Cha Ching

I hit the jackpot today.

I was looking for something to engage my mind as I was cleaning the floors and windows when I stumbled upon Peter Kreeft's website. Click here for some mind calisthenics.

What better to break the monotony of our often brain dead cultural routines than some thoughts from a great Catholic philosopher? There are a lot of great downloads on the audio page for different topics that might pique your interest (i.e. pro-life arguments, C.S. Lewis insights, sex, heaven, arguments for God's existence...a little something for everyone).

Here's the opening page of the website...

Augustine tells of a vision of seeing a little boy at a beach scooping up the ocean thimbleful by thimbleful and emptying it out on the sand. Then he sees an angel who tells him that this boy will have emptied out the entire ocean long before Augustine has exhausted what can be said about God.

This site's Featured Writings and Featured Audio about the ocean of God's love are only a few thimblefuls. No—less. For God's love is literally infinite. It is the shoreless sea we are destined to swim in, surf in, and grow in forever.

Under the Mercy,

Peter J. Kreeft

I just found out that he will likely be our speaker for the Veritas Forum that we'll be hosting at Iowa State in February. I'm looking forward to spending some time with him and being a sponge for a couple bitterly cold Iowa days.

Here's the youtube link I listened to while cleaning the floors. There's not really much to watch, just visualization stuff...

On a philosophically related note- For those of you who remember Plato's "forms", I saw this car and cracked up. It's the car I drew as an artistically challenged first grader. It's the purest and most ideal form of "car".

Potty Training

I came home to find something brown in the middle of our yard.

On a related note, Makai was so happy to take me out back to show me something when I walked in the house.

As far as Makai's concerned, our backyard is one big, grassy, fenced in toilet. With a play set.

Leatha wouldn't let me throw it in the compost.

Update from Asia

I can't say where because we want to protect our workers overseas. But we have a team of college students in the country where the Olympics took place in 2008. Another hint- it's a big country in East Asia. Anyway, I knew I could count on Ben Hunt for some hilarious updates from the front lines...

"My final thought, the funniest thing of the week. So, one of our [insert country] brothers, Robby, came to hang out with us at our apartment. He sat on the couch next to Jase, whose belly was hanging out to combat the heat of our city (it's VERY hot and sticky). Robby looked at it and asked “Can I touch it?” (everyone in [insert country] is ridiculously skinny). Robby put his hand on Jase’s tummy and gave it a tender squeeze. He then looked up at us, smiled, and said “it is very comfortable.”

Now Jase finishing the story…

After Robby said my belly was very comfortable, he said, “You have a lot of…what is it called?”

“Fat?” I replied.

“No, not fat, the material between your skin and…”

“Fat,” I said, “It’s called fat.”

“No, do you have a dictionary?” He asked. I gave him my iPod which you can write Chinese characters on to look them up. I watched him write a Chinese word then hit search. The result: Body Fat. Robby continued to argue that body fat is not the same as fat.

Ben and Jase, I'll be laughing all afternoon about that. I'm not sure the world is ready for you guys...

The Smart or Stupid Game

Tonight when I was praying my usual bed time Psalm over the kids (click here for more on that), I hit the brakes on my prayer mid-sentence, as I realized it wasn't so age appropriate.

I think it was when I got to the part of my prayer that went, "...and Lord, help the kids not to be stupid idiots who live in rebellion to You..."

My next words were, "Never call someone a stupid idiot. But let's talk about what stupid idiots do." 

I then went on to play the "smart or stupid" game. I made it up, but it's not very original...

Me: "Smart or Stupid... Jimmy really likes Jane, so he kisses her."

Ava, Cameron, Beck: "Stupid"

Makai: "Sooopid"

Me: "Smart or Stupid... Jessica sees something she wants in the store, so she takes it without paying for it. She steals."

Ava, Cameron, Beck: "Stupid"

Makai: "Sooopid"

Me: "... Everyone is making fun of a kid who is sitting alone at lunch, so Brian goes over and sits by him and asks if he wants to play at recess."

Ava, Cameron, Beck: "Smart"

Makai: "Mart"

I realized they were a little too black and white, so I added some moral ambiguity...

Me: "... Someone keeps cutting in line during kick-ball, so you run in and tell your parents."

Cameron, Beck: pause "Smart"

Ava: "No, it's stupid, because they need to work it out with the person before they tell an adult."

Makai: confused

Me: "Yep, Ava is right. Work things out with the person before running to tell on them."

Then I threw this in just to see if they remembered what sex is:

Me: "...Johnny has sex with a girl who is not his wife." 

Beck: pause as he looks at Ava and Cameron for a clue.

Ava and Cameron: "Stupid!"

Beck: "Stupid" 

Makai: "Soopid"

I guess the moral of the story is don't be soopid.

Spiritual Dryness and Free Book

Great post about it from my friend Ed (click here). Warning: it ends with a shameless plug for the Leadership Summit.

Every dad needs to read this short book by Mark Driscoll (click here). It's free and a quick read. I couldn't sleep tonight so I read it all from about 4:30 to 5:20 am. He made some extremely helpful points.

An American Tragedy

A couple years ago, Leatha and I enjoyed spending an hour of our Monday nights watching a fun loving couple, Jon and Kate, raise their 8 children (twins and sextuplets). Last year, we slowly lost interest and stopped watching. We noticed that something was changing about this family.

Tonight we watched about 15 minutes of the show to find out that Jon and Kate were getting a divorce. Another American tragedy- for many reasons...

1. The recent explosion of communication mediums has been an incubator for narcissism and cult of personality. 

But in our present age, the heroes worshiped are normal people, not dictators. 

One of my mentors, David Churchill, who taught me how to watch movies, told me that the most prophetic movie of our time is the Truman Show. There is profound depth to the movie, but the basic story is people watching other people live. 

Spending our time watching other people live...what have we become? What have I become? (After all, I was one of those 20 million viewers...)

2. The "me" generation knows nothing about faithfulness and sacrifice

Jon and Kate looked like they had turned into a couple of teenagers- Kate with her new immodest wardrobe, and Jon with his earrings and skull tshirt (which had replaced the Isaiah t) arguing over such pettiness. 

Kate talked about how she feared they would be labeled as just another statistic. I think her real fear is that there will be consequences for their sin. There always is. And what is more... her kids will inherit the consequences of her unfaithfulness.

If you happen to be reading this and you have thought about divorce as an option for your current situation... send that thought back to hell. Don't say it or even think it. 

"Let love and faithfulness never leave you. Bind them around your neck. Write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and men." Proverbs 3:3-4

3. "Better a little..."

We live in a culture of much. But wealth is such a trap. 

At some point the show went from a nice way to document their children's upbringing to "We're going to Hawaii...moving into a ??? million dollar home...traveling the U.S. to autograph books..." 

A mother of 8 on a book signing tour?

We look at people like that and are tempted to think, "They have it all and they are happy. Why can't I have that kind of life?"

If you're struggling with that, just watch the Madame Blueberry Veggie Tale DVD and remind yourself what great gain really is.

1 Timothy 6 and Proverbs 15 are well worth reflecting on. 

4. To the singles out there...

If you're dreaming about a great marriage someday, here's some advice: Be faithful today. Be pure today. Love God in a way that He's all you want and need today. 

In doing this, you will become a kind of person. 

You'll become the kind of person that is faithful and walks on a path of righteousness. 

You may have watched Jon and Kate and thought, "It can happen to anyone of us. Satan just snuck around the corner and zapped them. It could be me next." 

Not really. 

Over time they decided to let greed, fame, selfishness, pride, pleasure, and unfaithfulness turn their hearts from Matthew 6:33 "Seek first...". 

Those sins were welcomed into their home one compromise at a time. At some sad point, those 32 year old teenagers I was watching tonight opened wide the door of destruction, becoming another American tragedy. 

"God, reveal to me the ways in which I've allowed apathy, complacency, lukewarm faith, and languid service to creep into my soul. Release in me a longing for the unseen, where Christ is all in all. Guide me on a path of righteousness for Your name's sake, chasing me with goodness and mercy, leading me not into temptation. Give me a dangerous faith that involves sacrificial love-first for my wife and children, and then to those you put in my path. I am a sinner saved by grace. And in grace I will now stand. Amen."