From time to time I will talk about my family on my blog and today I am going to talk about my wife. Some people don’t know that my wife left a paid ministry position to come to be my wife (which is not a paid position). She had been very involved in her church and youth for several years and she left all that to come down to Clarinda. She is very involved in our church in many ways. She helps in so many areas, and most of them are behind the scene things that no one sees except for God and occasionally myself. She is the vision behind all of our Christmas decorations and set up and and how wonderful our sanctuary looks. She loves to decorate and be creative even when it comes to wrapping silverware for things we do. She does so much at our church. She does it for God and because she wants to see God do great things at our church. I could not do what I am able to do down here without her. She has been such an amazing ministry partner. I would not want to be on this adventure with anyone else. The good thing is that even if people in church forget to, or I forget to acknowledge all of the wonderful things that she does, God sees them and He will reward her for everything one day. I wish I could be there on that day because the reward will be great and deserved. I haven’t even started to talk about how great of a job she does at home with Alora and in being married to me. I am blessed.
Everyone is going to go through highs and lows. Everyone is going to have great things happen in their lives. Everyone is going to have horrible things happen in their lives. What I have noticed is two responses.
As most of you know I went to Dallas last Friday through Sunday. Here is a quick recap of my trip. Friday morning we left at 6 and drove till 4. We got to Dallas and then we got all showered up and went to the Dallas Mavericks game. After the game we drove around to places, my favorite was the grassy knoll and the exact street JFK drove down when he was assassinated. (not that he was assassinated, but I drove down a street that has so much history) Saturday we got up and watched the Hawkeyes go 10-2. Then we drove around Dallas for a while. I went to Fellowship Church (Ed Young). Then we went to chapel with the Cowboys. It was awesome to sit in the same room as some of the coaches and players. I also met a pastor friend of the guy we stayed with who was really cool. Sunday we got up and went to the Dallas game. It was a boring game, the total was 7-6, but they won. Then we drove back and arrived home around 3:30 a.m. It was a great trip. I posted some pictures on my blog yesterday and on my facebook account. Check them out here.
I am not a fan of people who make excuses. People make excuses for everything. People make excuses in their marriages. People make excuses for their kids. People make excuses for being late all the time. People make excuses for almost anything you can think of. I could think of 1000 reasons not to do the things that I do and so could you, but does that mean we should? I can think of many reasons why my spouse needs to change, does that mean I should? (not talking about my wife whom I love dearly, speaking in generalities here). I can think of a thousand reasons to blame everyone else for all my problems, but that does not mean that I should or need to.
It’s almost here!!! I leave for Dallas Friday morning. I am so excited. When I leave for Dallas there are a few things I am leaving behind. I am leaving behind my wife and my daughter. I am also leaving behind the church and my home. I wish I could take everyone with me, but I cant.
Have you ever just felt stupid? I am sure most of us have. Whether it is not knowing directions, not knowing how to put together something or not wanting to ask for help. Now, I am not writing this so you can tell me, “I know how to do that” or “You should know how to do that”, I am writing it because sometimes we just feel stupid and it doesn’t help to have someone point out “ok stupid, it’s not that hard”. There are times as a new dad I feel useless. There are times as a pastor I feel inadequate. There are times when things happen with cars that I feel completely stupid, as is the case today. Yesterday my battery light came on, which is odd because is has never come on before. Then Melissa took it to the store and the music was cutting out and lights were blinking a bit. This morning I went to start it, and it was officially dead. I charged it, it ran for a while and while it was outside just running it died, so that’s awesome. So I have been making calls to people who may be able to help me.
. When she falls asleep a lot of times she will spit it out. The funny thing is after she spits it out, she still thinks it is in and makes the mouth motions as if it were in. Most likely she still thinks it is in or is trying to comfort herself somewhat.Yesterday, I spent my whole day blaming others, not because this is how I live, but because I wanted to show people how ultimately silly we can be when we live our lives like that. It is always easier to blame someone else for our issues. It is always easier to blame my friends, spouse, former pastors, past relationships and you name it rather than to take responsibility for your own actions. So, today I am taking responsibility for my own actions.
When we take responsibility for our actions we humble ourselves and acknowledge that we make mistakes or have made mistakes, but we don’t give the enemy grounds to attack us and condemn us, so this is kinda tricky for some. Taking responsibility means admitting that you didn’t handle yourself the way you should have, even if the other person responded in a worse way than you did. Taking responsibility means admitting you haven’t treated your spouse perfectly either. There are always two sides to every story and most times we just hear one, and the one we most like to tell is our side of the story and we conviniently leave out details of how we dropped the ball. When we take responsibility, we tell the whole story, and invite the other person to tell their side.
We take responsibility for our actions. We take responsibility when we waste money and then don’t have it for the most important things. We take responsibility when we act in a way that takes Glory away from God and puts it on ourselves. We take responsibility when we act in the ungodliest ways because we are not “there” yet.
I am going to take responsibility today. I have been married for 2 1/2 years now and until the past few months didn’t pray with my wife every night before bed. We started out doing devotions with each other every night before we went to bed when we were first married. After that book was done, we never started another one. Since just before Alora was born we pray most every night, and some nights we just don’t and that is on me. I pray for my wife daily, but there is something special about praying together. So, I am taking responsibility for not doing that, and I am going to do my best and ask for God’s help to be more diligent. If there is one thing I need outside of God it is my wife’s love and companionship. She is supportive and loving. As the leader of my family, it’s on me to wash her with the Word and pray for her and cause all of her affections to be set on God. God help me!
p.s. I promise tomorrow won’t be as long
