The Nature of the Nativity: Day 15 - Jesus

Quick, come with me; I've got something I want you to see.

The Nature of the Nativity: Day 13 - The Scribes

Well, it's lucky day 13 of our journey through the nativity, and it happens to fall on a Friday! (cue suspenseful music) I'm writing this on Wednesday/Thursday, so it should be safe. Let's jump right in and get back to work on our nativity. Today I want to look at the Scribes. I'm sure some of you are looking at me confused because you don't remember any scribes in the Christmas story. Some of you are having issues with the whiteboard my scribes are using. Just go with it. 

The Nature of the Nativity: Day 10 - The Star

It's day 10, and we are 2/3 of the way through our nativity scene  Today we hang the star of Bethlehem over our stable. Isn't it pretty?

This Little Light of Mine

Have you ever been wrong and didn't realize it? Have you ever been wrong and completely aware of it? Sometimes we find ourselves where we aren't supposed to be, other times we head across the line knowingly. Regardless of how you arrived there, when your wrong doing is made known...what is your reaction? My kids have a cycle that they go through without fail. First up is "Huh?" If I pretend like I don't know what your talking about, it will fool you. This is very close to the toddler that hides by closing his eyes. Next up is, "Not Me!" When they are "made aware" of the wrong doing that took place, they looked shocked at the notion of anyone doing something so heinous and deny any involvement. Most of the time this is followed closely by, "It was HIM!" Looking shocked and innocent didn't work, so now we need to misdirect the attention onto someone else. My youngest has actually blamed his brother for using the bathroom in his Pull-Up! After this comes the back track. Once they discover that the scrutiny hasn't shifted, they go back to "Not Me!", but this time it is accompanied by nervous twitches. They won't look at me, they can't stand still, or they can't stop moving their hands. They know they are running out of options and they are starting to get worried. Finally we get to the last evasion in the series, "Silence." Deep down they know they are caught, but they can't own up to it. All it takes is one more push though, because they've reached the end of the road and they know it. They stand at the brink and look over the edge into the fog shrouded crevasse. They have no idea what is coming next and it is terrifying. Deep down they know they did wrong and they know they deserve punishment.

Since my three little ones are all preschoolers, their punishment is very shallow except in the most extreme cases. 99% of the time it is a little pop on the hand accompanied by the usual parental guilt/love. But that's only if they willingly confess at some point along this route. If they persevere all the way to the final step of silence, then the punishment gets more "severe" and I try to explain that to them. "You're getting your hand popped for throwing the metal trivet across the room for the hundredth time. You're not getting any dessert because you lied to me." (My grandmother HATES the word lie. "Call it telling a story!" Nope...they lied!) Now the waterworks start. "But I don't want my hand popped!" "I'm sorry, but you know that we don't throw the metal trivet across the room." But soon, they get over the physical punishment. It didn't really hurt, it just stung a little. I also try to deflect them after a few minutes so they don't cry through supper. But when the food is eaten, and it's time for dessert...and they don't get any...the fireworks are epic! They'll look over at their siblings eating a piece of cake or a cookie and will come unhinged. It's almost like those old cartoons where the tears actually fly out of the eye. I calmly remind them, "I gave you a chance to tell me the truth and you didn't do it. Since you lied to me, you don't get dessert. I'm sorry." Then they just sit and wallow in their loss. Here's my point, we adults aren't much different when it comes to our own choices. We know something is wrong, but that's not enough to keep us from doing it. The Bible alludes to this numerous times as our "flesh". As we are, we cannot keep from doing wrong. It takes something more than us. Today we'll be looking at Jesus' next "I Am" statement, and  the events that lead up to it.

Giraffe Begins With "J" and God is a Crutch

My four year old daughter is a very adamant little girl. We were driving to get something to eat a few weeks ago and I was using the time to help them practice sounding out words and matching letters. I'll ask the three of them, "What starts with M?" My three year-old son has no interest beyond whatever truck or construction vehicle he can see out his window to the point that we are constantly interrupted with, "Dere's another ba-hoe, Dad!" My four year old son enjoys the "game" but he's not near as quick as his know-it-all twin sister. She immediately starts hollering out words. "M-M-M-Mouse!! Daddy, mouse starts with M." And I am quite sure I've caught a haughty look or two being shot at her brother. She's so bad, I'll tell her to not answer and I can hear her doing it under her breath!

So we start with A and work our way through. C always gives us problems, but Sesame Street has taught them that C makes two different sounds, so its not too big of a hiccup. D is easy, but they occasionally confuse the long E and the short I sounds. F goes off without a hitch, and I expected G to be easy too. Boy, was I wrong! "What starts with G?" I was expecting a quick answer from the honor student behind me, but she was quiet...as was her brother. I looked in the mirror and I could see her staring out the window frantically searching for a "G" word. Like any good parent, I offer suggestions, "What about g-g-goat? Or g-g-goose?" "Yes Daddy, those start with G!" What's funny was, the tone she used was pure, "Good job, Daddy!" So then I made my mistake, "What about giraffe?" This little girl cut her eyes at me in the mirror and used the teenage "your stupid" tone, "J-J-Jiraffe starts with J, Daddy!" I calmly instruct her that giraffe does indeed start with the letter G. This was like poking a hornet's nest. She fought me on this for at least five minutes before I convinced her that G can make two sounds just like C can. She was so sure of what she knew that she couldn't get passed it to the truth. We've taken a few weeks and studied how God describes himself, now I want to move to the seven "I AM" phrases Jesus uses to describe who He is and what His mission is.  

1x1x1=1

Have you ever tried to explain something to a preschooler? With four kids, I have tons of stories of them trying to understand something that is way beyond their little minds. Some of the time they are hysterical, other times their questions have a ring of simple truth, but sometimes they can't hope to understand. Right now they are going through one of these times. My oldest son is 8 years old and right now he and my wife are in Bethesda, MD going through the beginning stages of a bone marrow transplant. They left June 1 and are hoping to be back around the first part of October if everything goes well. My other three children are 4, 4, and 3. They look at their dad and say, "I miss momma..." or "I miss my brother...".Because of the distance and because of the risk to their brother, they won't get to see them for at least three months and that's only if he is doing well enough for them to visit. As a father I understand all of this. I can see that this is necessary and that good will come out of it, but they can't. I've tried my best to explain to them that their mom and brother will be back, but that it will be a long time. The hardest time for them, and for me, is when I have to leave them some place. Whether it's daycare, babysitter, or grandparents, they don't want me to leave. My four year old son is the strong type. He gives me a hug and then walk resigned into the daycare. He'll stand at each window and wave to me as I walk to the van. He doesn't cry, but he doesn't smile either, he simply  accepts that I will be back. His four year old sister gives me a hug and is gone though I can tell by her eyes that she doesn't like this any better than her brothers; she seems to adapt the fastest to all this. My little one is not as big as his siblings. "But I miss you dad", is all he'll say as he clings to my neck , or leg, or hides behind me. So we hug and talk and give lots of kisses. I try to remind all of them that I will be back, it's just for a little while. I remind them of the things they do understand to help them accept the things they can't. Yes, I'm tearing up as I write this, but emotion is not why I began with this. There are some things about God that we cannot understand, we just have to accept them. One of those things is the idea of the Trinity.

What's Your Golden Calf?

Because of my job working with our church's Preschool/Kindergarten and the age of my children I have a lot of interaction with kids, especially preschoolers. In my professional opinion, kids are hysterical! There always seems to be something going on at home or at school. I find myself chuckling and rolling my eyes at children on a daily basis.  For instance, my three year old son has discovered super heroes and has decided that he is "hooper hero" himself ("s" is not an important consonant to a three year old). For his birthday we had a cape made for him and now he runs around the yard singing, "Da da DAH!" while killing scary monsters. My other three are just as funny... and just as weird.

Besides being humorous, my children have taught me a lot. This especially goes for spiritual stuff. How do you explain crucifixion to a three year old? I realized something hadn't translated right when he exclaimed, "They killed baby Jesus!?!" Most importantly, they've taught me about forgiveness.  Punishment comes easy for most parents, but forgiveness can be a little harder. I know my kids are still young, but I've never refused to forgive them. My problem with forgiveness was in letting my kids know I forgave them. Let's be honest, adults often have problems rationalizing that people still like us when we hurt them. It's hard to look someone in the eye when you've caused them pain. Sometimes the friendship ends because we can't bear to be reminded of our failures. A preschooler in trouble deserves to be there. An elementary age kid ought to be brought up short and punished. A teenager needs to have their life flipped upside down. They need this so they will learn. However, the most important thing they need to learn is that they are loved and can be forgiven...no matter what.

Buffet

I was a picky eater as a kid...okay, I'm still a picky eater but not near as bad. My  two biggest problems were, and are, the textures of food and foods being mixed together. I like the peas and carrots, and I can stomach the corn but don't mix them together! Because of these aversions I used to love it when we would go to a buffet style restaraunt. I could get whatever I wanted as long as I sampled from each of the food groups. I would load up on mashed potatoes and the pudding that was always by the salad. Throw some ham and green beans on the side and I was doing great; no vegetable soup and especially no creamed beef (it's hard to even type that). Now, as a kid, you can claim ignorance of nutritional needs but as an adult you know what your body needs. There are foods that don't help our body. There are some foods you should never eat even though those often taste the best. This brings us to the second hurdle most people face when presented with Jesus and we'll call it "The Buffet".

Sunscreen

The first chasm that invariably stands in the way of belief in God and His son Jesus is the one that we'll name "Reality". A person hears the message of God, possibly even takes a few steps toward Him, but finds himself facing...*dramatic music*... "Reality". What is Real? If you were to ask 100 people on the street, or in markets across the world, their response would be that something is real if you can touch it, see it, or possibly hear it. Then they'll think about it and add smell and taste. Our views on what is real and fake revolve around our 5 senses.