Bovine Theology

I’m not sure that this is a real return to the blogging world. It’s more or less an attempt at an attempt. I’m pretty confident of my failure. But I’ve thought of writing at least fifty different times and have just never taken the time from work (that usually pays bills) to stop and do so. So here’s to not paying bills!

There are several things I’ve been thinking about lately: relationships, sin, transgenerational stuff (it’s not a bad thing, sicko!), and of course, technology…in no particular order.

Relationships – everything seems to hinge on them. When life is good, it’s because relationships are good. When relationships are good, life is. Even when bad things in life creep in the front door…or even mow down the stinkin’ door and barrage the whole house, we can still enjoy the morsels of sweetness that our found in good relationships. It’s often during such times that the best of relationship are revealed. And God seems to leave a lot of evidence in His working through relationships. I’m reading through Exodus, and continually wonder why God sent Moses to Pharaoh instead of just the plagues. Wouldn’t Pharaoh have gotten the message just as clearly? Even more so, I think of how God honed Moses through his having to confront Pharaoh over and over. Instead of telling Mo, “I’m going to send a bunch of plagues, and keep hardening the guys heart. You just wait right here and when he finally relents, I’ll let you know so can lead my folks northward.” Then there’s the whole wilderness thing. Lots of relationship issues there, and I’m not even thinking of the ones that recorded. I can only imagine my kids, “I got the manna yesterday. Today it’s your turn.” Anyway, my thoughts lately are how when relationships go south (and I’m not talking about the Israelites now). When relationships fail because of our sin, it’s the depth of those relationships that bring the severity of hurt. When I sin, it’s those who I am closest too who I hurt the most. May we be mindful, moment by moment, of how our sin affects our relationships.

And that’s a nice segue to sin, isn’t it? This past week during our staff meeting at work, our boss reminded us from Psalm 137 of how we shouldn’t be surprised by sin. It’s true of others when they sin against others, and it’s true of our own sin. After all, we sin because we’re sinners. I regularly think of a book I read some years back, Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin. In this book, the author shows how shalom is the way things ought to be, and sin is really everything that is contrary to shalom. Sin robs us of peace, contentment, and fulfillment. If nothing else, this increases my longing for the day that our salvation is complete and sin will be no more.

Another thing on my mind lately is the issues surrounding our generations. I’m coming to the place in my life where I’m realizing more and more how much living it takes to get real clarity. That is, our perspective when we are young is shrouded by our naivety. Yet, naivety is something that protects us from things like callousness and often bitterness. The compelling thing that stands out to me in light of these things is how we need input from old and young. In our early years we need to listen to the wisdom of those beyond us, and as we grow we need to listen to the optimism and ideas of those younger than us. Wisdom is found somewhere in the middle, often times. The practical advice of those older than us, applied to the reality of the changing world around us which is often best revealed by those younger, can bring us to the place of true understanding. This is especially true in the development of leadership. I wrote some of my ideas in an article about this recently.

I’ll wrap saying that I’ve had some real fun this past week bridging the generational gap with Leslie’s grandfather, Poppie. He was one of the first people I know who got an iPhone, and he and I have always enjoyed discussing, and being amazed by, this little piece of technology. I have to fight the lust factor with this device. This past week, his new iMac arrived, which he had me order for him. The past two evenings we have spent time together getting it up and running and doing some training and discovering together. I just made the PC to Mac switch in January, so I am still learning. It’s been a lot of fun, and I have to resist becoming a Mac-snob. These machines really are breathtaking, both to look at and to use. And I’ve also enjoyed the Wii with McGrooter this past week. We rented a baseball game to play while he was quarantined with the chicken pox (and strep throat). Actually, all three kids had both at the same time. What’s astounding to me about these machines is the interactivity between user and platform, as well as between the users. While he was quarantined, he mastered the basic skills of this game so that when we played, he pretty much stomped me in the ground. That brought a whole new challenge to our relationship! How do I celebrate his knack and persistence, while maintaining my dignity? I have no idea. But it’s been fun, and I will add that I have apologized at least once. Speaking of McGrooter, I’m really proud of his progress on the real baseball field. At the beginning of the season he experienced more than a few strikeouts. His last 5-6 games, he hit the ball at every at-bat! And on another non-techno note, he is really getting into our reading of The Chronicles of Narnia…almost as much as me!

We had a good time with Leslie’s family. Uncle Gary brought his new toy (a Wii with the Fit and Rock Band 2 with all the attachments). Before our time was done, almost everyone was into it. McGrooter was especially “funky” and even Leslie got hooked pretty quickly. Enjoy!

Here is a link to view all the photos from Friday (use your arrow keys to go to the next photo). It was a lot of fun to look through them today, and strangely emotional. Bobbi Jo really captured some good images of the kids’ personalities (each with one…respectively…most of the time). There were so many favorites for me that I lost count. Of course, I am biased as a father. So it’s not like I expect any readers to look through, let alone enjoy, 180 photos! But they’re there, for what it’s worth.

 Yesterday, a friend of mine from work, Bobbi Jo, held a little photo session with the kiddos. She offered to do it over a year ago. We were going to conspire to do it to cheer Leslie up during treatment. But I could never make it work from my end. So yesterday afternoon it finally happened. I am so glad we did this, even though a picture session isn’t the most enjoyable time. Bobbi Jo made it so much fun for the kids. The time flew by, and it was especially fun to see all their personalities. I had to run and get McGrooter a white shirt and by the time I got back, she told me she had at least 100 pics of Aggie. No problem for Miss Model. Trust me, we didn’t teach her those poses! The Munch was her silly self, but Bobbi Jo managed to capture some of her with a real smile! I don’t think we’ve ever done that. So check out the few pics that are a preview at www.bobbijobrooks.blogspot.com. And I am unashamed in making this plug…if you want someone who is stinkin’ talented to take some pics for you (and she’s especially great with the kids), visit www.bobbijobrooksphotography.com.

Aggie is getting to the age that she likes to carry around a notebook with her to write and draw in. She likes to show us her work, whether it is her art, or her words. She copied “Relay for Life” from Munchkin’s t-shirt tonight and was especially proud of that. But the other night, as we were driving home, Leslie and I overheard her telling Munch that that her diary was also the same word as when you have to go to the bathroom really bad. After laughing quite a bit, Leslie explained that her diary was not her diarrhea.

Yesterday, the girls got haircuts. And if you ask me, I think they’re about as cute as they can be.

McGrooter had to get in on the action, but was, of course, silly!

Nearly another month has flown by since my last post. As with most everyone I know, we’re busy. What’s new?! But we are doing well, despite the continued adjustment back to the school routine. The kids each seem to be enjoying their new classes and teachers. Leslie is still regaining strength and starts physical therapy next week.

My schedule has kept me busy. My latest project has been Leslie’s school website. It started out as me volunteering to update and maintain the current website, but then no one had access to the past designer’s material. So I “got” to re-design the site from the ground up. It is mostly finished now with just some final content to be added as I recieve it. The website is here.

I’ve also been on the road a good bit, with a trip to Michigan last week. I flew in and out of Detroit, but had the opportunity to criss-cross the state a few times, traveling to Grand Rapids, Holland, up through Midland and Bad Axe, and finishing in Traverse City. It was an absoulely beautiful time of the year to be there, and I was blessed with getting a nice rental car with a big sunroof! My meetings went well and even got to visit with a pastor who (after about an hour of conversation) I realized I knew from about 20 years ago! After one of my meetings, a couple on the missions committee took me out on Lake Michigan on their boat. We spent about an hour and a half on the lake and it was gorgeous. I’m trying to get in some visits to my northern states before it gets too cold, at which time I’ll refocus on my southern (and warmer) states! I took a bunch of pictures with my camera phone which I’ve placed on FaceBook here (hopefully the link will work).

We’re getting more involved in our church in Gainesville. I’ve begun teaching the college and young adults sunday school class and we’re starting a small group in nearby Dawsonville in the coming weeks with another couple. We have also started Financial Peace University which will hopefully help keep us focused and motivated on the task of getting out of debt. Every time we watch Dave Ramsey, a ritual which Leslie keeps us disciplined doing regularly, I am reminded how counter-cultural this idea is. Yet it is also continually humbling as I am reminded of my past mistakes. So, for any young people who might read this, take it from me…avoid debt like a plague!

Tomorrow we are planning on going to the funeral of a friend from years ago, JoAnn Calderwood. She and her husband were friends of ours when we first got married. She died, unexpectedly, of a heart attack last week. She called Leslie the night before she died and they talked for about half an hour. It has been a shock to us both, but was especially to Leslie after their talk. Please pray for her husband, Gene.

Next week, I will going through a Bible study/workshop, called Living in Grace at work. It is a course that all of our new missionaries go through and is similar to Sonship. I’ve been trying to do it several times since I started at MTW, but things always seemed to come up. Leslie and I were supposed to do it together last spring, but I fell and fractured my back the week before. I’m disappointed that she and I can’t do it together, but I am excited about this opportunity for me to be challenged.

On a lighter note, I’m happy to say that my “new” little Civic is doing great on gas mileage. I keep track of my MPG with every fill-up, thanks to my dad’s training, and my lowest measurement so far has been 31 MPG for a tank. It’s never been so fun to save on gas!

I meant to write something about each of the kids but it is late, so I will just say one thing about Aggie. She is growing up to be quite the young lady and really enjoys helping. Sometimes too much for her mother and I! But we’re learning to be patient and foster this desire in her. She gets her stool (the one my dad built for me when I was 2) and brings it in the kitchen to help with meals, packing lunches, and anything else we’ll let her do. During one of our meals this week, she was describing something from her day to me. In the midst of her dialogue she used the expression, “and you know, that freaks me out!” Leslie and I both had a good laugh. She loves “helping” the Munch do a variety of things, sometimes with Muchkin’s protest. But since we don’t know how long this might last, we are learning to cherish it and are trying to point her to Christ in and through it.

Okay, so we didn’t sell the yard, but we did manage to sell a bunch of our stuff. The yard sale was Friday and today, and it was more successful than I imagined. I wasn’t sure it was worth doing both days, but afterward I am glad that we did. Friday was actually a better day for us than today. Our neighbor up the street also had a yard sale today, and I think we lost some of the traffic to them. Plus it was just plain HOT today, so I’m not sure as many people got out. I loaded up the leftovers and took them to the Potter’s House. The garage is amazingly empty!

The kids also played a part in the sale by setting up a water and Gatorade stand. They worked hard, and we worked hard on them to use their manners, look at people when they were talking to them, etc…The older two were more diligent and were able to earn more than the Munchkin, who preferred to go inside when she got hot.

Afterward today, I grilled some chicken and we had dinner and played before putting the kids down. They were real troopers to endure the past few days with both Leslie and I so preoccupied with the garage sale. We’re working with them to help them manage their money that they made with an envelope system for savings, giving, and spending.

As the school year begins, I will also start teaching a Sunday School class at church for the young adults and college students. I’m looking forward to it, even though it has been a long time since I have taught regularly. Leslie and I have always enjoyed working with college students and I think this will be a great opportunity for us to connect with and share with these young people. I guess I am a little nervous about teaching since it has been so long, but I hope it will be like riding a bike. It will be a good challenge for me to get back into the habit of studying regularly after being so focused on caring for my family and my work.

One other prayer request that I’d like to share is for my mom. She has a condition where her esophagus has shrunk over the years, to the point now that she can barely swallow much. After visiting a few different specialists, she is now with one who has been stretching her esophagus. It’s a real challenge as each time she must be put to sleep, and afteward the pain is pretty bad. But she called today and sounded really good and seems to be doing better after the last stretching. Please pray for her healing and for the doctor’s wisdom to treat her.

Leslie has been working hard for the past few weeks getting ready for our yard sale tomorrow and Saturday. Tonight we were scrambling to get all the last minute things setup and signs posted. It’s going to be hot the next two days, but we’re hoping for a good turnout. The kids have contributed a few items of their choice and are planning on having a water and gatorade booth to make a little extra themselves. This is all a part of our Dave Ramsey liquidation. We’ve had a joke around our home that Dave has moved in with us for the past few months. We’re working hard to cut spending and find ways to contribute all we can to our debt.

I would like to ask for prayer for a friend of mine at work, Mark. He and his wife were missionaries in Honduras until he was diagnosed with a brain tumor several years back. They had to move back to the states for his surgery and subsequent healing process. Although his health improved, they were unable to return to the field. A few months back, Mark began experiencing debilitating headaches and the same symptoms of the previous tumor. It seemed like he might have another one. However, a recent MRI indicated no tumor. Although we are all thankful, it is somewhat frustrating not knowing exactly what is causing these continuing headaches. The doctors told him it was stress. Although this is quite possible, I’m sure he still has doubts. Plus, how do you remove stress from your life?? So please pray for him and his family as they all suffer together through this. Mark has a great attitude, but I know he is really hurting.

Another friend of ours, Carol, is also experiencing some debilitating health issues. She and her husband, Bill, were some of our dearest friends in Birmingham. Pray for Carol and the doctors as they look for a solution, and for Carol’s endurance through her suffering.

Leslie and the kids are preparing to return to school next week. It’s hard to think the summer is over. But we’ve had a good one and have much to be thankful for. This year will have its own unique challenges for us as my travel schedule with work is still demanding. I really enjoy getting out and meeting with churches to discuss their missions ministries, but it is difficult being away from my family, and it is especially difficult on them.

Unbelievable? Maybe. After nearly a month of silence, I finally bring up my blog to write something. I don’t have time to say much other than we’re doing well. I will write more soon. The summer has flown by. Next week Leslie goes back and then the kids start on Thursday. It’s hard to believe. Leslie is feeling better, but still not 100%. To me it seems like 100% though. She looks great. She even went with her dad to Stone Mountain on Monday and did a high ropes course there. But again, more to come later…if anyone even reads this anymore!

Today we celebrated Leslie’s one year anniversary of being a cancer survivor. Yesterday, the 28th, was the actual day. Mike & Becky took us to lunch along with Wil & Kristin, and Kyla. We had a wonderful time celebrating God’s goodness to us over the past year.