Are you the father you wish you had?

Are you the father you wish you had?

How would you describe the ideal father?
1. kind
2. compassionate
3. strong
4. loving
5. encouraging
6. fair
7. righteous
8. protecting
9. honest
10. merciful
11. fun

Followup question: How would you describe God?
1. Holy
2. merciful
3. loving
4. just
5. fair
6. provider
7. sustainer
8. kind
9. gracious
10. perfect

I look at how I would have described my ideal father and I'm not making the grade, I'm failing. Dear God, I so need your help to be a good and Godly father to those boys you've entrusted me with. Please change my heart and fill me to overflowing with your love and your Spirit. Please.....
I ask in the name of the Lord Jesus, amen.

If you had a good father, praise the Lord for him but if you did not, how do you keep from repeating the same mistakes that were modeled in your life?



^{Colossians 3:21 (Amplified Bible)
21}Fathers, do not provoke or irritate or fret your children [do not be hard on them or harass them], lest they become discouraged and sullen and morose and feel inferior and frustrated. [Do not break their spirit.]

Pray for me that I would be the man, husband, father that I need to be and that God would have for me to be. Thank you.

Death in the family

Sorry I have not posted anything for a few days, my wife's great grandmother passed away this weekend in Indiana. My wife and her mom drove up Saturday after receiving the phone call her grandmother had had a heart attack, she died later that night, she was 92 years old and had just celebrated her 75th wedding anniversary within the last couple of months.

Sadly, no matter how long you live at some point you will die. In some ways 92 years seems like a long time, in another it does not seem very long at all.



Hebrews 9:27-28
27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, 28 so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.

SIDU #2 - Motherhood Bad?

Something I don't understand #2 - Why motherhood is not an acceptable choice for women

New York Times:Many Women at Elite Colleges Set Career Path to Motherhood

"Many women at the nation's most elite colleges say they have already decided that they will put aside their careers in favor of raising children."

.........

"What does concern me," said Peter Salovey, the dean of Yale College, "is that so few students seem to be able to think outside the box; so few students seem to be able to imagine a life for themselves that isn't constructed along traditional gender roles."


Proverbs 31:
¹⁰Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.
....
³⁰Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised.
³¹Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates.

Is the problem with the highly intelligent women making a personal choice to stay home and raise their children or with the sociopolitical elitist assuming they know how everyone should live their lives? I say the problem is with those who believe they know best how you should live your life. Have they prayed and sought God's will for you, probably not since most of the time they are the same one's denying His very existence.

I believe it is the height of hypocricy for these educators et al to feel these women, who are capable of attending the most elite colleges in the country, are not able to think outside the box. Hypocrites! You are the one's unable to think outside the box of your own prejudices.



^{Matthew 23:27-28
27} “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. ²⁸ Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

2 Timothy 3:7
⁷Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

The righteous man walks in his integrity

Proverbs 20:7
⁷ The righteous man walks in his integrity; his children are blessed after him.

Main Entry: in·teg·ri·ty
Pronunciation: in-'te-gr&-tE
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English integrite, from Middle French & Latin; Middle French integrité, from Latin integritat-, integritas, from integr-, integer entire
1 : firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values : INCORRUPTIBILITY
2 : an unimpaired condition : SOUNDNESS
3 : the quality or state of being complete or undivided : COMPLETENESS

synonyms:candor, forthrightness, goodness, honestness, honesty, honorableness, incorruptibility, incorruption, principle, probity, purity, rectitude, righteousness, sincerity, straightforwardness, uprightness, virtue


Proverbs 20:7
⁷ The righteous man walks in his integrity; his children are blessed after him.

Men and fathers, is the path you are traveling worthy of being followed? Do you really want your children following in your footsteps? If so, then well done, keep it up. Sadly, alot of the time I wouldn't want my children behaving as I do or following the paths I've traveled.

What this verse says to me is that our children will likely follow in our footsteps. The things they see us do, the places we go, the things we say, all have an impact. If we are righteous and walk with integrity our children are so much more likely to do so as well but if we flirt with sin and don't seek after righteousness then sadly our children are more likely to follow our same path of destruction.

Oh Holy Father, please help me and all the other Christian men out there be men of integrity, righteous men who love you with our whole hears and who seek to follow Jesus, that our children might do the same. I ask in the name of our Lord, Jesus, amen!

Brain Spark

My 5 year old is at it again, he comes up with some pretty funny sayings. Here lately whenever he has an idea, he says "brain spark", then he will proceed to tell you what his idea is. Also, last night he used one of his sayings that I've really come to appreciate, "have a good sleep daddy", that's what he says instead of good night, I like his better.

In other news, my 6 year old got the game ball after his coach-pitch baseball game last night. I think it was probably the best game I've ever seen him play. He played 1st base in tball in the spring but has been moved to short stop in coach-pitch this fall, so he is having to learn to play the new position. Last night he caught a pop fly and turned a double play, tagged two runners out at second, threw two or three runners out at first and stopped a couple of others balls from getting through the infield, he also had a homerun.

Psalm 127:3
"Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD,The fruit of the womb is a reward."

A worried dad

My oldest son had a nosebleed last night just as he was getting ready for bed. He hadn't been picking it, nor had one of his brothers hit him. Considering one of my best friends has just been diagnosed with sinus cancer....... I worry...... and I pray.

Life is so precious and we take so much for granted, praise God everyday for His blessings of health and protection.


"¹⁴Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away." James 4:14

Live life to the fullest each day. Don't leave words of love or encouragement unspoken. Have your hugs be a little longer and a little tighter, you never know what a day may bring. Cherish each moment you have with your loved ones, especially your children, regardless of health they remain children for only a short time.

Have a good weekend.

I need you righteous!

A very good friend of mine found out this week he has sinus cancer. He is 35 years old, married, with 2 children, his name is Chris. Please pray for his healing.


" ¹⁵And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. ¹⁶Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. " James 5:15-16

Chris and I are accountability partners, there are 4 of us that meet on Wednesday nights following church. Although there are only 3 of us meeting together at this time because Brian is serving in Iraq, pray for his safety as well.

I was standing around talking with Chris last night after our meeting, we talked about a lot but one thing he said really hit me, "I need you righteous and I need your prayers". I need you righteous. I know righteousness is already God's desire for each of us, but it has now taken on new meaning in my life.

Thank you for your prayers.

What's buddha's last name?

Kids say some pretty funny things. My mom called me at work this morning to recount a conversation her and my youngest had yesterday.

~Interruption. I've been debating whether to use actual names but for anonymity purposes it may be best to not, but referring to family by relationship title seems very impersonal, methinks I will use middle names.~

My mom picked up Matthew from Nathanael's baseball practice to watch him for me, while driving home they passed by the buddhist temple, yes there is a local buddhist temple. Matthew asks my mom,
"What's that?"
"It's a buddhist temple, it's like a church except people worship buddha"
"Who's buddha?"
While my mom starts to think how best to answer my 5 year old, he asks
"What's his last name?"
"He doesn't have a last name."
"What's his middle name?"
"He doesn't have a middle name either."

When they arrive at my mom's house,
"I want to play batman on the computer"
"Ok, but I have to fix grandpa some chili for supper, first."
"My dad fixes some good chili."
"I know, your dad is a good cook."
"My mom only knows how to cook peanut butter sandwiches..."
My mom laughs at this
" and cakes"

Kids are funny.

Allergies

I missed two days of work this week because my sinus allergies turned into a cold. Sometimes you just need some good rest to heal up, which can sometimes be hard to find with 3 boys running around everywhere.

I think Saturday did me in. My 5 year old had tball practice from 12 - 2pm and then my 8 year old had kid pitch practice from 3 - 6:30pm. I'm helping coach all 3 of my sons ball teams and just being out in the sun all day Saturday just seemed to zap me.

Tuesday was the first games of the season, our tball game ended in a 17-17 tie after 3 innings, not much defense there. My 8 yr old was the starting pitcher in their first game. He did well considering they were only able to have 3 practices before the season started. He struck out 4 to 6 batters, hit 3 but 2 were only glances and walked 1 and only gave up 1 run in 3 innings. They ended up winning 15-3 in 5 innings. Our 6 year old's first game is not until Friday.

SIDU #1 Hurricane Katrina reactions

Something I don't understand #1 Hurricane Katrina reactions

"Guardsmen greeted with applause, anger" the news article reads.

"H*** no, I'm not glad to see them. They should have been here days ago. I ain't glad to see 'em. I'll be glad when 100 buses show up,'' said 46-year-old Michael Levy, whose words were echoed by those around him yelling"

This same scenario is repeated over and over again on the various news sources, what I have yet to hear is someone say "I should not have been here, I should have heeded the mandatory evacuation the city officials called for, I have no one to blame but myself". Don't get me wrong there are people who were not able to get out in time or not capable of getting themselves out without help but those that are yelling the loudest all appear perfectly capable of having gotten out if they had wanted to.

Now the rescue process is being slowed because of all the violence making a terrible situation even worse. How sad.

It's Soup Time

I'm not feeling well today, my sinuses are really bothering me. I think I'm going to fix some vegetable beef soup(that's not a picture of my soup, though it looks similar) and lay around as much as possible this weekend, though that will probably be difficult given my kids have 2 scrimmages and one practice this weekend.

My kids are great, I love them alot, I wish I showed it more.