Isaiah's 7th!

For Isaiah's birthday parties usually we just invite Joshua Overbeek over and we're set. But with their departure we told Isaiah he could plan a party and send out 7 invitations. After much deliberation and vetting of all options he settled on Hinkle Family Fun Center and invited 7 families (around 25 people!).

He had a great time playing putt-putt and lazer tag with everybody. Here are a few shots.

Eli's first song

Eli's been working on a song he wrote this week. In his premier performance Grace supplies back-up vocals.

Young Peacemaker re-visited

We finished our second pass through The Young Peacemaker this week. We first read it together in 2007. This time we went through it during family worship and found it to be a really useful training resource for working through sibling rivalry and other forms of conflict. Many of the ideas in the book are probably too much for a child under 6 to grasp, but all of the children enjoyed the role play and stories.

This is a great resource for a family to use and re-use. We'll probably go through it every other year or so for many years to come.

"My wife and children are killing me" and it's the best thing that could happen

This is an excellent post for fathers and those who love them. It's an excerpt from Andrew Peach's post at First Things's On the Square blog.

Most fathers-to-be suppose that their old ego-centered lives will continue more or less unabated after the child arrives. With the exception of a few more obstacles and demands on their time, their involvement with their children is envisioned as being something manageable and marginal. Nothing like a complete transformation—an abrupt end to their former life—really enters men’s minds.

But then the onslaught begins, and a man begins to realize that these people, his wife and children, are literally and perhaps even intentionally killing his old self. All around him everything is changing, without any signs of ever reverting back to the way they used to be. Into the indefinite future, nearly every hour of his days threatens to be filled with activities that, as a single-person or even a childless husband, he never would have chosen. Due to the continual interruptions of sleep, he is always mildly fatigued; due to long-term financial concerns, he is cautious in spending, forsaking old consumer habits and personal indulgences; he finds his wife equally exhausted and preoccupied with the children; connections with former friends start to slip away; traveling with his children is like traveling third class in Bulgaria, to quote H.L. Mencken; and the changes go on and on. In short, he discovers, in a terrifying realization, what Dostoevsky proclaimed long ago: “[A]ctive love is a harsh and fearful reality compared with love in dreams.” Fatherhood is just not what he bargained for.

Yet, through the exhaustion, financial stress, screaming, and general chaos, there enters in at times, mysteriously and unexpectedly, deep contentment and gratitude. It is not the pleasure or amusement of high school or college but rather the honor and nobility of sacrifice and commitment, like that felt by a soldier. What happens to his children now happens to him; his life, though awhirl with the trivial concerns of children, is more serious than it ever was before. Everything he does, from bringing home a paycheck to painting a bedroom, has a new end and, hence, a greater significance. The joys and sorrows of his children are now his joys and sorrows; the stakes of his life have risen. And if he is faithful to his calling, he might come to find that, against nearly all prior expectations, he never wants to return to the way things used to be.

You can read the whole thing here.

Celebrating that blissful day

A dozen roses, an exchange of cards, a quiet dinner (to be followed by a quiet night we hope), this is how we celebrate our 15th.

Worship without the "kickin' band"

The popular internetmonk blog received a loud response when he lamented the approach to corporate worship found within much of evangelicalism--"an approach that demands ridiculous levels of musical, technical and financial commitment and resources".

His points are worth serious reflection; here are a few.

"We have a lot of happy people right now. They have no idea what Biblical worship is outside of the context of their favorite songs played by a kickin’ band."

"We have tied ourselves to the Christian music industry and its endless appetite for change and profit.

"We have accepted that all of our worship leaders are going to be very, very young people."

"Worship is now a major audience event, led by skilled entertainers, aimed at a demographic and judged by the audience reaction."

"Let’s worship means the band will play. We need to give more time to worship doesn’t mean silent prayer or public scripture reading or any kind of participatory liturgy. It means music."

"Even singing is getting lost in this. As the volume and the performance level goes up, who knows who is singing?"

The elders at our church would be the first to tell you that our corporate worship has room for improvement. But what we are after is better congregational singing (i.e. more joyful and reverent). We're very thankful that our congregation isn't interested in the approach found in most evangelical churches today.

Parenting older children

Here's a link (audio and notes) for the best talk on parenting of older children (tweens and up) that I've heard. The speaker, Bob Kauflin*, manages to condense the wisdom of several great parenting books into one address and weave in stories from his own experience raising six children.

I highly recommend the audio.

*Bob Kauflin is a pastor and worship leader in a Sovereign Grace church.

Growth in grace

Here's a pretty helpful syllogism:

1. The #1 goal in life is to grow in grace.
2. Growth in grace happens by increasing the use of the "ordinary means of grace" (Word, sacraments, and prayer).
3. Therefore I should always want more of the ordinary means of grace.

Darth Double Dogs

Zeke is not the only one in the family to relish hot dogs (...forgive me). Isaiah has been enamored with a Star Wars cookbook recipe that turns a couple of dogs into Darth Maul's weapon of choice. (You're not really surprised, are you, to hear that there is a Star Wars cookbook?)

The good thing about 8 AM swimming lessons

Daddy & daughter tea

Grace and I enjoyed an afternoon tea at St James Tea Room near Old Town Albuquerque.

The two hour reservation allows plenty of time for conversation, tea, and enjoying the kitchen's creations. We were delighted to discover that the art in this little nook was from the brush of Lynn Hartenberger, a friend from church!

With Grace's 10th birthday coming up I was able to lay some important framework on modesty, dating, and peer pressure before she forms her own opinions (with the culture's help). The tea room website even offers some talking points to help us dads along.

The spiritual lives of busy moms

Modern Reformation ran a good article by a mom of two younglings about feeling like a second-class Christian. I'm sorry it's not available on-line without an account, but I think a summary may still be helpful.

Moms' days are filled with sippy cups, bottles, diapers, Elmo, crayons, chores, church activities, and occasional moments of coveted nap-time solitude. Their individual spiritual practices? Let's just say they don't involve hours spent alone under the trees with their Bible.

How can they stay spiritually healthy, much less grow in grace, without quiet time and the spiritual disciplines?

Conventional advice recommends two or three minutes of Bible reading, a little bit of journaling, a snatch of prayer, etc. All helpful suggestions. But something really big is missing from this counsel and much of evangelicalism.

Here's the key question, who is responsible for sanctification? Ultimately it's not up to us. Self-betterment has nothing to do with sanctification, even when the attempts are to better ourselves spiritually.

Thus sanctification is not a work you undertake through various methods and disciplines, but an amazing act of God's grace. You simply turn to him in your brokenness and receive from him the treasure of grace. This is fundamentally different from believing that it is up to you to cultivate spiritual growth through the faithful practice of spiritual disciplines.

So, if it's not ultimately up to you to assure your own growth in Christ, then how do you grow spiritually? Do you just sit around waiting for God to do something?

When we look to the early church members' own practice, they "devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer" (Acts 2:42). In other words, they listened to the Word preached in fellowship with other believers and reflected on it; they made it a priority to be there when the church celebrated the Lord's Supper; and they were consistent in prayer-not just on their own, but with other believers.

These are the "means of grace"--the places where we can expect God to meet us, and the manner in which we know he will sanctify us. Your spiritual life is shaped by meeting with God in the presence of his people and hearing the Word preached by someone set apart to preach it.

You are not sentenced to second-class status in the Kingdom of God because you are a busy mom. The Lord is faithful and he has promised to complete the work he began in you (Phil. 1:6).

Pig Roast!

The Newnams have proven again to be "good people". They opened their home and acerage and roasted 80 pounds of pork to provide a great time of fellowship for our church family.

I didn't do too well documenting the great time we all had, but hopefully other church blogs will make up for my lack of photos. One picture I wish I would have thought to take was Zeke asleep in the car before I even started the engine to head home. That's a sign of a good time!

Why Memorial Day is Worth Remembering

Pastor Kevin DeYoung on why Memorial Day is worth remembering:

"This may be controversial to some, but I believe the facts of history will demonstrate that on the whole, the United States military has been a force for good in the world. Obviously, as a military power, we have blundered at times, both individually and corporately. But on the whole, the men and women of our armed services have fought and are fighting for causes that promote freedom, defend the rights of human beings, and reject tyranny. War is still hell and a tragic result of the fall. Praise God for his promise to one day end all human conflict. But in a world where people are evil by nature and leaders are not always reasonable and countries do not always have good intentions, war is sometimes the way to peace–at least the best peace we can hope for between peoples and nations this side of heaven.

So thank God for a day to remember God’s common grace to America and his special grace in enlisting us, poor weak soldiers that we are, in service to Christ our Captain and conquering King."

Read the whole thing.

Graduation Celebration

I commend my wife for another fine year schooling the children. Besides a little help from me, we were also assisted this year by RGES (1 day of classes per week for Eli) and Oak Grove (2 days per week for Grace and Isaiah). Next year we plan to continue with RGES for Eli and Grace.

To celebrate the end of the school year (we finished yesterday) we did Charles E. Cheese, Chick-Fil-A, a park, and then the library for a fresh supply of books. We finished the day off with a free dinner at the Officer's Club. It was family night and they had a kid's buffet, a clown, games, and prizes. Faith was excited to win!



Kristin also had the bright idea of having the children set goals for this summer. We hope that provides some good motivation for all of us.

9 signs of life

I've enjoyed reading a letter a day from the pen of one of the great Scottish puritan Presbyterians. The Letters of Samuel Rutherford (1660-1661) were mostly written during his imprisonment for the sake of the Gospel.

This excerpt from my reading today provides a good example of the richness of 17th-century devotional literature:

Loving Brother, Hold fast Christ without wavering, and contend for the faith. You may put a difference betwixt you and reprobates (those without Christ), if you have these marks,

1. If ye prize Christ and his truth so as ye will sell all and buy him, and suffer for it.

2. If the love of Christ keepeth you back from sinning, more than the law, or fear of Hell.

3. If ye be humble, and deny your own will, wit, credit, ease, honor, the world, and the vanity and glory of it.

4. Your profession must not be barren and void of good works.

5. Ye must in all things aim at God's honor; ye must eat, drink, sleep, buy, sell, sit, stand, speak, pray, read, and hear the word, with a heart-purpose that God may be honored.

6. Ye must show yourself an enemy to sin, and reprove the works of darkness, such as drunkenness, swearing, and lying, albeit the company should hate you for so doing.

7. Keep in mind the truth of God, that ye heard me teach, and have nothing to do with the corruptions and new guises entered into the house of God.

8. Make conscience of your calling (as a Christian), in covenants, in buying and selling.

9. Acquaint yourself with daily praying; commit all your ways and actions to God, by prayer, supplication, and thanksgiving; and count not much of being mocked; for Christ Jesus was mocked before you.

Congratulations!

He's too modest to just blurt it out, but Justin was recently named a Distinguished Graduate of Squadron Officer School! This is a high honor in the Air Force and sets him apart from most of his peer group. Way to go, Justin!

Parenting a Child's Heart

Paul Tripp in a recent interview was asked these practical questions.

Is there a valid way to use guilt and threats to motivate good behavior? Yes...(more)

Is it ever OK to use "materialistic rewards" for immediate, temporary needs, such as keeping your child quiet for the next 10 minutes in church? Sure...(more)

For some more great parenting advice, read the classic by his brother, Tedd Tripp.

When pastors knew their office

The Gospel Ministry is remarkable in that this 18th century ordination sermon given by an obscure, young man now serves as a judgment sign upon 21st century pastorates.

Foxcroft understood faithfulness to God in a minister's character, preaching, care for a flock, the needs of souls, diligence in selflessness, and the source of strength. He served faithfully in the same church from the time of his ordination until his death.

I'm grateful that Soli Deo Gloria re-published this handsome little book; it's a needful reminder about the office of pastor.

Happy Mother's Day!

Dedicated to my amazing wife...

HT: Steppin Heavenward