Beware your wrath, parents

I love my children, but when they misbehave I often get angry with them. Oddly enough when I approach God after I have sinned I don't ever feel Him yelling or angry with me. Our theology is loaded with references about the love and grace of God, and how He may be heart broken by our sin but He forgives us and draws us to Him, even as we are in rebellion. So why am I angry with my kids? Is it because they have sinned against God or is it because they have sinned against me? If it is because they are sinning against God, I'm pretty sure that he doesn't need me to be angry on His behalf. So that leaves option #2, and the reality makes me tremble. Should my children be punished when they misbehave? Of course, but they should not feel my wrath or self righteousness. Am I teaching my children to do what's right because God loves them and they should desire to please Him, or am I teaching them to do what's right because they fear making me angry? What happens when they no longer fear my anger? Am I teaching them to fear God or to fear me?
I'm not saying I have all the answers here, I just know that there's to much me in my parenting, and not enough God. This has nothing to do with me, it is about raising up men and women who will go out and start lives and families of their own.

Gifts

I was talking to my brother in law about a sermon on spiritual gifts, and how we are to use our gifts for the glory of God and to lift up each other. But then he took it a step further. He started to challenge me about my non-spiritual gifts. At first I was like,"yeah, let's glorify God with our earthly gifts!" But then I thought about it later on, and it made me a little uncomfortable. Glorify God with my earthly gifts? How? What are my earthly gifts? I had to think about it. What an I good at? Not much. I can fence, I can make coffee, I'm good at knowing what to wear (usually). Not sure how I can glorify God with those gifts. I tried to comfort myself with the thought that other people that have ministry related gifts were who he was talking about. But then I remembered the verse,"whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God." If I did everything like I was doing it for God, what would that look like? That means when I'm at work, at school, at home, alone (even in my own head), working out, having a drink with friends,.....
How on earth am I supposed to do that? What happened to just doing something for me? How can I live my entire life for God? What about my life? It's as if God wants every last part if me and,

Oh yeah that's the point (sigh, I'm gonna have to take some of my plans back to the drawing board)

A theory

I'm not sure exactly what the right ratio is but it seems like the answer to any problem that I have is a combination of loving others, submission to the current situation, or at least having peace with it, and constantly going before God asking for him to work on our behalf to change the current situation.

Just a thought

Something I found encouraging

I stumbled across thins quote this morning and it really gave me a boost;

"I know I'm not where I want to be, but I'm closer than I was yesterday."

Dreaming too big (or am I?)

Sometimes we have days when we realized just how small We are in the grand scheme of things. We look at our dreams and all the trial that await us and the path we are led to walk on with faint hearts and weak faith. "How am I ever going to do this?" "Maybe I should just trade in my dream for a smaller one." "I'm never gonna make it". I know that feeling, I felt it today. I looked at everything I am pursuing and I just wanted to go hide under a rock. Here's the crazy part. I take this to The Lord and do you know what he said? He said that my problem is that I'm not dreaming big enough. My dreams are big, but still small enough that my pride thinks that I can pull it off if I try hard enough. I need to learn to dream so big that I have no doubt about who is going to make this happen, that I am dependent on Him and Him alone.
How about you? Are your dreams manageable? Crushing you but still small enough that you think you should be able to handle it? Come be stupid with me, let's dream so big that everything rides on God (since it does anyway we may as well acknowledge it right?) .

Some trust in chariots

It's that time again, time to participate in the privilege and duty of electing a president. You can't watch TV or listen to the radio without hearing someone promising to provide you with economic security, better healthcare, and to take care of the issues that matter to us. The problem is that there is only One who can provide all of those things and last I checked He's not running for office. Voting is important and you should vote, just remember you are voting for a man, not a savior. He cannot ensure that no one will go without food, clothing, or shelter and he shouldn't be expected to. While I agree that America could use a turnaround, it is going to take more than a politician to make that happen.

I'm no pastor, but I'm pretty sure that if we turn from our division and sin, crying out to God for help we would see something happen.

Sheep

I was chatting with Jon, a new friend of mine and he was telling me about growing up on a farm with sheep, chickens, goats, and other animals. With the exception of having to clean out the chicken coops it sounded really cool.  When he mentioned sheep, he told me how they really are some of the dumbest creatures. He told me how if they saw chicken feed on the other side of a fence they would run right into the fence trying to get to it. He told me about how actually living with sheep gave him a deeper understanding about what it means when the bible talks about us being like sheep, and Christ being our shepherd. While on one hand I laughed to hear him tell me about the sheep, on the other I realized how humbling it is to be a christian.  Think about it, how many times have you run into a "brick wall" running after something you thought that you wanted, or were not supposed to have? How many times has our Shepherd come after us when we wander from the sound of his voice? For come after us he will, as many times as he needs to and rejoices every time he finds us and brings us home. That's the crazy part, he doesn't even get mad at us for wandering off. Whatever sadness he may have had is wiped away with the joy of seeing us return to him.

Although I'm quite sure he hopes we stay within earshot from now on.

A little known fact

Guys, we all know that we are to love our wives and children. We are to love them as Christ loves the church. I'm not going to go into that as we have all heard enough sermons on that topic to choke a hippo. What I want to talk about is the second part. When we honor our wives, put them first, take care of their needs ahead of our own we will find that the things want are somehow taken care of as well. I have been trying to walk this out with my own wife, and can attest to the fruit of this. I have an iPad and iPhone and a laptop computer that I received for free, I was able to pursue one of my passions, fencing for a year and actually made money doing it. Clothing that I want I find at ridiculous sale prices. There are few things that I have wanted that I do not get. Not because I am rich, but because I live my life poured out for my family. If I want time to study or read, I get up between 3:30 and 4:00 am, to the best of my ability my life revolves around my family. Before you think I am trying to boast here, let me tell you it works in reverse to. I have tried to put myself first, and ended up with nothing working out for me. God has given me men, like my Dad, who showed me how to put my wife first. At my wedding my best man gave me a sword as a wedding gift and told me that every day I would have to fight for my wife's heart. Only because I have tried to obey the words of the men in my life have I been able to have the marriage that I have. So what I'm trying to say is this;

LOVE YOUR WIFE