Get the waffles…

The other day my princesses and I were on the way to their grandfather’s house.  They were spending the morning with him because my wife was getting ready for a cookware party the next night with “the girls”.  Just like when school was in session, my beauties were moving at their own pace.  “Shoes, hair, teeth… “ I was shouting the normal list of things I think should be automatic.  I guess that’s why I’m the parent and they’re the children.  Although, the five-year-old seems to obey the best… most of the time.

Did I mention I was running late for work?  That always adds another number to the equation.  So I’m encouraging them to “grab the waffles out of the freezer and take them to their grandfather’s house.”  Needless to say, I became distracted with “shoes, hair, and teeth” directives again and forgot about the waffles.

On the way, I asked, “did anyone get the waffles?”  My drama queen (the middle one) uttered her obligatory “oh shoot” in a tone resembling genuine concern.  I go into police detective mode,
“Why didn’t anyone get the waffles?”  Almost in unison they replied, “I don’t know”, which is their standard answer for anything.
“I asked you to get them before we left.”
“I know,” my oldest shyly responded.
I then questioned, “Well, honey, what would make you have waffles right now?  Knowing you have waffles or getting them out of the freezer?”

You know, sometimes we’re like that with our Heavenly Father.  We say we have the faith but we put no action behind it.  James 2:17 says, “faith by itself, if not accompanied by action, is dead” (NIV).  Knowing the waffles were there didn’t help satisfy her hunger.  We may pray, “God help me do this or that”. But what are we willing to put into it?  “Help me lose 50 pounds God”.  Yes, He can but you need to lower your calorie intake according to your activity.  Trust me; I know that one from experience.  I once weighed 350 pounds.  Last time I weighed I was 270.  We must show our faith in an Almighty God by putting forth an effort to accomplish the goal too.  Why should we be lazy and expect God to do it all?  Can He do it all?  Of course.  He’s proved that with creation and the birth, death, and resurrection of His son.  If you’re a parent, let me ask you this question.  When your child asks for something, if they are able to do some of it themselves, you want them to, right?  However, you watch closely and step in once you see they can’t do anymore.  Our Heavenly Father is the same way.

Get the waffles.  (Make sure they’re whole grain though!)

For more read: James 2

Here kitty, kitty! Why are you running?

The other night, I came home and noticed something under our other van.  Figuring it was trash or something that had blown from the garbage cans sitting next to the house; I did not think anything else of it until I shut the door of the vehicle.  Whatever it was moved quickly from under our van to under our deck.  Just then, I saw little bitty head peak out from under the deck above the tall grass that I need to trim.  It was a kitten.  Tiny little thing.  After further investigation, we found out it was still with its mother.  Because she ran, off into the woods and left the infant to fend for itself.  (I know, all the women reading this just went “awwwww”.)

Our neighbor had apparently been trying to catch the little thing too because she came over to investigate along with my wife and three girls which had joined the hunt at this point.

SN: I was bringing groceries home and everyone is expected to come out and help.  Nevertheless, I lost out to the kitten.

So, my wife, three girls, and our neighbor proceed to chase the kitten.  He or she went from under our van again, to the empty house next door, across our front yard, and into the yard of the neighbor who was helping with the chase.  It was rather comical really; two grown women and three girls 10 and under trying to apprehend a tiny, little, but fast, kitten.  Nevertheless, I am rambling again.

It made me think about our relationship with God though.  Here we are, tiny, helpless, and crying.  Sometimes even the people we have depended on the most have left us to fend for ourselves when times got tough.  However, there is God, chasing us down, trying to get a hold of us.  Not to hurt us, not to cause us harm, but to love us.  I can guarantee that if my girls got their hands on that baby, he or she would have been absolutely rotten.  That kitten’s every need would have been taken care of.  The kitten would not have a worry in the world.

Do you ever find yourself doing that with God?  Every time you feel Him get near, you run and hide, thinking your idea is better.  When all He wants to do is, take care of you.  I know I have.

Today, I challenge you to stand still and be willing to see what God has in store for you.  I bet you will like it!

Do you see the rust… or the beauty?

My family and I were talking about our trip to a local spring festival.  A local business always brings in a little group with rides and games.  To me, it is a “money trap”.  However, the kids have fun, we try to steer them away from the games, and just let them ride until they (or we) drop.  One of our three girls went with one of their friends and the kids were comparing notes.

The one that went with a friend said she was on the Ferris wheel with the friend, her sister, and father.  The sister, who is five, made note of the view by saying, “I can see a lot from up here.”  She had no fear.  She was simply enjoying the view and trusting she was taken care of.  Her father, on the other hand, commented on the rust on one of the support beams.  All he could see was the potential danger of the rust affecting the performance of the vehicle.  Honestly, I think I would have had the same focus.

This reminded me of two things.

My first thought was the child and her innocence.  How should only focused on what was beautiful and magical about the event.  How she see so much from her vantage point.  Rather than the possible danger that probably was not even a factor, because these rides are inspected before people are allowed to get on them.  In Mathew 19:14, Jesus said, “let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”  He was saying to have the faith and trust of little children.

Think for a second about how a child acts.  When mine are hungry, they come to us.  In their minds, it is just natural for us, as their parents, to take care of everything.  In fact, I am not even sure they think about it at all.  For them, that is just the way life is.  Sometimes they ask for stuff and we, as parents, know better.  They do not like it.  They fuss, cry, pout, scream, complain, but eventually get over it.  This parent / child relationship analogy, when applied to the Father / child relationship established by Jesus in the New Testament of the Christian Bible, easier to understand.  Notice I DIDN’T say, easier to accept.  We still want to be in control of our own lives.

This brings me to my other thought.

I wonder how much easier things would be if we weren’t born into sin?  If the first man and woman had not fallen into sin, how much better things would be?  The fruit Adam and Eve ate from was called the “Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil”.  Satan told Eve she would be “as smart as God”.  In disobedience, she did become smarter – but not for the better.  She knew too much.   She had a choice and made the wrong one.  Personally, I think not knowing and simply trusting God would have been easier.  The next question is probably, “why the choice”?  Why didn’t God simply wipe out all evil in the beginning?  Because He wants a relationship with us.  He does not NEED it, He WANTS it.  Therefore, without the CHOICE to love Him rather than evil, the love, trust, and admiration would not be true it would be forced.

God proved His love for us by sending a part of Him to suffer an agonizing, humiliating, demeaning, death so that we could have a choice… the choice to live with Him.  Jesus became the ultimate blood sacrifice for our sins.  Again, why ask “why”?  Make the choice to trust Him, as a child would.  Sit on His lap and enjoy being with Him.

He enjoys being with you.  Enjoy and embrace the refuge you can find in Him and in the Word.

Passion moves us to speak…

                Yesterday my oldest daughter brought home several awards to top wrap up her 5^th grade year.  It is hard to believe it has been almost 11 years since we brought her home, unable to do anything on her own.  One award she did not get was the Presidents Awards.  She met the criteria, so my wife asked our daughter why she did not receive that recognition.  According to our daughters teacher it was because of an “N” in the 1^st grade.  What!!!  An “N” in 1^st grade?  Are you kidding me?

See, there is a long story here that I will try to condense.  For some reason, our daughter felt she wanted this particular teacher.  Therefore, she was excited when we got her assignment for that year, until we met the woman.  Her room was dark and there was nothing fun on the walls, just bare, dark, cinderblock.  She was immediately stern when we walked in the room, even with us, reminded me of that Ms. Trunchbold on the movie “Matilda”.

We were constantly getting notes home complaining about our daughter’s behavior.  Our daughter was always very respectful and was with everyone else, why is this one teacher different?  After leaving the school because of a move, our daughter excelled at her new school and continued on to MASTER her Standards of Learning Tests, getting the highest score possible!  Proof it was the instructor, not our daughter.

So the fact the school system would hold this against my daughter made me FURIOUS.  One “N”! Therefore, I went to Facebook to vent my frustrations, something I do not usually do but found very satisfying.  To which a friend responded, “ I hear ya! Rant on! Passion moves us to speak does it not!”  Which is another story.  He and I had a private debate on another subject in which he was very passionate.  His comment spoke to me.

The emotion of anger moved me to speak passionately about my daughter not receiving her award.  I felt ashamed though, that I don’t speak as passionately about something I HAVE received.  The gift of salvation.  The fact the Creator of the universe would humble Himself to come to earth with the goal of becoming a sacrifice for my sins.  To me, that is an unfathomable love.  I will never be able to understand why.  But I am willing to accept the gift freely given.  I should also be willing to speak as passionately about what He did for me… and YOU.

Today, if you know Christ, share your passion about what He did for us.  If not, I’d like to introduce you to the Savior of the world.  I think you’ll like Him.

How strong is your trust?

   Conversations with my oldest daughter, who is 10, are so much fun.  She is so much like me it’s crazy.  How many guys get to have a conversation with an exact female replica?  It can be very intriguing at times.

This time just as compelling, for a 10 year old.  I was replacing batteries in my electric trimmer.  This is one of those that is just big enough to trim a gentleman’s beard and / or mustache.  Not one of those large one’s you could shave your head or the dog’s with.  Now, I don’t know if you’ve seen the commercials for “No-No” the electronic hair removal system but it plays into this.

When my youngest daughter saw it for the first time, she inquired, “I didn’t know daddy had a ‘no-no'”.  Which made my wife laugh uncontrolably for a few minutes.  Then she calmly responded, “no, that’s daddy’s beard trimmer”.
“Still looks like a ‘no-no’ to me”, the “baby” said, not to be out done.

Now, while replacing the batteries, I was turning it on and off stating, “no-no”, “no-no”!  My wife thought I was telling my youngest daughter “no”, she shouldn’t be playing with that.  My oldest was sitting on the couch, playing an old-school game I’d download on for our gaming system, laughing at us.  I said, “that was me ‘playing’ with it saying no-no”.
“It wouldn’t have hurt her anyway, see” I continued while pressing the trimmer blades against my skin while engaging the unit.

My oldest questioned, “what would you have done if it would have cut you”?
“It can’t”, I stated, “the blades aren’t strong enough.  They’re too small and designed to only cut small hair.  You couldn’t shave your head or anything with it”.

I trusted, that even though I’d never tried it before, that the blades on my electric beard trimmer wouldn’t cut my skin.  Because I knew the limitations of the product and how far out the blades could go past the metal guard.  I was protected.

The enemy has limitations too.  He can’t get to us because of our “Guard”.  This is a place to find refuge.  If we are children of the true and living God, then we have protection.  Does this mean we’ll never have trouble or pain?  No.  That’s just a part of the natural world we live in.  But having trust in  our “Guard” means no matter what happens, we know we’ll come out ahead.

Find refuge in knowing that He is there.  All WE have to do is come to Him.  He’s wanting to spend eternity with you.  That’s nice to know, isn’t it.  Just accept that you’re a sinner and the face Jesus died as the ultimate sacrifice for your sins and you’ll claim your space.

Have a blessed day!