One great day

Yesterday was one of the best days of my life. I spent some serious man-time with Nate during the day and got to baptize both him and Anna in the evening. The whole thing started out innocently enough with Anna asking to get baptized. She's asked several times about baptism over the past year, but we told her she needed to wait until she was seven. Yes, its somewhat arbitrary, but we decided that although all three of our kids accepted Christ at such a young age (the girls at four, Nate at five) that we'd make them all wait until they were seven to get baptized. Naturally, once Anna brought it up, Nate asked about it as well, which was interesting since he's never really mentioned it before. Anyway, we settled on the details (June 21 at the Saturday night service at church) and everyone was excited. Then we realized that Disney's newest pre-teen hit Camp Rock was scheduled to be released the night before. Now, I could care less about Walt Disney, but Alyssa was excited, so we arranged for her two cousins (Ava and Olivia) to come up from Commerce, OK to watch it with her and spend the night. That's when things got interesting.


With the girls coming over to spend the night, the plan was to send them home with family the next day after the baptism. Great plan, but there was a flaw: Nate. I love my son too much to abandon him to a day long estrogen festival. At this age, he needs some man-time. So I talked it over with him and we formulated our own plan. Friday night we watched Pirates of the Caribbean. Good movie, even if it is a little old for him. Then on Saturday, while the girls giggled and played dress up and had tea parties and all other sorts of fluffy fun, we went to Prairie State Park and hiked the Drover's Trail. It was a blast. Eighty-five degree heat, no trees, no water but what you carry in, and bison. Yes, bison. Huge, hairy, manly bison. And let me just add that there is no such thing as a girly bison. The bulls are over a thousand pounds, and even the cows are intensely manly, if for no other reason than that they can kill you if you play with them.


Anyway, our adventure started out with a close encounter with the bison. The herd was hanging out on the trail, so we approached with caution hoping that when they sensed our presence they would move. I was surprised at close we could get without startling them... And for the most part, the plan worked perfectly. The only exception is that when they did finally move, they moved in our direction! Not good.


"Nate, move faster!"


They weren't charging us, they were just curious about who we were. But when you're only seventy-five feet away, its still a bit scary to see about a million pounds of muscle and horns coming right at you. So as they meandered directly toward our position, we beat a hasty retreat back to the visitor's center which was the longest quarter mile I've ever had to travel. Since the Drover's trail is a loop, we decided to travel in the opposite direction and hope the bison had moved on when we got back to that point.



Did I mention that there is ZERO shade on the Drover's Trail? There are however, prairie chickens. I've never seen a prairie chicken, but we found three on our hike, which was really cool since they wait until you're almost on top of them before they break cover. The second one was so close when it took off that Nate and I were both startled enough to take a step back. Then an amazing thing happened; Nate found a chick. A prairie chick. That's just unheard of. We could go back on that trail a thousand times and not see it. I walked right over it. I think any adult would, but Nate's still pretty close to the ground, so he spotted the movement right away. I caught it and we took a picture with it... beautiful. The staff at the visitor's center was astounded. They asked for a copy of the picture.


By the time we got back to the place where the bison had blocked the trail, they'd moved on, so we had a clear shot to the visitor's center. The prairie was beautiful.



The prairie was also hot and muggy. We'd been on that trail for about two hours in the heat of the day and we here scorched, so our next stop was the creek that runs through the park. We soaked our feet, drank some water (I filtered it first!) and just relaxed for a bit before getting back in the car and heading for home. On the way out we stopped to help a box turtle cross the road. I love turtles. So does Nate. And, honestly, none of our adventure would have been worth it if he hadn't been there to share it with. I hope we can have many more outdoor adventures like it in the future.


The rest of the afternoon was pretty uneventful, but church was great. Pastor John brought a great message, Lloyd and the band were ON, and, of course, the whole family (Mandi's side) was there to watch the baptism. Anna and Nate did fantastic. The only hitch was that we got confused as to where the person taking pictures should stand, so all we got was their backs. Oh well. Being able to baptize your own children is one of life's greatest blessings. It's hard to describe, but it feels like you've done something right. And I don't mean that you didn't drown them, I mean that for the duration of their little lives it feels like, as a parent, you're not a complete failure. I think you have to have kids of your own to understand what I mean by that. Anyhow, I can't wait to see who they become as Christ molds their lives. Thank you, Jesus, for a fantastic day.

Tiger Woods: Human?

Now, like most rational human beings on planet Earth, I am a monotheist; Southern Baptist by flavor. Let me just say that up front. But has anyone noticed that Tiger Woods seems to be something other than human? I mean, he's won 10 of his last 13 tournaments on a ruptured ACL, hasn't finished worst than 5th in any of them, and just stole his 3rd U.S. Open on a fractured tibia. I'm not saying he's a god, but that certainly challenges the limits of believability if you think he's human. I'm not a golf fan by any stretch of the imagination, but Tiger is simply a joy to watch. I mean, really, if God did play golf, how much better could He be? Which brings up an interesting point. I know Jesus was fully man and fully God, but was He fully Tiger? At this point I'm not sure.

Not that Tiger deserves to be worshipped, that would be a sin. Idolatry to be exact. So I guess I'm not really sure how to deal with him. Should we admire him for being such an incredible golfer? Or should we shun him for slumming around here on earth, masquerading as a real person, when he should be off on some other planet or in some other dimension with others of his kind.

I wonder if, wherever he's really from, he's such a good golfer there?

Mormons. Wow.

"I have more to boast of than ever any man had. I am the only man
that has even been able to keep a whole church together since the days of
Adam. A large majority of the whole have stood by me. Neither Paul,
John, Peter, nor Jesus ever did it. I boast that no man ever did such a
work as I. The followers of Jesus ran away from Him; but the Latter-day
Saints never ran away from me yet."

--Joseph Smith, History of the Church

Jenni's note on "why"

My friend Jenni Perkins wrote this great blog on her facebook page and I wanted to save it because I believe she dead-on right.

THOUGHTS ON ASKING "WHY"

The question “Why?” is posed about 420 times in the Bible (according to The Strongest NASB Exhaustive Concordance). Some of the questions are directed to God from man, others to man from God, and still others between men.

We begin asking “Why?” at a very early age, usually as a toddler. It is in our human nature to want to know the reason or purpose for actions we must take or events that happen in our lives (or the lives of others). I remember a little boy I used to baby-sit, who is now driving, by the way… Wow, that makes me feel old! He was never satisfied with any answer I gave to his questions. Each answer was followed with another “why?”

“Why is the sky blue?”

“Because God made it that way.”

“Why?”

“Because He wanted to.”

“Why?”

“Because He thinks it’s a pretty color”

“Why?”

“Because…..”

“Why?”

“I don’t know.”

“Why?”

Eventually you can distract a 4-year-old with a toy or game and his inquisitive mind gives you peace for a time. However, as we get older, we become more persistent in ask “why?” Especially when we don’t understand the reason God allows certain situations that bring us grief or pain or lack the knowledge of purpose behind it. Thankfully, our Father is patient with us when we continue to question Him and comforts us with His Word. His answer is often a simple “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10).

In the Bible, Job’s questions with questions (and a bit of sarcasm) that bring the realization of the Lord’s supreme authority over all things.

God answers:“Would you discredit My justice? Would you condemn Me to justify yourself? Do you have an arm like God’s, and can your voice thunder like His? Then adorn yourself with glory and splendor, and clothe yourself in honor and majesty.” (Job 40:8-10)

Job replies:“I know that You can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted. You ask, ‘Who is this that obscures My counsel without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.”(Job 42:2-3)

I really like Job’s response. He humbly acknowledges God’s ability to do “all things” and his inability to understand the reason why God allows suffering. In the end, we may still have questions and they may never be answered to our satisfaction, yet, we must trust that God knows what He is doing. He created us and everything around us. He causes everything to work together for a purpose, even when we don’t know what it is. This is a difficult lesson to learn (and re-learn) during difficult times in our life. We so often want to be in control and want to know the “why” of everything. Sometimes we just have to trust.

I pray that my heart will be as the following verses—with earnest trust in our Father’s lovingkindness and faithfulness.

“LORD, my heart is not proud; my eyes are not haughty. I don’t concern myself with matters too great or too awesome for me to grasp. Instead, I have calmed and quieted myself, like a weaned child with its mother. Yes, like a weaned child is my soul within me. O Israel, put your hope in the Lord—now and always.”(Psalm 131)

Maybe God is trying to tell me something here, I don't know. I've been thinking a lot lately about the problem of evil, and read Jenni's blog only minutes after finding this passage in J.B. Phillips' You God Is Too Small:

Modern man has a lust for full explanation and habitually considers himself in no way morally bound unless he is in full possession of all the facts. Hence, of course, the prevalence of non-committal agnosticism. Yet it would seem that Christ, God-become-Man, did not give men a full explanation of the origin and operation of the evil forces in this world. (It is perfectly possible that in our present space-time existence we could not comprehend it, anyway.)

I think there's something in us, a hubris, that leads us to believe that we have the right to question God regarding evil. But honestly, whether it be the result of sinful actions (our own or someone else's), or some natural calamity, who are we to judge?

Of course, that doesn't mean that we'll never understand any of the evil that troubles us, occasionally we do understand and I believe we should always try to understand, but the idea that we can always understand, or that we have a right to understand... where does that come from? Certainly not the Bible.

Which leads us to our application. (After all, contemplation without application leads to constipation.) I guess, for me, the application is comfort. Not that I've suffered unduly in life, but I've been through my fair share of "evil" and I expect a lot more is coming, but I take comfort in the knowledge that although I will try to see the reasons behind it all, I don't have to understand it all. It helps me keep the world in a proper perspective, really. God is God. He's infinitely bigger that I am. He's infinitely smarter than I am. He's ultimately more wise than I am, and He's going to take care of everything. My life might never be the same. I might be completely shattered by circumstances, but He's not surprised, He's not in panic mode, He's in control. And yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I take comfort in the sure knowledge that evil is only a shadow. It will be cast away by the light of heaven where in the end all things are made new, right and holy. This life will be marked by suffering and pain. Only a fool would deny that. If it hasn't come yet, it will. So the application comes in the hope of a future set apart, in the comfort of knowing that justice and healing will come in God's perfect time.