I watched the steam curl up from the fresh brewed cup of coffee.
“I’m off to the salt mines!” I yelled as I always do and began the 20-foot walk from the kitchen to my office.
“That’s the problem,” Rebecca said, “You always go to the salt mine. Maybe you need to try the diamond mine.”
I’m not sure why, but this note Cody wrote to Santa and placed under our tree makes me profoundly sad this morning. Maybe it’s the realization that my kids are growing up too quickly and I feel like I’m missing large portions of it. Maybe it’s the bittersweet thought that I get to watch my kids grow up while many others do not after last week’s events.
Regardless there is something magical about childhood innocence. As I’m learning with Colton, our 12-year-old, kids eventually hit a point where you just want them to grow up. Until then, though, I’m just going to enjoy Cody’s hope that he’s “not on the noty list” and not think about the fact that he won’t have many more years of notes like this.
Don’t worry, buddy, you’re definitely on the “nis list”.
Filed under Family
I woke up this morning to news of an Obama reelection. A quick check of Facebook shows the majority of my friends, most conservative like myself, losing their fool minds. Talk of secession, the end of America and the stupidity of half the country abound.
I used to love politics and I think there are two reasons I soured on them. One, I discovered that inevitably whomever we elect will be a massive disappointment, continue to spend too much money and work within a deeply flawed system. Two, I became sick of watching perfectly normal people who I tend to like put their hope in sinful men. Any man who runs for election is not our ultimate hope. God decides who rules and reigns temporarily on this earth because He rules and reigns eternally.
There are three things in my life that truly matter to me.
Leading and loving my family well
The man in charge at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue has absolutely no bearing on this. How I love my family and how I lead them is up to me.
To love those around me
God has put a great many people in my life that I am called to love and serve. I live my life to show them grace, help where I can, and walk with them, all in the hope that Christ will impact their lives in a way that undeniably glorifies Him and points them toward our great God and King. Again, no law, decision or idea coming out of Washington will ever impact me helping those around me.
To work hard and grow my business
This is the one where the president can have a slight impact. The amount of taxes I pay and other restrictions will effect the growth rate of my business, but not the eventual destination, which is success. I’m not going to lie, the last two years have been the best my business has ever experienced and gives me great hope for the future. I don’t give President Obama credit for my success any more than I would fault him had I failed. My business will live or die on the back of my hard work and determination. I am more determined than ever to make it work, despite anything the government might ever do, not because of it.
Did I vote for Obama? No. Would I have rather seen Romney in the White House? That’s a yes, but not by much. I’m not one who believes the other side of the aisle is inherently evil. I think they do what they believe is right based on their current set of motivations. Can those motivations be sinful and wrong? Sure, but so are all of ours sometimes. I think it does us all a huge disservice to just assume that everyone who disagrees with us is ignorant or evil. They are humans in need to love and grace, just like you and I.
I respect President Obama for the great calling and burden God has put on his life as President. To lead a few is a massive weight. To lead the free world…I can only imagine.
So, to all my conservative friends, keep calm and move along. What are the most important things in your life, and are they really any different today than the were yesterday? And who do you really look to for your hope?
I leave you with Daniel 2:21: “He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding; he reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him.“
Great post on Desiring God about God’s will and its authority over all other authority.
Which means that our comfort comes not from the powerlessness of our enemies, but from our Father’s sovereign rule over their power. This is the point of Romans 8:25–37. Tribulation and distress and persecution and famine and nakedness and danger and sword cannot separate us from Christ because “in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8:35–37).
This is where a faith in God’s complete sovereignty has really relieved a lot of my previous worry. Things will occasionally go bad, but none of those things is ever outside of God’s control, which makes them ultimately for my good. It’s faith in the power of God to finish His redemption plan that gives me hope that even a sinner like me will make it.
Filed under Faith
It’s always amazing to me how we focus on God and the periphery things, those things that don’t really matter, become dim. I go through times when I know God is calling me to cut things out and focus. I’m in one of those times and what that looks like is deleting all the distracting things off my phone and taking a break from Twitter and Facebook. Basically all the things I have trained my mind to constantly move to in order to stay distracted. After removing them it takes a few days for the muscle memory to stop.
Complete a to-do item, check Twitter.
Finish a call, check Facebook.
Wrap up a project, play Angry Birds.
Now in place of all those things it’s take a few minutes to pray, read the Bible or any of the other five theology and ministry books I’m in the middle of. It took a few days to calm my brain down and have it realize it doesn’t have to be stimulated by something new every 30 seconds. I think it also serves to lower my stress level in general.
It’s amazing how those things that ate up so much of my time now appear lifeless and dim to my vision.
Filed under Faith
It’s 3:04 a.m. as I write this. I can’t remember what time I was born 32 years ago. I think it was in the 3:00 a.m. range, but I could be wrong.
For whatever reason I can’t sleep.
32 years down.
I wonder what God has for me in the next one.
Filed under Personal
I can do it. That is the driver of the American dream. Given enough hard work and effort I can achieve the dream. And at times, that dream looks so sweet. A couple of kids. A couple of cars. A house with a couple of floors. Vacations at Disneyland or exotic beaches.
And for all that, all we have to do is work hard. Used to it was working 40 hours a week. Now it’s 60. We’re always chasing.
More.
Newer.
Better.
Faster.
All of it based on “I can do it.” My struggle this July 4th is my understanding of the gospel which says I can’t do it. I can’t run fast enough to outpace my sin. I can’t work hard enough to be justified. I can’t buy enough stuff to fill that hole in my soul.
I can’t.
And yet I try. I run and work and buy. And sometimes, through God’s grace, I achieve. The joy of success floods over me but like every wave that has ever crashed on the shore, it fades. It doesn’t last. That’s the dirty secret of the American dream. Not only does it not last, it doesn’t satisfy.
So then why? Men and women have sacrificed their lives so that I might be free. Free to run and work and buy, but I want more. God put me here in this time and place. It has to be for more than just that. Look across the globe at the suffering and sorrow in some countries. There are places where people are ripped from their homes and killed for what they believe. There are places where food is so scarce people go days or weeks without a real meal. But God placed me in a place of physical safety and comfort.
And in some ways I think God placed me in a place more dangerous than all of those. How easy is it here for my soul to wander? How easy is it for me to fool myself into thinking I can do it and I don’t need God? We don’t live in a place of great physical danger, but we do live in a place where we can be sucked in by shiny things that won’t satisfy. We live in a place where we are constantly chasing but told to chase the wrong things. We live in a place where we’re increasingly okay with that. We know these things won’t satisfy, but we continue to chase.
Anyone who knows anything about Spider-Man knows the great line that changed his life: “With great power comes great responsibility.” God did put me here in this time and place. He put me in a place of abundant resources and technology. And it isn’t just to terminate on my temporary joy. My joy is the end goal, but not temporary or perishable.
This 4th of July, I’ll cook something outside, enjoy a cold Coca-Cola (from a glass bottle), watch Jaws, see fireworks and hug my children. I’ll be thankful for all those who have sacrificed so that those things can happen. And I pray I don’t waste those sacrifices on the shiny lure of the American dream.
I can’t do it.
He can.
Filed under Faith
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