Hit by a squirrel

It was a beautiful foggy day this morning for my run. And with spring in the air the animals are out in force. On my run I pass a house with two little yapper dogs, who like to charge the fence when I come by. As I come by the house this morning I hear the dogs start to yap, and notice that about 10 feet up there is a brown lump near the fence. One step later the lump wiggles and I realize it is the hind end of a squirrel sticking out of a drain pipe where he is trying to grab one of last years nuts or something. One step more and the squirrel hears dogs and feet coming his direction and begins to back out of the pipe. My mind starts to put up warning signs about stepping on and getting bit by a rabid pipe-dwelling squirrel, in the split second before my foot lands 24 inches from the wriggling behind. My foot hits the ground. Out of the last shred of peripheral vision I see the side of the squirrel as he finally has his head out of the pipe and is adrenalin charged to make a break for the tree he knows is three feet from him directly across the side-walk. I lose sight of the squirrel as I pivot my squirrel-side leg to catch my weight in the next stride and all of a sudden I feel the full weight of turbocharged squirrel. Slam into my leg as it comes across. The impact happens just as my leg is next to the other so my foot bounces off my other leg and clumsily lands without tripping me, and the very confused squirrel staggers to the tree to make a getaway.

Little Guy

Both big brothers are sleeping, but here we are

Hispanic church

Just got back from Cedarville U and a brief time with Sammy Rodriguez. While I suspect that for many people broadly evangelical is a term way too loose for comfort, I think that the biggest challenge for me is to remember to do "both". We need theological depth and integrity, and we need to remember the poor the stranger and the out-cast. To do only one is to do neither.

Snow!

Snow day today!

Margin for snuggles

I have gotten partway through the book 'Margin' and I find it an interesting and helpful view on our ever busy and stressed society. We have bought the lie that more, bigger, faster and mobile and more frequent is better.

The reality is that I need the warning. I am writing this post while "snuggling" with one of my boys. But snuggling isn't the same with attention split two ways. So I think I will shut down and go back to snuggling. I do have some room in my schedule today.

Babies, Bathwater, and Bands

One of the ironies of the Christian experience is our tendency to create new rules, while ignoring God's basic instructions.

One example of this is the misdirected litmus tests of style, and taste. We tend to discount churches and believers on the basis of difference in music style, type of clothing or version of the Bible. These are not small things, but they are not the core.
The trick as my Dad has said many times is to keep the main thing the main thing. While, your stance on abortion is important, and the authority issues that surround speaking in tongues are not little things. The reality of sin, the deity of Christ, penal substitutionary atonement and the combination of repentance and faith are key issues.
We need to have mature conversations about dress codes, decibels from the band and social issues. But don't let's throw out the essentials of the faith with the proverbial Bathwater, even while we engage in mature conversations about the band.

Snuggle please

I am right now trying to type this out on my phone while my son awkwardly holds down my arm. Why? because it is Saturday nap time and he loves nothing more than snuggling with his Daddy.

Parenting is always a good teacher. Working closely with children in general is a good teacher, so long as we are paying attention.

And right now I am reminded of the simple truth that we are Children of God by adoption in Christ, that we can beg and plead with God on the simple terms of a child.
And I consider that a reminder that my heart still needs to be refreshed and cleansed. Too much time in the world, and little cares, little burdens, and big problems and crushing loads will crowd a childlike dependence out of my heart.
Not that I become a pagan over night. But that child like faith can afford few distractions.

I would rather be with my daddy than anything this world affords today. That is the cry of the two year old heart, the three year old mind and the simple child of God.