Christmas rounds two and three

After spending the morning as a family, christmas tradition brings us to my sister's house where we all get together as immediate family. My brother from Arizona was there and my sister Amy and her husband too. I don't see them all that often so that was fun. We eat ourselves sick usually and then open more presents.

After that we head to Grand Rapids to Kendra's mom's house and wrap up Christmas there. Linda is infamous for her insane spoiling of the the girls and got them every remote controlled dog, dinosaur, and doll that toys r us offers. We are putting aside fifty bucks a week for battery replacements in the next month.

Great times with great family, God has truly blessed us!!!!! Believing for an amazing 2010!!!!!!

ps. What are we going to call this past decade? Obviously the 80's and 90's were easy enough to define, but are we going to call these the zero's or what? I'd love to hear your input.

christmas 09 round one!!

Christmas morning began in typical zondervan fashion. Cinnamon rolls, coffee, and me being obnoxious with the video camera to the dismay of Kendra=) The girls were obviously excited, but have been around enough to know that this is only the beginning of the gift giving. I try each year to enforce what Christmas is really about, hopefully it will prove effective in the years to come!! ( The classic annoyed pose of Addy is when she was informed that it was Ava's turn to open a gift=)

Last minute Christmas gifts!!!

I almost forgot!!! I hope you guys were ok coming up with gifts without my amazing insight and ingenuity I have offered in years past. Last year I introduced you to the couples toilet and "you can do it" motivational tools. (see last decembers post). This year, although a bit late, I have not left you completely to your own devices when shopping for that hard to please person.

forget zulu hamsters or an xbox, I bring you the hottest gift available this year. The snoop d. o double G...PS system!!

Tired of that same annoying british lady talking to you on your garmen or Tom Tom? Now you can hear snoop dog himself help you swear your way to your destination!!! This is perfect for the guy who prefers "rolling down the street smoking endo, sipping on gin and juice" as opposed to just driving to where you need to get. The best part is you don't even need batteries, it runs on twinkies and blunts. No need to thank me, my reward is hearing how your spouse's eyes lit up and heart melted at your thoughtfulness.

so proud of our church!!

I read an article today that has to make the top ten most ignorant things ever stated by a church leader. A priest in britain told his congregation that shoplifting during hard economic times was A OK in God's eyes. After all, prostitution and burglary are the only other logical alternatives and are obviously far worse. He went on to clarify that one should only steal from large corporations that will pass the cost of theft on to the consumer and not mom and pop stores where stealing actually matters. He also advised listeners to only steal as much, and for as long as needed. I mean, after all, nobody likes an overachieving thief?

He summed his entire twisted logic up by stating that this scenario would not violate the 8th commandment because God's love for the poor outweighs the property rights of the rich.

Here's an idea, why not as a church do something for the poor and down trodden? How about actually being the church and acting on the behalf of the least of these instead of promoting lawlessness? Why not at least tell them to steal a little extra, sell it on ebay, and help out one other needy person? This is the most individualistic, twisted, ungodly self help promotion I have ever heard!

Enter the "big give" event at Radiant church last saturday. Our church is far from perfect, but here is an example of the incredible people of Radiant that actually constitute the "church", doing exactly what Jesus called his followers to do.

We had four ways to get involved with the big give.

1. we took an offering where all of the proceeds were split between james Robison's ministry in africa to provide shoes and clean water for the poorest of poor, and the deacons conference, a ministry right here in kzoo that provides for the needs of the poor.

2. we were involved with angel tree where less fortunate families were sponsored so that gifts could be given to them. We not only provided the gifts, but also delivered them to their homes.

3. we took part with hundreds of other residents in packaging and delivering food for the kalamazoo annual food drive.

4. we visited two nursing homes in the area to sing carols to the residents and give them home made gifts made by the children.

here was the impact we had.

1. 21,000 dollars raised in the offering to help African children and local families in kalamazoo!!

2. 48 families sponsored thru angel tree representing 1000 gifts!!

3. 65 of us at the nursing home ministering to the sick and elderly (so precious to see the kids interacting and the elderly singing along!!!)

4.1500 families had a holiday meal delivered to them thru the kzoo county food drive!!

5. 750 winter coats and items received thru our coat, hat and boot drive.

6. 84 people had beautiful holiday family portraits done for them free of charge thru "help portrait"


I could not be more proud of our church and the generosity displayed. Amazing what can happen when the church actually becomes the hands and feet instead of encouraging five finger discounts=)

beautiful

byoo-tuh-ful--–adjective


1. having beauty; having qualities that give great pleasure or satisfaction to see, hear, think about, etc.; delighting the senses or mind: a beautiful dress; a beautiful speech.
2. excellent of its kind: a beautiful putt on the seventh hole; The chef served us a beautiful roast of beef.
3. wonderful; very pleasing or satisfying.


Oh Lord, your beautiful
Your face, is all I see
And when, your eye, are on this child
your grace, abounds to me

I want to take your word and shine it all around
first help me just, to live it Lord
And when I''m doing well
help me to never seek a crown
for my reward, is bringing glory to you.




I love this song. It speaks both of the beauty of God, and the reason we actually "live" as christians. For his glory, not to keep a moral code.

I pray that the beauty, wonder,, pleasure and delight of Jesus Christ coming down from heaven to Earth will find room in your heart this Christmas.

This song is by "Jesus Culture", they are amazing and I highly recommend all of their albums. This track is off of "your love never fails"

sledding is hard work!!!

Took the girls to Radiant Church's new youth pastors house to do a little sledding on my day off friday. Josh and his wife Jessica just joined our staff and moved to the area. I am so stoked about what God has for him and his wife here at Radiant!! Cool story of how he and I re-connected, but that's for a different post.

Anyways, sledding with a three and five year old has its own challenges, but especially when they are girls!!! No offense to the weaker, should be at home barefoot and cooking gender, (whoops, did I just type that? I am KIDDING!) but not only did they have to stay warm, but everything must be pink, stylish, and God forbid the hat mess their hair up!!!!

When we finally began sledding, there was a ton of powdery snow because no one had gone sledding yet so it was dad's job to go down the hill fifty straight times to create a proper sledding surface. Of course if the girls went off the path I made, snow flew up in their faces and somehow that was all my fault? Addy's face was so rosy by the end, it literally looked like she had painted herself red with a marker!!

Walking up the hill is always the worst part of sledding. Turning your boots inward and waddling like a duck for traction, as well as all the huffing and puffing of going up a hill with fifty layers on and a sled in tow. I seriously wish I had brought our video recorder because I had Ava and Addy quoting Rocky Four as we went up the hill!! Ava is breathlessly chanting "no pain, no pain!" while Addy is making the declaration "Rocky never quits!" on the way up!=) It was a total classic. What dad's heart wouldn't melt at the prospect of his girls quoting such inspirational lines from this life changing film?

Anyways, I knew it was time to, pardon the rocky pun, "throw in the sledding towel", when at the bottom of the hill Ava looks at me and says, "daddy?" "yea" I said. "Rocky feels pain now." =) "ok honey, we can go=)"

All in all, we had fun, relived rocky four memories, and even had hot chocolate (or barely luke warm chocolate as my girls prefer) after the ordeal!!

Thanks Josh and Jessica for letting us hang out!!!

where is your trust?

Received an email about the importance of my vote to preserve "In God we Trust" on our u.s currency. Something about how as Christians we need to stand up to this kind of persecution. I had almost forgotten that our money included this statement so I pulled out a good old dollar bill ( I used to know what twenties looked like, then I got married) and sure enough there is was.

two thought crossed my mind almost simultaneously.

1. With all Jesus had to say about the love of money being a root of evil, the difficulties of the rich entering heaven, and the inability to love both God and mammon, I'm wondering if even Jesus thinks thats a great idea? Isn't it a bit ironic that the one thing that we as Americans trust more than anything else would contain a statement about how we trust God?

American christians spend more on dog food then is given to the local church and we wonder why our message is rendered ineffective? Here is a quote from Ghandi, " I like your Christ, I do not like your christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ. The materialism of affluent christian countries, appears to contradict the claims of Jesus Christ that it's not possible to worship both God and mammon at the same time" OUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


2. I guess I understand what the email was trying to say, but the removal of "In God we trust" off of our currency does not constitute persecution. Neither does the removal of manger scenes in public at christmas or the lack of prayer in schools. I'm not saying these things have no importance, but ask the christians in China what persecution looks like. Pick up Foxes book of Martyrs and have a look at what it really means to take a stand for Jesus. I am becoming more and more convinced that persecution in America may be the only thing that separates those who go to church to ease their conscience, and those who are truly sold out to Jesus.

bartle doo?

Since I recently took a trip to texas and witnessed firsthand some pretty thick texan accents, this video cracks me up!!! I showed it to my pastor and he said he might use it when he talks about the gift of interpreting tongues?=)

The rumor is that this guy is a christian and goes around trying to do "clean" humor so I thought I would help out his cause by adopting the word "bartle doo" into my vocabulary. I plan on using it alot this holiday season, so get used to it kendra!!

take three and a half minutes to watch it, it might just cheer you up.

courage

My first blog post in November?!! I have been lazy!!!!

Here is a great quote on the subject of courage. see if you know where its from=)

"What makes a king out of a slave? courage. what makes the flag on the mast to wave? courage. What makes the elephant charge his tusks, in the misty mist or the dusky dusk? What makes the muskrat guard his musk? Courage. what makes the sphinx the seventh wonder? what makes the dawn come up like thunder!? What makes the hot in tot so hot? what puts the ape in apericot?!! What do they got that i dont got?!!! Courage!!!

courage---"the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc, without fear." Another definition is "to act in accordance with one's beliefs, despite criticism."

Jesus said that in the world, we would have tribulation, but to be of good cheer, because He has overcome the world (john 16:33) Courage is not so much about the lack of fear, but acting despite them. Not allowing them to paralyze you. There are plenty of things that can produce fear in our hearts, but how you respond is the true test. Whatever obstacle you are facing in life, I encourage you to meditate on the words of King David, "The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord (not fear) is the stronghold of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?" The reason we can find courage and strength in any situation is not because we have it all together, but because God is with us.

Joshua 1:9 "Have I not commanded you. Be strong and of good courage. Do not be afraid nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you, wherever you go."

Here's one more thing to meditate on, just in case you want a little more wizard of oz in your vocabulary.....

if you had courage, you wouldn't be afraid of anything?.... Nothing.
What about a hippopotamus? .....I'd trash him from top to bottem(es)!
supposing you saw an elephant..........I'd wrap him up in cellaphane!
or a brontosaurus? ........I'd show HIM who's king of the forest!


whatever your facing, go in the strength and assurance that God is with you.

oct 31 2009

happy halloween!! Besides stealing from my children to pacify my obvious sugar addiction, halloween intrigues me because of the varying responses to this holiday. I love all the alternatives offered, fall festival, trunk or treat or the always popular hallelujah hoe downs!! The idea of trunk or treat creeps me out a little bit. Lets fill our trunks with candy and then lure kids to lean over and grab some out. Isn't that asking somebody to lock your kid in the trunk and take off? Maybe I'm just paranoid.

My poor Ava was sick this year so we stayed home and watched ice age three while carving a pumpkin. Only one set of trick or treaters came thru so I gave each of them a massive handful of candy. It was fun to see their eyes light up at my generosity until one came back and wanted more for her sister!! That's the kind of candy collecting persistence I respect.

Next year I'm boycotting halloween and celebrating Reformation day instead. My plan is to dress up as Martin Luther and go around the neighborhood nailing handwritten copies of the 95 thesis on peoples doors. I think it could be a great witnessing tool and really bring revival. Ava and Addy will go with me as darth vader and the death star.

anyways, thats not till next year, I want to know what you did for halloween this year incase I make a last minute decision to reject reformation. Comments and commentary always welcome!!!

awkward public moments

Yesterday, i decided to take the girls grocery shopping alone so that Kendra could run on the treadmill (the things I won't do for love). It wasn't the first time I've taken my life in my hands this way, but this trip involved not one, but multiple moments of embarrassment that can happen when you have your kids not only in public, but a walmart.

Everything was going fine until we were in an aisle with a couple and the man was missing one of his legs. His jean pant leg was hemmed up on that side and he walked with one crutch. It didn't begin too bad, my girls basically stared and declared to everyone within earshot that he was missing a leg. I concurred that indeed this was the case, but pointe out he seemed to be getting along very well with his crutch. "whats a crotch?!!!" addy yells at the top of her lungs. No, a Crutch, addy, a crUUUUtch. Then the questions started rolling of their young tongues. "How did his leg fall off dad?" It don't think it fell off honey, I bet he lost it in an accident. "how do you lose your leg daddy, can we look for it?" No honey.

As I said it wasn't that bad at this point, but we literally ran into them in EVERY AISLE!! Each time we passed them both girls would just stare at this guy with complete rubbernecks, devoid of any shame. Then the questions took a little turn for the worse.
How can he run daddy? I don't think he can run honey, lets not talk about this anymore ok? Then Ava decides to add her anatomical insight with "what if somebody lost their butt, they couldn't go potty!" Addy erupts in laughter and I'm suddenly looking for a spot next to the soupcans big enough to crawl into. I stand there frozen with fear, positive that the whole store was going to stop their shopping to point at the dad with the insensitive kids. I kept waiting for "handicapped haters aisle seven" to come over the loudspeaker.

I grabbed ava's arm and told her that we were done talking about this and it was not something to joke about. I'm not sure if the man heard them or not, but I made sure to smile and act oblivious to everything as I walked by.

No sooner had we gone two more aisles, when a rather large woman was walking toward us with her shirt riding up a little further than I'm sure she was aware, and much further than anyone wanted to see. I chalked it up as a walmart norm until Addy burst out with "daddy, look at her stomach!!!" at about the same volume Michael Buffer yells 'Lets get ready to rumble" before a prize fight. Then Ava chimes in "she walks like a penguin!!!!!!!" I am not making this up. Completely mortified, l gave them both the "eye" combined with the "what did I just say" in my grinch that stole christmas voice. Both of them gave a half hearted sorry and I made a beeline for the checkout before we ran into someone in a wheelchair or something.

They've never really done anything like this before so I was ill prepared to handle it. I had a talk with them about it when we got home, but I'm wondering if any other parents have advice on how to handle this? At least lie and tell me that your kids have done something similar so I can shake this "your a bad parent feeling." comments welcome.

no corn on the cob in her future

Ava has officially lost both of her front teeth. The first one came out at school after a blow to the grill from an angry first grader over playground turf. Ok, thats not true, except that it did fall out at school.

The next one was super loose and then started to rotate in her mouth while she was eating dinner which really freaked her out. Of course Kendra was at a small group so I had to deal with the snaggle tooth drama. It was hanging by a thread, but she wouldn't let me pull it out!! I didn't exactly have the perfect vocabulary for the situation and mildly alarmed her with my "it just needs one quick yank" declaration. There was little hope of compliance once I let that slip out. If i even touched her lip she started crying.


Ultimately we went with the ice in a washcloth routine and it was so loose that she ended up pushing it out herself with no blood, sweat, or tears.

Wasn't sure how to handle the monetary aspect of a lost tooth, even after much facebook advice. I was going to go with euro's under the pillow due to the declining value of the dollar, and with a one world currency imminently looming, I was sure this was the financially responsible choice. I went against my gut (Kendra helped with my gut change) and slipped a certificate under her pillow for a free toy of her choice (from the dollar store:) what can I say, I'm still dutch"

Here she is with her certificate and prize!!! Looking to download all i want for christmas is my two front teeth on the ole ipod this season.

God and Joan Jett?

I was borrowing a buddies truck to move something on tuesday, and I noticed he had xm satellite radio. Since I'm not used to having music genre on demand, I flipped it to channel eight to rock out to some eighties music.

Joan Jett was screaming out "I hate myself for loving you, can't break free from the things that you do, I wanna walk, but I run back to you, so I hate my self....for loving you"

Instantly, (or at least right after I stopped headbanging), I thought about God's love for me. I couldn't help but wonder if He ever feels this way? I know it's not great theology, but songs do this to my brain sometimes. After all, look how screwed up the world is. I'm a christian and I say wrong things, think wrong things, and do wrong things all the time!!! I realize God forgave me by sending Jesus, but am I the only one who ever wonders if God looks at the world and wonders if it was really worth it? Does He ever "hate himself, for loving us?" Does he ever look at my life and say "Jon, this whole redemption thing cost me my only son, I thought you would be a little better christian by now?" This entire thought process probably lasted maybe a minute, and then men at work was on and I began screaming about how I come from a land down under, but here is how cool God is.

Literally the next day, I read this verse in my quiet time, "for God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and by means of His blood, reconciled and made peace with everything in heaven and on earth. This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. But now He has brought you into his presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before Him without a single fault."

These words jumped off the page at me. God doesn't hate Himself for loving me!! No matter where you've been or what you've done, no matter how far away from God you are or were, It PLEASED Him to be able to reconcile and make peace with you. How much it cost should remind us how much we're worth!! Because of Jesus, God brings us into His awesome presence, holy, blameless, and without a single fault!! When God looks at you, it is thru the perfect lens of Jesus!!

Don't let the enemy move you off of this truth. We must be steadfast and immovable or we will begin to believe the lies that we aren't good enough, or haven't done enough. Our redemption is based completely on God's grace, stop trying to earn a gift.

I'm off to write a new song, "I love myself, for loving you"

Circus!!

Took the fam to the Barnum and Bailey circus in Grand Rapids last night and had a blast!!! The girls were pretty much mesmerized the entire time, especially Ava who was too excited to take a nap on the way up so she seemed to be in a catatonic state just staring with her mouth open=) That only lasted until the cotton candy started flowing and we got our second wind!! Speaking of cotton candy, it was ten dollars!!!!!!!!!! All I could think of was my own little commercial, "five pounds of sugar at walmart, one dollar, one pound of pink sugar at circus complete with ridiculous hat, ten dollars, memories with my precious girls, PRICELESS!!!!"

I caved and also got us some skittles and lemonade, although I wouldn't go as far as to spend TWENTY EIGHT DOLLARS!!! on a small circus stuffed animal.

The only real bummers were my inability to stop thinking of all the "when animals attack" episodes as they brought out the tigers and elephants, and then wallowing in shame for secretly wanting one of them to actually go crazy!! ( i know, it was terrible!!! Am I a bad person? I didn't want to see anyone get stomped or killed, maybe just the trainer mauled? is that too much to ask? .....I'm kidding!!!)

Also, I was really hoping to get my picture taken with a PETA protester, but there were only two!!! How weak is that? That's all that they could muster for a circus? I saw more of them at the mickey d's on westnedge handing out unhappy meals and complaining about the nuggets coming from chickens that are thrown into scalding water alive! I tried to explain that the feathers have to come off somehow, but they didn't care. These two had a sign that said "torture is not entertainment", I thought about arguing and using reality television as my basis, but I decided not to. Neither one of them wanted a picture with me or one of my chicken nuggets, even though i made sure there were no feathers. They wouldn't even try one with hot mustard which i thought was pretty close minded and lame. I was hoping for a whole crowd of PETA so I wouldn't have to eat the entire twenty piece myself. Oh, well, I didn't let that spoil my night.

couple classic lines,

Addy about the tiger tamer----"he better watch out, or he's gonna get attacked!!" (I told you we watch those shows=)
Ava on her first bite of cotton candy-----"mmmmmmm, it tastes like sugar!!" gee, really? I thought I got the veggie flavor.

overall they put on an amazing show and we had a great time!!!!

the dangers of success?

In our staff meeting yesterday, we looked at the different phases of growth as a leader. While we covered a wide gamut of issues, the one that really stood out to me was the possible danger of success. How success or natural gifting can actually cover up for deficiencies of character or a refusal to grow in areas of your life.

I immediately thought of Sampson. We are all familiar with his story, but we can miss an important part of his life. Sampson was called by God and given super human strength as a gift. He was successful in every endeavor and any time he needed God to make a way, He did. Whether it was killing a lion with his bare hands, smiting (i love that word) a thousand philistines with a donkey jaw bone, or getting water to gush out of a hole in the ground when he was thirsty.

Then along came Delilah. Sampson already had a history of desiring women outside of God's covenant, and he did not heed his parents warnings. I believe he gave into his desires partly because he was blinded by the things God was still doing thru him. Because the consequences for his sin were not immediate, he put himself in the "this could never happen to me" category.

Imagine his scenario. He is dating a girl who has been payed off by Sampson's enemies who want to know what has to happen for him to be made weak. Sampson would make up a story like "you have to tie me with new bowstrings", and low and behold he would wake up tied in new bow strings! Then he would summon his strength, snap out of them, and kick some major philistine booty. This happened three times in a row so even if Sampson wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, he had to figure this girl was up to no good!!!! Instead, his success caused him to wrongly believe that the sin in his life was no big deal. He thought, God can't really disapprove of this, after all, He is still using me. I've been mega successful in what I'm called to do. I can "feel" God. Ultimately, his refusal to confront the lust in his life, ended up costing him his.

I wonder how many of us don't heed the voice of the Holy Spirit to repent of certain sins because our lives don't fall apart right away? We tend to think that If this sin were really an issue, God wouldn't be blessing me like this, or surely I'd be miserable. Is God calling you turn in an area of your life? Maybe you know you need to end a relationship, forgive someone, or ask for someone's forgiveness. Maybe its a "secret" sin like gossip or pornography, but you've fooled yourself into believing its not that bad. Let's not be like Sampson and think because we still have a measure of spiritual "success," its not that big of a deal. All sin hurts the heart of God and ends up costing more than you want to pay. James 1:21 "LAY ASIDE all filthiness, and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness, the implanted word, which is able to save your soul" What is God wanting you to "lay aside?"

I'll end this post with the hope God offers even in the midst of sampsons failure. Verse 22 of chapter 16 tells us that "before long, his hair began to grow back." Why would the bible writer feel we needed to know something as seemingly obscure as that? Because it shows the grace of God at work. Even though he failed and missed out on God's best because of his sin, the thing that identified him as called by God did not take long to reappear!! The same is true for us today. No matter what we've done, or where we've been, before long, the grace of God begins to reappear, and just like Sampson, we have the final victory over our enemy!!!!!

"a humble heart and a contrite spirit, God will never deny"

your choices matter

Unless you've been under a rock as they say, I'm sure you've heard about the recent exploits of a few famous people. Serena Williams had an explosive verbal tirade at a lines person during her tennis match, and Kanye West grabbing the mic from Taylor Swift and telling her someone else deserved it.

Both actions were obviously regrettable and each one issued their own version of an apology. Its not my place to say whether they were sincere or whether they have "done enough" to satisfy their critics. I guess my fear is that it can be really easy to point the finger at someone else's mistakes, because it takes your mind off of yours. I know I've gotten upset during sporting events, and while I may not have said the things serena did, it still wasn't right. And you can argue that Kanye has a history of these incidents and should know better, but I wouldn't want a history of my sins brought into the spotlight. I've screwed up more than once in many areas of my life. I'm not making excuses for either one, I'm just saying I'm glad none of the dumb things I do have been on television. I don't want to be one of those "let me get that speck of out your eye" christians, when I have my own planks. Maybe instead of heaping how bad they are on them, its best to say "they made a mistake, I hope their apology was sincere and they change"? I don't know, just a thought.

Here's the real question I want to ponder, how do my choices affect others? As the spiritual head of my household, how are my choices playing out in the lives of my wife and children, because they do.

I was reading in Joshua about Achan who kept some of the spoils of Jericho buried under his tent after the Israelite's victory. God had commanded His people to bring everything into the treasury, but Achan chose to take a gold brick, some garments, and a bag of silver coins for himself. When Israel was then defeated by a tiny nation, God told Joshua that it was because of sin in the camp. When Achan's choice was exposed in chapter seven, we are told that he, AND HIS WIFE, SONS,AND DAUGHTERS, were all taken outside of the camp and stoned.

I'm sure Achan never thought his greedy choice would ultimately cost his family their lives. He may have even thought he was doing it for his families security. Imagine if you were Achan's children and had no idea what dad had done, no direct involvement, yet you paid with your life.

I don't want my choices to negatively affect my family. If your children hear you choose to talk bad about certain people, it affects them. When they see what you choose to watch on television, it affects them. Whether or not you choose to value them by giving them your time, affects them. If your constantly obsessing about how you look, or how much you weigh, it will affect them. Maybe its pornography, or lying, or something they know nothing about. Understand that every choice affects those you love, as well as you. As christians, and especially men, we must strive to be pure, honest, and wise in the things we choose, recognizing that what you do, influences more than just your life, whether you know it or not.


Dueteronomy 30:19 "Today I have given you a choice between life and death, between blessing and curses. Choose life, so that you AND YOUR DESCENDANTS might live"

kindergarten

Today marked Ava's first day of kindergarten. She will be going all day from 8:15-3:15. This is going to be quite the shock to her system as we have been making sure she gets to bed by 10:30 all summer to prepare her for this=) I thought I might be a little more emotional, but Kendra and I were both ok. She was so sweet and just gave us a hug and a kiss and that was it!! I've heard that once your children are in school all day, time really starts to fly and I believe it. Did a wedding this weekend and tried to envision myself walking one of my girls down the aisle...............way to scary. Had to block that thought out!!!!

I love you Ava, I know your light for Jesus will shine bright!!

"and they will know you are my disciples by your.......

praying for the president to die of brain cancer? I almost hesitate to bring attention to someone so incredibly ignorant that calls himself a christian, much less a pastor, but I guess I'll throw this out there anyways. This man has no clue, no business pastoring anyone, and his reprehensible behavior is damaging the kingdom of God.
Obviously you don't have to agree with anyone concerning political views, this is a free country, but show me one time where Jesus ever instructed anyone to pray this way? Christians in the first century were suffering horribly at the hands of Rome, and never once did Jesus recommend an insurrection or praying for the death of Ceasar. He was always very clear that we were of a different Kingdom and our war was NOT against flesh and blood. He even admonished us to pray for ALL those in authority over us as citizens. (romans 13:1)

I do not approve of most of the presidents policies, but this kind of hatred and ignorance in no way reflects the heart of God and much like the "money preachers" on tv, gives all christians a bad name. We aren't called to be doormats that have to tolerate everything, and abortion IS out of control and abhorrent to God, but this is not how our savior taught us to do battle.

James 3:1 "not many of you should become teachers my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness" If your going to call yourself a pastor, teach the word of God, not your ideology of hate.

Off the soapbox now, here's to a better monday =)

Showbiz Pizza......the only place a kid can still be a kid?

Leave it to the United Nations to attempt to parent your children all the way from their New York Offices. This inept organization, blackeyed by numerous scandals, including "oil for food" which padded the pockets of executives, is now advocating that masturbation be taught to five year olds. Their "recommendation" is that children (as young as pre-kindergarten) be taught about self pleasure and gender violence.

This is just the beginning of government officials eroding the rights of parents to raise their own children. The U.N's Economic, Social and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) released a 98 page report offering a universal sex lesson plan for kids ranging in age from 5-18. Here are a few of their timelines......

children 5-8 would be told that "touching and rubbing one's genitals is called masturbation" and that private parts "can feel pleasurable when touched by oneself"

children by age 9 would learn about "positive and negative effects of aphrodisiacs" and wrestle with ideas of "homophobia, transphobia, and abuse of power."

at 12, they will learn "reasons for" abortions---but they will have already know about the safety of abortion for three years.

at 15, they will be exposed to direct "advocacy to promote the right to and access to safe abortions"

My daughter is five and we haven't even gone over the "official" names of body parts, how are you going to teach a five year old about gender roles, stereotypes, and gender-based violence???????!!!!!!!!!

This is insane and we wonder why fifth graders are having sex in schools and "sexting" pictures is the new rage? Song of solomon 2:7--"do not awaken love before its time" There is a sexual sleep that God has designed children to remain in, and our society and government is doing everything it can to wake them up as young as possible, all in the name of "education" and "awareness". I realize that their are many delinquent parents in the world, but government does not have the right to raise MY kids, I will see to that.

Here is the report if you want to read it.

Here is another link to a childrens "bill of rights" put out by the U.N. in 1996 that Bill clinton signed but was never ratified by the united states basically hamstringing parents ability to parent.

This is insane.

giving 100%

"and whatever you do, in word or deed, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus Christ giving thanks to God the father through him"--col.3:17

God deserves our very best, and everything we say, do and think ought to be done as if we were doing it for Jesus Himself. Here is what would happen in our world if we all thought 99.9% was good enough


12 newborns would be given to the wrong parents each day
114,500 mismatched shoes would be shipped each year
18,322 pieces of mail would be mishandled every hour
315 entries in Webster's dictionary would be misspelled
20,000 drug prescriptions would be written incorrectly each year
5.5 million cases of soda produced would be flat

Give God your best!!!

Love means nothing to a tennis player

Saw that saying on a t-shirt and while not exactly scriptural words to live by, it did catch my eye. Wednesday and thursday my buddy Mike and I embarked on a trek to Cincinnatti Ohio to attend a masters tennis tournament. It is a warm up event to the U.S open in New York so we weren't sure exactly what to expect, but we were both pretty blown away!! We saw four of the top five tennis players in the world and moved our way so close to the courts we could hear Andy Roddick swearing under his breath!! Mike and I have been playing tennis together on a regular basis for the last few years and both of us are HUGE tennis fanatics so this was a dream come true. We were literally so close to Roger Federer when he left the court that Mike touched his sweaty back and then I licked Mike's hand!!! OK, that's disgusting and not true, but Mike did touch his shoulder on the way out, it was INSANE!!

Best sporting event I've ever been to and hanging out with mike was an added bonus. He is a great friend and tennis partner and even though he tried to get me to eat fifty wings at BW3, I still got love for him=)

Here are a few pics of some of our heros=) It was one of those you really had to be there, AND love tennis moments, but since we were, and we do, it was all good!!!

the best husband she's ever had

I may have officially earned that title=) While Kendra was gone for a week on a woman's retreat in Texas, I set up a little extreme home makeover scheme without her knowledge. Those of you who know me are aware that I am barely capable of changing a light bulb, so obviously I had help. I had Grandma Linda take the girls and literally went on a home improvement two day whirlwind!! Here's a little list of the things I did, er I mean I had done.

Changed all the hardware on kitchen and bathroom cabinets,
fixed some broken cabinet doors and replaced hinges
installed towel racks and new shower heads in bathroom
cleaned entire house including basement
painted entire main floor including trim without her knowing the colors first!!

The biggest deal by far however was the installation of a dishwasher!!!!! Yes we were one of the few homes still in America that did not have one. Now we have a Kenmore instead of a "kendra do more=) we also upgraded from a beta vcr to vhs and traded in our pagers for cell phones. (ok, i made those last two up, but the part about the dishwasher really happened.)

As if that wasn't enough, I accomplished all of this while memorizing the 1000 page congressional health care bill and listening to Al Gore's inconvenient truth on Podcast. I feel it is important to multi-task.

Needless to say Kendra did NOT marry me for my handy man skillz, but it felt really good to surprise her and see the beautiful look of surprise on her face! I love you soo much Kendra and don't ever leave for a week again=)

ps. much Love to my brother in law Lee and my friends daniel, tommy, Isaac, Kurt, breena and Shawna for all their help in this!!

where is my bailout?

In the midst of all the financial chaos in our country, the government seems to want to start handing out entitlements and bailouts to everyone. If your like me, you might be thinking, where is my hook up? Just because I may not be in the market for a new fuel efficient vehicle doesn't mean I shouldn't get some Obama love. There are lots of struggling sectors in our economy besides the auto industry after all. Here's how the government should spend its next couple billion dollars that it doesn't have.

1. bankroll for buckle----Americans should be able to take their mom jeans and Lee's from the 80's, as well as their old tattered shirts and get a new pair of True Religions and a seven diamonds shirt on Uncle Sam. Judging by the MLB all-star game, the president himself could benefit from this.

2. Treasure for televisions----Why should I have to watch tv on a 25 inch console when other americans have sixty inch plasmas? What's patriotic about that? There is nothing more american than football and how can I respect my country when I have a dinky tv? It's about time Congress gets on the ball here.

3. funds for food---I may be on a budget, but I'm tired of packing a lunch. The government needs to start handing out some gift cards so that I can eat out at nicer places. Why should I have to eat at arby's when others get to fine dine? That ain't American!!

I hope you guys can feel my pain here, and I'm so relieved that my government is concentrating more on making sure cars get 50 miles to the gallon, and not wasting their time on things like protecting us from terrorists and other countries.

Now that I've completely inspired myself, I'm going to Listen to Lee greenwood, Peace out.

more pics!

I'm sure by now the eleven people who read my blog are probably tired of seeing pictures of my family, but here are more anyway=) We recently (and for the first time ever) got some professional photo's done of our family to at least attempt to capture a few memories while our children are still young. Check them out at twelve13photography.com, Ashley is amazing and while it took me promising massive amounts of ice cream, our girls actually didn't fight and even occasionally smiled=)

I do have a few rumblings of some content driven posts swirling around in my head, so stay tuned. But in the meantime, have one more look at three of the many reasons I wake up thanking God daily!!!!!

big star lake vacation!!

Last week the Zondervan's rented a cottage on big star lake in baldwin Michigan for a time of family getaway R and R!! It was alot of fun. the cottage was very cute and quaint and the beach we had was the best on the lake. The water stayed very shallow so we never had to worry about our girls (they aren't exactly Michael Phelps, I should probably get them swimming lessons).

Anyways, there were other families there with young children as well, so Ava and Addy made friends too!!

Great to be back in the swing of things and looking forward to some actual warm august weather? I guess we will see!!!