Often we don't think about our witness to others when we go out in public ... especially with our kids. If we were honest, I think most of us would say that the driving force in managing our children's behavior in public is primarily focused on reducing our own personal embarrassment. We simply don't want our kids behavior to make us look bad ... whether that behavior is truly sinful or not. And admittedly, I am this way most of the time. There is one place however, that I am a little more relaxed concerning this and that is the pool.
At the pool, I pretty much allow the kids to just be kids ... provided their are no safety issues to address. This is one reason why I'm so excited over their ability to be comfortable in the water, it means that I give them a little more freedom. I don't have to be in the pool with them. So apart from the safety concerns, which I talk with them about as new situations present themselves, they can be free to interact with other kids, other adults or myself as they desire. And I don't take the time to stop and think about what other people might think about me or my kids. Or at least I didn't until someone went out of their way to make a comment.
On Monday, I took the kids to the pool in the afternoon ... the same as we do most days when the weather is permitting - which is more often than not. There weren't many other folks at the pool. We pretty much had the water to ourselves while a few sunbathers soaked up a few rays. At this particular time, I was in the pool playing with my daughter. We were playing different race games chasing after her inflatable ring. After that she wanted me to help her walk on her "tip-toes" into increasingly deeper water. It was about this time, that one of the sun worshippers came into the pool and approached me.
She was an older woman (late 40s or early 50s I'm guessing) of either German or Swiss birth judging by her accent. But she walked over to us and politely asked if I was married. The question took me by surprise to say the least. There are a multitude of thoughts and questions that race through one's mind when someone of the opposite sex asks that question. Not sure of where the conversation was headed, I explained that indeed I was married and that my wife works most afternoons which is why she can't always come to the pool with us. Her reply was that she was curious about this because of the evident strong bond between my daughter and myself. She also remarked about my daughter's ability to speak very pointedly about various subjects, and she also said that my daughter should be featured in a magazine.
We thanked her for her kind words and then she left the pool, but her words stayed with me and gave me something to think about. While I am often worried about my embarrassment in how my kids behave, it occurs to me that what I should be more concerned about is how well does my public relationship to my children (and my wife for that matter) reflect the love of God to the world? One of the best gifts I can give my family is to demonstrate how to be a living witness to the Truth in everything we do. When we make His concerns our concerns, we are much less worried about our public image and much more focused on what we can do allow His image to shine through us.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Friday, July 24, 2009
Some Twists and Turns in the Road
Two and a half months ago, the Venture started with a lot of bumps in the road: the house was taking a long time to sell and my job search was going nowhere, just to name a few. Since then many of the bumps have smoothed out (the house is set to close in a couple of weeks!), and my job search has been put on hold because of a great opportunity that my wife was offered. While that road is still technically smooth, it has taken a bit of a turn. As it turns out being pregnant has thrown a monkey wrench into the hiring process. This wrench is nothing more than a time delay, but it is mildly frustrating nonetheless. The job is still hers pending a successful background investigation, but the investigation won't continue until this current hurdle is crossed - which at this point may not occur until after the baby is born in early October.
The interesting thing is - I'm not as upset over this delay today as I would have been two and a half months ago. The Lord has reminded me enough of times in recent days that His plan will always bring about the best result and that I needn't fret over the details. Besides that past 5 weeks of Greek have been enough stress in and of itself.
Which leads me to another milestone - I passed Greek 1. The final exam was this past Monday, and while my grades weren't at the top of the class - I passed, and that's good enough. Greek 2 started on Wednesday and I am enjoying this class more than the first. We are working our way through translating the entire epistle of I John. My bible study software (see my commercial post a few weeks back) has really helped me thus far ... unfortunately I won't be able to use it on the upcoming quiz and test, but I think I'll be okay. So come August 7, I'll be finished with "Summer Greek" and will that ever be a great feeling ... just in time for my birthday - which I keep telling the kids that I am NOT celebrating this year. Of course, this does not sit well with the kids (or my wife) as they are insistent that we will be celebrating. The kids still think that we should do our celebrating at Chuck E. Cheese's again, but No - I have to draw the line somewhere.
The interesting thing is - I'm not as upset over this delay today as I would have been two and a half months ago. The Lord has reminded me enough of times in recent days that His plan will always bring about the best result and that I needn't fret over the details. Besides that past 5 weeks of Greek have been enough stress in and of itself.
Which leads me to another milestone - I passed Greek 1. The final exam was this past Monday, and while my grades weren't at the top of the class - I passed, and that's good enough. Greek 2 started on Wednesday and I am enjoying this class more than the first. We are working our way through translating the entire epistle of I John. My bible study software (see my commercial post a few weeks back) has really helped me thus far ... unfortunately I won't be able to use it on the upcoming quiz and test, but I think I'll be okay. So come August 7, I'll be finished with "Summer Greek" and will that ever be a great feeling ... just in time for my birthday - which I keep telling the kids that I am NOT celebrating this year. Of course, this does not sit well with the kids (or my wife) as they are insistent that we will be celebrating. The kids still think that we should do our celebrating at Chuck E. Cheese's again, but No - I have to draw the line somewhere.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Star Wars - Episode #7
Today my son turned 7 years old. His birth was truly one of the more memorable moments in my life ... and for my wife as well. His delivery into this world was a tough one. Being almost a week overdue, the doctors decided to induce labor late on a Sunday evening. It was 1:11 AM on Tuesday morning when he was born. It was a long, hard labor that left my wife needing 2 units of blood and several weeks to recover.
I remember the day we brought him home. I had the television on and we laid him on the floor facing away from the TV. This little guy, only a few days old, rocked himself 180 degrees around so he could face the television. I can remember when he was only a few months old, and I would come home from church and watch football with him lying on my chest. We napped together during many a game that way.
I used to be able to hold him in my arm like a football. Now, he's a tall skinny kid who is growing like an out-of-control weed. I can still pick him up and give him a bear hug; I wonder silently if this will be the last birthday of his that I can.
This year he asked me to make his birthday cake for him ... he was impressed with the job I did on my wife's cake several weeks ago. He asked for a cake with a Star Wars theme. So I stayed up late last night to make the cake, making a late night run to the local grocery store to get the specific cake flavor and frosting he wanted. I woke up early (5:30 am) this morning to put the frosting and decorations on only to run out of the lettering frosting half way through - so it was an early morning run to the grocery store as well. In the end we had a cake that said, "Star Wars 7" with action figures and seven candles (you can see a picture on my Facebook page).
So we had chocolate cake for breakfast (a la Bill Cosby). Then we took a trip down to the Gateway Arch and took the 630 foot tram ride to the top. Both kids loved looking down on the city and the Mississippi river. Afterwards, we toured the Westward Expansion Museum and learned a lot about frontier life and the various trails leading to the west. After that we had a late lunch at Chuck E. Cheese, and yes, the kids had a ball there as well. When we finally got home we had more cake and watched Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.
In a couple of weeks, my son will enter the second grade. The time has certainly flown since the days of Sunday afternoon football naps. He is growing in stature and he is growing in his knowledge of God. I couldn't be more proud of who he is, or the person he is becoming. We all want our kids to do well ... to do and eventually be better than ourselves. Whatever my son chooses to do, he will have a great and glorious Venture of his own. My prayer is the God will continue to bless his life. My life has been tremendously blessed because of him.
I remember the day we brought him home. I had the television on and we laid him on the floor facing away from the TV. This little guy, only a few days old, rocked himself 180 degrees around so he could face the television. I can remember when he was only a few months old, and I would come home from church and watch football with him lying on my chest. We napped together during many a game that way.
I used to be able to hold him in my arm like a football. Now, he's a tall skinny kid who is growing like an out-of-control weed. I can still pick him up and give him a bear hug; I wonder silently if this will be the last birthday of his that I can.
This year he asked me to make his birthday cake for him ... he was impressed with the job I did on my wife's cake several weeks ago. He asked for a cake with a Star Wars theme. So I stayed up late last night to make the cake, making a late night run to the local grocery store to get the specific cake flavor and frosting he wanted. I woke up early (5:30 am) this morning to put the frosting and decorations on only to run out of the lettering frosting half way through - so it was an early morning run to the grocery store as well. In the end we had a cake that said, "Star Wars 7" with action figures and seven candles (you can see a picture on my Facebook page).
So we had chocolate cake for breakfast (a la Bill Cosby). Then we took a trip down to the Gateway Arch and took the 630 foot tram ride to the top. Both kids loved looking down on the city and the Mississippi river. Afterwards, we toured the Westward Expansion Museum and learned a lot about frontier life and the various trails leading to the west. After that we had a late lunch at Chuck E. Cheese, and yes, the kids had a ball there as well. When we finally got home we had more cake and watched Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.
In a couple of weeks, my son will enter the second grade. The time has certainly flown since the days of Sunday afternoon football naps. He is growing in stature and he is growing in his knowledge of God. I couldn't be more proud of who he is, or the person he is becoming. We all want our kids to do well ... to do and eventually be better than ourselves. Whatever my son chooses to do, he will have a great and glorious Venture of his own. My prayer is the God will continue to bless his life. My life has been tremendously blessed because of him.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
A Swimming Breakthrough
As a child I never learned to swim. I never went to the local pool and never had any formal lessons. A good friend had an indoor pool at her house, and she and her sister and her parents all tried to teach me, but fear of putting my face in the water combined with a general uncomfortable feeling in the water meant that I needed to stay in the shallow end of the pool. Not that I always did that; instead, I spent a lot of time drinking from the depths and being saved by my friend. By rights, I probably should have died in that pool.
It wasn't until my junior year of college when a very nice and extremely pretty college lifeguard insisted I learn to swim. And while I'm not a great swimmer by any stretch of the imagination, this young lady did a good enough job with me that I no longer fear getting into the pool - and I can swim well enough to keep myself alive. Oh, and in case you're wondering - I eventually married that lifeguard!
So needless to say, when we had children, one of the things I insisted of my wife is that she teach them to swim. I did not want to have to relive any of those scary episodes from my childhood with my own kids. My son, however has inherited his father's apprehension about the water. For the past few years, I have been doing everything I could think of to help him get over his fear of water - especially his fear of putting his face in the water and of going under the water. My daughter on the other hand inherited her mother's "fishiness."
Today, both of my children took a giant step - or should I say jump forward in their water skills. My son swam the width of the pool underwater while pinching his nose shut ... basically he kicked his way across. But he didn't panic, and even though it took him several tries - he kept at it until he could do it. Once he accomplished this, I decided to see if he could go a step further - so I told him we could stay longer at the pool if he would jump into the pool. We started in the 3 foot end where he can touch the bottom without a problem. Then we moved up to 4 feet where it was much more likely he would go under. He did it, on the condition that I stand there and help to make sure he came back to the surface. Then we moved to the deepest part of the pool - 5 feet. He was definitely scared ... he had tears running down his cheeks. I told him that he didn't have to jump, but I also assured him that once he did, he would think it was so much fun that he would want to jump in over and over again. Sure enough - that's what happened. Once he made the jump and realized he would come back to the surface - he started jumping whether I was in the area or not ... and he would doggie paddle over to the wall, hop out and jump in again.
Once my daughter saw how much fun he was having, she wanted in on the fun. We went through the same progression, 3 feet, 4 feet, 5 feet. In no time at all - we were all having a blast - and me all I was doing was just standing in the water - laughing. Now the kids can't wait to show my wife, and I can't wait to see her face when they do.
It wasn't until my junior year of college when a very nice and extremely pretty college lifeguard insisted I learn to swim. And while I'm not a great swimmer by any stretch of the imagination, this young lady did a good enough job with me that I no longer fear getting into the pool - and I can swim well enough to keep myself alive. Oh, and in case you're wondering - I eventually married that lifeguard!
So needless to say, when we had children, one of the things I insisted of my wife is that she teach them to swim. I did not want to have to relive any of those scary episodes from my childhood with my own kids. My son, however has inherited his father's apprehension about the water. For the past few years, I have been doing everything I could think of to help him get over his fear of water - especially his fear of putting his face in the water and of going under the water. My daughter on the other hand inherited her mother's "fishiness."
Today, both of my children took a giant step - or should I say jump forward in their water skills. My son swam the width of the pool underwater while pinching his nose shut ... basically he kicked his way across. But he didn't panic, and even though it took him several tries - he kept at it until he could do it. Once he accomplished this, I decided to see if he could go a step further - so I told him we could stay longer at the pool if he would jump into the pool. We started in the 3 foot end where he can touch the bottom without a problem. Then we moved up to 4 feet where it was much more likely he would go under. He did it, on the condition that I stand there and help to make sure he came back to the surface. Then we moved to the deepest part of the pool - 5 feet. He was definitely scared ... he had tears running down his cheeks. I told him that he didn't have to jump, but I also assured him that once he did, he would think it was so much fun that he would want to jump in over and over again. Sure enough - that's what happened. Once he made the jump and realized he would come back to the surface - he started jumping whether I was in the area or not ... and he would doggie paddle over to the wall, hop out and jump in again.
Once my daughter saw how much fun he was having, she wanted in on the fun. We went through the same progression, 3 feet, 4 feet, 5 feet. In no time at all - we were all having a blast - and me all I was doing was just standing in the water - laughing. Now the kids can't wait to show my wife, and I can't wait to see her face when they do.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Making The Most Of Your Bible Study - A Commercial
Today we pause The Venture to bring you a word from a potential sponsor.
Before coming to seminary I was introduced to a bible study software package called Logos. After checking out some of the videos on their website (http://www.logos.com/) I was immediately sold on the product and knew I had to have it for seminary and beyond. After saving up my pennies for over 6 months, I purchased the Scholar's Library:Gold edition. I've had the software for a little over a month now, and I'm realizing that I've only just scratched the surface of what this software can do. The user interface is designed to feel like you are working off a website - you can simply type in a passage, word, or topic that you want to study and the software goes to work researching your electronic library of books for information about your entry. I would encourage you to visit their website and take 5 minutes to view the demo ... it would give me a serious case of carpal tunnel to type out all of the information they provide in just seconds!
A few features that I really love are:
Before coming to seminary I was introduced to a bible study software package called Logos. After checking out some of the videos on their website (http://www.logos.com/) I was immediately sold on the product and knew I had to have it for seminary and beyond. After saving up my pennies for over 6 months, I purchased the Scholar's Library:Gold edition. I've had the software for a little over a month now, and I'm realizing that I've only just scratched the surface of what this software can do. The user interface is designed to feel like you are working off a website - you can simply type in a passage, word, or topic that you want to study and the software goes to work researching your electronic library of books for information about your entry. I would encourage you to visit their website and take 5 minutes to view the demo ... it would give me a serious case of carpal tunnel to type out all of the information they provide in just seconds!
A few features that I really love are:
- I can copy and paste information directly from an electronic resource to my word processor, and the software automatically generates a footnote for me! This is the feature that stole the show for me.
- I can pull up my Greek New Testament, and by simply mousing over a word, the software will pull up all of the lexical information about that word in a bubble. It will give me the part of speech, the root word, the lexical form, etc. And just by selecting an option, I can have a separate window bring up the full lexicon entry (including the scope of meanings the word has). So for all of the stuff I have to memorize in my Greek class now - this software will give it to me just by mousing over a word! Simply incredible.
- You can even create your own parallel Bible with the versions you choose. It will highlight the differences for easy comparison.
- You can expand your digital library over time.
So what does this mean for you? The potential for learning here is almost unlimited. By having the ability to access the original Greek and Hebrew, you can make your own personal Bible study as indepth as you want. With all of the resources at your fingertips (including info on Biblical people, commentaries, maps, and illustrations just to name a few) you not only will feel better about your study, but you'll gain confidence in your ability to lead a Bible study and share what you have learned with others.
So what does this mean for me? Well as I already said, this tool will help me not only survive seminary, but it will help me to thrive in my studies ... and as I get older, I need all the help I can get. But also, Logos has teamed up with http://www.seminaryscholarship.com/ to offer folks like me (and possibily you too) a seminary scholarship with an added incentive to promote their website on my blog. Please feel free to check out their site for more information.
The preceding was an unpaid advertisement for Logos Bible software and www.seminaryscholarship.com. We will now resume with our regularly scheduled programming.
Friday, July 3, 2009
An Offer, A Counter and An Acceptance
Wednesday night we received word that an offer was made on our house in PA. We countered the offer, and it was accepted. Today we signed the contract and provided that all of the home inspections come back fine, we'll close the middle of August. This, of course, is a huge answer to prayer as it will allow us to get our finances back in order for the time being ... and we won't have to think about paying rent here and a mortgage there anymore! A big "Thank-you" to everyone for your continued prayers about this.
Some other notes of interest:
Some other notes of interest:
- My bride had her job interview on this past Tuesday - which went well. There are still a few hurdles that have to be crossed, but we're one step closer.
- The kids are enjoying their loft beds ... they really do conserve the floor space.
- The kids and I have also enjoyed going to the pool several days this week. Jayna is swimming the width of the pool by herself, and Thomas is practicing putting his face in the water each day ... I had to resort to a mild bribe to get him to do this, but whatever it takes to get him more comfortable in the water is worth it.
- I didn't do so well on my Greek test (I don't have the official result yet). While I had the time to study - my study techniques weren't up to their usual caliber this time around. I completely missed two full chapters of vocabulary words, and with so many different paradigms to memorize - I faltered on some of those as well. Today we were given an opportunity to complete a bonus assignment (due in a week and a half) - it will help some, but the points are distributed on a sliding scale ... meaning those doing well in the class (which I was until this test) will receive fewer points than those who haven't been doing quite so well. All that to say ... I'm really looking forward to August 7 when Greek 1 and Greek 2 will be completed (and hopefully passed).
- A tip of the hat goes to one of my wife's aunts who made me a very scrumptious rhubarb pie. My son loves it as well ... I couldn't get my daughter to try it.
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