waking up in the middle of the night

Sometimes it's nice to be me! Like when I hear one of my children wake up in the night and get up to be with them, actually what I do is get out of bed grab them by the hand and say come on...and we go get in the bed :)
So this morning, after days of not hearing the dogs when they need to go potty at night (Alli has been hearing them first) I think she was glad that I finally got up to take care of Andrew. I stagger into his bedroom and he see's me and of course says "I had a bad dream". So I reach my hand out and he takes it as we walk back to my bed. The events that happen next are true, and funny enough this happens more often then you might think....
As we are climbing into bed the first funny thing at 3am in the morning is that I quickly reach down and clean Andrew’s feet before he drags them across the bed. Who in the world would want dust and grit in bed with them..? but anyway so I get that part of life taken care of and when Andrew crawls into bed next to his mom she very sweetly semi picks her head up (not sure if her eyes are open or not) but she very softly says " I love you Andrew" and he apparently is more awake then I think because he responds to her " I love you too" then looks at me sort of half asleep and says "To bad Grace did not have a bad dream so she could be in bed with us". Then everyone went back to sleep except me as I lay there unfolding the last oh I say 5 or so minutes in my mind sort of laughing to myself.
We do not allow the kids in bed with us just for the fun of it except for rare times when I maybe have not seen them all week. But one way they can have the honor of sleeping in Mom and Dad's bed is if they have a bad dream and Mommy and Daddy do not feel like staying up.. So Andrew has caught on to this and I think he purposely tries to have bad dreams so he can get in bed with us. This morning was a few extra funny morsels for me to lay there and think about, the only thing that makes Andrews remarks funnier is that he never bothered to look on the other side of Mommy and see that Grace was in bed with us long before him :)

Something someone said

I have not written much in a long while, mainly because I have not been inspired to write. I had an experience last night that has made me think a little and then reading a xanga post from Charity made me think even more.



Ministry takes on different forms at times, I realized this morning that perhaps last night was one of those times that ministering looked different. As a Youth Pastor I think regularly of my youth, wondering what they are up too, whats going on in their minds and what can I do to encourage them, to spark their creative minds to flow. I do not usually think the same way of adults or youth parents...



Last night we visited a youth family that in all the years of knowing them in our church we have never made the effort to visit them. I spent a great portion of Sunday evening and Monday wondering what it would be like to visit them, wondering if it would be weird or if we would all struggle to find conversation. This family is usually a quiet keep to yourself type of family, don't say a whole lot.



As we depart from our house Alli and I talk a bit more of what the evening might be like, how things might flow. This usually quiet family meets us outside as we arrive with excitement in their voice and a happiness all about them that sort of gets me excited. I can't help but feel the warmth of the family as we enter and begin our conversations for the night. As we sit and eat I quickly relaxed and became comfortable with the whole situation and wondered to myself as I looked at our host "has our visit caused joy in the lives of these people"? Reading Charity's blog about the young girl that wanted to know if Charity would return to visit her (the young girl lives in an orphanage in Taiwan) Charity explained of course the young girl wanted to know if Charity would return, she wanted to know if this person was just a one time visit never to return again or if Charity was someone worth getting to know, someone that would invest the time to love her. As I read this in Charity's blog I could not help but think if the same thing applied to this family we visited last night, we as Americans tend to avoid people, we tend to stay away from people because we think they are high maintenance and not worth investing our time in, but last night I think was an investment with a positive Godly return that I have not even seen yet.

It sort of breaks my heart as I think about those around us who just long for people to take interest in them, to invest a little bit of time and at the end of the day when you see the immediate results of that investment if you are anything like me you feel a bit of guilt overtake you because you did not do it sooner. Some of us think we have nothing to offer anyone, that people would never want to hang around us anyway, in all truth those people just want us to love them and invest a little time in them.

There are more families right here in America, in our on church that just want someone to take the time to love them, to invest a few moments of our life in them. I saw a side of a family last night that I have not seen before really and I can tell you as much as I like to sit here and type that my family ministered to another family, truly that family ended up ministering to our family. Love reaches far beyond what we can imagine........step outside the box this week and see how you can love someone in a different way that perhaps will challenge you to be a different person and to live life a little differently.

I think I have decided!

I think I have decided at least for now that the hardest thing about being a parent is looking back. Like today, I was thinking of my children and the events of yesterday evening, I fussed at Andrew for a couple things (although well deserved) I now look back and think I wish I could have spoken softer or chosen different words or...... I want so badly to be everything perfect for my children and my wife, but it seems that God constantly shows me that He is the only one that will ever be perfect for them.

I wonder sometimes if the way I discipline my kids now will actually do more harm to them when they are older then good? I totally believe in discipline, I got it growing up and I figure if my booty had to suffer spankings then so do my children's. Besides the fact that I think it is a Biblical thing too :)

So when I think of the words "Dad I want to be like you when I grow up" sometimes I get nervous and wonder exactly which part of me he wants to be like, cause they never seem to explain to you which event in life made them stop and think "I want to be like Dad". I start recounting all the things we have done all the wrong ways I chose to discipline, etc. One of the only things that gives me comfort is usually God will show me that although I am not perfect and will not be perfect to anyone, when it comes to my kids and my wife I do love them. And it's a love that nobody else can mimic except of course for God, but I think he loves them much more then I ever could, but at least I know while here on earth; there is nobody else that loves them as much as I do.

I sit in a room full of a variety of aged people; I listen to a Bible study on Bible Translations and watch the faces of those in the room as each translation is covered. Right then I realize, even though this study is an informative one, people are arguing in their on mind the incorrect event taking place "according to them". I can see on their faces that they can't believe we are even discussing such a thing. It's not just the oldest people but each age group at various times has a different expression of disbelief. I myself am married to the NASB, I just like it; I like the way it reads, the words, but mostly for me I do believe it is the most recent and current accurate translations based off the Greek and Hebrew text and I have come to that conclusion after some studying. Some people like King James, others like the Revised, New Living Translation. I suppose what interest me the most, is the reason people like the tranlation they decide to use and then are up in arms about it when others talk bad about it. Most always the reasons are not good, I have heard alot of crazy things like, if the King James was good enough for Jesus then it's good enough for us! Huh? What? For Jesus? Ok then. Or it is the closest thing to the original text that we have! Really? And you base that off of what? Or I like it because of the way it reads, I think the words flowing as they do are pretty! Ok, I can buy that one for the most part.
It's just interesting to hear people's reason for adhereing to the translation that they do. What bothers me is that people get heated about it and they don't really know why, they can't give a good argument for reading one version above another.
It's sort of like defending Christianity, we as Christians are becoming more and more dumb to the Word of God and how to defend it as the days go by. We get up in arms about something and then when we are called on it we can't no more give a defense for it then these people who get up in arms over a Bible Translation.
2 Timothy 4:2 - I encourage you to read this and think about what this scripture really means. I am certain it does not mean get all up in arms and then when challenged you hide under a rock!

Funny Thing About Getting Hurt!

Funny thing about getting hurt is it only hurts for a short period, then you forget about it, you forget about the pain, you forget about what made you get hurt, the time of day it happened, who it was with, all this is lost somewhere in the back of you mind after a while. I was thinking about this on the way home from a friends home tonight when I actually got hurt a little, I scratched up my knee on a zip line and yes it did hurt but now the pain is gone and would I do it again??? YEP!!! It was fun, but until the next time I probably won't think of that incident again if I think of it at all. I began to wonder if becoming and staying a christian is like that for some people. You have the excitement factor when you first become a christian and you want to subdue the world as we know it and share Christ to all. Then as the days go by it seems our excitement fades and we even sometimes fade back into the old nature without much of a fight really. Until it gets to a point where we are so low that we have to stop and wonder how we got to this point, what caused us to go backwards instead of forwards? Whatever it was, we forgot about it, if it hurt; it only hurt for a few moments and then left us to be stored in the back of our mind. I pray I don't become like that with my relationship with Jesus, His hurt and suffering was more intense then we will ever know, and for us to just forget about the hurt that He endured for us is just a slap in the face.

I should follow who?

I have been doing a research type of study on the "emerging church". All the things I have found have been a little startling to me. As with most things, on the surface it all sounds sort of cool, cutting edge as far as the church goes and really reaches out to the younger generation. I began to dig a little by contacting an acquaintance friend of mine that makes his living by studying up on these sorts of things. He in turn directed me to a smart and nice lady who sent me a wealth of articles to read on this subject. So I spent some time looking around and reading and pondering with each new revelation of this Emerging church thing, why do they do it like this? Why do they leave that out? Oh my word, they have watered down the very thing we cling to of Scripture "The Gospel". One guy, I like to call him the daddy of the movement in USA at least, says that salvation by faith through grace is only "one facet" of reaching God. HUH????!!!! Are you serious? This guy has been named one of the most moving speakers, one of the most prominent evangelicals in this period of time. How can he be called this when he is leading people astray? I honed in on something these guys in this movement call "Labyrinth Prayer" and I did a little research on it. The original meaning comes from the Greeks, Greek Mythology no less. On their original drawing the Labyrinth has many starting points and they all lead to the center. They hold in this thought that it does not matter what spiritual path you take as long as it leads you back to the center. That troubles me greatly because as I studied on this subject I realized that the Emerging church is growing like crazy. The daddy of the movement has a church of his on that has numbers up in the thousands; while another Pastor who holds to these beliefs in Chicago has a church that has numbers up above 11,000 people. Folks, this thing is catching on and I can tell you why, it's because they give the people what they want. People have the desire to believe in something bigger then them as long as it does not dictate how they should direct their lives and this movement offers this for them. They don't hold to any doctrine so as to not offend anyone, they don't hold any absolutes so as to not offend anyone. They don't believe only in the blood of Christ as atonement for our sins because their could be someone out their that is offended by this. They call the church of today, the conservative theologically and doctrinally sound Churches out of touch, a dying breed. This hits me heavy on the heart for many reasons, 1. they are leading so many people down a path that Paul specifically warns us to be cautious about in Colossians 2:8 (See to it that no one takes you captive through (B)philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the (C)elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. )
2. Apparently many many people in the world today don't read the Bible for themselves. They don't study or research sermons to see if the Preacher is actually teaching truth. They simply take him at his word and move on to mimic how he tells them they should live and think.
3. They are mixing many different religious beliefs into Christianity in order to make it watered down, all in the name of having a better "experience" with God. They bring in the teachings of the Hindu way, of Greek Mythology, of Buddhism, and Mysticism and many more and they mix different beliefs with Christianity.
4. After creating a religion of their on based of human secular man, they send people out to have a "positive" influence in the communities, to offset the things these traditional conservative out dated Christians have been teaching all these years.
Just this week, the senate majority leader Harry Reid invited a Hindu priest to offer the opening prayer for the senate. Guys this should freak us born again believers out beyond our normal walls of comfort. The USA is falling away from God at an alarming rate. Sure there are still folks coming to know Christ and yes if a poll was taken today across the USA there would be over half the population to say they are Christians. But what sort of "Christian" are they? Are they biblically based and grounded? Do they have the correct Doctrine of thought based off what God says and not man? Is there Theology accurate according to the word of God and not according to man?
Does it bother any of you that at any given time anyone of these folks could have a major impact in your child's life? They could deceive them to follow a path that leads to destruction? A Path that follows a God or many versions of a God but not the God of Abraham, not the God of Isaac or the Father of Jesus? Does it both any of us that anyone of these folks could potentially be the one to usher in the reign of the Antichrist or perhaps set the ground for the Antichrist to come in? Does it bother any of us that all these people, all these different beliefs and religions are victims of true born again Christianity? At least according to the world, the government and others, Christians are the worse thing to ever happen to man kind.

I encourage you to study up on the emerging church, perhaps you are on that says, that will never make it in Birmingham. Can I tell you that their is already at the very least 1 church in Birmingham that if not fully aligns itself with this sort of emerging church beliefs it is very close to doing so. The "basement" is a gathering, now I have to say, from my ignorance I can only say that this gathering "freaks" me out. They don't call themselves a church and the main speaker calls himself an evangelist, but I tell you from speaking to people, if he is an evangelist, he is one that does not use the word of God much at all. According to some that I trust, he will simply sit up on stage and give you a warm and positive life experience to apply to your life not out of the Bible but out of his on life and send you on your merry way. This gathering started about 4 years ago and as of today they have upwards towards 4000 people. What if all these people decide that traditional or contemporary church is just to boring and give it up for this life experience at the basement? What are they being fed? Not the word of God.
Remember Colossians 2:8 and pray daily that God will help you to discern when the evil one is trying to lead you astray with his false philosophy and doctrine..

It's an elementary thought really

I was thinking the other day about faith, how we base our faith off our or someone else interpretation of the word of God. We either trust blindly that they are correct or we take what they say and we research it and decide, either way our faith is still based off interpretation. I was chatting with someone last night about whether or not babies go to heaven if they die, what are the qualifications for them to go, do the parents have to be believers or does God consider the little ones to be innocent without outside interference, etc. After thinking about this and talking last night for a while the notion that our faith is based off our or someone else interpretation hit me all over again.
Faith, confidence, strength, wisdom, whatever you want to call it, usually comes from a thought, a belief of something or in something. I watch people in certain situations, how they act how they deal with things. Somewhere in life, they have bought into some form of interpretation that has either affected them in a positive way or a negative way. For example: Someone who has been told repeatedly that they can't do something has a choice to either buy into that interpretation from someone else and believe they really can't do this or they can shrug it off and believe someone else interpretation or their on that they can accomplish this goal. All throughout life there are interpretations, when driving down the road some people interpret the "stop" sign differently then others, some take the literal interpretation and actually come to a complete stop, while others interpret the sign to mean slow down pretty slow where you can get a good look to see if cars are coming but don't come to a complete stop.
We do this with life decisions and fears, we go to church we nod our head in agreement when the pastor preaches the sermon that our strength, our confidence, our wisdom comes from above. Then when we face those situations where we should put those nods into practice, we suddenly believe the interpretation that is different to our nod of agreement.
Why are we so easily swayed one direction to another? Of course on this one subject you could seriously write a book, but this is as far as I will go with it. It's good food for thought and conversation I suppose.