Seven Years

Today, Sarah and I have been married seven years. I am very happy that I have such a good wife who loves me and my children so much.

That's Not the Way I'd Do It

Many times during the Christmas season, we hear the story of Mary and Joseph, Jesus' birth, angels, shepherds, and wise men, but I wonder if we ever stop to think about how unconventional many of the elements of this story are... especially in our own faith. If I wanted to send the Savior to earth, I'm not so sure I would choose to do it like this.

If an unwed mother showed up in church pregnant and she said God caused her pregnancy, I would personally be skeptical. I would think that she was sleeping with her boyfriend, and they weren't being very careful. The Jews of Mary's day would have thought no different than you and me, but the only difference is today we wouldn't take the adulteress woman out back and stone her to death. Mary's unwed pregnancy would have totally been humiliating to her and her family. Not only that but for all of Jesus' life everyone in Nazareth would have look at him as the bastard child. I am not sure I would have chosen to do it like this.

If a king was born, I am not sure I would invite a bunch of underclass citizens and pagans to come to his birthday party. The angels didn't announce Jesus' birth at Herod's house or any of the Pharisees' homes... there is not one Head of State or religious leader at his birth. Instead God invites a bunch of shepherds, which would be the equivalent of inviting nothing but a bunch of illegal emigrant farmhands today. Then pagans from the cult Zoroastlainism come and worship him. Again, I am not sure I would have chosen to do it like this.

I don't think anyone would have chosen to redeemed the world through a child who came from an unwed humiliate mother, whose most important guest at his birth were shepherds, and who was worshiped by pagans. But only a God who starts humanity's redemption like this finishes the story with a crucified and resurrected Savior who redeems humanity to himself.

What makes Christmas so great is a God who would sacrifice his own son to bring a fallen humanity back into relationship with himself... how amazing because I wouldn't have chosen to do it like this but I am certainly glad he did.

Blizzard

As you may know, we are having a blizzard in Wisconsin. We had 7 inches of snow last night, so that has resulted in lots of shoveling.

My father-in-law owns his own business, and like many business owners in the winter, he contracts his snow removal.

This year he changed his snow-removal guy as a favor to a friend's friend...you know, and so this morning the new guy doesn't show up. Paul (my father-in-law) and I spend two hours outside shoveling snow so our customers can get to the door. It wasn't really something either one of us wanted to do, and to say the least, Paul wasn't very happy.

After a couple of hours into it, Paul finally goes in to call this guy and chew some you-know-what out. Come to find out, the guy's wife went into labor early this morning. All of a sudden, I was happy for this guy who had been the cause of my frozen butt. I thought about the joy of being there at my own children's birth and suddenly shoveling a foot of snow seemed like a very small thing.

Four Generations of Simpsons

Thoughts on Parenting... Part II

For all of you who know me, I am not a monetarily rich man, but I am rich in many other ways. I have a great family, a very wonderful wife and children, amazing friends, a job, a place to live, and food to eat. It may seem very simple, but I am very thankful for it. I know that somewhere along the road of the "American Dream" many people lose site of this true wealth.

I contribute most of my success in life to my parents. The reason is they taught me a very valuable principle growing-up. It started from a very young age and underscored every thing else they would teach me. It was the principle of obedience.

Ephesians 6:1-3 says, "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 "Honor your father and mother"-- which is the first commandment with a promise-- 3 "that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth."

I do want my children to obey me, but I don't want them to obey me just because I demand it. I what them to obey me because in their obedience comes a huge blessing. It is the blessing of enjoying a long and healthy life. I know that my desire for Micah and Lydia is the same as every other parent's, that they would have a happy life. If we help our children learn to obey, they have a great chance of reaching this goal.

Thoughts On Parenting.... Part I

Parenting is not as easy as it looks. I have come to realize that I am not nearly as good at it as I'd hoped.

The other day our family was getting ready to leave to go somewhere, I don't even remember where, but somewhere. I asked Micah to put his shoes on, but he was too interested in his own agenda to hear me, so I asked him once again to put on his shoes. Again he did not acknowledge that I had spoken to him, and he continued to play with whatever little toy he had in his hand. Finally I was so angry with him that I yelled, "Micah! Get in there and get your shoes on right this minute before I give you a beating." He immediately breaks into a flood of tears as if I had broken his little spirit in half.

As parents we often love to quote Ephesians 6:1-3, "Children obey your parents, for this is right in the Lord." I thought I would reflect on these couple of verses some other time. That is why this blog is part 1.

The problem is we don't often finish Paul's thought in verse 4. "Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord."

I find that my anger and impatience often gets the best of me. I am learning that the best way to parent is with firm and clear expectations. I know that I need to discipline my children, but if I want them to become obedient, I need to do the hard work of training and instructing them before I lose my cool. As parents I know that we are on all this same road together.

Christmas Pictures