All she asked for was some water (Repostfrom281820)

I was out for a late night jog. These are the only type I get nowadays. With my schedule a wife and five kids you squeeze stuff in whenever you can. This is my alone time, I pop in the earbuds, turn on my Ipod and away I go. Sometimes I pray a bit but usually I just zone out and watch the rain fall in front of me as I run. Tonight was no different I did my usual run saw the usual people out and about and thought to myself as I trotted along , but when I was about 15 minutes away from home I saw her standing on the corner working away. If I crossed the street it would be obvious that I was trying to avoid her so I thought to myself just pass on by and don’t make eye contact, you don’t want to give the wrong idea. So I ran past looking straight through her as if she wasn’t even there. Then as I passed I heard a voice ask “can I please have some of your water?” It was as much a shock to me as it was to her when I stopped and turned around. She asked me again “I’m so thirsty can I please have some of your water bottle?” I handed it to her and told her to take the rest and to keep it. She said thanks and as I left I just said “take care kiddo.” As if we’d been friends for a long time. As I was jogging back home all I could think of was the women at the well. I didn’t have the wherewithal to share Christ with her tonight and who knows if it was my job to do anyways. What I do know is that the water I gave her will only quench her thirst temporarily but the living water that has been given for us all could quench it forever. I like to think that I accept all people and that I don’t judge others, but it’s just not true. Tonight a prostitute taught me that I am no better or more human than she is. I may have a roof over my head a family that I love and all the other stuff that I hold dear but I need that water just as much as she does. We worry about H1N1, the bills that are piling up, getting our way and about our rights being ignored. Yet there are people around us who have no food to eat no water to drink and no idea that anyone, especially God, could love them. I’m not going to be perfect and I won’t always have the right answer but from here on out I know that I’ll always run with an extra bottle of water.

Can't we just be Friends? Again.

So here is the issue. When we first became friends, it was because I truthfully had an interest in you and what was going on in your life. Over time I feel like we’ve lost something. You give me tid bits here and there but I don’t really know “you” anymore. You talk about Politics, what’s new in the media and sometimes but rarely you’ll tell me a funny joke or tell me a story about someone else but what I really want to hear about is you, your life, and what is going on with it.

Maybe that sounds sappy, but for me it’s true. You see at my very core I love people, relationships and community. I have my own political views and my stances on things but for some reason at some time you became a part of my life. Now either part of, or the limits of our relationship, is social Media. I love to hear the things that are going on in your life. Your Relationships, children, passions and joys. I want to be able to celebrate with you a promotion, or a new relationship, to see where you are today in comparison to yesterday. To know when things in life aren’t going so hot. Or when you are experience loss or struggles. When you have questions or just need a bit of prayer, I want to hear.  Oh yeah and if its funny stuff, keep posting that as well. Your sense of humor is part of what makes you.....well you.

Who you dislike or which politician you endorse, well quite frankly I don’t care. I can make up my own mind, hear the same speeches and can even use google myself.

Your causes, now here is the tricky part. I believe that our causes and our passions are often intertwined, but as a friend if you are going to point me to a cause please tell me why it means so much to YOU. Why does something affect you the way it does. Why does it make you change your profile pic or spam us all? What is it about this subject that touches you so.  Whether it’s your faith or your lifestyle. Whether a wrong that needs righting, or a cause for social justice. What does it mean to YOU!

You see I do actually care about you. Whether you like it or not I take the time to pray when I hear things about your life. You see to know me you need to know that being a beloved Child of God is at my very center. It’s just who I am. Yes I’m also a Husband, a father, a Pastor, a friend but ultimately I’m a Bible believing, Christ following dude that doesn’t even pretend to have all the answers, but I know the guy who does!

Now, tell me more about you!!

A Note to My Sons, (On fatherhood)

A father is a man who expects his son to be as good a man as he meant to be. ~Frank A. Clark

Hey guys you're too young for this, so put it in the file for now but here is just part of what I want to share with you. You and you're sisters are an amazing gift to Mom and I. God continually uses you to help bring us closer to him. I'm going to share a bit now and hope that it makes sense to you why I'm sharing it with others as well. I pray everyday that you grow to be great men and that God uses you to impact this world for him. That you have an amazing journey and see awesome things, but most of all that someday you too can hold a child in your arms and be able to feel what I felt the first day I met you.

“Before I got married I had six theories about raising children; now, I have six children and no theories.” 
― John Wilmot

Fatherhood isn't what I expected it to be. Harder? Yes. Challenging? Certainly. Fulfilling? More than words can explain. But what really surprised me is how this thing called fatherhood has been revealing. Being a Dad totally refines the definition of who you are. It doesn't take away from what you were before but rather utilizes those parts of you that you chose to ignore or didn't even know were there. Yesterday I took my son to a dance competition. As we drove there we talked for over an hour. No life changing discussions. No deep questions about life and God but just talked and laughed and enjoyed being together. Well there was one question. He asked “Dad how do you know if a grown up is lying about their age?” To which I simply replied are they male or female?  It took a second to set in and then he giggled uncontrollably for a bit and I'm sure will repeat the joke at least 100 times until a new one comes along. It wasn't to knock women it was just a joke between a dad and a son. We talked about making sure that he did his best at the competition. That he was respectful to his team-mates  his instructors and to the other competitors. What I noticed about this conversation as well as many of the others that I have with my kids is that as a parent and for me as a dad there was this moment where it wasn't all about me but it is about them. God may use me to do lots of things in life. He has already given me the opportunity to see and do so much, but nothing and I mean nothing in this world has been as great a gift as being a Husband to my wife and a father to my children.

The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother. ~Rev. Theodore Hesburgh

The key there is first being a Husband to my wife.  I make no claims at being the perfect husband. I'm a 6’2” 260lb, ADHD dreamer who can think big, play hard and throw down with the best of them but without my girl, I’d be a lousy dad and an even worse husband.  She puts up with a lot but stays by my side. Guys, no matter who your wife is, or how different you may be from one another it is your job to love her, to take a step back and look at her in all the beauty and gorgeousness that God created her. She’s not perfect and can probably push any one of your buttons if she chooses. Your marriage may be going great or not so hot, but you have to own your part. In Ephesians 5 Paul writes

 ²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,²⁶ that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,²⁷ so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.^[a] 28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹ For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, ³⁰ because we are members of his body. ³¹ “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” ³² This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. ³³ However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

I don’t know what you hear in this but here is what I’ve realized. If Christ can give up his life for me, can go to the cross for this sinner of mass proportions and can love me unconditionally. If I look to him as someone to emulate, as an ideal to strive toward. Then isn’t it my job to show my children through my relationship with my wife:

1.    How to treat a woman (for my boys)

2.    How a woman should be treated (for my girls)

3.    That there is a God and he loves us all

4.    What is really important in life (it's not all about me)

5.    That I love them no matter what

6.    How to care for others

7.    How to care for our own family and those God will bring into our family.

No, Fatherhood isn't what I expected, it is so much more!!!