Leading Up

The kids have been out from school for a week already, and Christmas was just yesterday. Cameron approached me at the beginning of the week with a plan that he had devised to take the Christmas story and divide it into the 5 remaining days we had before Christmas. Each day, we'd read a different section of the story that he had mapped out, and talk about it (He only needed my help in coming up with good questions to ask...).

So, he presents this plan to Angie and me and asks "if it's ok." Well, obviously, it was more than fine, so that's what we did. Every morning at breakfast, he'd get out his Bible and lead us through our study together. These were priceless moments, as I sat and listened to him read and watched him take his first steps of becoming a discipler. Beautiful that it was not something forced or concocted - it just came from his heart.

I love being led by my 11-yr old. Wouldn't have it any other way. If you're reading this, and you're a teenager (or young adult, or any other age for that matter), if God inspires you with some task, do it. No excuses, no laziness, no procrastination. Just step up and make it happen. You may never know what kind of impact you may have on your family, friends, a stranger, or even your parents.

As Oswald Chambers wrote long ago: "Proof that you are crucified with Christ is the amazing ease with which the life of God in you enables you to obey the voice of Jesus." May we always obey His voice without question.

Kid stuff

This last little bit has been full of a bunch of things that you normally associate with kids:

1) Non-stop questions:  I drag out of bed the other morning, and Carson is already dressed and waiting at the bar in the kitchen.  The first words out of his mouth are: "Hey dad, what's the temperature in the trash can?"
REALLY?  First thing in the morning?
I responded, "Bud, probably about the same temperature as in the room." - How else do you answer that?

actual size of nose goblin

2) Things up the nose: For the last couple of weeks, Avery has been waking us (mostly Angie) up in the middle of the night saying she has a stuffy nose and needs some nose drops.
Well, Monday night, Angie has her on the floor doing the drops and suction-nose thing, and notices SOMETHING up there.  We have no idea what it is, so we load up and head to the Pediatric ER, where we wait for two hours, see the doc, and watch him pull a nasty, slimy, stinky, piece of impacted tissue out of her nose!  I about chucked right there on the spot.  $75 please.



3) LICE:  Yep, sure 'nuff.  The NEXT day following the nose ordeal, we come home and get word that we will need to treat our entire family for lice.  Beautiful.  And, in addition, we have to wash every linen in our house as well.  Even beautiful-er.  $37.56 at Walgreens.
Figured the best way to handle it was to have some fun with it, so here is a pic of our Family Lice Removal Fun Night:

"I scream, you scream, we all scream for LICE CREAM!"

That's it for now.  I'm sure I'll step on a lego or something before the day is over.  I'll keep you posted.

Like and Love

I listen to ESPN radio alot while I'm driving around our great metropolis. One of my faves (and at times, most hated) host is Colin Cowherd. He is arrogant and brash and says things that I wish I could get away with saying sometimes.. But, most of the time I agree with him in principle.

The other day, he was talking about how people are so in love with their team, or their player, or the sport in general. They become so in love with those things that they sacrifice ANYTHING and sometimes EVERYTHING to watch or cheer. I will quote him when he said,

"LIKE your team

LIKE your player

LIKE your sport

LOVE your wife

LOVE your kids.

LIKE everything else."

This doesn't sound as profound as I now type it, but for a moment, it made me stop and think: what do I like that I say I love, and what do I really love?

I LIKE: Oklahoma football

LOST

our house and cars

our cats

worship

facebook

podcasts

my macbook

books

my iTouch and playing Words with Friends on it

sleeping in (never happens) - ok- not getting right out of bed anyway

watching TV and movies with Ang

I LOVE: God (includes all three in one) and His Word

My wife

My kids

My extended family

The friends and mentors God has placed around me in my life

That's all I can think of right now - I may need to add to the list later. But, most importantly, I am stating that I will treat those things I like with the priority they deserve, and will commit to really love those things I love.

Thanks Colin.

A convo between Carson and his Grandaddy

GD: Carson, how did you sleep last night?

C: Great.

GD: So, you didn't hear all that ruckus outside? (It was New Year's Eve)

C: No, I think your ears close when you go to sleep.

GD: Well how come I heard it?

C: You're alot older, so your ears don't close as much.

GD: Are you saying I'm old?

C: Well, you have gray hair. How old are you?

GD: 58

C: You don't look 58.

GD: Thanks Carson. How old do you think I look?

C: 60.

Happy Twenty Ten!

There is a family in our church that is going through it. Their son is 6 (like mine) and they have discovered an "inoperable" brain tumor. They are out of state in treatment right now, trying to do everything they can for their son.
This hits really close to home because my boys know Jackson really well. When they stay for a second service on Sundays, they go to a place called The Camp, and they have been talking and trading Bakugan now for a year with Jackson. So, the news of his struggle has hit them hard. We've been following their family blog and praying for them every night and many times throughout the day.
The other night, on their blog, his mom wrote from a place of real despair. She was so honest about her doubt and questions; it was a very real look into what she was experiencing. It made me remember Paul's experience. A little different than Jackson's mom's, but the truth is the same:
1 Cor 12:7 "To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."
The point in this passage that I have missed many times before, is not just the platitude that "God will be with you and be your strength." It goes beyond that. Paul says that he intentionally admits and makes himself weak, so that he might receive the power of Christ. Does this mean that we don't operate fully in the power of God until we recognize that we are "65 lb. 7th grader" total weaklings?
Truly, it's a paradox. When I am weak, then I am strong. Because when I freely admit my ineptitude, then, and only then, can the power of God freely exist in my life. And by the way, His purpose is not to make me look strong, but to reveal His strength through me, thereby bringing glory to Himself.
I was listening to John Piper last night on the way home from work, and he summed it up: "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him."

1,051 Friends

I have 1,051 friends.  No, I didn't sit down and write down all the people I've hung out with over the years.  It's just my tally on Facebook.  (In fact, a certain friend of mine, who will remain anonymous, but whose name rhymes with Yenni Yutchins called me out the other day and accused me of being some sort of Facebook Creeper Stalker guy who pads his "friends list" just to look like a big shot.)  Thus, the blog entry.

1,051.  Sounds like a lot, but it's not that hard to get there when you've lived in 4 different states and served in 5 different churches over the years.  You tend to accumulate a lot of "friends," especially when everyone and their grandmother is on Facebook these days (literally).  It may seem like I might feel like I have all of the friends I could ever have, that my relationship tank continues to stay at the overflow mark.  With all those friends, how could it not?

But here's the deal.  There is an innate need in all of us for relationship and community.  And this need can not be met through social networking.  As much as I enjoy connecting with current and former students and old friends, nothing compares to sitting down face to face over a cup of coffee or a great sandwich and sharing life together.

Angie and I are on the tail end of the '09 Parkhurst Family Truckster Vacation Tour of Mid-America.  We've spent two weeks reconnecting with so many old friends and our awesome Oklahoma family.  It's reminded me of how blessed we are to have the relationships that we do in Ok, Tx, and La, and am encouraged to continue doing everything we can to invest our lives into the Georgia friendships we've been given.  

(Guess I better get back to trolling the deep waters of Facebook, so I can trick some more people into being my friend, Zenni Zutchins.) 

He's a Character

Every morning at 6:55AM, the bus comes. To pick up my 9 and 6-yr olds. Yeah - at 6:55. Anyway, every morning, we join up and pray before the boys hit the bus, and this year I have found myself praying for the boys to be safe, be good, not cause trouble, etc. But I've also been praying that God would make them (and us) more like Jesus every day. Just been on my mind alot and has come out in my prayers for them.
Cameron just finished 4th grade. That's enough right there to make you stop and take a deep breath. I am one year away from having a middle schooler in my family. That means I have one final year to pretend like I'm a "Parenting Teens" expert!
Angie and I went to his end-of-year awards ceremony for his class. His teacher gave out a lot of awards - Presidential Fitness (remember those? Never got one.), academic awards, etc. Cameron got a couple of those - he's a pretty bright kid. I was proud of him!
Then Mrs. Bentley came to the point where she was going to present the "most important" awards to one girl and one boy who showed exemplary character during the year. These awards were nominated and voted upon by the class. The class had talked at length about what good character is, and then had a chance to nominate one of their own for that award. She read some excerpts from some of the nomination forms, and they mentioned that the boy was "generous and kind", "never got angry", "always did his work", "treated people right", etc. Then she called Cameron's name.
Talk about being proud and humbled all at the same time. It's been a tough year for him - not feeling like he's fit in all the time, trying to find friends, etc. So this was a big deal - a confirmation that he is well-liked and well-respected.
But it was more than that. As I sat there, I realized that God had been answering my prayer all along. He WAS making him more like Jesus - generous, kind, slow to anger, diligent, caring, etc. Pretty cool that his classmates picked up on that and gave him the award.
The kid's obviously not perfect, but he's a great kid with a great mind and a huge heart for God. He mentioned to me later that out of all the awards he'd received, the character one was the one he was most proud of. "Why?" I asked. To which he replied, "Because it's laminated."
Can't win 'em all.