Song for Today

There's a peace I've come to know
Though my heart and flesh may fail
There's an anchor for my soul
I can say "It is well"

Jesus has overcome
And the grave is overwhelmed
The victory is won
He is risen from the dead

[Chorus:]
And I will rise when He calls my name
No more sorrow, no more pain
I will rise on eagles' wings
Before my God fall on my knees
And rise
I will rise

There's a day that's drawing near
When this darkness breaks to light
And the shadows disappear
And my faith shall be my eyes

I was drawn to confess my lack of faith this morning during the worship service. I have not been seeing my world through faith filled eyes. I confessed my faithless worry to my Father and He filled my heart with peace and the comfort that His love is better and more sure than anything I can concoct or scheme. He spoke to me through the image of me falling on my knees before Him in humility and Him bringing me in and up toward Him in love. How could I doubt a God who has always taken care of me so well. Thank you Lord for your presence and message today. On this Thanksgiving weekend, it is You I am most thankful for.

Blogging Break

Eric reminded me tonight that it's been a long time since I've blogged. Well, you know the old, "when you don't have anything good to say..."
Yeah, that's been me lately.
It's not that life isn't great. It really is. We are so blessed. Healthy kids. Amazing kids. Jobs that provide what we need. Loving family and friends. A beautiful thriving marriage and a peaceful home. Meaningful ministry experiences etc. So why the blogging drought?

Usually, when I write, it has to be about what is occupying my head, heart and hands at the core. When I try to write about the periphery of my being, it ends up sounding fake and contrived- write, read, press delete, go to bed.
Such has been the routine for the past month.
So what is at the core these days? Just my own impatience. That's all. Its God working on me during our early morning jogs together. It sounds something like this, plodding along in the chilly, fall darkness.

"Less of me God, more of You. Less of me God, more of You. Teach me to love God, let them see You. Less of me God, more of You." Over and over and over. I've tried other words, and they don't seem right.
The rhythm of my feet, my breath, these thoughts, my heart, the fading stars, the growing dawn, it all seems to fit.

Then throughout my day... when I've tried to give the same set of 5 minute directions to a group of 30, 13 year olds 5 times in a row and they can't seem to close their mouths long enough to listen to one simple set of directions, when the multitude of their voices drowns out any hope of us getting through the carefully planned and prepared lesson, when the 15th person asks me 'what page?' and it's written on the board behind me. "Less of me God, more of You."

When yet another teeny girl looks at me with her naive brown eyes and snaps, "I'm not doin this. Its dumb" and she's the 4th one that day... "Less of me God, more of You."

When a gangsta-wanna-be who had been doing so well suddenly stops coming to school then returns and has as much interest in school work as I have in earthworms and I just want to cry for him... "Less of me God, more of You."

That's it. For a whole month, that's all I've had to say that wouldn't be pride, impatience, whining, groaning, or fake.
Prayers are always appreciated. :)

Adventures of a Stay-at-Home Dad

I wanted to post some pictures I have captured in my time staying at home with the boys the last couple of months. The boys are getting big and do and say SO many funny things. It always keeps life interesting and I can't imagine loving three boys any more than I love my boys!

Here is Isaiah's costume before he insisted on being the "White Shadow." You can't really see the tears beginning to smear his face paint but he is DEFINITELY NOT happy.

If you look carefully you can see that Elijah is laying on the floor with the phone resting on his ear. He must have gotten tired of holding it while he was talking to his Nana. I didn't think this long term talking innovation happened until adolescence. He must be advanced.

But this is where I found him talking on the phone with it resting on his ear. He is laying under Micah's bed.

Would you ever think that THIS homework page would be the incentive? These are the pages we have to save until last for Micah because these are the pages he wants to do. Who is this child!?

This is Micah suffering through the pages he has to color and paste.

The boys spend most of their free time jumping on the trampoline and this time of year the static electricity is hair-raising. We have had a great summer, they are growing up and seeming so old this fall, and the I'm sure the winter has a lot of fun in store!