Are you following me?

Can you see what is about to happen coming a mile away?

Are you wondering why I couldn’t?

Yes friends, it was halfway through that conversation that my daughter peed on me. Through her panties, through her shorts, onto me. Needless to say, that ended our time with grandma and both Katie and Daddy had to change. I should never have put my daughter on my lap. While this incident is not entirely my fault, I had a part to play. I made a series of decisions that allowed something someone else did to affect me.

In life sometimes we put ourselves in situations where it seems like we’re just begging for someone to hurt us. We make a foolish choice, and then wonder why something someone else did had such a negative impact on us. Often we place all the blame on the other person and accept none for ourselves. We can choose to distance ourselves from people that constantly do things to us, or we can change the way we interact, or stand against peer pressure. People make choices, and we can’t change what they do, but we can change ourselves.

Poop

Well, we all knew it had to happen eventually. The other day, while getting ready for work, my daughter reached for me with poop on her hand. She had reached into her diaper and gotten messy. I was cool about it, and the nasty stuff didn’t get on anything else. We made sure to get good and clean before I sent her off to school.

But if you are a parent, and you are reading this, you have been there. Poop just becomes a daily occurrence, just another part of life. And I could get bent out of shape every time something disgusting happens in the life of my one year old, or I could just go with the flow. Rather than wish for a day when diapers are a memory and the potty is no problem, I need to enjoy and be thankful for the days that I have now, because this time will pass so quickly and once it is gone I can never get it back.

God wants us to be thankful in all circumstances. This means that our attitude toward life is not based on what happens to us, but instead who He is. The more thankful I am for the time I have been given and the people in my life, the better my life seems to be. If I’m just wishing these days away, that is exactly what will happen, and I will miss the wonderful moments too.

For more on thankfulness in our families, come to OASIS this Wednesday night.

Mine! Mine! Mine!

My daughter has learned a new word: mine! She says it all the time, referring to things that are hers, or things that she thinks are hers, or to just about anything she picked up ever. If it’s within arms reach, then it is “mine.” It could be yesterdays sippy cup full of curdling milk that she left under the couch that her mother and I are desperately trying to pry from her hands before she takes a sip, but if we even get close to her we hear a resounding cry of “mine.”

We are all selfish, that is part of our nature. We are born that way (anyone who believes otherwise should just meet my daughter). But when it comes to living in a community together (family, team, job, you name it) selfishness only gets us so far.

What we long for is a sense of togetherness, a sense of unity. I think that selfishness is the opposite of unity. I know our first thought would be that disunity is the opposite of unity, and I suppose technically it is, but I also think that when we look out only for ourselves we lose the opportunity to look for what is best for the group as a whole. We cannot be unified if we are selfish.

For more thoughts on “Togetherness” check out OASIS at 6:30 Wednesday night the 10th in the Youth Room of Calvary Baptist Church.

Grandparents

Over the past four weekends, we have hosted grandparents for three of them. Let’s just say that I’m tired of driving to Amarillo and am ready to deflate our blow up mattress that has overtaken our spare room for the past month. And while I am glad to have my house back, I do enjoy being able to see grandparents interact with their granddaughter.

We get to see her everyday, and experience the little changes and the cute moments. But because God has called us to live where we are, that means that our families do not get to spend the same kind of time with our little girl. And so we have a very “open door” policy when it comes to visiting family, because we know what it means to them.

I think that watching my daughter’s grandparents has given me a new perspective on God. As a parent, I understand the unconditional love of God a little more, but I also clearly remember the time I had to clean up the coffee that she knocked out of my hand. There is a level of frustration and sin on my part that I do not observe when the grandparents come. For them, everything is wonderful, they are just happy to spend time with our little angel. When God washes away our sin, I think He looks at us more like a grandparent than like a parent. All the things we have done are so insignificant compared to the chance just to spend time with us. I can’t imagine that God would love me that way, but He does. God hates our sin, of course, just as the grandparents do. But just like grandparents, God not only wipes that sin from our eternal situation, but also from the ins and outs of our everyday relationship, as if I had never fallen short and was the only thing that matters to Him in all the universe.

Katie and the Blanket

The other day, I had just changed Katie’s diaper and had put her on the ground in her room. While I was disposing of the evidence, Katie went over to her crib and pulled her little green blanket through the slats. She quickly put this blanket over her head. So excited by her newfound situation, she ran full tilt straight ahead, which placed her nose to nose with her rocking-horse. She flew back and landed right on her bottom. It was just like a cartoon, the only thing missing were sound effects.

The more I watch my daughter, the more excitement I see in her. The simplest things get her all riled up, and it’s a lot of fun to watch. Sometimes I wish that I could get that excited about things. God is doing so much around me, but so often I take it for granted. I think it’s time for me to put a blanket over my head and run as fast as I can, see what God bumps me into.