Category: Family
A vacation video
Last Friday night, we lost power at our house. Luckily for my two year old son, I had just purchased a new head lamp. Here’s a video I shot of him enjoying Daddy’s new toy.
Category: Family
A prayer for Mattie
One of the great joys I have as a pastor is the opportunity to visit a family in the hospital right after the birth of a new baby. Having the chance to join hands with new moms and dads and to pray for their new child is an experience I treasure. It is always a beautiful and sacred moment.
Yesterday, I went to MCA hospital to see Mathilda Grace Fagan who was born this past Saturday. Her proud parents are Kyle and Sheley Fagan and a great big brother, Austin. Mattie was still in the NICU recovering from some fluid she had in her lungs following delivery so we gathered around Sheley’s hospital bed and said a prayer for Mattie.
I thanked God for Mattie’s life knowing that she is a gift given by God and before she belonged to any of us, she belongs to God…
I thanked God for her two parents, for the love that has knit their hearts together and all that they will do in their lives to love and nurture their little girl.
I thanked God for her big brother Austin who will help take care of his little sister and teach her everything she needs to know to make it in this world.
I prayed for Mattie’s life, that by the teaching and encouragement of all those that love her, she would fulfill all the hopes and dreams we share for her and grow to serve and love God all the days of her life.
It was an honor to pray for Mattie because she is a miracle…
She’s the new daughter of two of our best friends…
and, just to make it all the more special for me, she’s my Goddaughter as well.
Category: Family
What gift are you giving?
In recent weeks, I have made the comment that in reflecting on the last 24 Hours of Jesus’ life, I see the themes of judgement and grace. We are reminded of the depth of our sin as we observe every character failing Jesus. At the same time, we see Jesus, fueled by his compassion and grace, presenting himself as a sacrificial offering for the redemption of the world.
The difficulty of talking about judgement and grace is that for most of us, those two words are polar opposites. We think of judgement in terms of punishment and grace in terms of “getting off the hook.” Neither of these understandings are entirely accurate according to the Biblical story.
To think of judgement in the Biblical sense begins with the idea that, “all have fallen short,” and grace was never meant to be an excuse to avoid the demands of discipleship.
So how then do we live in response to this story?
Sunday morning I was reminded of how I answer that question.
This past Sunday was my birthday. When my daughter woke up on Sunday, she came walking into the living room witha big smile on her face. She didn’t stop by the couch to give me a hug. She went straight to the kitchen with her sneaky grin still intact. Climbing up into the seat by the bar, she opened up her box of crayons and began to go to work on a paper sack she had picked out to wrap up the present she had gotten for me.
I was getting ready for church which meant I was wandering around the house collecting things I needed for the morning. Whenever I entered the room, she would catch me out of the corner of her eye, give another wry smile, and attempt to cover up the artwork she was creating.
She could not have been more excited about making this gift for her daddy’s birthday.
I took this picture of her while she worked.
In the Message translation, The Apostle Paul writes to the church at Rome, “Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering.” In other words, the life that we live before God is the gift that we offer to God.
Each day you and I make choices.
We set priorities by where we choose to invest our time, our talent and our resources.
We choose whether to bless or to curse… to love or to withhold it… to forgive or to remain captive to unforgiveness.
We are either making the gift of our life more beautiful or marring the beauty that our lives were meant to reflect to our Creator.
My daughter could not wait to present her gift to me. She took delight in sharing it with me.
Why?
Because despite my faults and shortcomings, my daughter knows that her daddy loves her.
That’s what we find at the heart of the last 24 hours… A God who loves us.
When are lives are defined by that truth… that our Heavenly Father loves us… the honor of presenting our lives before him as our “offering” becomes the true joy of life.
The smiling wounded…
My wife sent out the following email this morning to some family and friends.
After a late night E.R. trip, we have 3 stitches. You wouldn’t even know it from how he is acting today. He’s tired, but very happy.
Category: Family
Our Snow Pictures
Just before the snow hit North Texas last weekend, my new Macbook Pro computer arrived. The exciting part of that for our family was that I was able to give my Macbook to my wife and while our kids were away for the weekend with my parents, I got to train her on how to use it! [My wife is full of grace and patience by the way!]
Yesterday while she was home for the President’s Day holiday, we spent some time working with iPhoto [her favorite] and I showed her how to create albums in Mobile Me and how to upload pics to Facebook.
Which brings us to her first creation… A Mobile me gallery of our family playing in the snow.
Here is the link and one of my favorite shots from the snow fun!
Category: Family
A whirlwind day with my son
Yesterday I posted about my most important task for that day which was taking care of my son. I didn’t realize what that might entail when I wrote that early Thursday morning while Jack napped in the middle of the living room floor. [Jack is 18 months by the way]
We went straight from our doctors appointment to Cooks Children’s Hospital for further tests after it was determined that Jack was showing signs of RSV and having a difficult time breathing normally. We had two breathing treatments done at the doctor’s office before heading to Fort Worth.
After several hours at Cook’s we were allowed to return home. Jack’s breathing had returned to a somewhat normal rhythm. We’ll still be on watch for the next 7-10 days and could return to Cook’s if his breathing becomes labored again, but we’re hoping we’re out of the woods.
We’ll see. I can’t wait to see him back to normal showing us his fake smile like this pic.
It was a whirlwind day, but I finish it with deep gratitude for my son and for the excellent care available to him in this area.
I appreciate your prayers for our little guy. The virus will have to run it’s course over the next week or so.
Category: Family
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