Our Father in Heav-en, Holy is Your Name!
Your kingdom come, Your will be done,
on Earth as it is in Heav-en!
Give us this night our daily rest,
be with us you who bless
and forgive us of all our mess!
Forgive as we forgive others,
and lead us not in to tempta-tion,
You who our Father who is in Heav-en!

(I draw out the sound where the – is.)

Apparently Bear Grylls host of Man vs Wild is a committed Christian. He wrote the book of quotes for his sons. It is a set of points that he hopes to distill into his sons lives. Here are a few that I hope to instill deeper in mine and into my son’s life.

“Be loyal -it is the mark of a man” (16).

Moments of doubt are part of life. Accept them and remember that Jesus Himself said, “My power is made perfect in weakness” – 2 Corinthians 12:9 (30).

Understand that failure is a essential stepping-stone on the road to success (36).

Be gentle (48).

Consider others better than yourself (48).

Be especially kind, thoughtful, and generous to those who are overlooked in life -this is the measure of a real man (48).

If supply is short, then look for something to give away. It is a law of the universe -to receive you must first give (54).

Put 10 percent of your income aside and give that money to those in need -whether friends or charities. You have the power to save lives (56).

Jesus came to seek and save the lost -let him do his job (61)!

The people to be nicest to in life are your wife and your children -give them the most time, energy, and love, and you will be happy (68).

This is really solid advice. Look forward to reading the rest of this soon. Probably will put some more quotes up then. I feel like I should go wrestle a bear now.

The world did not marvel at her entrance,
there was no fan fair except for our family,
for to them she had no celebrity or fame,
but we knew we loved her even before she had a name.

We welcomed our first born in to our arms,
our love was already with her long before she was born,
for she was our child before her identity was even formed.

She nursed that first night at her mothers breast,
and she slept that first night on her father’s chest,
her heart beat so tender,
so fragile and young,
the world for her still so new,
yet we knew this world would not tame her as in God’s favor she grew.

Four years have passed,
and she has learned to walk and to talk,
and run and be filled with laughter and glee,
her style and taste are becoming her own,
yet she still wakes in the middle of the night for hugs and kisses and for a while longer we know she is our little girl,
who has her mother’s heart,
and her father’s admiration,
for she’s a image of God and she will exists throughout the ages.

She’s thoughtful and pensive,
while playful and on occasion mischievous,
but her resolute heart beats tender and pure,
she bears the name Grace each new day with more ease,
and one day she will hear a greater father say,
“welcome home daughter, in whom I am well pleased”
until then she will here it from me.

Four years and nine months,
have changed so much of my world,
as I learn to father one precious little girl.

Around 2 A.M. last night I woke to a feeling that someone had sucker punched me in my stomach. Off on and on for the next two hours I was as sick as I had been in years. Not sure what made me sick but I am hoping I can make it a few years before a repeat of that. As I just started dozing again my daughter began to wake with bad dreams. Amazingly I was actually able to help her get to back sleep… on the third go. As I was leaving the room of my daughter, who I call by her middle name of Grace, asked for me to sing Amazing Grace. My first memory of that song is singing it as a seventeen year old new convert next to my grandmother in the little Methodist church that was her church home for decades. Now that memory is cross generational in my mind.

Imagine the joy of having your almost four year old ask for that song to comfort her. It settled her… and me. My wife, after multiple reassurances that I was fine enough for her to go out for a couple hours, got to get out of house for a homeschooler moms meeting. I did my kids bed time routine after we had cuddled and watched part of a Veggie Tales movie. When I put my daughter to bed, I defaulted in to singing Amazing Grace as she was going to bed.

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.
T’was Grace that taught my heart to fear.
And Grace, my fears relieved.
How precious did that Grace appear
The hour I first believed.
Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come;
‘Tis Grace that brought me safe thus far
and Grace will lead me home.
The Lord has promised good to me.
His word my hope secures.
He will my shield and portion be,
As long as life endures.
Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.

When we’ve been here ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun.
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we’ve first begun.

I’ve felt pretty rough most of day but my daughter went to sleep without a fight after I finished singing. Tonight though, something new happened. As I began singing she began to sing with me. That was the sweetest duet of Amazing Grace that I have ever sung or heard.

Image Credits

1. I gave a presentation tonight that I volunteered for two hours before I gave it.

2. I shared in part the founders story and then told people how they could volunteer.

3. Telling someone else’s story is not easy.

4. It is easier if you make it your own story as well as theirs.

5. There is a Gospel parallel somewhere in there.

6. Both are hard to do faithfully to the original story. I hope one day that I can do both faithfully and well.

7. I’ve decided that is time to get serious about memorizing scripture. I downloaded the Bible Fighter Verses Memory App.

8. I’ll soon be ready for the UFC cage match.

9. Maybe not so much on 8.

10. My day started at 6:00 am and has finally quieted down at 9:31 P.M. “Golden is silence.” – Yoda.

Bonus: Old post on Groundhog Day. Apparently Punxsutawney Phil stated there is going to be six more weeks of winter. It was 70 today here in the Wilmington area.

image credits

1. I am about to turn 32 in less than a month. A young man who is 22 has gone viral speaking on subjects like religion, fantasy, sex, and marriage. I’m glad God in his mercy has not let that happen to me. Should we encourage young men to take global stages to share their faith?

2. Young men pontificate on what older men meditate on. This is a lesson that I am learning and taking to heart.

3. My daughter told me we could order something on amazone. She insist that is how it is said.

4. I have looked for a week for my Adobe Photoshop install disc. Spent half a day retrieving a serial (yes legally) and getting it to work, which it didn’t want to. I couldn’t find the disc to save my neck. I just found it in the couch cushions.

5. Today I designed an insert that is going to in to every Chick-fil-A in Wilmington. I was told as a kid that doing art was a waste of time.
What do you think about the insert?

6. I know someone that today cleaned their office and found junk mail from the 1980s. Yet people joke about my office. All my unopened junk mail is at least from this decade.

7. I’m listening to Mumford and Sons radio station on Pandora and all it seems to play is Dashboard Confessional. I wonder if I can Mumford if I created a Dashboard station?

8. I just saw my wife’s Facebook status. It is “Eila just ran upstairs to get back in bed singing “dum, dum, dum…another one bites the dust…” Train a child in the way they shall go…

9. Twitter will not let me sign in to their service with their app. How weird is that?

10. I can’t think of Friday now without hearing this.

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1. Today I had planned to get up and start P90X, instead I overslept till 7. Our son woke up several times last night and when my internal clock went off I chose the snooze option.

2. I had breakfast with my kids before work which was awesome. That normally never happens.

3. I had a meeting at work that was suppose to start at 10 AM. It started at 10:30 AM when they got there. I told them that I only needed 5 minutes of their time. The guys I met with spoke for 45. Their internal clocks must have been on snooze. Really nice guys though.

4. My wife found some awesome barn lights for our church plant’s new building and for our house on craigslist.

5. Unfortunately we were late getting to the place to meet the person selling them.

6. We were also late to lunch at Red Robins with my in-laws. We never go out to eat at lunch so that was really a nice treat.

7. I am amazed how much my kids have grown in the last few months. My little man actually sat still for most of the time. How amazing is that?

8. At dinner tonight we had good friends the Vanderfords over for dinner. It was fun even with our combined five kids acting collectively spazy.

9. My wife for the first time hemmed three curtains after she was shown how to hem. My wife is so quick at learning stuff like that, which is awesome.

10. Getting children to bed that haven’t napped isn’t fun. I wish Protestants had a patron saint for whining kids. Oh wait, we do. It’s called parents.

1. I’ve been reading the Elephant Girl: a human story, a novel by Jane Devin. It is about a girl who was abused and now one stood in the gap for her. My first thought while reading was where was the Church?

2. I’m glad I work at the Yahweh Center. It helps kids 5 to 12 not have to write stories like Jane Devin. I work as their IT department. It isn’t directly working with kids but I’m really blessed to use my skills to indirectly work there.

3. I’ve been thinking about Paul analogy that the Church is like a body. Cue Casting Crowns.

4. Why is it that whenever I hear Casting Crowns, I think of Third Day? On a aside, how awesome would it be if Green Day became were Christians?

5. No body wants to be the support system but a body dies without it. God reminds me that every time something gets broke at work.

6. How do people with advanced degrees that cost 40K break a printer by getting out a paper jam exactly 1 month after the warranty dies?

7. If the Church is the body that means it has two hands, feet, ears, nostrils, and eyes but only one mouth. So why does it make sound outside of where it is suppose to?

8. I wonder if Paul was thinking about including a section on who makes up the excretory system in the Church but left it out?

9. We had a potluck at work. I’ve worked at the Yahweh Center for like five years. This is the first year where there where more than two guys working in my building which was awesome. We talked about men’s things. I had forgot what that was like at work. I now have people to share the joy of bacon with at work.

10. The potlucks are going to be monthly. How awesome is that?

11. Today I learned that you can wrap bacon around green beans. Where has that been all my life?

12. I recorded my pastor today talking about our new church plant.

13. As a bonus, I got my first check for working in pastoral ministry again. It’s been three years. I kind of am in awe that God is using me, again. I’m a pastor to families and children.

14. I’m starting back on P90X tomorrow morning. My foot has healed so I’ve ran out of excuses.