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"