Older posts 2010-2011

From Job 21

23 One man dies in full vigor, completely secure and at ease,

24 his body well nourished, his bones rich with marrow.

25 Another man dies in bitterness of soul, never having enjoyed anything good.

26 Side by side they lie in the dust, and worms cover them both.

MONDAY, MARCH 1, 2010
Kids, Parenting, and Bears, Oh My!
Anyone who knows us, knows the my weakest link is parenting. We have struggled with that over the last several years. The struggle continues. Like the book of Job suggests and Ecclesiastes suggests there are things God knows that we do not. Maybe it is best to not ask some of the questions. I don't struggle too much with what is God doing in Barbs life or mine. But I do struggle with what He is doing in our kids lives via this accident. My belief in Gods sovereign providence is extends to ALL. This accident is not His accident, but within His sovereign will for Barb and I. But also for our kids and all those around us.

I cannot understand much of what He is doing-but for the kids and parenting them, I understand nothing. Has this been an opportunity for growth that I have failed them? Is it their failure? How does being further handicapped in parenting help? How does Hannah fit into all this? We believe God sent her to us-but are we failing her? We cannot physically parent all these kids like we feel we need to. We certainly see no positive parenting results. We do not see where He is going with this-we sure can't cooperate with where He leads.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 8, 2011
Thanks
Last week, the day before our oldest was to leave to go back to college we were getting ready to have a special family meal. We often do special meals for birthdays or occasions (graduations, etc) and either go out to eat or have something really good (i.e. expensive) at home. This time we were having boiled snow crab legs and shrimp-something Matt and others (except Sarah) really like.

Anyway things were the usual around here, so after we all sat down I said, "We are going to do something different today. Instead of praying and thanking God for the food, we are going to complain to Him. Then when we are done doing that we will eat and be thankful the rest of the day." I received a few "say what?" looks.

But wouldn't God prefer that we are ungrateful to Him for 5 minutes each day then grateful to those around us the other 23 hours and 55 minutes?

When I said this the kids all looked at me weird. Maybe Barb did to. I did not end up offering a prayer of grumbling to God. But maybe I should have. How can we complain every waking moment, then thank God for our food three times a day. Often both before and after the prayer I hear "You KNOW I don't like beans (or this or that)."

What is this source of ungratefulness? Generally I believe I am grateful. Maybe I am blind to my ungratefulness. My wife also is usually grateful-well except with certain cyclical exceptions.