Give Me Some Rain, Jesus!

“Give me some rain, Jesus!  I really need some rain!”  shouted my three year old son, Will, as he and mommy came back from feeding the hens tonight.  It wasn’t a shout, it was really him just using his natural unhindered talking voice: loud.  Maybe he was a little louder than usual because he needed to be… Jesus is pretty high up there ya know.

He knew that Jesus was listening.  The confidence in his voice was the same as when he very matter-of-factly “asks” me for a glass of milk.  Will knows I will get him a glass of milk… unless its his third glass of milk in five minutes right before dinner.

Where is that confidence when I talk to God?  Way too often I sound sheepish or petty or repetitive or boring or disinterested when I’m talking to God.  Maybe I try to sound like a mature Christian when I pray because for some reason I need to convince myself that I’m worthy of talking to God.

Pretty retarded, huh.

There are times to talk to God, our loving Daddy and times to humble ourselves before the all-powerful creator of everything… times to honestly (and sheepishly) ask for forgiveness and times to confidently ask for rain.

The next time you talk to Jesus, let the time be what it needs to be.  Don’t try to sound too churchy, or too casual… just be natural and let your conversation with God flow.  With a little practice, it becomes easier than you think. 

You may even find yourself praying with your loud outside voice once in a while.

What Do You Enjoy?

There are a few things in life that I really enjoy. 

I’m talking about the kind of enjoyment that you only get from the best things in life… the kind of enjoyment you want your kids to pick up and run with… the kind of enjoyment that you want to share with others… the kind of enjoyment that makes you want to know what other people really enjoy.

So here are a few things that I really enjoy that I want to share with you.

1. Laughing really, really hard.

I think I should invest in Depends so I don’t have to worry about wetting myself.  For more vids like this, just do a YouTube search and watch any of the “challenge” videos.

2.  Amazing musical talent

3.  Well written stuff that makes me think.

Here’s my newest find for thought-provoking God stuff.  www.relevantmagazine.com You’ll thank me later.

4.  My crew.  Duh.

6.  Last, but not least… goofing around with teenagers.

So what do you enjoy?  Share it in a response or a comment on FB. 

Better yet, share what you enjoy with the people around you.

7 Chickens + 1 Dog + Hole in Fence = 2 Chickens

It’s the end of the free range chickens at Fort Doherty.

My two dogs just turned 2 years old last week.  Maybe their feelings were hurt because I didn’t buy them any new doggie toys.  Maybe they passed some right of passage age in dog years.  Maybe it was time for my boys to learn an important lesson about the circle of life.

As I was getting ready to enjoy my morning cup of coffee, I hear my lovely wife say “Um, Brad.  Dillon (my female dog) is carrying a chicken around in her mouth.”  So much for enjoying that morning java.

Yep, Dillon had Fenzi (my favorite hen, named by Brody) in her jaws as she pranced around looking for a good place to enjoy her next course of her birthday breakfast.  Yes, her next course.  After I put her back in the dog pen, I found the remains of 3 other hens (Henrietta, the yellow hen of “Yellow Hen Not Peck Me” fame, and a gorgeous gray hen) scattered around the yard and our rooster, who was dumb enough to get into the dog pen, where Frisco (my male dog who never gets out of the pen) got to enjoy some Cornish game rooster.  At least the rooster put up a fight… Frisco had some scratches on his legs.

All was not lost.  My 2 oldest hens, Miss Red and Henry (named by Brock) are still alive and kicking.  They are not the prettiest to look at, but we still get one egg a day.

What are the lessons to be learned here?

1. Don’t let chickens roam free in front of dogs behind a shoddy fence. Most of the fence is solid, except for one 6-foot stretch that is pretty patched together.  All it takes is one weak link…
2. Don’t blame dogs for being what they are.
3. Don’t throw in the towel after a mistake. Even though this was entirely my fault, I’m not giving up on the poultry experiment just yet.
4. Wringing a chicken’s neck is surprisingly easy. Fenzy was skill sort-of alive when Dillon let her go.  No, we didn’t eat her.  We’re not that pioneer yet.
5. Little boys aren’t bothered by chicken carnage. As we walked out to survey th damage, they say Dillon chowing on the rooster and all they said was “Look, there’s the rooster.”  The watched like it was no big deal.  Yep, those are my boys.

7 Things That Tugged On My Heart This Week

What are the things that make you tear up?  Not sad tears, but good tears?  The kind of tears made by the realization that you’re seeing something special.  Here’s my list of things that have made me tear up this past week.

1.  This picture.

2.  Will, my 5 week old son, as he slept in my arms.

3.  Brock telling me unprompted “Daddy, I love you,  and I love Mommy, and I love Will, and I love Brody” at the end of bedtime tonight.

4.  Brody lying on my chest this morning, like he did when he was a baby.

5.  Seeing my wife this morning. She was getting ready to visit her parents.  I was outside loading up the car or something.  She came outside.  Her hair was mostly dry, but it looked much like it did on our honeymoon.  It took my breath away.

6.  This video… particularly the kids dancing around with huge smiles on their faces.

7.  Hugging my dogs on a hike.  I got them just weeks before my dad died almost 2 years ago.

There is so much to life that is meant to move our hearts.  God wired us that way.  There is so much wonderful emotion in the simple ways that everyday unfold.  I’m finding that life is so much more full the more I am open to those depths.

But before I go too far off the toughy-feely deep end, there are several interesting paradoxes to this (to me at least):

• I’m trying to teach my oldest son that crying gets you nothing.  That’s OK for a 4 year old that needs to learn that crying when you don’t get to carry your 2nd favorite lightsaber to the toybox is unacceptable.
• Society has de-masculinized men to a degree that men today are a little too in-touch with their feelings.  I think the theme song for teen guy ministry will be Brad Paisley’s “I’m Still a Guy.”
• I’m discovering in my own challenges and in the challenges of the teen guys I mentor that the solution to overcoming the challenge is to “man up”… put the emotion aside and do what needs to be done.

What has touched your heart lately?  What’s made you tear up?  Leave a comment.

You can call me emotional, I’m okay with that.

Daddy, Who Is Batman’s Mommy?

That’s just one of the great questions my son Brock asked me yesterday.

As a fan of the Batman comic, I know that Bruce Wayne’s parents were murdered by a thug right in front of a young and impressionable Bruce.  But I don’t know the name of Batman’s mommy.

The boys (4 and 2 and a half years old) have been asking all sorts of good questions lately.  I know the answers to some, I fake the answers for most.  Here are a few that have made me smile lately.

“Does Will (our 3-week old baby boy) poop too?”

“What makes the bottom of the creek slippery?”

“Why does Brock always choose the same bedtime book?”

There have been a myriad of cute questions about male and female anatomy that I won’t quote here.

Questions are fun. There are tons of questions we all have… about God, about ourselves, about the universe, about Lost. If we think we know all the answers, we’re kidding ourselves.  If we quit asking questions, we’d better check our pulse.

I think people stop asking God questions for 1 of 2 reasons: (1) they don’t think God will answer so they don’t bother to ask, or (2) they see questioning God as a sign of weak, doubtful faith.  I’ve found that God doesn’t answer lots of questions I ask him, but he does answer some.  I’ve also found that my faith and my connection with Jesus has grown stronger as I’ve asked God more tough questions.

I don’t know most of the answers… and just when I think I have an answer figured out, something happens in life that makes me re-question the conclusion I had just settled upon.

The beauty is that I don’t need to know all the answers.  Jesus knows all the answers, and I can trust that.  That’s tough to do for some people, but I’ve found that to be the best road for me.

Here’s my question for you readers: What funny questions have kids asked you lately?  It could be your kids or someone else’s.  Leave a comment so we can all smile.

We all have deep questions about God and life and Lost… I’ll ask for those on another day.

Here are a few more recent pics of our crew.  Enjoy.

Our crew at Trinchera Falls.

Brock in the jumpy castle.

Blue tongues from Brody’s Batman birthday cake icing.

7 Things About Being A Dad That Make Me Smile

Just a few days into being a father a three boys, I find myself very observant.

Me and my Boys

The boys are absolutely beautiful.  Each is very different in unthought of ways.  They all make me laugh and tear up at the wonder that they are.

There are so many confusing, bewildering, crazy things about this adventure of life that Jesus calls us to.  Much of it is designed to break our prideful hearts and bring us back to a place of trusting in God.  If we slow down, we’ll see that there are lots of nuggets in life that are meant to make us smile… or cry happy tears.  I’d like to share some of those nuggets I’ve seen over the last several days.

Here are five purely perfect things about raising boys that are good any way you look at it.  The things on this list make my eyes light up, no matter how gray the day may be.

1.  Holding a newborn on your chest.

2.  Taking a nap with your toddlers.

3.  Watching your kids giggle uncontrollably on a trampoline.

4.  Realizing that your 2-year old shadow wants nothing more than to be near you.

5.  Listening to your 4-year old talk about his karate skills in his sleep.

6.  Watching your son being born.

7.  Watching your wife give birth.

So here’s a question for you readers out there:  What would make your happy things list?  What are the things that make you smile no matter where you’re at in life?  Is it people, or a person?  Is it a song, or a mountain view?  Is it chocolate?

Remember that God created good things for us to enjoy.  They remind us that God is a good God.  He is a loving father.  He not only wants us to trust him in tough situations, but he wants us to smile and laugh and enjoy the good things he has made for us.

Take a minute and thank him for the good stuff.