Your life — slow down and soak it up
This evening upon returning home early from work, my wife had a surprise for me. It was something she made a while ago although I did not know it. I think it is the coolest thing and can’t wait to use it grillin’! What a way to start out the weekend.
I have the best wifey! Thanks, babe!!!!!
…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net
I recently stumbled across this quote and thought I had blogged about it before but, in searching through my archives, found I had not. Therefore, I am sharing with you.
“No other success can compensate for failure in the home.”
…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net
Last night we partook in our 2nd Winterjam. If you don’t know what Winterjam is, it is a Christian-alla-palooza with many different bands worshiping, celebrating and praising Jesus. We attended the Louisville Winterjam back in February and thought it was so good (and affordable) that we migrated east to Lexington Saturday for a re-do.
Our plan was to tailgate in the parking lot enjoying each other’s company along with some snacks and hot dogs. While the weather was warm enough, the occasional wind gusts would blow over any unoccupied folding chairs and basically made the tailgate effort a fail. Which turned out to be a blessing.
We gave up on the tailgate option and instead headed to Rupp Arena to get in line. And it’s a good thing we did. When we went to Freedom Hall for the Louisville Winterjam (which was on a Friday) there were a lot of people there but the line was very tolerable and not too long. At Rupp, probably because it was a Saturday, it seemed the entire Lexington community was in line. We turned this corner and saw a line of people 4-5 wide and about 1/4 mile long. Aghast, we joined it at the end.
The folks in line were friendly and in a generally upbeat mood. Church youth groups played games and others occupied their waiting time. Thankfully, they opened the doors early and we entered Rupp to stake claim to our seats.
NOTE: I much prefer Freedom Hall to Rupp. Rupp is a box. While I don’t like the navigation around Freedom Hall, every seat is a true seat, not a lame bench seat like the entire upper section at Rupp. For that reason alone, I will not go back to Rupp. After a 5 hour concert, my back hurt. And, yes, I am old. However, I did enjoy the Red show (Christian heavy metal).
One cool part of worship was when the David Crowder Band was playing “O Praise Him”. It is a wonderful worship song and everyone waved their hands in the air. I looked around and the entire arena looked like prairie grass waving in the wind of the Holy Spirit. It was amazing to see and, as so frequently happened in the past, brought tears of praise to my eyes. Below is a video of that song.
One final note of something I saw that I liked. A youth group had t-shirts made for all their kids to wear that were the same color and probably made the youth director’s job easy for control of them. However, it was the saying that go me…..
“The church has left the building…”
I thought that was a clever play on the old Elvis quote and a good reminder that the church is not a building and that our role as disciples is to be out in the world.
…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net
Because I was traveling most of last week, I spent Friday and the weekend with the family. After a 15 hour, multi-state drive, there is nothing like just hanging out, doing a few chores and not having much on the agenda. So that’s what I did Friday.
Saturday was another story and shaped up to be a father/son day. Which, interestingly, turned into a father/son weekend.
It started out with my routine Saturday morning men’s accountability group. My son, for some reason, wanted to join me early. I think it was the hot chocolate at Starbuck’s that motivated him. So we were off at 6:30am. All the guys were there and we were able to cover a lot of ground in the short hour we had together. There are times we can go long but today we had to be out of there at 8am sharp so we could make D’s Cub Scout “God and Family” class at 9am.
—– Tangeant on —–
It is challenging navigating our world today. Today’s society and media provide plenty of distractions and temptations to wander from the narrow path (check out Matthew 7:13-14) and we need all the support we can get to ensure we are doing what God has called us to do. Therefore, I find it important that you surround yourself with Godly men or women who can encourage, uplift, and correct you in a loving and Scripturally sound way. In essence, people that know you well enough and love you enough to call you on your crap. And we all have crap, and unless checked, we can end up believing the lies we tell ourselves — reading our own press. Having an accountability group provides the anchors for our tent when the wind blows.
—–Tangeant off —–
With accountability done, D and I headed to his Cub Scouts “God and Family” class. This is a 6 week class given by the Scout sponsor church youth pastor that deepens their understanding and importance of God as the foundation of the family. The youth pastor has a good rapport with the Scouts and they are engaged and have fun.
After that, D and I headed home to put the final touches on our pinewood derby cars. The Scout Pinewood Derby Races were Saturday evening and we had a few minor adjustments to make which included a stop by the Scout Shop to pick up a few things. It was nice to spend some time in the garage with D hanging out and watching the Speed Channel cover the NASCAR Daytona activities.
Our cars complete and tested, D went over to a friend’s house while I caught a catnap — literally. The cat sat on top of me in the sun while we both napped. It provided me the rest I needed to make it through the rest of the day.
The pinewood derby races were fun. Our cars were definitely more competitive than last year. D even said “I didn’t come in last every time”. Pretty cool lesson to learn because he was getting rewarded by the fruits of his labor. We worked hard on sanding and polishing each axle and wheel to reduce friction. He ended up getting 2nd place among all the Webelos 1 and 2s. I was proud of him.
Because of the pinewood derby, D and I missed joining my wife and the girls at Saturday service. So we attended the late Sunday service — a first for both of us. But it worked out nicely because it allowed us to leave afterwards to grab some lunch at our favorite Mark’s Feed Store and then come back at 2pm for a father/son activity. Our church is having a father/son learning session once a month for the next year. It will teach the sons man skills like tying knots, navigating, emergency car repairs, rock climbing, and archery. They combine those practical skills with Bible verses and applicable lessons like is called upon in Deuteronomy 6:7-9. I think it is a great idea and I hope we can make time for each one. In fact, I might add a few additional ones with my son.
After returning home, I put on the last laps of the NASCAR Daytona 500 in the garage and D hung out with me while we worked on his bike and cleaned up a few things. All in all, it was a great guy weekend and we both really enjoyed all the time and male bonding together.
…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net
Tonight I have planned a very nice, romantic evening with my lovely bride. The Christian radio station I am a fan of, WJIE, is hosting a Sweetheart Dinner downtown. They have a wonderful meal serenaded by a few talented Christian artists. I have always wanted to go and this year our accountability small group purchased a table so we are all going. I’ll get dappered up in a monkey suit or something and my wife will look gorgeous. It will afford us a nice time away with great company, delicious food, and wonderful music. This year Big Daddy Weave and Aaron Shust are playing. I have been looking forward to it and now it’s here.
Call it my pre-emptive Valentine’s Day strike. We aren’t able to go out on Monday night so this will be nice.
Happy pre-Valentines Day, babe!
…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net
Yesterday there were a couple of times when my son’s perspective just cracked me up.
The first was in the evening as I was doing my cardio on the elliptical machine. I just recently put it together and there was a clicking sound during one of the forward motion strokes. I slowed down and leaned down to try to zero in on where the sound was coming from so I could fix it. My son happened to be down in the basement with me and looked over. Because I had slowed down and was leaning over, he said “Come on Dad, you can do it!”
Gotta love the honest encouragement.
The second was as I was perusing Facebook. My wife posted the status update below:
D started drum lessons and is setting up his drums in his bedroom. I told him it would be better in the basement because of the noise. His response, “don’t worry mom I’ll wear earplugs.”
He cracks me up!
…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net
Marriage is a very important gift given to us by God. Through it He ordained the commitment of a man and a woman to join together as one for love and for the raising of a family. In this healthy union, joy, empowerment, and fulfillment are experienced by both the wife and husband.
If you are lucky, like me, you have several successful models of couples to follow. I can count my grandparents, my folks, my in-laws, and many treasured friends as role models of support and encouragement. I know what marriage should look like and what I, as a man and husband, need to contribute to my marriage for it to persevere, flourish and produce fruit.
If you are someone whom marriage has had a negative impact — your folks were divorced, or you have been through a divorce — get out there and find a role model couple whose marriage has withstood the test of time. You will also benefit if you surround yourself with marriage committed couples. I can tell you that in my day to day living it is nice to be in the midst of great family and friends who have the same marriage ideals as I do (and will hold me accountable to them).
Here is the link to http://www.nationalmarriageweekusa.org/
Additionally, last year I wrote a post on marriage and aggregated quite a few online marriage resources. I am regurgitating them below because of the importance of the topic.
Christian Counseling of Mansfield
Focus on the Family – Free Marriage Booklets
…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net
There are many great Christian ministries out there. One that I get a daily email from is Parenting Today’s Teens. Below is their radio spot / podcast from yesterday. It describes the classic parent enabler — one that, understandibly, wants to “rescue” their teen or child and prevent them from pain. However, in doing so repeatedly, sets up a cycle of enabled bad behavior and delayed or reduced consequences.
It’s hard for some parents to allow their child to feel any form of pain from consequences, so they rescue them. But for teenagers, inappropriate behavior changes only when the pleasure received from wrong choices is overridden by the pain of consequences. I’m not talking about physical pain, but the loss of certain freedoms for a time.
So, parents need to learn to allow consequences happen, and not lessen them, or they’ll start a cycle of having to rescue their child again and again, from ever increasing wrongdoing, for their entire life.
They say it much better than I do. Go check out their website for some great resources and insight.
…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net
Last night we had Family Movie Night. The movie on tap was Letters To God. It is a tear jerker movie with a very good message. I thought the story was kinda choppy but you cannot downplay the message of how any one of us can positively impact those of us around us — no matter what happens to us. Because in the end, it is not about us — it is about God’s plan and His glory.
So this morning, I went to my men’s Accountability meeting and came home to find this in an envelope from my 10 year old son.
Dear God,
Thank you for that movie we watched last night. I think that boy was a really cool boy. I pray that you can help the Doctors find a cure to heal all the sick people. Please make the Doctors heal my Opa, he is very sick. He does not deserve this and my mom does not deserve this either. My mom needs to at least have a parent with her. I want the best for her. Tell my Oma in heaven that mom misses her so much, she really really does. I want the best for my family, I really do. Thank you for Jesus who died such a painful death for me.
Amen
ps: I love you
ps: I also prayed this out loud
Love, Danny
Here is my son with his Opa before the Alzheimer’s really had a grip on him. My wife cherishes this picture for so many reasons.
I look forward to our time in heaven with Jesus where every moment will be like this picture — healthy, happy, joyous, with loved ones, and in God’s presence.
…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net
