Repost: Peeing Fire

I am attempting to post a weekly. Every other week these posts will be reposts. I had been a contributor on two different sites that have since closed or changed to no longer include blogs. I will be reposting pieces that had originally been featured on one of these two sites.  

This was originally posted April 9, 2011

This week I took my son, Isaiah, with me on a staff outing.  I am away this weekend and I wanted to spend time with him before I left.  Also, we were doing something that he could do and would enjoy.  I knew my guys would enjoy his presence and he would enjoy being enjoyed.  We went to a wooded camping area that is owned by the university I work at.  Snacks, huge fire, throwing a ball around, all of it worked together to be a great experience for everyone there.  Allow me to highlight one moment of the evening to illustrate an element of the Spiritual Life.  Disclaimer: this might be a little easier for a male to relate to. 

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Parenting And Theology

Parenting

Correcting behavior is an ongoing aspect of parenting. I want my children to be safe and well behaved, able to function in civil society. This involves frequent restrictions and verbal reminders of certain important guidelines.

“Don’t touch the stove”

“Stop hitting your brother”

“Don’t run into the street”

I want my sons to know that I always love them, even when I am disciplining or correcting them. Not long after we first brought Isaiah home I changed how I worded my corrections. I wanted to make sure Isaiah knew that I loved him first, so I said that first followed by the correction.

“Isaiah, I love you, but listen to your mama.”

“Isaiah, I love you, but it’s time for bed.”

“Isaiah, I love you, but eat your dinner.”

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Repost: I Wish I Had Written This Blog

I am attempting to post a weekly. Every other week these posts will be reposts. I had been a contributor on two different sites that have since closed or changed to no longer include blogs. I will be reposting pieces that had originally been featured on one of these two sites.  

This was originally posted April 5, 2011

Lately I’ve been realizing that I hardly ever want to do things that will make me a better person.  However, I often wish that I was the type of person who had done certain things.  This applies to many areas of my growth and development.  Despite many overlaps and commonalities, growth in character is different than Spiritual growth, which is different than intellectual growth.  This phenomenon occurs across the entire spectrum. 

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Left Behind

While I was working as a Resident Director in Bowman House at Indiana Wesleyan University one of the fun parts of my job was coming up with T-shirt designs. I don’t have much artistic talent, but I’d have an idea and work with an artist to come up with something cool for the staff shirts and the hall shirts. Once the guys on my staff were so excited about a shirt that one of them literally slapped another across the face in a fit of chaotic jubilation (that’s a proud moment for me).

On the back of most shirts I had made for Bowman was the design below.

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