God

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Dear Jack: Writing Bible Verses On Our Unfinished House

3 years, 11 months.

Dear Jack: Writing Bible Verses On Our Unfinished House

Dear Jack,

Today as we drove out to see the progress on our new house we’re having built, we had a very special plan: we brought a permanent marker with us.

Dear Jack: Writing Bible Verses On Our Unfinished House

No, it wasn’t for you to draw pictures in the back set. Mommy and I decided we wanted to both contribute a Bible verse on the soon to be covered up walls of our home.

As we walked in today, workers were starting some of the base coat painting; now that the dry wall is up. The brick is up, too; along with the siding, which will be painted later on.

Some of the only unpainted surface inside was the door frames. So in the door frame of your bedroom closet, I wrote “Jeremiah 29:11”; a verse Mommy is actually more familiar with that I am:

‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope.’

I thought that was very thoughtful of Mommy. Obviously, she and I have plans to give you a hopeful future as well; and it’s so cool to think that God does too.

'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.

As for my Bible verse, I chose Joshua 24:15:

“If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

I see this house as a blessing, yet one we’ve also worked very hard for. It’s important to me that we honor God as we grow in this new house together as a family.

So today, in our own quirky way, we dedicated our home to the Lord. It’s His anyway.

Granted, you were more fascinated by the painter who was using stilts to paint the walls around the stairway. It was pretty awesome to see.

"If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."

But even if you don’t remember today, let this letter serve as a reminder that whatever crazy things may go on outside this house, God has wonderful plans for you.

And I believe, part of that is because our family is letting it be known, we serve the Lord; not any other power in the world, and definitely not ourselves.

Those are all just words, though. How we love each other and serve each other in the years to come is the true testament of our actions today.

Please know that every day I pray for wisdom, humility, faith, grace, patience, and creativity. Those are all things I focus on, and all things that will make me the father you need me to be.

I’m far from perfect, but despite my many faults you’ll see during your lifetime, I want you to know me personally as a man who loves the Lord with all my heart; as well as you and Mommy.

Love,

Daddy

 

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What Does “Gods” Look Like?

June 6, 2014 at 10:37 pm , by

3 years, 6 months.

Dear Jack,

After our routine prayer before dinner one night earlier this week, you asked Mommy and me, “What does ‘Gods’ look like?”

That’s one of those classic kid questions. I love it.

Yet I was so caught off guard by your sincere question of what God looks like, that now, I couldn’t even positively tell you how I answered you.

I mean, you’ve grown up with prayer in our house: In the kitchen before meals, in front of the house before we all leave for work and school, and in the car before we go on long trips.

You’re very familiar with the concept of our family speaking to someone we can’t actually physically see.

Just tonight, while you were holding hands with us during prayer, you began whispering the words to “Ring Around The Rosie.”

I thought you were attempting to pray.

Actually, I guess you were- the best way you knew how.

Still, you have the ability to understand that God is real and invisible; unlike monsters, who you know are not real and only visible on cartoons.

I love admiring the way you are attempting to understand God; because I’m in the same boat, just about 29 years ahead of you.

Of course, speaking of years, the way I see it, time only exists as we know it because of the rate at which the Earth spins and the rate at which it rotates around the sun and the rate at which our temporary bodies age.

That’s how we measure time here on Earth.

But beyond us, greater than us living on this planet, I wonder if time really exists?

Is it true that my Italian grandfather who I was so close to growing up is actually waiting to meet us in Heaven? Or in the “Heavenly Time Zone,” will we pretty much just appear there about the same time he arrives?

So many questions I have about God and Heaven and what life really is like outside of our version of life right now.

With that being said, just know that when you asked what God looks like, it’s something I wonder too.

I think a lot of people are going to be shocked if He doesn’t have a long white beard and a robe.

 

Love,

Daddy

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A Thank You Note To God, For Balloons And A Blue Cheetah

February 4, 2014 at 10:00 pm , by 

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A Parent’s Prayer For Wisdom, Humility, And Grace

July 26, 2013 at 1:18 pm , by 

2 years, 8 months.

Dear Jack,

I’ve written before about how I pray for you. Today, I want to tell you about how I pray for myself, as your dad.

First, I pray for wisdom, more than anything; because if God grants me wisdom, I am better prepared to handle any future blessings or challenges that come my way.

I pray for wisdom to guide me in life, as a husband, a daddy, as a steward of time and money, and as I attempt to be a decent human being in general.

Life would be so much easier if things were predictable; if life came with a literal play-by-play instruction manual. Instead, by praying for wisdom, I hope to gain maturity to know how to handle each situation; as I build upon what humility as taught me in the past.

Therefore, I also pray for humility.

Though there are many wise sayings about pride, this one by Yogi Bhajan is currently my favorite:

“When ego is lost, limit is lost. You become infinite, kind, beautiful.”

When I think of that quote, I think of my own dad, actually. When I think of a person in my own life who I never have a memory of being prideful or selfish, but instead, who always put others first- even in regards to his own feelings- it’s my dad.

The older I get, the more I realize what really matters in life… and that’s serving other people.  Like I wrote you yesterday, I am now very consciously aware of not letting my own specific beliefs on politics, religion, and even food, get in the way of that. So when I speak of what I’m passionate about, I want to be inclusive, not exclusive.

Plus, on the flip side, I figure that the less people in life I give the authority to hurt my feelings, the better. It’s like that great quote by Eleanor Roosevelt, “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”

Which brings me to the last element of the trifecta of my daily prayer, as a parent:

Grace.

Every day, I expect for situations in life that will force me to choose to put my wisdom and humility to the test. If there’s not something new I can learn about myself in the process, and if there’s not something new I can learn about overcoming my pride and helping others, it’s then that I should be worried.

Therefore, I need grace on a daily basis. I need grace to land the falls that are sure to come.

I believe that God passionately opposes pride, but gives grace to the humble. Without wisdom, I wouldn’t desire to become humble. But if I am humble, I want grace, God’s favor, along with the humility.

That’s all I’m going to say about wisdom, humility, and grace today… otherwise what I am saying could come across as being prideful.

So I will end with this.

These three things I pray for are also what I hope to share with you on a daily basis, from father to son.

I want to share my wisdom by teaching you, my humility by serving you, and my grace by giving you mine.

After all, if I’m asking these things from my Heavenly Father, I must be wise, humble, and graceful enough to give them to you first.

 

Love,

Daddy

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A Family That Prays Together… Ah, You Know The Rest

April 2, 2013 at 10:42 pm , by 

2 years, 4 months.

Dear Jack,

You started noticing that Mommy and I hold hands and pray before we eat dinner every night.

It’s not some beautiful, poetic thing. We let our words be few: “Dear God, we thank you for this food today and all you have blessed us with. Amen.”

Last week you started wanting in on the action. You smiled at us and lifted your hands out for us to hold them.

So now before dinner, and at night as we’re putting you to bed, and before our family leaves the house for our separate ways in the morning, we pray together.

And you now not only expect it, but I can clearly see you like being a part of it.

I actually think you’re pretty aware of what’s going on. You know who God is from yourBeginner’s Bible, as well as from church.

Tonight as I sang “Away In A Manger” as part of your bedtime routine, you stopped me in the middle of the 1st verse and said, “Jesus makes!”

I asked you what Jesus makes and you responded:

“Jesus makes oatmeal… and beans and rice!”

My immediate uproar of laughter pretty much killed the mood for helping you get to sleep. Mommy later explained to me you were referring to the 2nd verse, which she sings to you: “No crying he makes.”

I think it’s really cool that you want to be a part of our family’s prayer times throughout the day. I figure at best, what you gather from us praying is that we not only believe in God, but we trust him.

We have no idea what’s in our future, five minutes from now or five years from now. But we want to be in God’s favor and we know that means loving others as ourselves.

I know that’s a very simple way of explaining our faith to you, but I think if I as your dad can remember that much of it, I could have the faith of a child.

From what I understand, that’s actually a good thing.

 

Love,

Daddy