Thanks for the milk Dada!

One recent morning before leaving for work, I ran out to the local 7 Eleven to buy some milk for our 1-year old son, Drew.  Later that morning my wife sent me a text featuring a picture of Drew on the counter and included the caption “Thanks for the milk Dada”.

The picture warmed my heart but it also made me a very proud daddy.  I felt a sense of pride as a father who was providing for his son.  Earlier in the day, I didn’t think as much of it but when the picture came in, it changed my perspective.  I realized that by choosing to go to the store, it directly resulted in me providing for my son.

This also made me think of our Heavenly Father.  Luke 12:32 says, “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” He too is proud to provide for us our needs.  He does the best job of taking care of us. Better than we can take care of ourselves. He gives us more than just “milk”.  In fact, he made the ultimate sacrifice of giving his only Son Jesus to die, that we may have eternal life.

This Thanksgiving in 2011, I am thankful for Jesus and the price He paid on the cross so that I can have eternal life.  I am thankful that I am Saved and that Jesus made a real change in my heart. I am thankful for my beautiful wife Katrina. I am thankful for our sweet boy Drew.  I am thankful for the privilege I have of taking care of my family.  I am thankful for such a great group of family and friends.  I am thankful that God takes care of us all.

Heavenly Father, thank you for everything!

Update: Love the Calla Lily

Recently I planted the famous calla lily mentioned in one of my earlier posts.  It is so amazing to watch it grow!  It is doing really well.  Amazing to think that it was once on it’s last leg and now is looking so healthy!  We are still however waiting for the moment when we have an actual flower!  Hopefully soon.

I can’t help but consider how this is similar to marriage.  If you water it, feed it, take care of it, guard it – it will stay healthy and grow.

I’m still just a young pup when it comes to marriage, being just over 3 years in.  However, I am learning that you cannot just sit idle and hope it grows healthy.

Proper care and maintenance is required.

With God’s help, I want to always try to fill my wife’s love tank.

Water the calla lily!!

 

 

 

Patience

Patience. 

Wait for it…

Wait for it…

“The capacity, habit, or fact of being patient” explains webster.com.  

It’s not fun to wait, especially when you really want something.  I noticed recently that in the parable Jesus gave about the Sower and the Seed, the word patience is present:   “But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.” (Luke 8:15).   When we think of patience, most of us probably think about it in a negative way, as in “I have to wait for something that I really want.”  That is definitely true, however, patience also means not giving up.  It means hanging on to God’s promises.  It means believing without seeing.  It means having faith that He will answer your prayer.  It means having a determination to trust and to expect God to answer.  That doesn’t necessarily mean that we will get our answer right away – but it means we are not accepting defeat and we believe that someday – in His perfect timing – He will answer!

God knows all about it.  Sometimes things come our way and we are left wondering “why?”.  Sometimes we have burdens that weigh us down and we see no answer in sight.  I recently have had something come my way that left me very burdened.  Yet by God’s grace, He dropped faith in my heart to determine to believe and expect that He will bring the answer.  As far as I know the answer has not come and the situation is not resolved - but with patience, I am expecting Him to answer!  I am not giving up.  I am not accepting defeat.  Another verse says, ”Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.” (Romans 15:13).   I am patiently abounding in HOPE.   

What answer are you waiting on?  Healing? a Job? Praying for an unsaved loved one? Unspoken? 

Patiently wait on the Lord and determine to believe He will answer – because He will!

May this song by Legacy Five bless your heart.

2,000 Mile Adventure with my Fam

Last week’s vacation to California was quite the week.  All the way from Seattle we drove about 2,000 miles round trip and went as far south as Visalia.    First of all, thank the Good Lord for His protection over us.  We were also VERY thankful for clear roads over the many mountain passes we crossed.  Siskiyous, Sexton, Black Butte to name a few. I also want to officially nominate our Drew boy for Baby of the Year, who just turned 4 months by the way, on a superb job on this drive.  He was amazing, sleeping through most of the miles.  What a good sport he was!  Truly proud parents we were and always will be.

What a blessing it was to be able to see family and friends again!  One of the highlights of the trip was watching Drew meet for the first time his grandparents and many other family members and friends in CA who he had not met yet.   It was also quite amazing to be in the house I grew up in and realize I was now there as a married man, as a father.  Wowsers.  The Lord has been good to us! 

We also had an opporunity to stay with our good friends Florin and Stacy.   I’ve given permission to Drew to call them Uncle and Auntie.   Once again, it was crazy to stay with my family in the room I once called home as a bachelor.  Sumatra Alumni!  Ya!    Part of me feels like this blog should be called “Going Home” or that it’s turning into a sappy Hallmark movie – not that I’ve ever seen one – I’ve just heard.  Jk.

I would also like to nominate my wife Katrina for Wife of the Year once again.   Thanks for the great conversation and fun on the trip!  You are truly amazing and I love you!  Thank you for everything you do.

Honorable mention to my favorite sister-in-law-named-Angela for securing my laptop after I left it in an unlocked car after leaving for vacation.

Also honorable mention to my neighbors for ensuring our trash and recycle bins were appropriately moved to the street and back. And also for retrieving our mail.

Upon returning home, there is one nomination I am not willing to make.  I would NOT like to give any honorable mention to the crows who took advantage of my carelessness and poked through the bag of David sun flower seeds I left in the drive way by accident - I will give it to you guys though – pretty clever that you can actually crack open the seeds and leave me the shells all over our driveway.

It’s great to be home from our long trip, but it was a trip filled with great memories.  Thanks everyone.

Merry Christmas from Rome

On this Christmas day in 2010, I find it very ironic that the Bing homepage features an image of a Christmas Tree infront of the Roman Colosseum-The place where many Christians paid the ultimate price for their faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  I’m so thankful for Jesus, the real reason for Christmas and the hope that He bought to us through His life, death and Resurrection! 

I’m also thankful for the many who have stood for the Faith over the centuries so that it could reach us in 2010.

Merry Christmas to you all!

Love the Calla Lily

“If you want to keep a sweet wife, keep some sugar in the kitchen.”  That piece of advice, along with others, was recorded on my brother’s wedding video.

Now that I’ve been married for almost 3 years, I think it’s safe to also dish out some free advice to anyone who’s listening.  Men, if you want to keep a sweet wife, love the calla lily!  Or, don’t give up on the calla lily.   That was the lesson I learned recently.  

After being married for just a couple of months, I gave my wife a calla lily plant.  She loves calla lilies.  It’s the main flower we had our wedding.  Surely by giving her this plant, I must’ve scored some points with her.  Now, while I must admit, I ended up being the one who took care of this calla lily most of the time, it was still something she treasured. 

Over the next couple of years, due to my inconsistent watering habits I’m sure, part of the plant would dry out and I would have to take appropriate maintenance measures.  Add to this weekend getaways and the plant would once again go without watering.  It was very interesting to watch the plant go from being very healthy to not so healthy to healthy again, depending on the level of care given.     I guess that in itself could also be a lesson both in spiritual and relational matters.  If you “water”, it will grow. 

Although the plant survived a prior move, the most recent move as we became first-time homeowners almost sealed its fate.  The plant quickly found itself in the garage with other boxes and items left to be dealt with another time.  Honestly, I gave up on the calla lily.  I didn’t want to water it anymore.  I guess I didn’t realize that such a casual decision would result in quite the opposite reaction from my lovely wife.   When she saw the plant on life support there in our garage after not reciving water for quite some time, and hearing me say I gave up on it, she was obviously saddened.  Again, while I was the one who normally took care of the plant, to her it was still a special gift that had a special place in her heart still-even if this fact didn’t produce more trips to the sink for water.

After seeing her reaction to the situation, I realized I had to do something.  Afterall, this is the love of my life and I want to love what she loves.  While I didn’t call on Cisco (those in the Seattle area may know who that is), I did call on the Creator of this plant.  Yes, I actually prayed to God that this plant would not die.  I did that because I realized how important it was to my wife and thus it became important to me. I have since brought the plant back in the house and began watering it.  The future seems bright.  There is green on the plant still and that has to be a good sign! 

Oh what a lesson was learned on that day.  Love what your spouse loves.  Or at least appreciate it.  You don’t have to become a robot and not have your own preferences, but I guess what I’m really saying goes back to speaking your spouse’s love language.  (The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman.)  If you want her to feel loved, love her in the way that makes her feel loved, speak through her love language whether that be the language of words of affirmation, quality time, gifts, acts of service, or physical touch.  Loving what she loves, value what she values, and sometimes just simply love the calla lily!

Teachers

“Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.”  – Isaiah 48:17

The school year is underway in Washington for many.  For those who have not started yet, I’m sure your time will come shortly.   Today, we salute teachers.   Of course I especially tip my hat (SF Giants cap baby!) off to a certain teacher from the Bellevue School District because I also get to call her my wife, my soul-mate, my best friend. 

It is possible that many in the private sector, and I’m sure at one point I may have been guilty of this, don’t really realize how difficult of a job teaching is.   Last year was my wife’s first year of teaching and let me tell you, she, as one of her co-workers put it, got “4 years experience in one 1 year”.    It was a hard year-let’s not beat around the bush.  (Plus, it’s time we stopped beating around the Bush because he’s been out of office for almost 2 years…it might be time to start taking responsibility-but that’s a whole different blog.)  Most of us show up to work and have to deal with our own work load – make sure we get “our” stuff done.  Some may have employees working for them and so that of course adds to the responsibility of doing your job, and ensuring those working for you, are doing the same.

Teachers however are constantly dealing with all types of personalities and learning styles and abilities.  The pressures that come with the job I’m sure are great.  So I appreciate the profession.  Teachers also have a privilege of shaping and molding our children into fine responsible adults.  

Today’s verse of the day on www.biblegateway.com talks about a different teacher however-Almighty God.   I’m thankful for the best Teacher.  He certainly does teach us to “profit” and shows us the way “we should go”-even when we think we know better.   I’m so thankful that, as my former Pastor Gilbert Olson would often remind us, this Teacher, the Holy One of Israel, has “thoughts of peace and not of evil”, to give us an “expected end.” (Jeremiah 29:11). 

Lord help me to be teachable.  Not only by You, but also by those who you’ve put around me who have thoughts of peace and not of evil.