Fighting for Milk

A New Adventure!

2007-06-05T19:28:00.000-05:00

You will not find any new posts here (small surprise, since I have been SOOOOOOOO neglectful!). Instead, go to www.CluelessChristians.com, sign up for the newsletter (which we will have functional soon), and check out the He Said, She Said blog.

Life is good...

2006-12-11T01:00:00.000-06:00

Staying up until early morning hours tonight watching an old Shakespeare movie and discussing it with my 17-, 14- and 12-year-olds. Could life get any better for a home-schooling dad?

Provision takes many forms

2006-11-25T20:19:00.000-06:00

This process of transition into...whatever it is that Father is taking us to...has been a real trip. There are times He has spoken so clearly to me, I've turned my head expecting to see a physical manifestation or something. No...I'm not kidding! I've heard weird words from Him with a frequency and clarity I've not had since my Pentecostal days! (Yes, I -rather, we- went through a Pentecostal phase; but that's the subject of another blog). Knowing that He's leading us into a lifestyle of entrepreneurialism, provision is a BIG issue for me. Yes, I know lilies of the field and sparrows and all that, but how will I get my bills paid? You see what a hard head He's up against when He speaks to me? Maybe this is why He feels the need to speak so clearly: to get His word through my thick melon! Anyway, I want to share one weird thing He's doing right now to demonstrate His provision for me:

I've been at my job for seven and a half years now. Since my job pays a small hourly wage, but a substantial rate bonus, they almost treat us like subcontract labor; e.g., there are certain tools we are responsible for ourselves. Generally, these are hand tools; expensive power tools and consumable tools are provided by the company. I have one particular consumable tool that I use with regularity. I have two of this tool and I use both every day. On average, this tool lasts about a week before it needs replacing. Sometimes, I've had this tool last 6 or 8 weeks; sometimes only a few hours! The tools I have right now are different color, so they were not made from the same lot run, perhaps even made from different manufacturers, even though I obtained them on the same day.

Now, here comes the weird part: That day was sometime in February!!! Can you say, "Their shoes did not wear out in the desert?" Now, I want to reiterate: I do not pay for these tools, so the issue is not corporeal provision. It profits me nothing in the physical realm for these tools to go on working. God is doing this simply for my spiritual benefit!!! The only purpose here is to boost my faith! And what a blessing that He has opened my eyes to see this as a miracle on my behalf! How easy would it be for me to say to myself, "Huh! I haven't changed these tools in 9 months. How 'bout that.", and forget about it? And if it were not for the kindness of God opening my eyes, that is exactly where I would be!

Men, Father is doing the miraculous in your life every day! Look for it! Recognize it! Give Him the glory for it! And tell others (including me!) about it, so we can be blessed, too!

...In a handbasket!

2006-11-19T19:25:00.000-06:00

Watching the news the other night, I was a little distressed. All evening the teaser had been: "Property taxes are going down; but there's a downside. Find out what it is at eleven." Good teaser! I couldn't think of a downside to reduced property taxes, so I resolved to stay up and find out what it was, despite my impending 3:45 AM alarm.

Lead story at eleven: Property taxes coming down! The foreshadowed downside? Reduced government services! Layoffs in government agencies! My fledgling Libertarian nerve started to twitch involuntarily...

How far we have fallen from our keep-the-government-in-check roots! Our Founding Fathers, almost every one of whom saw the wisdom of keeping the government small, would develop bleeding ulcers to see how many heads the government hydra has grown by 2006. When we hear a story about shrinking government services, we should rejoice! There should be champagne corks and high fives popping all around the room. More jobs returning to the private sector! More money in the hands of the spending and investing populace, instead of
the inefficient tax-and-burn bureaucracy. Services run by trained professionals, not paperwork-laden agencies!

The scariest part of this incident was not the "government, good/decentralization, bad" mentality of the Talking Head-THAT part I've come to expect- rather, the assumption of universal agreement by all involved in the story. No one challenged this point of view or offered any kind of opposing statements. Apparently it is unthinkable to not desire government to be as big as it can possibly get.

Men, are you firm in your convictions? Do you set an example for your children of a man who says without fear of ridicule, "THIS is right, and THIS is wrong." Even if you disagree with everyone else, even if you disagree with other men in your church, can you argue your position? Can you debate a roomful of naysayers and yet still keep an open mind, knowing that you may be the one in the wrong? Are you humble enough to admit you MAY be the one in the wrong?

Exemplify Christ for your family and stand firm for truth!

It's the Lord, Stupid!

2006-11-08T18:25:00.000-06:00

Talking to the Lord (actually, more like whining to Him) on my regular fasting day today about direction for business, family, money, life...I mean, whining. "Lord, we don't have enough money for bills! Looooord, how will we get this business started, or that one, while we're working on the house? Loooooooooooord, we don't have enough time to add in something new, but if we don't we won't make enough money and blah, blah, blah, me, me, me, waah, waah, waah!!!"

...I think you get the picture. It was pretty pathetic. I worked myself into a headache by noon.

Sooooooooo, He says to me, "So what makes you think this is about you?"
I stopped cold. "Well, we are talking about my bills and my time and my family!"
God again: "What makes you think anything is about you? Your purpose is obedience. If I choose to bless you with a business, it's for the purpose of relationship, ministry and worship; not money. Relationship with clients, relationship with your family, relationship with Me! You work on the obedience part, I'll take care of the money."

There we go, men. All that we do is for the purpose of relationship. With Father first, our families second, everybody else third, and ourselves last. Why is it so easy to reverse that order?

Do not despise small beginnings

2006-11-05T21:09:00.000-06:00

Entrepreneurialism ho!

Today the Lord granted us a $24 return so far on a $5 investment with the promise of much more! Hallelujah!

This is my prayer, men: That we would be able to add value to whatever Father brings us. That we would recognize opportunities to bring increase to His Kingdom. That He would bless whatever we turn our hands to that we might redeem these things for His purposes.

Several months ago, my son and I were discussing buying run-down houses and fixing them up for resale. We concluded that this honored Father because it is performing the same work that He performed at Creation. "In the beginning, the earth was formless and void." Father brought order to chaos. We participate in the same work when we fix the broken things of this world and make them valuable.

Father, as men who are operating as your hands and feet in this broken world, may we all step back from our work each day and proclaim with you, "It is good."

Maybe we could test it on politicians...

2006-10-24T15:49:00.000-05:00

Here's a new twist for a political race: One of the candidates for Oklahoma State School Superintendent proposed last week that used hardback textbooks be placed under every student's desk. The purpose? To shield their bodies in the event of a classroom shooting! You think I'm joking? Read it here.

Honestly, could he have sent a clearer message that he is not the candidate for people searching for real solutions for problems? What does he want to be known as? The Band-Aid candidate? Actually, this may qualify him as the perfect man to run the government school system: Treat the symptom, not the cause. No real thinking allowed.

So, what do we learn from this? How is this relevant to men trying to lead their families in the ways of Christ? Weeeelll, how about encouragement to look at the decisions we make from an outsider's point of view. Aaaaand, maybe ask a few questions as well:

1) Did I make this decision out of anger at the situation? (Not among my most rational moments)
2) Does this decision address the root of the problem? (Assuming we KNOW the root of the problem!)
3) How will my family react to this decision? Will they feel encouraged and protected or will they surmise that Dad's just blowing smoke again?
4)Second most importantly: Will this decision increase or improve my relationships with my wife and children?
5)Most importantly: Will this decision increase or improve my relationship with Father?

I could tsk at political candidates all day long. Heck, I could probably make it a full-time occupation! My judgmental nature loves that game! A more fruitful exercise would be to do what we just did: Take other's mistakes to heart and discern how we can avoid the same.

Into the Entrepreneurial Abyss...

2006-10-13T20:31:00.000-05:00

Well...it's not all THAT dramatic. Just bought an auction of some liquidated tools that we plan on selling around here. We live in Amish country and the Amish can't resist funky tools. The best part of the transaction, however, wasn't obtaining cheap merchandise that we can sell for a profit (although, that is a plus!). The best part was driving seven hours round trip with my 14-year-old son. We listened to a Vision Forum disc on father and son relations being a reflection of the Father and Son relationship. Otherwise, we enjoyed good conversation, bad food and many laughs; not the least of which was the fact that the auction warehouse was 99.9% storeroom and the office was two guys with folding tables, folding chairs and laptops in a room that was five sizes too big for them. What a great picture of 21st century Internet business.

One of the best encouragements in the VF disc was to have your son at your side whenever possible, watching you work, minister, do business. I shared with Jeff #2 how my dad and I failed to establish that kind of relationship. We then talked about how much we appreciated the relationship the Lord has blessed us with, and how much we looked forward to its continued growth. I am amazed and deeply humbled to contemplate it...

Men, take the time to know and train up your sons. It will be well invested.

Behold the Sluggard

2006-09-21T16:48:00.000-05:00

On a recent drive with my breathtakingly beautiful Helpmeet, we observed a very telling example of the rampant slothfulness infesting our society. We observed a lawn, recently mowed, with a large tree limb in the middle of it. Not so unusual? How about the fact that the limb had obviously been there for several weeks, as the grass had grown up to two feet around it? This would make sense if we were talking candidate for log cabin construction, but I believe this was a manageable size for my eight and ten year old to have handled it together. So, since eight and ten make eighteen, one must deduce that anyone of voting age should have the necessary natural resources to MOVE THE STINKING BRANCH BEFORE THEY MOW THE LAWN!!!

(digressing) Harrumph...

However, since Father's purpose for showing me the faults of others is so that I can more readily see my own, I believe I'll look for proverbial tree limbs laying in the various lawns in my life. Pretty certain I'll find a few.

Sluggard signing out.

Back to the Beginning...

2006-09-16T19:45:00.000-05:00

(Composed 16 Sept)
Meaning...my first post! The title: The Future is Now. Subject: the book 1984. Specifically, the concept of the masses being told what to think, feel, hate and love. As my beautiful wife and I were driving today, planning and processing (see last post), we noticed another parallel between the 1984 world of Orwell and the 2006 world of George Bush, Bill Gates and Oprah. We were grocery shopping at the busiest time of the week to do so...Saturday morning! It occurred to us the masses' malleability is manifested in many paradigms. F'r instance, why shop on Saturday morning? It is the most convenient time to do so if you send your children to public school, involve them in sports and other after-school activities, and attend church at the prescribed times (Sun AM, Sun PM and Wed PM). What time slot is left for errands? Correct: Saturday morning. Yet even though we have never sent our littles to government school (a more accurate moniker)-nor the extracurricular accoutrements-and do not attend public church, we continue to fill the Saturday AM slot with the prescribed activity: grocery shopping! Why? Because we are conditioned to do so! Pavlov would be proud. Orwell is not spinning, but grinning in his grave.

My challenge to you this week is to challenge your thinking. Why do you and your family do the things you do when you do them? ...where you do them? ...how you do them? Can you tweak even the mundane tasks to better suit and serve your family's needs so you are more ready to serve the Kingdom at a moment's notice? Think about it. Pray about it. Share with me what Father reveals to you. I will continue to share the same.

*Please forgive my tardiness -nay, neglect- in posting. We have been deluged with information, revelation, and transformation regarding entrepreneurship. Father is doing something in us and it is big. Please pray for our receptivity and obedience.

A new thing

2006-09-04T21:17:00.000-05:00

Recently studying entrepreneurialism. The more I learn, the more I am convinced that it is a better way to reflect the character of God. Working for someone else is exemplifying slavery. As a husband and father, I am mandated to reflect the character of God. Throughout scripture, God is called our Father, and Christ is called the Bridegroom. Hence, God has established these offices (husband and father) as an example of who He is. If I leave my family every day to work for another man, this is contrary to God's nature as all sufficient. He is not subservient to anyone. He is the Creator, the Sustainer, the ultimate Producer, Procurer and Perpetuator of systems. In other words, The Cosmic Entrepreneur!

You'll probably hear a lot about this in the coming weeks. Still absorbing...still processing. Pray for my openness to Father's teaching. Let me know how I can pray for you and in what ways the Lord is leading you to reflect His character.

A Restful Sabbath, Part 4

2006-08-28T15:21:00.000-05:00

OK, last week we talked about why we celebrate Sabbath, now let's start on how.

We are commanded to rest on the Sabbath. We try not to set strict specific rules for what constitutes rest. The Pharisees did, and drew Christ's stern correction (Matthew 12:1-45). In our home, we clean house on Saturday in preparation for Sabbath that evening. We also have a good meal that night; preferrably one that requires preparation during the day, to increase the anticipation. We begin the meal with the Kiddush, which is the Jewish prayer over the bread and wine. Mom starts by lighting candles, signifying God having created light first. She says,
"Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, Who brings forth light out of darkness."
We pass around a piece of bread (usually homemade! :d -that's a yummy face-) breaking off a chunk. When everyone has a piece, Dad leads in saying,
"Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, Who brings forth bread from the earth."
Then we eat it. Next, everyone raises their cup of wine (or grape juice) and Dad leads again,
"Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, Who brings forth the fruit of the vine." Then, we drink.
Then...the meal; and Sabbath has begun!

Part of that sound familiar? Sound like communion service at your church? Jesus was very purposeful when He picked the symbolism of the bread and wine as His body and blood. He knew all Jews would recognize exactly what He was saying: "I am the Lord of the Sabbath!" No more did men have to toil to keep all the Law! Jesus fulfilled the Law, so now is the time of rest! Rest in His forgiveness! Rest in His love! Rest in the knowledge of His perfect work completed for us on the cross!

Now is the time of rest!

Drowning in Lake Mediocrity

2006-08-25T08:15:00.000-05:00

I am going to quote a recent editorial that appeared in our paper; written by a college professor in North Carolina. I will try to do it without shaking hands and grinding teeth:

"We were talking informally in class not long ago, 17 college sophomores and I, and on a whim I asked who some of their favorite writers are. The question hung in uneasy silence. At length, a voice in the rear hesitantly volunteered the name of...Dan Brown.
No other names were offered.
The author of "The Da Vinci Code" was not just the best writer they could think of, he was the only writer they could think of."

*shake shake, grind grind* Sorry...I failed.

Mind you, this is not a survey of the proletariat. This is allegedly the best and the brightest of the current generation of academia. The article goes on to list vocabulary that the professor has used in everyday conversation that elicited blank stares of incomprehension from his college students. These words include: "impetus, ramshackle, lucid, advocate (both as noun and verb), derelict (as in neglectful), satire, pith, brevity, novel (both noun and adjective)".

A quick digression: If you turned red and shuffled your feet at your inability to name an author, or if you stumbled over any of the vocabulary words above, DO NOT BE ASHAMED. This post is not meant to embarrass you. It is to make you mad. Mad at who? Your fourth-grade teacher who read you Robert Frost poetry? Your seventh-grade teacher who made you perform Shakespeare in class? No! They were the occasional oasis in a vast desert of ignorance named the 20th century American public educational system. This is a system designed to stifle thought and repress free expression. Your teacher's attempts to raise your literary awareness were noble but futile efforts to rectify the damaging environment, sort of like ordering a triple bacon cheeseburger with beer-batter onion rings, hot fudge banana split and...a diet coke. The teacupful of inspiration and desire for wisdom was quickly dissipated in a lake of mediocrity and conformity.

This is not a holier-than-thou post. I am a product of the public educational system, too. It is nothing short of the grace of God that I can name any author above Dr. Seuss, or can write anything with more eloquence than "put all the mony in the bag i have a gun".

I want something better for my children than to teach them how to say, "Paper or plastic?". If you are reading nerdy material like this blog on the web, you probably do, too. We'll continue this discussion tomorrow after I calm down a bit.

Right now, I gotta go read to my kids.

A Bird in Hand is Better Than Under the Bush

2006-08-21T21:17:00.000-05:00

Today our brother and good friend Peregrine Took, a.k.a. "Pippin" passed into eternity. Cause of death is uncertain since canaries are such delicate creatures. Pippin was a pretty cool bird. His two favorite things, besides his family, were NFL and Stan Getz, both of which flourish with abundance in our home.

A memorial service was held in the garden, where he was laid to rest 'neath the spreading Liberty apple tree. A fitting tribute since apple slices were one of his favorite snacks.

Mourning continues to this hour.

A Restful Sabbath, Part 3

2006-08-21T15:30:00.000-05:00

Sorry this is late. We spent our Sabbath taking a long drive through some scenic countryside and discussing future family plans and dreams. We also stopped for some Sherman's ice cream (celebrating their 90th year!) in South Haven. It was pretty cool.

OK, I said I would talk about why we celebrate Sabbath. Let's start with the really obvious:
IT'S A COMMANDMENT!!! I guess nothing more needs to be said after that, hm? The Israelites suffered 70 years in captivity because they did not take God seriously when He commanded them to rest. For 490 years they had neglected to make the 7th year a year of Sabbath for the land. As a result, God said, "Fine. You won't give the land a rest? Then I will!" Since they had missed 70 Sabbath years, God removed them from the land for exactly that period of time!

Second observation: "Be ye imitators of God." God Himself rested on the seventh day, so even if it wasn't a commandment, it must be a pretty good idea.

Observation the third: Our lives are busy enough, don'cha think? We are living in a 24-hour society. No desire or whim is denied us at any time of any day! How could it not be a great idea to close ranks with the family, tell the world to buzz off, thank Father for His goodness, and look forward to another week of life?

Didn't get to connect blogs with my honey this week, but check hers out anyway: javadawn
She's always got great discussions and fun stuff over there!

Pop psyche

2006-08-18T13:25:00.000-05:00

Just finished reading "All God's Children and Blue Suede Shoes" by Kenneth Myers. Besides having one of the coolest book titles ever, it was a great confirmation for me, for something that the Lord worked in my heart several years ago.

Side note for encouragement: Reading books that confirm your ideologies is great, but don't let that be the only reason you read. Getting positive strokes from professional authors can be addictive, but I would encourage you to balance your reading with books that you know you do not agree with. This accomplishes two goals: 1) If you read with prayer and an open mind, you may find some long-held convictions that are unbiblical and it may require you to change your heart to align it with Father's will (not a bad result!). 2) If, while reading, you discern that your conviction is more in line with Scripture than the material you are reading, then the investment of learning the opposing point of view will help you in future discussions to present your case more knowledgably and more convincingly. Nothing is more frustrating in a debate than to hear, "Well, that's just what I believe!" You want to counter with, "I don't give a rat's tail what you believe, substantiate what you're saying!"

Whew! Sorry, that was a separate post in itself wasn't it? Anyway, the premise of this book is not to talk about how decadent our culture has become (duh!), but how the very essence of popular culture is anathema to an intellectually stimulating lifestyle. The last chapter is the part that rang with familiar truth for me. He likens the partaking in popular culture with "eating meat offered to idols" that Paul talks about in I Corinthians 10. For those who are under the idol's authority, eating meat is a sin. For those of us who have been set free from all authority but Christ's, it is not a sin...it's just meat. This was a life-giving revelation for me many years ago. I had gone through a hedonistic stage, to a if-it's-not-overtly-Christian-it's-from-the-pit stage, to a confused stage becuase I really liked Pink Floyd and Jimi Hendrix! Now, I guess I'm a Christian hedonist (nods to John Piper).

All things are ultimately under the authority of the Sovereign God. Tomorrow I'll talk about how all things glorify Him as we prepare for Sabbath.

The Author

2006-08-16T19:43:00.000-05:00

To follow up on yesterday's post: We homeschool our children, and we do it in a rather unconventional way. We do not compartmentalize our time (see Jim Bush's blog and comments) into "school time" and "all other" time. We view all time as school time. God does not have a scheduled time to teach us, why should we restrict the teaching of our children? We try to stay attentive all day for opportunities to point out the hand of Father in creation, in human interaction, in events and structures. If God is the Author of all things, as mentioned in yesterday's post, then He is the Creator of art, mathematics, history, particle physics, and anything else we can study. As R. C. Sproul, Jr. says, "We know that 2+2=4 because it's Jesus' 2 and Jesus' 2 and Jesus' 4!" It is our job as caretakers of this planet and specifically of our children to show them how Father resides in all things! This will give them (and us!) a sense of security and responsibility knowing that from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.

It Takes "The Village"...

2006-08-14T19:39:00.000-05:00

For family movie time, we have "family movies" for everyone, then we have "big kids' movies" which tend to be a little more intense fare, then we have "parents' movies" which are usually big kids' movies that haven't been screened yet. This weekend, we watched "The Village" for a big kids' movie. I had been avoiding renting this, because it had been panned horribly by the critics, and since I think M. Night Shyamalan is one of the five greatest living directors, I really didn't want my assessment of his talent to be diminished by watching a flop. Partially from the encouragement of reading the Thinklings, we rented it. We were very pleasantly surprised. It was a thoughtful, artfully directed movie heavy with symbolism. If that's not your bag, you have my sympathy. In our house we savor good movies like a juicy roast beef, slicing them into small sections and dipping them in Scriptural Worldview Worcestershire so we can enjoy every bite.

This is a significant part of what we do here. We turn everything into an opportunity for discussion, analysis and reflection. I don't mean we over-intellectualize events, I mean we look for spiritual significance in all things. God is the Author of all things. If we believe that, we should live it, and teach our children how to live it, also.

More on how to do this later. I might post more about the movie itself, also. Anybody else see it? What was your impression?

A Restful Sabbath Part 2

2006-08-13T17:30:00.000-05:00

Last week, I said I would post ideas for making this a "set apart" time for your family.

My first idea is: Take God at His Word and REST! In the 19th century, and in some lower Amish cultures today, "rest" has a pretty severe definition. They sit quietly in the house and look at books, or talk in hushed voices. The children are reprimanded if they are too rambunctious or make too much noise in general. Hmm. Sounds pretty tense to me. I wouldn't have been able to rest trying to stay quiet when I was a child. I have a hard time staying quiet and still now!

Nor do I believe we are to narrowly define what constitutes "work" (see Sabbath post last week). If the grass is high, or the dirty dishes are drawing flies, it's hard work trying to pretend you don't see them until Monday morning!

"Rest" in our house can take many different forms. Sometimes it's playing a game together (which can get VERY loud!), sometimes it's watching a movie together, sometimes it's taking bike rides, taking a family walk, going to our local state park or zoo, reading books (here's a great description of the significance of that activity in our house: http://www.choosinghome.com/blog/?p=330). Sometimes it is restful for me to get a nagging house project done. Yeah, I know it's technically "work", but it puts my spirit at rest to do it, and the physical "work" is not burdensome. It is also restful for me to do dishes on the Sabbath. We have a schedule where every day of the week it is someone else's dishes day. Dad is not in the 6-day rotation, so on the Sabbath, Dad gives everybody elase a break and takes his turn. Sometimes I do the cooking, too. (not sure this is restful for the rest of the family!) :)

Next week, I'll post about why we should celebrate Sabbath. If we can get our act together, I may do a tandem blog with my better-looking half: http://www.xanga.com/javadawn. Meanwhile, I would love to hear ideas from readers for how your family celebrates Sabbath!

Back to the Future

2006-08-11T10:21:00.000-05:00

A quick thought while we're in the midst of doing peaches:

One of the more ominous practices in 1984 is history revision. There is an entire governmental ministry dedicated to changing news articles, official records and the like to make governmental prognostications come true, eliminate the memory of subversive individuals or change facts to create alternate current realities (such as changing the name of the country we are at war with so it appears we have always been at war with that country). Once again, today's academic says,"Well, we'll be watching for THAT trick. They can't change history on us. We can't be fooled!"

Try this: We are coming up on the five year anniversary of Sept. 11. This will be an occasion for much reflection, remorse and revilement from both the left and the right. The hyper-patriotism of those first few months has dissipated into the deluge of Bush-bashing we are swimming in today. No one today seems to remember that in the several weeks before our invasion of Iraq, the United Nations had near-unanimous support for coalition military action in Iraq; link follows: http://www.casi.org.uk/info/undocs/scres/2003/res1511.html. Today, what you hear is that Bush acted alone; this is Bush's war; poor Saddam, teh Iraqis were better off before, etc.

To clarify: I am neither a Bush-basher nor a Bush sycophant. The president has made two enormous errors in the execution of this war...no...police action. I may expound on them in a later blog, but the point I want to focus on today is: as we train up our children, teach them to read and listen with an open and discerning mind-remembering what has come before and evaluating what is transpiring now. Remember, men, we are training them up to be upright citizens of Heaven; walking in love, peace, wisdom and truth--not cogs in the machine, sloughing toward conformity.

Date night

2006-08-09T20:30:00.000-05:00

One very, very important function of tending your garden is to tend to your chief gardening assistant (That would be the missus!). She is the one who keeps the plates spinning while we trudge off to fight the dragons at the office. When you get home from work, what do you do? Do you immediately shower the dragon blood off? Do you zone out in front of the TV, or behind the newspaper? The essence of my questioning is: Do you tend to yourself? Remember, she has been hoeing, weeding and shovelling fertilizer (thanks for the analogy, dear) all day. If you walk in the door, give her a peck on the cheek and go off to take a nap, is this applying Eph 5:25, loving her "as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her?"

Oh, I'm sorry. Were you looking for the comfy, cushy blog? Well, this ain't it! Try the GodMadeEverybodySpecial!.blog at the First Church of Warm Fuzzies. Life-real life-in the Kingdom is messy. It's dirty. It's bloody...with His blood! It always leads to death, but it's the only kind of death that ends in Life!

Brothers, I'm not pointing fingers at you. All of this applies to my sin-stained flesh as well. Father has been gracious enough to me to have encouraged me to establish a weekly date night several years ago. By His mercy, this is an act that has had a profound impact on my relationship with my wife. I will expound on this tomorrow. For tonight, contemplate your arrival at home and ask Father to make you more attentive to serving your wife, rather than being served.
And, um...I will do the same.

Tending Your Garden

2006-08-08T20:35:00.000-05:00

Currently listening to: "Tending Your Garden" from the Basement Tape series, R. C. Sproul, Jr. and the Highland Study Center.

What a great concept! The mandate to take dominion was not just for Eden. As sons of God, we are to take up our hoes and cultivate the garden that Father has providentially put us in. What impacted me about this is that it says to tend "YOUR garden". There is no mention of poking your nose over the fence and criticizing the other guy's garden. Now, as one of the discussion members pointed out, "Of course, if a wildfire is threatening your garden, then I'm going to get involved and help you tend to it!" Otherwise, I think we would be wise to treat this as similar to the speck-in-your-eye/plank-in- mine issue. Be more concerned with the weeds in your garden than with those in your neighbors'. Do not compare height of corn stalks or plumpness of tomatoes. When your neighbor elatedly exclaims to you that he's finally grown a nice looking stalk of broccoli, do not ridicule him because your broccoli won the state spelling bee. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Iron sharpening iron. Sharing successes and failures, tools and methods for loving our wives and raising a crop of kids.

Gotta go pull some weeds.

Now...this:

2006-08-07T17:37:00.000-05:00

We interrupt our discussion of classic futuristic tomes (as we will probably do frequently), for a timely observation: I AM SO GRATEFUL FOR THE BODY OF CHRIST!

The other day, I entered into a scriptural discussion with a brother who (how to put it delicately?) ...adheres to a different doctrinal stance than I do. Our conversation was interrupted, and before I had the chance to get back to fire up on him again, I chanced by my prayer partner (like anything happens in the Kingdom by "chance"). I said, "You gotta pray for me. I'm fixing to take that boy on. I've listened to that heresy long enough!" My brother calmly quoted 2 Tim 2:25 "with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to knowledge of the truth."

My super-spiritual reply? "Thank you, brother, the scales have fallen from my eyes. I shall go seek his forgiveness at once!"?? Nope. How about: "Wow. Let me go seek Father's heart in prayer to see how I should proceed!"?? Not even. More like: "Yeah, good word: gentleness. 'Cause my SPIRIT'S NOT FEELING VERY GENTLE RIGHT NOW!!!"

Of course, I justified all this 'tude by convincing myself that I was offended at the Word being misrepresented and the gospel being twisted to include the method of administering a sacrament as a requirement of salvation. (No, I'm not going to divulge the heretical teaching just in case some of you belong to the same denomination. If you'd like to contact me privately, however, we can figh- ...er... discuss the matter further.) The real issue here is my pride-filled heart exercising the need to be right. I can try to fool myself-and probably you-into thinking that I was defending the gospel. But my brother's Holy-Spirit-inspired words showed my sin for what it truly is, and...once again, I end up at the foot of the cross.

Thanks, man. That's where I belong anyway.

A restful Sabbath

2006-08-06T18:57:00.000-05:00

Another way to help us keep our focus is to obey the 4th commandment, i. e. REST!

If your stomach is tied up in knots trying to figure out if you've offended God by doing too much "work" on the Sabbath-I assure you , you are not resting! Jesus said, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath." Meaning...God wants us to truly rest, not follow a set of rules and get worked up in finger-pointing debates about what exactly "resting" means.

There was a young man at a church we attended years ago, who told us he never cooked on Sunday, because he didn't want to sin by doing too much work. We asked him if he fasted on Sunday, then? No, he said he usually went out to a restaurant or over to someone else's house for dinner. It really curled his ears when we asked him if he was not causing his brothers and sisters to stumble by making them cook for him on the Sabbath!

The point is we are to emulate our Father. He rested on the seventh day; not because He was tired, but because He knew that WE would need a day of rest in our week. So, in His sovereignty, He ordained that day to be a day of rest.

Enjoy your work week, and start making preparations now for next week's Sabbath! I'll have some ideas then of things you can do to make it a "set apart" time for your family.

Doin' the daily stuff

2006-08-05T18:06:00.000-05:00

As we were discussing yesterday, the mindset that personal pleasure and comfort are the highest attainments is endemic in our community and our culture. As Christian men, we've got to hold a higher standard. We need to influence the world for Christ, right? Ah, but before we can expect to influence the world, it needs to start in our own homes. How do we keep our family's hearts with us in a world that continually distracts?

Today we took a family drive. One of our favorite peach orchards has Red Havens on now (Oh, yum!). With sixteen hands picking, it doesn't take long to fill up several bushels. Even though the peaches were reasonably priced (I didn't think 60 cents a pound was bad!), we still walked out of there with $143.10 worth of peaches!! Since the orchard is about an hour from our house, we took our time coming back. We drove another half hour north to our favorite blueberry farm for $36 worth of fresh blues, then hugged the shore of Lake Michigan on the way home. A beautiful drive, to be sure, but the most beautiful part for me, was that the entire day driving up and back was spent talking. Constantly. We never had the radio or cd player on. We shared dreams, we shared memories, we shared stories and jokes. All nine of us! No one was left out; even the 8-month-old made her opinions known.

This is what it's about. Spending real time together. The Disney World trips and baseball games are great, but when our older kids share their favorite memories, it's usually things like Dad doing the Funky Chicken dance, or Mom throwing the boy out in a snowbank, when he was particularly ornery. It's the everyday stuff. The mundane stuff. The sitting-down-around-the-dinner-table stuff. The funny thing is: we may think this stuff is primarily to keep our kids' hearts at home, but I believe it does just as much, if not more, to keep OUR hearts at home.

I expect to have more stories for you this week as we put up 238 pounds of peaches and 20 pounds of blueberries. Doin' the stuff...

Fighting for Milk?

2006-08-04T16:05:00.000-05:00

What's that title supposed to mean? In the movie Cinderella Man , Russel Crowe, as prizefighter James Braddock, is asked at a press conference why his comeback is so successful. Braddock remembers the lean, interim years in his career, when the milkman would not deliver due to his unpaid bill. His children's hungry faces look up at him in his mind's eye.

Braddock: "I finally figured out what I'm fighting for."

Reporter: "Oh yeah? Whatcha fightin' for?"

Braddock: "Milk."

That's what we're doing, men. We work at our jobs, go to our meetings, serve in our churches, help out our neighbors. In the end, we come home to the people that God has placed directly under our care: our families; and we realize, this is who it's all for. This is where we have our best and most consistent opportunity to glorify God. Everyone else we communicate with has their own homes to go to; our families live with us. While we may have limited responsibility over others; our families have been placed wholly and directly under our care.

Let's encourage each other to honor God by being good stewards of the souls he has given us as our primary ministry.

The Future is Now?

2006-08-04T15:18:00.000-05:00

I've recently been re-reading two books that were highly influential on my worldview as a high school student: 1984 and Brave New World. For the last forty years or so, 1984 has become something of a cliche. Many of its terms have ingrained themselves in our lexicon: Big Brother, doublespeak the Golden Country. Mere mention of the book in the socio-political circles produces a nudge and a wink saying, "Well, we know how THAT story turned out: suppression of free thought, re-writing of history, beatings and torture. They won't pull us into that type of society. We can't be fooled." All of our attention, then, is on preventing us from succumbing to an abusive, totalitarian state. A noble quest, yes; but, I fear, a red herring.

The society depicted in Brave New World is much more subtly evil, and much more similar to our present state. Instead of being controlled with ever-present pain, the citizens are controlled with too-abundant pleasure. They accept whatever is told them as long as they get their drugs, sex and entertainment. Sound familiar? We as a people have willingly and freely embraced this type of feudal arrangement, expecting the state to supply all our needs without our involvement or even our knowledge, as long as our cable service isn't interrupted.

As Christian men, how do we fight this mindset in our country? our community? our church? our own homes? I'll post ideas as they come to me, but I'd like to hear your comments as well.