Following The Son

Summer vacation. Most students are already out for the year, and others will soon join them. I remember well counting down the days as a child. For most students the summer is a time to power down their brains and take a break from learning. It's ok to take a break as a student, but we must never break from being a disciple. Being a disciple is more than simply being a student, but disciples definitely are students. When the Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy he exhorted him with these words: “ Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” II Timothy 2:15 And when we read of the believers in Berea in the book of Acts they’re commended for their faithfulness to the word. “ Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.” Acts 17:11 And the ...

As I stood behind my LTD station wagon I wondered, "when did this happen?"  It was only a few short years before I was riding around on my motorcycle with hardly a care in the world. Yet, here I stood. I had just finished buckling the seatbelt on the car seat, and then closed my wife's door on our station wagon. As I circled the car to get in I paused at the rear of the vehicle, and for a brief moment thought about the dramatic change that had taken place in my life. I was now a husband and a father. We would soon add a second car seat to the vehicle. I had responsibilities. People were counting on me to come through. Marriage and parenting can be a heavy load at times, but I would discover that it's all worth it. The nights awake with a baby that won't stop crying? Worth it. The tantrums of the toddler years? Worth it. The effort it takes to grow in a marriage relationship for decades? Worth it. The task of navigating your children th...

We visited our nephew and his family last weekend. They have three boys, and witnessing their interactions brought back memories of both fun and difficult days of raising our boys. Sometimes when my boys were young I felt like all I did was discipline them. It seemed at times like we couldn't make it through a meal, homework, or even play time, without a fight breaking out, some inappropriate comment, backtalk, or a hundred other random things they could find to do to push their Mother and I over the line. I remember calmly saying things like, "I need for you to understand that I can feel anger welling up within me."  Sometimes this would result in corrected behavior, other times they would look at me as though I were speaking Chinese (I know this isn't actually a language, please don't write me a letter). I realize spanking children is controversial, so I tried not to spank my sons over 3 or 4 times a day (That's called hyperbole). On one occ...

School's Out! Well, almost. When I was a kid summer had a lot of fun to it. That's not all that strange when we consider that it's called "summer vacation." Oh, we had chores, and I worked during my teenage years. Yet, there was always plenty of time for swimming, camping, playing outdoors, riding our bicycles, and more. Today for many students the "vacation" part of summer has been lost. The pressure to perform motivates many to keep their kids working all summer. Schools also often burden students with summer packets that turn into busy work more than keeping students on track. I'm all for growing and learning, and that meant when our boys were small there were summer books to read, and once they hit their teen years summer jobs. Yet, it was still summer. Kids need some down time. They aren't little adults, and to expect them to maintain an adult pace is completely unrealistic. The Bible cautions us not to “exasperate” our chil...

There’s a story I love to tell of a hike with the Royal Rangers when my son, Zachary, was just a little boy. We went to Bear Mountain and planned to hike to the top with the older Rangers. The younger boys would be left at the bottom with a Commander and we would all reconnect later. Zack begged to go with me and his older brother. I assured him he was too small, and told him I could not carry him. He would have to walk and climb the entire way. He insisted he would, I gave in, and off we went. Hours later we reached the top, and as we climbed over a small wall of rocks I overheard my son say under his breath, “a little kid climbed this big mountain.” Sometimes the task before us can seem like a mountain. We know that God moves mountains out of our way, but other times he lets us climb them. What do you do when the mountain you need to climb is more than you think you can handle?  We’re called to do things like reach the whole world with the Gospel of Jesus. That’s a p...

On this day in 1939, Sylvan Goldman who owned the Humpty Dumpty supermarket chain got an idea. He was trying to think of a way for his customers to transport more groceries around his stores. He attached 4 wheels to the legs of a wooden folding chair, and then attached a basket to the seat. The shopping cart was born.  Before this shopping trips to the Humpty Dumpty or the Piggly Wiggly would be limited to what you could carry in your arms. I wonder if Sylvan’s original patent stated that one of the wheels was to either not spin or rapidly shake back and forth? It’s possible that this is some modern improvement on his original design. However it happened the carts keep getting bigger. When I bring my groceries to the check out counter I sometimes use the self check out. I don’t like the self checkout because the computer keeps telling me I put things in the bagging area when I didn’t. When I get a real person they will often ask this profound question. “Did you find ev...

"Better late than never." I don't know where this phrase originated, but there's definitely some truth to it in many areas of our lives. In our spiritual walks, many of us have good intentions at the start of the year. We plan on spending some quiet time with God each day including prayer and Bible reading. Somehow the busyness of life gets in the way of our good intentions sometimes, and we don't follow through on what we know we need to do. That's why I think June is a great time to jump back in on your spiritual growth journey. Someone may think, it's too late for this year, but to that thought we'll go with, "Better late than never." A consistent time with God each day does wonders in strengthening you spiritually. It’s kind of like eating healthy for our bodies. In fact, we should understand our time with God as far more for nourishment rather than in obedience to a command. I once heard someone say, “If we go a week wit...