Should I Keep This Blog?

I started this blog in 2005 after my wife and I had our second child, Caleb. You can tell how long it’s been since the picture was updated. I had some grand ideas for this blog.

The problem is, right after I started it, I realized just how unqualified I am to write it.

Most times, I feel like I’m a failure as a husband, a father, a professional, and as a Christian. Hence, I’m not fit to write about “Christian Family Life”.

But then again, who is?

I’ve started and stopped many blogs. My main blog is currently here, although I haven’t updated it in a while. I’ve tried splitting the topics I’m interested in out, and I’ve tried keeping them in one place.

The weird thing is, occasionally, I get an email, or Facebook contact, or something about this blog, which I’ve done very little with. Every now and again, it seems to help somebody.

Whether I’m qualified to write it or not, I have found that sometimes, a small tip from a fellow traveller who has been a little farther down the same road can be more helpful than a travel guide written by an ivory tower “expert”.

So if this blog is useful to you, let me know.

When I entered fatherhood (heck when I got married), I realized just how unprepared I was. Nothing in my life, not my family, friends, education, anything, had prepared me for what I was to face. And I planted my face on the pavement each and every time I tried like a never-ending run of “It Only Hurts When I Laugh” (Caleb’s favorite show).

I believe discipleship is being able to walk with somebody who has been there, while you’re going there. Jesus picked 12 men to walk with Him. They lived with Him, ministered with Him, were corrected by Him, and above all, prepared by Him. I believe discipleship in the church is missing that component. At least, in the churches I’ve been to and the books I’ve read.

So if you get any use from this blog, let me know. I’ll be happy to post my failures (and maybe the success or two I’ve had) here for edification.

Guest Post: Parents, Get This Book

This is the first guest post I’ve gotten as a blogger.

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“MOM, DAD, I’M BORED.”
3 Easy Activities for Moms, Dads & Their Kids to Share During the Holiday Break
Editor’s Note: You have full permission to use this text and images on your Website, blog and/or publication. Any questions, or for high-res images, contact Roy G. Miller, roy@marketingzen.com, or call 903.422.5117.
•••
The kids are restless, Dad’s glued to the torrential downpour of football games on the TV and the kids are BORED. What’s a holiday-exhausted Mom to do? Forget shopping, chores and barking back at bored kids, try something different and have some holiday fun. Try these three Mom-friendly activities. You’ll be glad you did. So will your kids.
Fun Time #1: Take the BORED out of Board-dom. Go to that forgotten stack of board games in the back closet and re-introduce your kids to great classics like Operation, CandyLand, Battleship, Clue , Trouble and more. Get even more basic, play a game of checkers! Show your kids that fun and entertainment don’t have to blip, flash, explode or require double AA batteries.
Fun Time #2: Story Time. Wait until bedtime, slip on the PJs, warm up the hot chocolate and fire up the fireplace. Get the gets comfortable and focused, then re-kindle the magic of yesteryear with Story Time that tells a dramatic, kid-relevant story—a story that shares the real story of Christmas through the eyes of Little Star. This new children’s book from Author Anthony DeStefano tells the story of one little, insignificant Star and how he becomes more than significant by ushering in a newborn King named Jesus.
AN EXTRA BONUS! SEE PAT BOONE read the story at http://tinyurl.com/littlestar, or get your own copy. More at www.anthonydestefano.com.
Fun Time #3: A Hilarious History Lesson. Give your kids the laugh of a lifetime and share a little of your family history too. Blow the dust off those photo albums—and boxes of old photos—and let them see you and Mom when you were kids and teenagers. Yeah, they’ll gasp and gawk and never stop ribbing you about it. It’s a great time to reminisce and roar with laughter. Plus, your kids will now understand why you’re always taking their pictures. You can make fun of them in 20 years!
Happy Holidays!
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Anthony DeStefano

www.anthonydestefano.com

“Have you thought about Heaven lately? Wonder what it’s like? How you can get there? A Travel Guide to Heaven explains it all. And while it may be your final destination, it will be the best trip you ever took. Heaven, it turns out, really is Heaven!”

The Christian Chronicle » features » people » Tank Daniels' church family hoping for Giants win in Super Bowl

The Christian Chronicle » features » people » Tank Daniels' church family hoping for Giants win in Super Bowl

I honestly don't care for sports. I'm pretty much apathetic to sports. I'll make one exception though. A member of my church is going to the Super Bowl. I probably won't pay any more attention to the Super Bowl than I ever have (which is very little), but I will follow the admonition no matter what the outcome:

Rom 12:15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.(NKJV)

I've never really cared who won the Super Bowl, but this year I *might* fell a tug in my heart toward the Giants.

Technorati Tags: Super Bowl,Football,Giants,Church member

Children and TV

This will be a short post. I might put up a longer post the topic of children sleeping in bed. Our children sleep in the bed with us. It's a long story, which I may cover later. This post is nothing more than an anecdote.

I get up at 5 AM during the week, so I typically go to bed early. I take one of our kids with me and my wife comes to bed with the other one later. I usually watch TV until the kid I brought to bed with me falls asleep, then I roll over. Lately I've developed an obsession with the show "House", and I've been watching seasons 1 and 2 in the DVD player at night. One morning, after watching House with me the night before, my two year old, Caleb, woke up and told my wife "We need a crash cart in here."

Heh, heh, heh.

Actually, I have several subjects that I can write about later.

Ransomed Heart Podcast

For anyone interesting, Ransomed Heart has a podcast. Ransomed Heart is the ministry of John Eldridge, author of "Wild At Heart" and several other books. I read both "Wild At Heart" and "The Way of the Wild Heart" last year. You can subscribe to the podcast at http://www.ransomedheart.com/podcast or through the iTunes store directly. Both audio and video are available. I can't provide a review as I just subscribed. I'll write more after I've had a chance to listen.

Its VBS Week Again!

This week is VBS at the Pitman church of Christ. Each year our church puts on a Vacation Bible School for the children along with an adult component featuring, as our minister said yesterday "an exceptionally gifted adult speaker". This year we have John Clayton from Does God Exist? as our speaker. John is a retired high school science teacher and a former atheist and his sessions so far have been captivating.

As a parent, I'm almost choked up with VBS this year. My boys are 54 weeks apart. Last year they both spent VBS in the nursery, but this year Joshua (who will be 3 next week) was able to participate in the children's program. Just before the session started, we sat him in the 2 year old pew and he sat there quietly with his friends. The teens from the church that are handling our VBS escorted the children downstairs. When I took Joshua to bed last night, he could actually sing most of the words to "Jesus Loves Me". He looks forward to going back for tonight's session.

Blog Reorganization

I haven't written on this blog in quite a while. I have several blogs, but I only use my main blog for most posting. I decided that in order to write about more interests, I would start using this blog again. I've had several ideas lately for Bible studies that don't fit very well with the theme of my other blog, so I hoped to use this one more often. If you enjoy my Bible studies I hope you'll stick around. 

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Is a mass forwarded email really a blessing or prayer?

I got the following in an email over the weekend:

Dear Friends and Family,



I was asked by a very special friend as part of her religion class who I thought would DO this. I hope I chose the right twelve. Please send this back to me. (You'll see why.) In case anyone is interested. May everyone who receives this message be blessed. REMEMBER to say a prayer before you read the poem. That's all you have to do. There is nothing attached. Just send this to eleven people.



Prayer is one of the best free gifts we receive. There is no cost but a lot of reward. (Did you pray?) Make sure you pray, and pray believing that God will answer. This is your last opportunity before reading the poem.



May today there be peace within.

May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be. May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith. May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you.... May you be content knowing you are a child of God... Let His presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love. It is there for each and every one of us. Now, send this to 11 people within the next 5 minutes and remember to send this back...I count as 1...you'll see why.

Suggestion: copy and paste rather than forward

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One thing that I actually do appreciate about this email is that it is a cut and paste job rather than a carrot laden italicized forward job. I hate when a bunch of AOL users forward an email, because each forward encapsulates the email in another envelope which must be opened by me. Some of these can have 20 or more envelopes, which takes that much more time to open just to find that I have wasted my time to find the same email that I have been getting for more than a decade.

This email says "I was asked by a very special friend as part of her religion class who I thought would DO this. I hope I chose the right twelve. " I wonder what that is supposed to mean. Oh, I get it! Who else chose 12? OK, I see, unspecified friend taking unspecified "religion" class choosing 12, hopefully I'm among the right 12, etc, except that the person who forwarded this to me didn't start it; this text was only cut and pasted from who knows how many forwards. This email is also very poorly written with several run-on sentences and other statements that don't even count as sentences.

I have to wonder where we as humans get the idea that forwarding an email absolves us of all responsibility for our actions on this earth. It's as if we can say "Oh, look, I'm going to save this country because I forwarded that George Carlin-esq rant about border security!" "Well, I've never actually witnessed for Christ, but I did pass along that Power Point file to all of my friends, family, and coworkers."

No one reads my blog anyway, so I would like to add that this email came from a close friend of mine from my church who really hasn't had much time for me lately. We're both busy with our families, with teaching classes, and with our work on the church expansion project so that we barely have time to exchange "what's up; nothing much" in passing. But does including my email address among 11 others count as buddy time?

I am a great fan of the internet and email. My wife thinks that I need psychiatric help. When we travel, I like to have an internet connection. She considers it nice to get away from the internet, I don't consider myself to be running from it. However, I don't believe that the internet can replace personal, community, and civic responsibility. Don't send me a "blessing" in an email, or a "prayer", insist that I spam my entire address list or I don't love Jesus, and expect that to count as friendship. It doesn't. I consider it annoying, especially when these emails are sent to my work address and I have to waste valuable time deleting them when I could be working (or slacking off, but I consider deleting these silly emails work, and I get enough junk on the company all hands list).

If you want to save the country, forward those rants to your Congressman. If you want to inspire people, then spend some one on one time with them. Don't forward them somebody else's words with an admonition to spam everybody that they know with the email. You couldn't raise your children by forwarding them silly emails, and you can't maintain a friendship by it either.

Let's keep email where it belongs and use one on one contact where we can. Please, our sanity depends on it.

Patrick Mead Series On Parenting

Patrick Mead has two doctorates and serves as a pastor of the Rochestor Church of Christ in Rochestor Hills, Michigan. He was invited to do our church's vacation Bible school in 2004, and his lesson series was a tremendous hit. We invited him back again this year.

He has a blog like many of us, and is currently doing a series on parenting. I find this series to be more impressive than the spiritual warfare series that he did for VBS, and that blew me away.

His blog is Tentpegs.