Family Golf

I am enjoying my time in Carrollton. Yesterday I played golf with my dad, uncle, and cousin. I really wanted to play while in Dallas, so I made sure that we got that chance. (I was able--amazingly enough--to pack my golf clubs in our already over-stuffed car!)

I knew that it would be more fun--especially for my dad--if we could play a scramble. I didn't care if it was a four-man or a two-man. I knew that it would just be a fun thing to do. My family tends to be incredibly competitive, so I wanted to diminish this a little. A scramble takes some of the individual competition out of play so we can just enjoy playing.

Through five holes my dad and I were four under par! Then we had to stop playing because of a HUGE storm passing through. An hour-and-a-half later we continued play. It wasn't the same. We finished the front nine two under and shot two over on the back finishing even par! Oh well! It was fun, we spent some good family time together, and that is what matters.

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How many times do we forget to enjoy life? We tend to make too many things a competition. I behave better that him...I have better clothes than she does...We raise our kids better than they do...and so on it goes. Let's enjoy each day to its fullest with what God has already given us! Then we can point to God rather than ourselves when we finish even par, 18 under, or 46 over.

"Don't Waste Your Life"

I just finished this book written by John Piper. Great book that I suggest be read. He spends a good amount of time challenging me to consider the opportunities I have before me all the time. When I don't take advantage of these, I waste my life.

I really like the chapter that challenged the kind of lifestyle that prevents wasted lives. My use of money and my attitude toward possessions needed some focus. He uses a wartime type of mindset to advocate living for Jesus. The stories he tells of people from various wars in history brought me to tears! Kids becoming war heroes who did not consider their own lives worth saving. I can't possibly recount all the stories, but this remains in my head: how many of our teenagers would really consider giving up their life for a greater cause? Not many that I know of. I'm not absolutely positive that I would either.

Anyway...good book. I'll let you borrow it if you come by my office sometime. Worth the read.

Kayla at Work

We have been planning on Kayla spending time at the Student Center with me for some time. This will give Tanya a much-needed break. Well, the time has now come.

Today is the first day that I have brought Kayla up to the office with me. During a normal semester this would not be too much of a problem. There are students all over the place who can at least entertain her for a little bit. In other words, I don't have to always be the one watching her and figuring out things for her to do.

That is good, but school is in between semesters right now. I have not seen anyone at the Student Center for over a week now. SO...I am the one making sure she is not getting into everything. When she gets tired of one thing, we must go on to the next. This takes some creativity on my part. What a joy it is to figure this out!

Yesterday I spent a good amount of time getting together a pile of papers that she could sort through. The papers were all trash, but she didn't know that. Well...that only lasted two minutes! There went that plan. Oh well!

The joy of parenting! I love it. God, please give me strength...and creativity.

The Weekend

I had a good weekend. Chilled with the fam on Friday morning. Mowed lawns Friday afternoon. Had college students over on Friday night to say good-bye to a great couple who is leaving us.

Saturday I had huge fun playing a four-man best-ball scramble. We shot one under 71. It was fun. Chilled the rest of the day with the fam. Went on a walk with everyone. That is a fun thing to do with the family.

Sunday we came together with a group of Christians to worship and praise our creator. We had a new prayer section in our worship that was especially moving. Took a nap, meet with elders, went to New Waverly, and went to bed.

Last night I had an interesting dream that I will share about later.

Prayer

I am going to be praying for students on a more regular basis. I don't do this often enough. My compassion needs to grow, and I need to be praying more for those whom God has entrusted to me. Much like our LST information pages, I have put together a form to keep track of what I pray for with each student. May God be glorified as I begin this journey.

Bible Study

As we were driving back in from Dallas Monday night (we went to Kent Brown’s funeral [father of Kyle & Jessica Brown] in Ft. Worth), I thought about how I really haven’t spent much extensive, focused time in the books of the Bible. I wanted to spend more time digging, researching, and applying the skills I have learned in Grad school. I then decided to go through a book of the Bible in a month (maybe two months, but we will see).
For each book that I am studying, I want to filter what I read through several different categories. I hope to spend 12 days asking text questions. What does the text say? How is it translated? What is my outline? What do I learn from the text about the author, the intended audience, and the setting? What are critical or key issues that the text addresses? What do introductions, dictionaries, articles, books, etc. say about my text?
Then I hope to spend 5 days asking history questions. What is the historical context of my text? What is the history of translation for this passage? How did the early church fathers interpret and apply this text? What do other major historical figures say about this text?
Then I move to theological questions. I hope to spend another 5 days asking these. What do we learn about God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit? How does my text address sin, salvation, and mankind?
Finally, the last 8 days are spent asking pastoral questions. This centers around application. How does this text address the way we live? What does it teach about church? What are real-life applications of this text? How can this text be used in a congregational setting? In a campus ministry setting?
In the end, I am still not sure what I want to do with this studying of God's word. Do I write a synopsis of my research? Do I just keep the notes handy for future reference? Do I need a longer period of time to bring everything together? What is a good balance of Old and New Testament books? Any suggestions would be helpful.
I guess I will figure this out as I go. For now...I started yesterday going through 1 Peter. May God be near as I journey through his word.

ctrl-s

I have a bad, annoying habit on the computer that goes way back!

When I was in grad school I had a laptop. But this was a clunker of a laptop. It was take-a-nap slow! Also, if it was not plugged in, it would shut down! How annoying was that!?

More than one time when I was in the middle of class, typing away at my notes, someone came by in the row in front of me and accidentally kicked my power cord so that it my computer shut down immediately. The WONDERFUL thing about that was that I had not saved my file for a while. I lost all those notes!! It really wasn't a wonderful thing!

So...I learned to hit ctrl-s to save my file. It became second nature for me. I wouldn't even think about it. Sometimes someone would come by and again knock my cord out of socket. The computer would shut down. I would panic only to find that I had just unknowingly pushed ctrl-s before this happened. I was happy that I had developed this great skill. Many a notes have been saved because of this habit.

The bad thing about this now is that the laptop is long gone, but the habit remains. Admittedly, I have gotten better at not always pushing ctrl-s, but occasionally Mr. CTRL-S rears his head at unfortunate times.

Just a second ago was one of those times. On blogger, there are many shortcut keys that I can use. ctrl-b bolds a piece of text, ctrl-i italicizes my text, and (here it is) ctrl-s publishes my blog. So...for those of you who have subscribed to my blog by email...my last post was actually posted prematurely. Someone walked into my office, I stopped typing, and my fingers automatically hit ctrl-s "so I could make sure my work was saved." But...right when it happened, I realized that I just published what I had been working on. ahhh! Thankfully, not much changed this time.

I hope you enjoy yourself Mr. CTRL-S. Laugh now! Your day will come...oh yes...your day will come!

Adjustments

We continue to make adjustments as we learn what being a family of four (five if you count our dog Chica) means. I now wake up a couple times a night in order to burp Tyler, to change his diaper, to swaddle him, and to put him back to sleep. A good 10-15 minute task. I am also in a position to wash most of the dishes, a commitment Tanya reminds me about fairly often. I'm adjusting...just be patient. Adjustments are a good thing.

In fact, I hope that I always take time to make adjustments to my life. It would not be a good thing to get to the point where I feel like no more adjustments are necessary. That would be like saying, "I don't have to change with the ever-changing world." Then I would be stuck in an archaic period of time disconnected from real life unable to connect.

We must adjust...there is no way around it. How are you going to make adjustments today?