Archive for the ‘Father’ Category
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010
I’ve been listening to some old Issues, Etc. episodes that happened to be focusing on vocation and they certainly helped me get through yesterday. While my wife was taking the girls to their swim lessons, no small feat, I went to Costco to do some shopping. Then after putting away the oversized package of cheese and diapers I cleaned the bathrooms, mopped the kitchen floor and cooked dinner. While cooking dinner I noticed a few dishes in the sink so I figured I should do them now rather than after dinner. In the middle of rinsing a dish the fatigue hit me and I just wanted to throw the dish across the room and sit down on the floor with a beer. I restrained myself and fought through the last few pots but I was done. Except I knew my wife had a meeting to go to and I had bath (can’t skip after swimming) and bedtime with the girls. At that point the only thing that held together my sanity and held back my sinful rage was the Doctrine of Vocation. Knowing that God had given me this time to help relieve some of the burden of the housework my wife does and given me my daughters to shepherd in body and spirit gave me the peace I needed to get through it.
Now I didn’t list all those things to toot my own horn. In fact, I needed to repent of those things which I should not have let pile up in the first place and of the frustration in trying to get a 3 year-old to take her bath and dry her hair. I say all this to remind myself of all that God has blessed me with and the simple and obvious ways He uses me to do His will.
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Monday, December 7th, 2009
The Down
The last couple of months have been a struggle with the 3yo in church. She won’t sit and listen to any part of the service and I’m having trouble getting her to stand and sit at the appropriate times. This after a few weeks where she followed along with me in the hymnal and bulletin and even sang along with her version of the Gloria in Excelsis. Right now it’s a struggle just to keep her a little quiet while still trying to coax her into following the service.
The Up
One of my goals next year is to teach the 3yo the Lord’s Prayer. While we were playing last night, I thought I’d get a little head start. So I asked her to say, “Our Father, who art in Heaven.” She proceeds to say the whole thing as best as she could enunciate it. You could distinctly hear “Heaven”, “name”, “bread”, “trespass”, “power”, and “glory.” I had to go and interrupt my 8yo and her mom playing Simon Says, sorry Emi, so mommy could hear it. It absolutely shocked me.
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Tuesday, September 8th, 2009
Looks like I have a new vocation and that is of 2nd grade basketball coach. I’ll be coaching my daughter’s 2nd grade instructional team which is a mix of boys and girls. I have always hesitated when asked if I would coach my children’s sports team. I believe I am knowledgeable enough, but my experience with my father coaching me was less than great. Looking back, it was not my dad’s fault, it was my stubbornness and immaturity, but I’m not sure if my daughter is any more mature and worry about how she’d handle it. So I asked her what she thought of me coaching and she said, “That would be so exciting!” My response was, “Really?” She said, “Yea, you could teach me lots of new stretches and basketball moves.” At that point, how could I refuse?
So, I’ve got some work to do to prepare for this new vocation. I also know where I tend to sin when it comes to sports, so I want to make preparations such that I avoid those situations. I hope that I can pass on the fundamentals and basic skills so they can improve, but most of all I hope to make it fun so they continue to enjoy playing.
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Monday, April 6th, 2009
Yesterday, after pastor said, “Please rise for the reading of the Gospel,” I told the 2.5 year-old to stand up. She proceeds to yell, “Yea!!!” This got a chuckle from the congregation and some nice comments about having children in church after service. However, as the parent, it was not all that delightful. The problem is that while I would love to think this was some pious response, I know she was just as likely to start saying, “bye-bye.”
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Monday, January 19th, 2009
I never thought that sitting through a church service would be a milestone, but as the father of a toddler, I wanted to celebrate getting through an entire service without having to take my daughter out to the narthex. I do remember getting through a few services when she was immobile. But since she became mobile and found here voice it’s been a battle.
I’m sure we’ll have some setbacks, and we’re a ways from sitting and paying attention, but I just wanted to celebrate this event.
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Monday, October 20th, 2008
rent a car bulgariaMy daughter has been doing well at basketball. She is picking up the skills and having fun for the most part. The one thing she will need to acquire is aggressiveness. It’s not really in her personality, and I don’t think she needs to be hyper-aggressive, just enough to go after the ball when she should. But I am proud of her, because she’s doing so well when this is totally out of her comfort zone.
I’ve been helping coach, mostly by herding cats and trying to focus them on what they are supposed to do. I don’t try to instruct because I don’t feel like it’s my place and I don’t want to become one of those parents that’s trying to live vicariously through the kids. I do have a lot of fun running with them during the drills or pretending to be a defender while they are dribbling. I had so much fun yesterday that it was the first time in 5 years that I’ve missed playing. I have no illusions about trying to play again. My left knee can’t survive a half hour of fast walking, let alone running up and down the court. But it sure made me smile watching the kids be so happy after dribbling and coming to a jump-stop.
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Friday, October 3rd, 2008
First, true good works, those that God considers good works, can only done by Christians. But wait, don’t unbelievers do good things like give to charity, lend a helping hand, etc., etc? Of course they do, but those are civil good works (good in the sight of man). Good works in God’s eyes are those works that are 100% out of love for Him. So, the unbeliever who is doing his civil good work because it will raise his standing in the community, or gain favor with someone, or even out of his own sense of compassion is not doing a good work.
Hey, don’t we have to do good works to please God? Whoa, that is the worst kind of “good work” because it imperils the soul. We don’t do anything to please God. Christ has done this for us by His perfect life, death, and resurrection. If we try to please God, we’re essential trying to buy our salvation, and that is not love, that is self-interest.
So how does anyone do good works? Even as a Christian, when I do things that look like good works like giving to charity or volunteering, if I am motivated in any way, and I am, by a tax deduction or perceived status, then I have not done this work out of 100% love of God. However, because I am a Christian, this sin is covered by Christ and God accepts it as a good work just like He accepts me, a sinner, because of Christ.
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Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008
Emi had her first basketball practice on Sunday. The coaches really did a good job of just getting the kids started on the fundamentals. The worst thing for Emi would have been if they got them into a scrimmage the first day. She has some skill in dribbling and passing, but she’s a perfectionist and got frustrated if she couldn’t do it like she wanted to. One thing I need to work on with her is catching the ball. She kinda backs away from the ball which actually leads to her getting hit by it. She had one incident where the ball bonked her and she cried a little. Shooting overhand is a little tough for her too because of a lack of strength, but I’m not too worried about that. Overall, she had fun and listened for the most part. I was very proud of her.
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Tuesday, September 9th, 2008
This past Sunday at Bible class, my wife learned about adiaphora. This sparked an awesome discussion over dinner. The discussion turned to why we go to church and my wife gave the correct, but incomplete answer that the Bible tells us that we should be of a church and go to worship Him. Ah, my chance to catechize the family. I said that was correct (I’m starting to learn that I should point out the correct parts before I move to fill the gaps). God calls us, via His word, to gather together. When we are gathered He gives us the gift of salvation through His word and sacraments and we respond with thankfulness and praise i.e. worship.
With this understanding, the term Divine Service takes on the appropriate meaning that God, the divine, comes to serve us. So then what does Contemporary Service mean, the contemporary serves us? Seems more like we’re serving the contemporary i.e. the culture.
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Friday, August 1st, 2008
At least that’s what our 6 year old told us last night at dinner. We were at a restaurant that gives kids crayons in a cup. She was doing a good job of taking one crayon at a time, so my wife complimented her. Her response was the aforementioned, “God wants you to take one crayon at a time.” My wife and I looked at each other and I got the panicked sensation of a Lutheran wondering where my daughter had picked up this bit of Law, and hoping she’s not doing some non-denominational extra-Biblical interpretation.
My instinct was to tell her that the Bible doesn’t actually say that, but I thought about what we wanted her to know about what God wants us to do. So I asked her how we know that God loves us. She stumbled a little, but got around to saying, “Because He sent Jesus to die on the cross to forgive our sins,” which I continue to try to drill into her. I went on to explain that what we do know about God is that He loves us even if we make sin or make mistakes (like taking more than one crayon at a time).
Then it hit me, she was right! God gave her us, her parents, and in her vocation as a daughter she is to honor and obey us (4th commandment). From the perspective of her vocation, God does want her to take one crayon at a time!
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