Chopsticks

No, I am not talking about the simple little tune which may be familiar to you. I am talking about those seemingly impossible to use eating utensils found in Asian restaurants. That is what I used to think anyway until one day I was challenged to use them while eating at a Chinese buffet. My first attempts were quite humorous. I am sure food was flying all over the place. I am not too certain about this as I have repressed these memories and there they shall stay. But the more I used chopsticks the better and more adept I became.

I soon learned not to try too hard, it takes a light touch. If you try to squeeze too hard the chopsticks will not work and you will end up with a stained shirt. Nice and easy, with just enough pressure to hold the food is all it takes.

So often, this lesson can apply in so many other areas of life. One place is in the Christian life, so often I feel we as Christians want nothing more than to change people who are not Christians. We try too hard by protesting, picketing, yelling, and demanding people change. I do not think that is what we are called to do, at least not using such harsh tactics. Several years ago I came to the conclusion I can not change anyone except myself. I can not force someone to follow Christ. I can not force someone to give up sinful behavior. The only thing I can do is point people to the one who can change. That is God the Father, through Jesus Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit.

I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. 1 Corinthians 3:6 (NLT)

I have no doubt Paul felt much the same way. He could only plant the seed, and others would water. Paul knew that only God could bring about real change in a person's life. In the broader context of his passage Paul is reminding the Corinthians that at one time they were immature and they allowed sin to rule their lives. Paul knew it would not be effective to go in shouting slogans and waving pickets demanding people change their ways right then and there. No, he preached the Word with love and gentleness, planting seeds of the Gospel in order that the Word of God would grow in the lives of the Corinthians. Paul knew the importance his role played in bringing people to saving grace in Christ. He could only tell others about a loving Father who gave His Son to wipe away the sins of those who believed in Him.

We are called to do the same, some of us to plant the seed, to evangelize, to share the Good News of Christ. Others are called along side to answer questions and provide gentle direction. Like using chopsticks it is the gentle touch that will be the most effective. We as Christians need to put down the signs, stop shouting, stop protesting and show love, kindness and gentleness.

My challenge to you is this: Learn to use chopsticks, it will change your life.

Special thanks to Aaron, who many years ago encouraged me to use chopsticks. God bless Brother.

What To Wear?

Being of the male persuasion, it has always been easy for me to get "ready" for the day. Wake up, shave, shower, find something to cover the bottom half of my body, and find something that covers the top half of my body. Pretty simple, it does not even have to match. Living with three females has taught me that the fairer of the sexes does not have it quite so easy. There seems to be so much more involved and I just do not have the capability to understand it all. Things have to match, it has to look right (whatever that means) and it has to feel right. There also is too many choices for them to have to make. "Do I wear a dress? Or maybe a skirt and blouse. May I should wear slacks and a sweater. Maybe jeans and a t-shirt." And it goes on and on it seems.

All of this brings me to share with you a little conversation that took place between my wife and our two daughters. This happened the other day while traveling over to my parents house.

My wonderful, beautiful, and loving wife asking our youngest daughter, "What do you prefer to wear, pants of dresses?"

"Dresses!" exclaimed the youngest.

"And what about you?" asked my wonderful, beautiful and loving wife to our oldest daughter. "Do you prefer pants or dresses?".

"Pajamas!" came the immediate reply from the backseat.

So maybe it is not as difficult as I thought. At least not for my eight year old.

Well it sounded like a good idea...

Ever have one of those ideas in your head that just seemed to perfect? It is so vivid in your mind you can practically touch, smell or taste it? Today I had one of those moments. We decided the kids needed to get out and have some fun today. Ok, ok, I will admit it was as much for the kids as it was for the parents. We decided to go to a local park and let the kids run around and my wife and I sit back and watch. They had one of the twirly slides and I had a vision. Here is a picture of the play structure:


I had the idea of taking a picture of the four of us on the slide. We don't have many pictures of our whole family since usually I am behind the lens. I envision the perfect picture of us lined up youngest to oldest at the bottome of the slide. I placed my camera on a park bench and set the self-timer to 20 seconds and to take 10 pictures. It didn't turn out as I expected. Imagine and 260 pound bald guy lumber up this thing and trying to come down the slide in time to be in the picture. Well, it almost worked, it took longer for me to get in place than expected. But nice picture of my girls, so all is not lost:



My wife was really panicked at this point. She would take the brunt of the collision had I came down too fast.

"Hey, where's Daddy?"

Trying to stop:

Almost, drat! I must have moved the camera slightly while hitting the shutter button:


Well, we regrouped and tried it again. This time I set the self-timer to 30 seconds and ran a little faster. This time it worked a little better. I had envisioned myself being closer to my wife, but my width and the slide's width did not necessarily get along. So I had nowhere to place my left leg. But I will accept it, it still turned out pretty good and we had a blast doing it:

A Good Day

Living in a small two bedroom apartment with three members of the opposite sex at times can be rather difficult. Now I am not complaining nor would I change a thing. I love each one. My oldest, who is eight years old, is beginning to need her own space. Unfortunately, having a five year old sister she must constantly fight to not have her somewhat limited space constantly invaded. And I mean fight. We have been looking at larger apartments but rent seems so high for this size apartment, way out of our budget. We recently started looking in a small town about 15 miles from where we currently live and found a great deal on a three bedroom apartment. It is a townhouse, so we will have bedrooms and full bath upstairs and kitchen, laundry, living room and a half bath on the lower floor. To say the least we were thrilled when we found today that our application had been accepted and we get to move in October! Now the girls we have their own rooms and their own space. Not to mention that half bath we really come in handy. So now the hard part comes.... packing. Ugh, I am not looking forward to that.