While she is on travel with your children… without you.

For those that don’t know, Brandi and the kids left for Michigan yesterday.  I have a large amount of work to do for a project and will be working a lot of overtime this week.  We go to Michigan every July 4th for a week and this year I just can’t swing it due to workload and schedule.  But the kids will get to see grandparents and uncle Willa and Aunt Monaca and do all those things that kids like to do with folks that aren’t quite as anti-fun as Brandi and I, like getting candy bars at 10 in the morning and learning how to wipe their noses on their sleeves, etc.

Back to the point.  Loving your wife.  I don’t have this down, figured out, dialed in or anything, but I might have some advice that might be helpful to you. How to maintain and even gain points while she is away.  Not that it is really about points, but points are something that us guys can understand.  More points, good, less points bad.  except in golf, but don’t get distracted.  Think Basketball, football, soccer, hockey.  Full contact sports.  ah, that’s better.  ok now, Put yourself in this situation:  Your wife, the love of your life, has just loaded up a car with 4 children and headed out on a 10 hour drive to your parents house.  Without you.  BY CHOICE.  to let you have time to work and focus on a project that is way behind with a looming deadline.  To go to YOUR mom’s house. (Brandi loves my mom, so this is really no big deal).  But you get the picture.

You get a quarter point for loading the car, a quarter point for setting up the kids with a DVD player.  You are now at half a point.  What does your wife need at this moment, heading out on the road more than anything else?  No it is not a drink or a pill.  Nope not ear plugs, but that was a good try Dave.

what do you think?  think hard…  going away for 9 days.  10 hours in car.  solo with YOUR kids.  oh, and they are YOUR kids at this moment.

any more guesses?

I’m listening….

anything?

She…

Needs…

You…

To…

PRAY.

So, you lean towards the window that’s open, you put your hand gently behind her head and draw her forehead to yours and you pray over her and YOUR children and the ride and the car and the traffic and for safety and obedience and patience and God’s hand and grace over them as they travel and that God would return them to you, safely, unharmed, as His will directs.

You love your wife at this moment by praying for her, with her.  and you pray throughout the day and days ahead that all goes well, that none of your children die by her hand (or anything else) and that this vacation is exactly that, a refreshing, relaxing time, even though you are not there to enjoy them and her.

That is tip #1… stay tuned, tip #2 will come later today as I got started with this a day late.

an interesting thing is that we are all trained for something.  or we are all training for something.  i happen to train for 3D computer graphics and interactive 3D in an industrial setting.  my wife trains for photography.  my children train in academics for now.  my dad trained in farming and then painting and then teaching and then carpentry.  my brother trained in computers and then social work.  my mom trained in journalism, then motherhood, then art and design and now social work and the list of people i know goes on.  in each thing that we train in, we train to excel.  at least i hope that we do.  we want to be good at what we do.  i’m not trained in home maintenance and repair.  oh, i have some necessary skills and tools.  plumbing is not one of them.  could i do a job? sure, i guess that i could.  it would take days and then take years off my life.  my friend DJ is trained up in plumbing and in home maintenance.  i mentioned yesterday my fun with the leaking drain pipe.  he was able to accomplish in a few hours what would have taken me several days of hmmmmming and hawwwwwing over what to do and measure and cut.  i am very appreciative of his skill and his willingness to help us out in an emergency.  we are very blessed.  DJ, may God bless you as you have blessed us.

1Timothy 4:6 If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed. 7Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; 8for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.

Training is essential. We must train, not only for life but also in Godliness. It is not natural to us. It is foreign to our flesh. Any of the things that we train in for our livelihood, though they be good things, they too shall pass. Godliness however is something to train for now and for the life we will live with God. We all train for something, but are we intentionally training for the most important thing?

I have to admit.  I don’t like problems.  Recently, we have been noticing some water outside our foundation.  Seemingly leaking from the kitchen sink.  I’ve been doing some sleuthing and I have found that it is in fact a leak.  Today I pulled away the siding and then found where the water was coming from, then went inside and took out the dishwasher, cut through the drywall and identified the leak.  It’s been leaking for a while.  bummer.

I have a friend that is going to help out.  He’s a plumber.  Still, I’m a person that doesn’t handle such problems well.  they consume me.  In essence, I get stuck in a loop.  I can’t get out.  I can’t stop thinking about it.  It is frustrating.  What’s more frustrating is that I know that I’m being that way and I can’t stop it.  That is frustrating.  I’m not supposed to worry or fret and yet I do.  It’s not the end of the world, it’s fixable.  But since I can’t fix it immediately and since I have like zip for experience in plumbing, I freak out and worry about it.  It gets me down.  I have to force, or rather FORCE, myself to think on other things.  One thing that helped today is just trying to recognize the God stuff that is at work in the midst of my non-trial.

God provided a friend who is a plumber that can help us out.  God has orchestrated a cool relationship between us and this couple.  There is, up to this point, no water in my basement and no major damage.   God provides and takes care of us more than I realize.  In the midst of such situations, He is there working.  Who knows what all else will come of this.  For now, I am just thankful that HE is always actively working, regardless of my performance or my do-while-worrying loop.

Father, thanks for your grace and purpose and means all of which are beyond my comprehension and yet I am able to see them.  bless our time tomorrow and this project that we might be back in working order soon. In Christ, Amen.

reading today in 1John again.  Like I was saying, there is not always a quiet place and without quiet I cannot concentrate and if I can’t concentrate then I can really skim over the same section over and over again and not know what I read.  However something did grab my attention and take me down a path of thought…

1John5:3-5For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

Well, lets look at that a minute. If we love God, we keep his commandments. Ok, we’ve talked about that. Our response to the work and love of God, that He has first loved us and we love because HE first loved us naturally takes us into obedience. We are not perfect and it’s not so easy when we are sinners and we mess up, but in general, do you love God’s commandments and recognize that they are the best way to live for your own health? or do you despise them? Do you long to live rightly that God might be glorified or do you just try to hide that you sin. Then go to the next verse and see that HIS commandments are not burdensome. I believe that if you love God and you have been changed, his commands are not a burden but a delight. What is a burden is breaking them and feeling the guilt. Think about it,in Galations 5:22, we see the fruit of the spirit. and what does it say at the end of that verse? That against love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, that against these things there is no law? WHY? because they are what God has called us to. They are what God desires for us and of us. I think you would find few people that would say that any of these things are bad. They are just good living. So they are without burden. But the other things, of which there are laws about, whether of God or of the state, those things are burdensome, there is guilt and there is shame and pain and all sorts of things.

The next part is a litmus test.  You say you love God.  You say you keep his commands.  have you overcome the world.  That would be the world system and it’s ways and paths away from and against God.  If you are truly born of God, then you will overcome the world.  How do you know you have overcome the world?  hmmmmmmm.  it doesn’t mean that you have taken over.  It doesn’t mean that you have went along with it.  It means that you have followed God at His word and chose His commands (to love Him and your neighbor as yourself) flying in the face of the world’s ways which say it is all about you.  So what shows you that you have overcome the world?  your Faith.  Is your faith intact?  have you fallen away?  have you denounced your God?  if not, if you still have faith, then you have not been overcome by the world, you have persevered.

We have one more verse here to consider.  Lots of people have faith.  faith in the Lottery, faith in their jobs.  faith in their spouse.  faith in their addiction.  Whatever it is that we believe in, we can be people of faith.  And John wraps this up here, not leaving anything to chance making sure that people realize that the faith that they must have that fuels their love for God, that enables them overcome the world, that enables them to love others, this faith is in Jesus, believing that He is the son of God.  Only HE can cover your sin and remove the enmity between us and God.

Now… let us consider for a moment this faith that saves us, that enables us, that overcomes the world.  Is it of ourselves?  Is there something in us that produced this faith?  Look for a moment at Ephesians 2:8-10…

Ephesians2:8-10 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast, For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

It is not of us. It is a gift from God that we have faith. He put it there. We don’t know how. through His word, through others speaking His word to us, through reading, through the work of the Holy Spirit in conjunction with the word, we gained faith, not of our own but of God. Why? for good works. Not for our glory, but HIS. Has He put good works before us? Do we accept them and walk in them? or do we shy away? what is the work of God?

John 6:28-29 Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” 29Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”

From Jesus mouth we see that the work we are to do is to believe in Him. All things, all glorifying work stems out of faith in Christ Jesus. He gives us faith, faith allows us to believe, believing brings love and obedience for God and His commands which allows us to overcome the world and it allows us to also touch others in all sorts of ways because of faith. taking care of a neighbor. adopting a child. loving your spouse. teaching your child about God. living righteously out of love for God. overcoming the world’s temptations to pull you away from God. All of this is possible because of faith. If we are boasting of our faith or of our works, then we have not faith, for true faith boasts in God and in His son. true faith is a gift.

Today I was back at the grind.  working, hacking away at a keyboard, and email and looking through correspondence and documentation and making suggestions.  I went to bed the night before about 10:30 and I arose about 6am.  6:02 actually, as Vernon McGee had not yet started preaching when my clock radio kicked in.   I jumped in the shower and then made a quick sandwich downstairs, warmed up an old cup of coffee and jumped in the car and headed to work.  My desire is really to survive on less sleep.  I really would benefit from living on about 4-5 hours of sleep.  those extra 3 hours would make things much better for me.   But the way I have been architected is to need more sleep than that and if I try to steal awake time, I will pay for it within 3 days time.  So, I’m learning to just get 6 hours and call it good.  It doesn’t help that the night before that we were out helping some friends until 3am with a family emergency.

Today, my overall mood was better though, tomorrow is my last day of my tapering steriods.  I’m hoping that has been a major contributor to my dark cloud overhanging me.   I am purposefully waiting to get past the end of these drugs to see where I am emotionally.  With things the way they are at work and at times with Kiana and with the world around, I lose grip on reality and can build some pretty ugly scenarios in my head.  I need not do that and I do not want to despair and plummet into worry.  I want to have faith that is strong and unshakable, I think to do that and be that, you have to be shaken, and you have to have proven to you that it will be ok.  Not that the proving or the miracle will fix it.  obviously the entire bible is full of examples where people saw and believed and still they were shaken, still they turned away.  My only hope is for God to hold me still under the barrage of things that come my way.  That He would enable me to stand.

thankfully in the midst of this short darkness that has cropped over me, I have been more spiritualy aware, more aware of my need and my dependence.  I have realized that I am inconsistent and that I need the word pouring into me.  I mentioned that I ran out of the house this morning at 6:30.  I had no quiet time.  I did have 30 minutes of Luke poured into me via my MP3 player and I did get some on the way home and then I did get some time in the word this evening after I arrived home.  My desire is to have my quiet time in the morning, but I have not been able to consistently hold that time for any amount of time.  I know now that it is something that I have not committed myself to.  Mainly because I like sleep and often sleep is more desirous than anything,  especially getting up to go to work.  I am not the best reader or attender in the early morning either, which makes me hesitant.  I have also realized that for the most part, and a big cop out, is that I have not had a standard quiet time because I know that it is a check box for me to justify myself.   Check, had quiet time, I’m good.  I need not have that terrible attitude towards this special time.  And I need not avoid a quiet time all together when it is the one thing that I need most of.  I need a balance there and I don’t know how to get it.  My plan is first, to have a plan, because without one nothing happens, and then try to carry it out and pray that God would bless it and enable it.   I’ll post and see.  It could be that an evening time will just be best given my crazy life.

Today I have been reading 1John in preparation for the upcoming book study in 1John we will be studying at Matthias’ Lot.   I have enjoyed previous journeys through this book and I also have some memory verses coming back to mind from these first couple chapters.   In light of some of my recent areas of thought, 1John2:1 popped out at me.

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.  But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous.

I like this verse as it points out something that I need to keep reminding myself of. My hope is in Christ, not me. I’ve proven over and over not to be able to carry anything out, but Christ has done all. I am not accepted by God for following rules. I am accepted by God for believing in His Son and having faith that His work on the Cross and His resurrection has freed me. My hope is that my life will reflect my belief in that truth and my responses to life will be less and less sinful. But that is not how I am accepted. If I do sin, Christ is still interceding for me. That was one of the big revelations for me in Luke and Hebrews. Christ is the intercessor, He is the great High Priest, the eternal High Priest and so He intercedes for me, continually. I can go to Him at any time. I get to go to Him at any time. He has covered my sin, past, present and future. I pray that I will not fall, and I take courage that Christ has me and that the devil cannot accuse me any more (Romans 8). These are the things I need to hear. What God has done. How beautiful He is. How I will someday see Him face to face. It is good to be starting out again…