The Corrosion Effect

“I’ll be happy to stay with the class until the she arrives,” I offered.  My child’s elementary teacher was running late from an early morning meeting and hadn’t made it back to the classroom in time to greet the students.  No biggee.  As a parent, I am certainly capable of monitoring 20 young students while they unpack backpacks and prepare for the morning’s lessons.  It would only be a matter of minutes before the teacher arrived. This would be  easy – or so I thought.

Hi, My Name is John

She lied to me.  She stood right there in front of me and lied.  When I warned her she better tell the truth or I’d have to give her consequences, she looked me in the eye . . . and lied.  And I wanted to cry.

There are so many times as a parent that I feel ineffective.  No matter the consequence, no matter the number of times we address the issue, there are just some places in my child’s heart that I can not seem to reach.  As my daughter quickly reaches her teenage years, those unreachable places seem more and more out of grasp.

Being vs. Doing

I am sitting on an airplane, physically and emotionally spent, returning home from the hospital bedside of my father.  After a week in the cardiac wing, he will be released within the next few days.  But we are far from sure that he leaves with hopes of better health.  My brother will stay behind to assure he adjusts to home life and a new medical regiment and diet while I fly home to wait, pray, and care for my family.  As I stare out the window at the passing clouds, I don’t know if this is a new beginning or the beginning of the end.

Trust . . . in Word or in Deed? (Part 2)

This week, as we continue to look at the basic elements of developing our “trust” in God, I’d like to summarize what I have found in my own search for answers. If you are just joining us, you may want to read my previous post which introduced the question, “How do you trust God, practically speaking?” In other words, how do you develop a trust in God in an area of your life where none exists?

When I want answers that stand the test of time and circumstance as well as surpass the wisdom of men, I turn to the only place that has proven itself as reliable: Scripture. A simple word search on Biblegateway.com was all it took to reveal several pertinent pieces of information. Let’s look at them together.

Trust . . . In Word or In Deed?

Recently someone posed a question to me that I’ve found rather difficult to answer.  Given the astute nature and the sharp intellect of my readers, I thought I’d share this brain-teaser with you.  So, strap on your theological/philosophical thinking caps, limber up your typing fingers, and let’s see where this takes us.

When faced with a troubling issue or circumstance, it is not uncommon as a Christian to receive advice encouraging a greater “faith in God.”  But, practically speaking, it is not as simple as it seems.  “Faith”, or to more simply put it, “trust” is one of those intangible concepts that is evident in it’s results, maybe even definable in it’s necessity, but how do you put words to it’s invocation?  To create trust where trust does not exist is a perplexing practice.  Which bring us to our question: How do you “trust God,” practically speaking?  How do you instruct someone in the art of “growing your faith?”

Doodlebugs

This fall, my girls and I explored a nearby farm with a group of friends.  Sweet Berry Farm is family friendly place where you can paint pumpkins, enjoy hayrides, feed animals, pick flowers, and meander through corn stalk mazes.  With a picnic lunch in tow, we made a day of fun traipsing from activity to activity.  We collected memories and grew friendships.  What more could we ask for?  Well, maybe the goats in the tree were a little more than we asked for, but they simply added to the unforgettable moments of the day.

A Decision of Trust

I was attempting a left-hand turn onto a busy thoroughfare without a traffic signal.

As traffic whizzes by at 50 miles per hour, I ask myself what I was thinking.  My saving grace: a center lane dividing the cross-traffic that might act as a temporary haven before I fully merge.  Time for a plan.  If I could make it to that center lane without being T-boned or cut off by drivers accessing that lane for their own purposes, I might have a chance of making it home in decent time.

I see an open opportunity from the left and pull quickly to the center lane.  Safe . . . for the moment.  Now I need to gauge the traffic coming behind and to my right while watching the traffic ahead in order to merge without being hit or rear ending someone else.  As I watch my mirrors, searching for a gap, a semi-truck flashes his headlights signaling that it is OK to pull in front of him.  I thought the choices I had made this far were challenging.  Now I am faced with another, a decision of trust . . . .

Freedom from Fear

There are dog families and there are cat families. We are a dog family, no question.

We currently have a maltese-poodle mix. In Luby-Lu world, he is Buddy-Boo, more than a pet – a beloved part of our family. By human standards, he is a spoiled baby and by doggie standards . . . he’s pretty much a spoiled baby, too.

But this story isn’t about him. It’s about his friend, Lizzie-Lu. Lizzie-Lu belongs to a family, friends of ours, that adopted her from a shelter when she was about 1 year old. Her poodle ancestry is evident both in her features and her demeanor – energetic, intellegent, vocal, and high-strung. But, I believe, her early upbringing may have created some characteristics that work against her.