Category Archives: Family
There’s No Place Like Home
A few days ago Anderson’s teacher (Mrs. Fisher) asked the class to write a journal entry about a place that makes them happy. To our great surprise we found out that Anderson wrote about our house. This was an in-class assignment so he came up with this totally on his own. Though he hash’t accepted Christ as his Savior, it’s awesome to see him drawing closer to it as he talks about how much he enjoys reading the Bible at the dinner table. The phrase that makes me just want to bust with pride is when he writes about bring his kids one day to this home. I sure do hope this continues as he goes through the teen years (though I know better). More than anything I pray that the Lord will continue to help Ashley and I raise all three of these little boys to become men who follow hard after Jesus. We want our home to be a place where Jesus is spoken of all the time and where children are loved, encouraged, and discipled. In the day-to-day hectic pace of being in ministry and raising three boys we don’t always get it right. Ashley and I sometimes fail as parents and as partners, but it’s awesome to see that at least in this moment it’s making a difference for Anderson. May our homes be places where disciples are made. That’s the place where God designed it to happen in the first place.
Eleven Highlights of 2011
- Rang in 2011 in Time Square with our Mside College Mission Team
- Led Matthew to Christ at Spring Retreat
- Found out on Easter that Ashley and I were excepting our third son.
- Spent an amazing summer with my family and on mission with the Mside Youth.
- Began our fourth year of Ignite youth worship services.
- Preached the Word at Hub City Church on Labor Day Sunday.
- Great relationships built with students at discipleship home group.
- Totally crazy October & November prepping for Luke and living with back pain.
- Lower back surgery on November 11.
- Luke was born on November 17 and spent 10 days in the neonatal unit.
- Rang in 2012 at home with my beautiful sleeping family of five!
A Baby Changes Everything
This week baby Luke turns four weeks old. To say that things are different around our house is an understatement. Even though he’s our third child, a new baby in the house changes the whole dynamic. We had just gotten our other two boys to the point of being pretty independent (dressing themselves, going to the bathroom on their own, brushing their own teeth, and even helping clean around the house). Now we’re back at square one with a new baby. Sleepless nights, 3:00am feedings, and dozens of daily diaper changes are part of our routine again. A baby changes everything. I’m thirty-five years old and have done this twice before, but getting back into the swing of caring for a newborn has really thrown me for a loop.
Can you imagine what it was like for Mary? She was an unwed teenager giving birth to a baby boy in a stable and having to lay her newborn down to sleep in a feeding trough. Did Mary fully comprehend the immense impact her baby would have on the world? Her little swaddled infant was about to change everything in her life…and in the lives of every person who walks this planet.
One of my favorite Christmas carols reminds us what life was like before Christ: ”Long lay the world in sin an error pining.” But then he appeared. When Christ…Immanuel…God With Us came to this world there was, “a thrill of hope and the weary world rejoiced”. Jesus’ birth, life, ministry, death, and resurrection changed the world. He changed my life and I hope he’s changed yours too. This Christmas may our lives be changed by this baby.
