Living the Dream
I’ve written before about how much I love being a dad. But since we’ve moved to Holly Springs, I have a new dadlight. That’s a dad-highlight.
Our old neighborhood in Asheville, bless it’s heart, had some homes that were brought in on a truck, and Continue reading “My Son is Militantly Courteous.”
No really.
I wrote a rap (well, all but the first line or two, which I totally stole from my friend Steve) in high school. I added a second verse in college for a poetry class (and got an A). Finally, I added a 3rd verse a few years after I came on staff. And it’s pretty entertaining to watch my theology develop through the verses.
I’d rap it on video for you, but I don’t want to be that guy. You know the guy. He becomes an internet sensation for doing something that he thinks he’s good at, and nobody loves him enough to tell him not to upload it to YouTube. I’m not gonna be that guy.
But I will type it out for you. And I don’t think it has a name.
Verse 1, no I’m not doing this for fun
Because I have no fun without the Holy One
Who has risen, He’s quizin’ the heart of every man
To see if there is room inside for Him to stand
Alone we cannot make it, we try with all our might
To spite the fright despite no sight without His holy light
I’m beggin’, no pleadin’, before it is too late
And you’re standing with St. Peter outside of the pearly gates
Without Him, or You doubt Him, don’t know that much about Him.
Only Jesus can please us, don’t leave the world without Him.Verse 2, don’t think that I’m not talking to you,
Because it’s your turn, to U-turn, to see what JC can do.
Moses had the rod of God, I got the Bible.
It’s God’s word to me, indicated by the title,
It’s holy, and solely for the purpose of good.
I read it to see if I should do the things I think I should.
I’m right, I’m light, so don’t put me under baskets;
I’m on a mission to save souls from rottin’ in the casket
Just ask it, and Jesus will come
Into your heart right through your heart into your bloodstream,
He’s so keen, by no means continue in sin:
’cause like the Bulls with MJ, the Spirit always wins.Verse 3, let me tell you how it happened to me,
Because by verse 4 he’ll be knocking at your door.
I said before about the rod of God
and if you’re feelin’ this, come on everybody nod.
Age 12, couldn’t nod, steady shakin’ my head,
Both eyes shut, hoping God would leave me for dead.
I was His enemy. But He got into me.
Now, both eyes open, got me begging for bread.
But in my head still runnin’, try’na earn what he gave.
Because I know me, I’m too dirty to save.
I throw in filthy rags, to cover filthy mags
At the bottom of my gold-plated filthy bag.
And that’s as far as I’ve gotten. I do think it’s fairly neat that the more I’ve gotten into Christianity, the more clearly I see how revolting my sin is. I’d like to someday add that 4th verse, or at least close out the 3rd verse on something about how even that sin of thinking my sinfulness is beyond Christ’s reach has been paid for.
Watch out, Eminem. There’s a new white, 30-something rapper on the scene. And he’s bringin’ the HEAT. I just need backup dancers and a “Uhh” guy, and we are ready for the world tour. Who’s with me?
My wife is incredible. She’s a great mom, and even in the midst of this crazy stage of life with a move and quasi-bedrest and an unwieldy (almost) tw0-year-old, she’s shone far brighter than the jewelry she got for mother’s day (yep, that’s a shout-out to me. Thanks for noticing, move along).
She’s not an encourager by nature, but I can’t even count the number of times just in the past week she’s gone out of her way to encourage me. She’s so attentive to even the smallest details of my life.
She’s a wonderful mom to LB: from lavishing gifts on him (most notably her time and energy) to disciplining him and helping him to not get the false impression that the world revolves around his larger-than-average head, Jacq is constantly amazing to me.
So I thought I’d give her a shout-out on the interwebs. She’s lived lately in a daze wrought by pregnancy hormones and lack of sleep, and yet she’s still the hottest mom on the planet.
She’s so good at it, I knocked her up again.
I just read Judges 7:1, and was pretty floored by the nickname that Gideon apparently embraces. The previous chapter translates the name Jerubbaal as “Let Baal contend with him.”
Gideon had just destroyed a pagan altar to the god Baal. The modern day equivalent might be burning down a mosque and a whorehouse next door to the mosque. Then he embraces this nickname “Let Baal contend with him.” Basically, by starting to be called that name, he’s essentially saying “bring it on, fake god.” Imagine after burning down the mosque (which I am in no way recommending) you start answering to the nickname “Allah can’t touch this” — with all due respect to MC Hammer.
The attitude of courage and boldness here is pretty intense. While I certainly wouldn’t recommend such a brash approach to people of other faiths as mosque -burning, It does raise the question of why Gideon, Joash, and company were so confident. That’s why there is a distinction to made between brashness and confidence. God had spoken to Gideon specifically, telling him to tear down the altar to Baal. Knowing God had called him to that specific act of destruction gave him the confidence to embrace the nickname. A confidence that God is who He says He is is what motivated Gideon here, not some religious vendetta or agenda.
So much of what I do, by contrast, has been an effort to build my confidence. In high school and college I was the super-Christian “good kid” not because I was confident, but in order to make myself confident. If I kept all the rules, God would surely love me and protect me and my interests. My attitude and actions could not have been father from the gospel. What Gideon does here is completely different from what I did. He acts based on confidence in who God is. He’s still scared–the story indicates that he chickened out of destroying the altar during the day–but he is not acting out of the fear, he’s choosing to trust God at His word.
Even today, my default mode is self-reliance and lack of confidence. I trust in my ability to parent, or to develop ministry partners, or whatever else! But the gospel, the most amazing news ever told, assures me that even in the face of my doubt, sin, and disobedience, God has already won. In Christ, I am victorious. Now, I am free to obey, and even join Gideon in mocking silly religious people that think they can earn God’s favor–with the sincere hope that they will join me in repentance.
What are some ways you can move from fear to confidence in God and his Word? Comment below.
When I first saw that positive pregnancy test roughly 2 years and 9 months ago, a lot of thoughts filled my head. Throwing ball in a park with my son. Teaching him how to ride a bike. Tender moments before bed praying to Elmo.
Here’s a bit that didn’t make the mental brochure: Trying to get your toddler to simultaneously urinate into a public toilet without touching every portion of the bathroom.
We’re in the midst of what I’ve begun calling “our first attempt at potty training.” We watched all the videos and read some books about training your child to use the potty in 45 minutes, or 2 days, or before they are 15. The plan was to start last Monday (exactly a week ago) and be done by the weekend. That’s now become the plan for boy #2. Because LB decided he’d rather unload the bladder indiscriminately every now and then just to keep us on our toes.
Don’t get me wrong, we are learning his clues, and are able to keep him relatively dry during the day, nap time excluded. It’s just been nowhere near the cake-walk the promo materials would have you believe.
But that brings us to the public restroom. Jacq asked LB last night at the end of dinner (out with my parents) if he needed to potty. He gave the semi-pout that means yes, and that meant I was up. We trooped down the hall to the men’s room.
A quaint one-seater, we’ll call it. LB walked in first, and I closed the door, turning to lock it behind us. I turned back to see him curiously meandering toward the toilet. I got there just in time to keep him from sticking his head into the bowl to get a closer look.
Next goal: get the pants and shoes and pull-up off. Sub-goals:
Having successfully removed the clothing (including correctly executing sub-goals 1 and 3), it was time to expect a miracle. I wanted my son, known for strong-willed tantrums and excessive use of noise, to sit calmly on a toilet seat unlike any he’d ever seen (and easily large enough for him to fall through) without so much as rubbing his hands underneath the toilet seat. And I wanted him to do all of this confidently, despite my facial expression of near-exasperation from holding him steady with one hand while keeping him from putting “toilet hand” in his mouth with the other.
But then came the moment. He was working up from moderately-uncomfortable grumbling heading toward full-body screaming when he noticed something. He needed to potty. He leaned forward to see his junk over his belly, and slowly peed into the potty.
Waves of relief rushed over me (from not having any other types of waves rushing over me), until I realized that I wasn’t out of the woods just yet. We had to sanitize the situation, get the pants/shoes/pull-up back on, and get out to the car.
To make a long story short, let’s just say the folks sitting near the door to the restroom were mildly shocked to see the child walk past the table wearing just his pull-up and a shirt. But he didn’t notice. He’d just peed like a big boy.