Reflecting Fatherhood

As I sit here typing away,my slightly chubby little son is intensely inspecting some weird toy that is designed to maintain the interest of miniture humans.The designers of these toys figured out that a myriad of bright colors,a mirror,a blue elephant head with crinkly ears and a plastic star will hold the attention of a future man for a decent amount of time.Maybe they added some flavouring.He seems to enjoy sucking on it.I'll have to try it later when he's not watching.
What has grabbed my attention now,and the last five months,is this little boy.Ethan means "strong".And he is.He is my boy and as any new father I see all his finest attributes with all the shiny newness of life.At this age he smiles easy,cries easier and forgets quickly-except for that time a couple weeks ago when I didnt catch him before he fell off the ottoman onto his head.He "talked" about it for a solid hour relaying to me his dissapointment that I could be so negligent.But he forgave me.
Its amazing to me that I can be driving to work and be no farther than the stop sign on our street and miss the boy so much that it aches.Maybe I'll miss something that he does for the first time.Maybe he just needs Pops to be around.Maybe I just need to be around him.And Momma.How is it that this little guy who wakes us(or at least Momma)in the middle of the night,who defecates himself with a proud smile and demands to be held at the most inopportune times garners so much thought and love and effection?
Then Im reminded of another child.This child is bigger and hairier(though equally bald as Ethan).This child soils himself in sin and then demands of his Father a charmed life.My Father is patient and loving and faithful.He never lets me fall off the ottoman unless there is a lesson to be learned,growth to be had.He provides a perfect example to me of the standard for fatherhood.
His image commands me to reflect as accurately as possible His fatherhood to my son.

The crinkly blue elephant  has lost its appeal I must go and reflect The image.

Why ordinary saint?

It is somewhat of a misnomer,ordinarysaint.But I didnt choose this pseudonym without thinking about it.Because I didnt want you to read it without thinking about it.Everybody cant be extraordinary.If we were well,extraordinary would be ordinary.And maybe thats where Im leaning.There is something in everyones life that is not ordinary.

Therefore Ordinary

Saint.The Catholic view is that a saint is one who posseses extra holiness.Catholics generally have to wait for significant posthumous decomposition to be titled a saint.Christianity affords no such waiting period.We have the responsibility upon adoption.

Therefore Saint

Essentially there should be nothing ordinary about a saint.But we slog through life like everyone else.We get laid off,we lose friends,we fail as husbands and wives.We secretly enjoy breadsticks at Olive Garden way to much.
But we shouldnt slog.
The ordinary part is that we are human.
The extraordinary part is that we are saints.
The second should say more about us than the first.

Tailor Made Life

I may be slow.In fact I am slower to catch on than a slug swimming through cold molasses.But it dawned bright and sunny on me recently how much my life as been made for me.Yup,now you see how slow I am.
But wait,there's more.

You life has been made for you too(now you're beginning to wonder about me)

I dont think most of us really understand what Im saying though.We spend so much time trying to escape our lives or avoid the storyline,searching for someone elses plot.We have a bad work environment or a spouse that doesnt meet our expectations or "daddy wasnt there". But rarely do we ask "why?" Not why me? but why?The why-me's only look to the great life of everybody around them(not realizing that the "great lifers" are looking back at them thinking the same thing)and wonder why God stuck it to them so badly.
Instead shouldnt we ask what the reason is for our discontent?"What is God teaching me through this" instead of  "what can I do to get out of this situation" should be our question.
We miss out.And,I think,we often go thru' the same difficulty time and again when we only seek to escape it, not unlike the prisoner who is a month away from his release and decides to escape.When caught he is returned to his cell with even more time to spend incarcerated.Sometimes doing your time and understanding the real value in it is the only way to escape.I see you raising your hand with the What Abouts? What about the abusive husband,the lousy job,etc?My friend Capt.Obvious would state the uh,obvious here.Call the cops on the husband and turn in your applications for the better job and then sit down and consider how you were expected to grow and be growing thru' this.God is in the details.God does care.He is the helicopter parent always meddeling in our lives,rightly.He has knit us together and is the Orchastrator of our lives.While spinning this earthly basketball on His finger tips He is also designing your life and mine so that you and I may grow.Living life trying to escape it is like going to the corn maze and running around the outside till you reach the exit and exclaiming "TAAA-DAA! I made it!" If your feet didnt get muddy,if you didnt reach a dead end,if you didnt laugh then you didnt do the maze and you arent living.

If you are following me so far and still interested,do this exercize with me.Be warned,looking in the mirror closely reveals many bulbous zits.Look at your faults.Sin actually,for the sake of honesty.Lifes difficulties allow you to respond according to your weakness.Or Gods strength.The more often you look to Gods strength the more often you rely on it,adopting Gods character as your own.
Your life is not a cheap suit.Dont wear it as such.

Books Im reading..

I cant quite call it a "book review" but Im nearly a 100 pages in to the biography "Bonhoeffer:Pastor,Martyr,Prophet,Spy" by Eric Metaxas.Its pretty incredible reading about Bonhoeffers view of the German church of his day,the belief in cheap grace as he called it and his promotion and living out a costly grace.Im pretty impressed just reading of his ministry while in his early 20s and the maturity in which he handled working along side a less than enthused minister in a fledgling congregation.Im looking forward to reading more of his life and death and suspect that his life will challenge me in my spiritual walk.Check it out for yourself.

A couple more books that have encouraged (or in the last case,entertained) me:
If You Bite and Devour One Another by Alexander Strauch
So far a real good book handling conflict in the church body and relationships
Notes from the Tilt-O-Whirl By N.D. Wilson
What can I say but this will be required reading to my son as he is growing and required to read when he is able.Stop reading this and order Wilsons book.What are you still doing here?Go order Notes!
Valley of Vision Puritan Prayer book various authors
This prayer book has given me a real good insight of where I stand before my Creator
The Gun by Chris Childers
Yeah,you didnt expect to see this after all those^ but this is a pretty good history of  the gun that has been instrumental in building up and tearing down dictators and regimes since 1947 thee AK47

Here Goes Something...

I never learned to swim.It wasnt without trying,but maybe lack of practise after training.I distinctly remember taking the final swim test in the second series of  swim classes.It was time to tread water in the deep end of the pool.I squeezed tightly to the side of the pool until the instructor gave me the "Go!"And I went...straight down.No amount of fluttering or kicking or near seizure like movements could keep my tiny head above water for more than a second or two.But in one of those brief seconds when I was able to breathe air and not h2o I was able to grasp the side of the pool and pull myself up."Good job!You passed!" was the instructors response to my near death experience.And I probably didnt go near water for several more years.But my lack of flotation knowledge hasnt stopped me.Ive been on a handful of guided whitewater trips through class 4 rapids and most recently a harrowing canoe trip down a frigid river with my also non-floating brother.I think we made it less than two miles before the loss of property and safe body tempurature convinced us to portage our canoe by truck to meet the rest of our party downriver.

Why do I mention this?What is the point of this admission of lack of water bourne ability? I liken it to many things we DONT do in life.If I had decided to never venture into the water because my breast stroke was not in good form(or my doggy paddle was ineffective)I would have missed out on some seriously great adventure.In fact,if I had been a decent swimmer it would have taken from the experience of trying.So many of lifes adventures would not be adventures at all if we had known every variable,every turn or every tiger in the grass.One of my newfound favorite authors (N.D. Wilson,so credit goes where it is due) encourages us to embrace the calloused hands that come with the hard work of adventure,with living the life given us by our Author.Dont sit on the sidelines just because you dont know how to throw the ball.Any body can tackle-its like involving someone in one madcap tumble.
What is worthy of adventure?What crazyness should we jump into with both feet?For me,for those of us that believe in our Creator,it should be serving Him.For those that dont believe,start.You dont have to understand everything perfectly,just start-now!
Christian,there is great reward to serving Christ in faith.We may not know everything,fact is we dont,but discipling others is a great way to grow and grow others in the Faith.Don't wait until you've "arrived" because you never will.Don't wait until you can swim.Jump in the canoe,put on a life jacket and grab a paddle because Baby,we're going places!