Be careful that you don't fall

The end of another school year is almost here and that brings a guarantee of a few things:
1. Teachers are more excited about summer than the students.
2. My students at the high school know that #1 is true, so they try to get me to stop assigning homework and projects by getting me to talk about things I am passionate about.
3. The heavy workload I have at this time of year to get papers graded and projects assessed is never surprising, but I have a tendency to fall into a trap of letting it completely stress me out.

The last two weeks have been very stressful for me and I have not handled it well. Prior to this stressful time, things were going great. I was consistently reading the Word daily, spending quality time with Christy and the kids, making time to read and listen to challenging Biblical teachings, and then it happened. I got complacent at work and at home. I began to get a bit too comfortable and confident that I had things under control, and I began to do it under my own power instead of recognizing my need for strength to come from the Spirit.
1 Corinthians 10:12 says “So if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall.” I didn’t recognize what was happening until it was too late. I was then so far behind at school with grading that I didn’t know where to begin. I brought this stress home with me and I became an ineffective spiritual leader for my family. I became irritable, distant, and felt completely powerless and depressed. I was going through the motions in my daily quiet time with God and with my family. I was investing my time and energy into being stressed out instead of turning immediately to God and His Word to comfort and guide me.
My sins of pride and self-sufficiency had caused me to fall and I didn’t even see it coming. This was a good reminder for me that I must always be watchful for the enemy who wants to distract or trip me and that I need to be more prayerful about my pride and selfishness.
I praise God for HIs Spirit who convicts me of my sin and chastens me back to the narrow path that Christ mentions in Matthew 7:13-14. He is so good yet I so easily give in to my sinful nature of doing things my own way. I am so undeserving of His love, but He disciplines me “because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in” (Proverbs 3:12).

A dad's thoughts on his daughter's birthday

Olivia turns 4 tomorrow and we had her party for the extended family on Saturday. It’s Christy’s tradition to spread out as many birthday parties over as many days as possible to stretch out your birthday as long as you can!
Tonight as I put Olivia to bed for the 10th time in 20 minutes (she’s a bit excited about her big day tomorrow and her “kid” party), I snuggled in bed with her and thought about the day she was born.
Her birth was an amazing event in many ways:
1. Olivia brought the level of estrogen back into close proximity to the level of testosterone in our home and she can scream with a pitch, tone, and volume that can be heard in outer space.

2. When Olivia was only minutes old, I remember thinking something I never thought about when the boys were born: “Some day there will be a boy who will come to my house to take her on a date. I will be ready for that day!” When the boys were born, I think I grunted and thumped my chest in approval.
3. The most important difference between her birth and her brothers’ was where I was in my relationship with God. I became a born-again believer in Jesus Christ in October 2003 when Christy was only a couple of months pregnant with Olivia.
I claimed to be a Christian on his way to heaven when the boys were born, but I was actually dead in my sins and on my way to hell. I had not repented of my sins and put my faith completely in Jesus Christ and what He did on the tree for my sins. “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again” (John 3:3). What a new perspective I had at her birth. To hear my complete testimony, click HERE.
As I have grown in my relationship with Christ these last 4 years, my role as a dad has changed from teaching my kids to have worldly morality to teaching them about their need for a Savior in their own lives. Worldly morality and good deeds will never save them from their sins—only the shed blood of Jesus Christ can do that when they repent and trust Him.
While that might seem like a lot to expect a 4 year old to understand, my role is
clear: “Train a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not turn from
it” (Psalm 22:6).

A nature hike on a 38-degree night

The boys and I spent Friday night at Camp Hantesa near Boone, Iowa, for a father/youth overnight event that included games, camp songs, sleeping in a cabin (heated, thankfully!), and a nature hike in the pitch black of the night.
One of my favorite parts of the event was the campfire dinner. We wrapped meat, vegetables and potatoes in some tin foil and threw it into the fire to cook (fire+meat= yum!), The boys enjoyed the games, getting to stay up late, and the freedom to get as filthy dirty as they wanted as we explored the beautiful creation of our Creator in this rural part of Iowa. As one might expect on a typical April night in Iowa, we were thankful to have brought our winter gear along for the adventure.
As we headed out for the nature hike around 9:00 that night, the temperature had dropped below 40 degrees and the fierce wind didn’t encourage us to want to go out very far or for very long. The recent rain storms hindered our movement as our guide had to take us around the flooded paths that she normally uses.
The boys were excited about getting to hold the flashlight to help us see where we should and shouldn’t step. I was reminded of Psalm 119:105 as we ventured into the cold, wet darkness of the timber: “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” I instructed the boys how to hold the flashlight just ahead of where we were walking for the best illumination of where we needed to step.
The same is true of how we use the Bible. In order for it to give me clear direction in my life, I need to be reading, studying, memorizing and meditating on it regularly. I realized that night that I probably spent more time instructing them on how to use a flashlight correctly than I have on instructing them about the importance of filling their minds with the truth of God’s Word and to show them how to read it. As their dad, there is nothing more important that I could ever teach them than to learn to read the Bible and to do what it says. The world they are growing up in is in a constant fluctuation of what is popular, right, moral, and acceptable by society. I want them to learn about the unchanging truth of God’s Word and how it will transform their very lives.
I thought I was just going to get wet and cold that night. God used it as a teachable moment in my life as a dad. The first two people I need to train to be disciples of Jesus Christ sleep in bunk beds in my own house.

Through the eyes of my child

AJ, my oldest (he will be 10 in June), has been having nightmares off and on over the last couple of weeks. He is so shaken up by them that he doesn’t even want to talk about it. Each night at bedtime, either Christy or I will lie down with him to pray for God to keep the bad dreams away as we try to model for AJ the best way to handle his situation: prayer.
Tonight AJ wouldn’t even go to bed because he was so worried that he was going to have a nightmare. It was very frustrating for us as parents because he wouldn’t even tell us what he was scared of. We tried rocking with him, letting him look at books, and listen to music, but he was completely inconsolable. As my wife and I held him, I prayed for God to put angels at every corner of his bed and in the windows of our house to keep away bad thoughts and dreams.
As my prayer ended, AJ had calmed down and with his face buried in Christy’s shoulder, he finally revealed his fear: he had been thinking about Jesus’ crucifixion and they had just talked about it again in Sunday school this morning. AJ has always had a deep, heartfelt sensitivity to the suffering Jesus endured as He bore our sins on the tree.
How many people in this world either reject the truth of Jesus’ sacrifice or give only an intellectual acknowledgment of the wrath that God poured out on His only Son for the redemption of humanity?
Worse yet, how many Christians have become complacent with the fact that they were bought for an incredible price and even forget that the punishment we deserve for breaking God’s commandments was paid in full when God slaughtered his only Son on that tree?
“Yet, it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities” (Isaiah 53:10-11).
My 9-year-old son has a special insight into the price that Christ paid that most Christians (myself included) wish we had. AJ weeps over the pain Christ suffered in a way that I probably never have. I have a lot to learn through the eyes of my child.

I really blew it as a dad this weekend

I’ve been wanting to make a video for the website about why you can trust the Bible--the top 6 reasons the Bible is true (from Mark Cahill’s One Hearbeat Away--a must read for everyone) and I wanted the kids to “star” in it by holding up numbers while dancing and running around. I also wanted them to give the top 6 list on camera in those cute, little kid voices that come so naturally for them. Well, in the midst of a short time frame to work with on Saturday and my eagerness to get the video done, I ended up treating my three kids like a work crew instead of letting them be kids and have fun with the production. AJ, my 9 year old, was really having a good time dancing and singing while I was trying to direct, produce, and film at the same time and he tripped and bit his lip. Instead of being a loving dad who should have made sure he was alright, I let my frustration show by quickly picking up all the filming equipment while voicing my displeasure with the kids’ lack of being able to follow simple directions.
My loving wife, who saw my selfishness, was quick to point out, “You are making this (pointing at the videocamera) more important than them.” I was no more than up the basement stairs when the Holy Spirit grabbed ahold of me and shook me to my senses. What was I thinking? The Word clearly teaches “Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). I had just modeled for my three kids what not to do in that kind of situation.
Within 5 minutes, I was apologizing to AJ and asking for his forgiveness while explaining to him that I let my selfish desires get in the way of what was more important: glorifying God by having a fun time as a family making a video.
That night while praying with the boys at bedtime, I confessed my sin to God so the boys could hear me show respect to my Father in Heaven and thank Him for dying on the cross for my selfishness. It is only because of my repentance of sin and faith in Jesus Christ that I can even go to God’s throne in such a way.