My Daughter the Musical Prodigy

I suppose it is no surprise that I am the very proud father of two perfect little girls. I must tell you about my 4 year old, Emma. She is truly a genius. It is amazing to me how quickly she picks up on things. She can listen to a song a few times and before you know it, she can sing back the words to the song. Now, like all of us, she can get a word mixed up here and there. Like she used to sing "there's not a star in heaven that we can't beach." I love it when she does that, but eventully she figures that out and corrects herself.

Emma loves High School Musical. If you don't know what that is I will tell you. HSM at it is known by the serious Disney enthusiasts is a musical that is comparable to Grease, however, I believe it is geared more towards a younger crowd with no profanity whatsoever and maybe one scene with kissing. Very tame and actually has a good moral to the story.

Ok, so now you know. Emma (and Caitlin our 2 year old) love HSM. They love to watch the movies (there has been a sequel). They especially love to sing the songs and dance around the living room to the music. I have to admit, the music is pretty catchy and some of the kids acting in the movie are pretty good. My favorites are Ryan and Sharpay. They steal the show from Troy and Gabriella, the two main characters. Not that I am really in to it that much. I mean I would much rather be watching football or something like that. I have no control over the TV.

Ok, I really like it alot. I know, I know. Crying about opera songs, folding towels like Martha Stewart and thoroughly enjoying musicals. I really can't explain it.

Back to HSM and Emma. Emma really knows her HSM songs. She has the soundtracks and she knows all of the words. It amazes me how she can repeat words and phrases that most likely mean nothing to her, at least I hope they don't. Don't get me wrong the musical is very clean and family friendly, but I don't want my four year old having a thought in her head about being in love with some dreamy boy. I know that she doesn't and it is all very innocent. I am more concerned about her excellent ability to recall what she hears.

It seems as though we are at our best and our worst around our kids. I couldn't have been more happy and proud of my girls this past weekend at Disney World. But there are definitely times when everyone gets tired and Daddy makes an idiot out of himself by trying to make a point or draw the line on some issue. Is Emma rembering these things that I say and do at these times?

Why wouldn't she? Is she remembering when I say something stupid to someone driving like a maniac on the interstate (first of all she would tell me not to say stupid)? Is she listening as I express my disdain for the flowery male figure skater with a flair for drama on TV (OK, I did not turn on the figure skating and I really was not into it)? Is she listening when I say something about a presidential candidate, an Oklahoma State (or Texas or Florida State or USC) football player, a person who gets on my nerves or even her mom when an argument is happening?

Of course she is.

I was reading over something I had written a couple months ago.

Ephesians 4:29-32 (NLT) says this, Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

John 13:34-35 - (This is Jesus speaking to the disciples just after Judas left the upper room) So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.

When am I going to get it. It is so hard for me to be compassionate and loving to those who are hardest to love. I sometimes fail at being compassionate and loving to those who I love very much. It is not just affecting me and my attitude, it is being forced upon my daughter who is gathering everything she sees and hears.

I have to change.

Ephesians 5:15-17 (NLT) So be careful how you live, not as fools, but as those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity for doing good in these evil days. Don't act thoughtlessly, but try to understand what the Lord wants you to do.

I really like this verse in the NLT version:

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 - Always be joyful. Keep on praying. No matter what happens, always be thankful, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.

Lord, I am sorry for not being the best example possible for my little girls. Let me shine your light to all and let my little girls do the same. Please let me use your Word as a reminder of how I should live my life, both in word and deed.

"Have you seen my....."

Anytime that I am driving to work and my phone rings I can automatically tell you the first five things that will be said, "Johnny, have you seen my." And then something that must be had in order for my lovely wife to proceed with her day is stated...car keys, wallet, cell phone, etc. Today, it was her brown sweater. You see, my wife and I are perfectly suited to each other. She at times cannot find things that are essential to her doing what she needs to do. She is so focused on what she is doing with our girls or with something she is trying to get accomplished that she might lose track of something that she will need later. I know it will sound as though I am trying to do some brown-nosing here, but what I am about to say is true and is one of things that makes her so special to me. My wife always knows where she is going, what she is trying to accomplish and what she wants to do. She may not know where she left her car keys, but she sure knows what she wants to accomplish for the day, and for her life.

Now for me, it is a completely different story. I have to work hard to remember what it is that I am trying to accomplish. I am not a complete idiot, but there are times when I can get sidetracked from getting sidetracked. I can get up an hour early for work and still walk in five minutes later than I would like to. But if you have lost something and I have seen it within the past month or so, I can pretty much tell you where it is. I have this very strange ability to remember seeing things especially if they are not in their normal place. I am not sure how I do it, but I can tell you right now that there are 2-3 pieces of mail in the passenger side door of our car that I have not had a chance to look at yet. My wife's sweater was hanging in the laundry room (actually it had fallen off of the hanger, but it was still in the laundry room). It really only works for my wife though. I can tell her where to find her watch, her phone, earrings, shoes, remote control (though even I can't remember where that goes sometimes).

I am not trying to brag about my memory. I am just amazed at how incredible God is. I can just see it, 12-13 years ago, God is setting up some future marriage matches and he finds the following biography cards.

Amy - beautiful, inside and out, always knows where she is going, very level headed, smarter than she thinks, slender, and sometimes can't find her wallet.

John - nice guy, doesn't have a clue where he is going or how he is going to get there, but knows that in the end he will be right where he needs to be, chubby, OCD.

God looks over the two cards. Hey these two know each other, maybe just maybe, Amy can straighten this guy out and the two of them can accomplish great things together. I'll make sure the kids get her looks and figure. He can at least keep track of where the car is parked.

Genesis 2:18-24 (NLT) - And the Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a companion who will help him." So the Lord God formed from the soil every kind of animal and bird. He brought them to Adam to see what he would call them, and Adam chose a name for each one. He gave names to all the livestock, birds and wild animals. But still there was no companion suitable for him. So the Lord God caused Adam to fall into a deep sleep. He took one of Adam's ribs and closed up the place from which he had taken it. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib and brought her to Adam. "At last!" Adam exclaimed. "She is part of my own flesh and bone! She will be called 'woman,' because she was taken out of man." This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.

I love the comments in my Bible about this passage. "God forms and equips men and women for various tasks, but all these tasks lead to the same goal - honoring God. Man gives life to the woman; woman gives life to the world. Each role carries exclusive privileges; there is no room for thinking that one sex is superior to the other."

So every time my phone rings on my way to work, I am so thankful for my wife. I am truly blessed that God matched us up.

"Hope is a good thing."

Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.

That's the beauty of music. They can't get that from you... Haven't you ever felt that way about music?

I played a mean harmonica as a younger man. Lost interest in it though. Didn't make much sense in here.

Here's where it makes the most sense. You need it so you don't forget.

Forget?

Forget that... there are places in this world that aren't made out of stone. That there's something inside... that they can't get to, that they can't touch. That's yours.

What're you talking about?

Hope.

These are a couple quotes from the movie, The Shawshank Redemption. I often wonder why they can't make a movie without a lot of profanity. I would not hesitate to refer everyone I know to watch this movie, if they haven't already, but it is a little rough at times when it comes to the language. This is unfortunate, because the theme of the movie is something that many of us need to be reminded of every day.

I guess there are different kinds of hope. There is the kind like, I hope I get a bike for Christmas or I hope it doesn't rain this afternoon or I hope I am not tired in the morning from staying up so late typing on the computer.

Then there is the hope that you really don't put into words. To me, hope is like an awareness that these things that I go through from day to day are not in vain. It means to me that there is a promise waiting for me that will be so worth the wait. It is hard to explain, but it is just a confidence that this will all have a happy ending. Everything will be OK.

Most of the time when you say that, people think you need a reality check. They think that you don't know what you are talking about and you haven't been through anything that would make you believe that things may not end happily. Maybe they are right. Maybe for them, the promise of peace and joy is just not a reality. I suppose that is what creates those voids in people's lives. The sunken feeling inside that we all desire to fill with something. Something that satisfies us and pacifies us. I guess that is where the other hope comes in to play. I must admit at times I get a bit disillusioned as well. I lose sight of my hope and I have to replace it immediately with something. This must be where we get off track. When we start following the path of the quick fixes to our lack of peace and happiness and stop relying on God to guide us in His path.

I have been so blessed in my life. A wonderful family, an awesome wife, two "perfect" little girls, great friends. Thank you God for these blessings.

This past Sunday, a man in our Sunday School class talked about the struggles that he and his wife had gone through in trying to have a child. It was obvious that this time period in his life was very painful. But they kept on believing and things finally worked out in the end. He told us that he felt great comfort in reading Psalms 25. So we read Psalms 25. As soon as we began reading it, I was hearing the words to one of my favorite Third Days songs called My Hope Is You. It goes like this:

To you, O Lord, I lift my soul.

In you, O God, I place my trust.

Do not let me be put to shame.

Nor let my enemies triumph over me

My hope is you

Show me your ways

Guide me in Truth

In all my days

My hope is you

I am, O Lord, filled with your love

You are, O God, my salvation

Guard my life and rescue me

My broken spirit shouts

My mended heart cries out...My hope is you

Me, in my infinite Bible knowledge, never knew where the words to this song came from. I mean I know that they get nearly all of their lyrics from the Bible, but I don't always know where they come from.

What a wonderful thing for this man to share with us. Whatever has got you down today, please take a moment and remember the promise God has given to us. Remember that hope IS a good thing and good things never die.

Romans 15:13 (NLT) So I pray that God, who gives you hope, will keep you happy and full of peace as you believe in Him. May you overflow with hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.

If You Build It They Will Come. But Will They Come Back?

I feel wonderfully blessed to have a wife who understands and enjoys sports. My wife is a huge St. Louis Cardinals fan and an even bigger OU Sooner fan. In fact, we both met while attending the University of Oklahoma. We were both in the marching band. Her family has followed the Sooners as long as she can remember. I think I liked them when I was younger, but I knew when I got to school at OU that I would be a Sooner forever. We both love to watch the Sooners win football games and we both get terribly depressed when they lose. Unfortunately this year, we had to watch them lose in their bowl game against West Virginia. Hopefully next year will be an even better year.

Back to my wife. She is a great sports fan. She even got me a Cubs hat autographed by Ryne Sandberg for my wedding present. By the way, I am a kinda big Cubs fan. I am always proud to tell other guys how lucky I am that my wife likes sports. My wife also loves movies about sports. She loves the movies that tell a great story like The Natural, Miracle (1980 Olympic Hockey movie) and Field of Dreams.

The title of this post really doesn't make any sense because I was going to talk about something that has bothered me at my church, but I really don't think God would find it as a good use of my time. This is what I feel needs to be said tonight.

Tomorrow I will be teaching Sunday school at my church for the first time. There is an excellent chance that it will just be me and my wife, but I think I will try to teach anyways. I am teaching out of a book by John Ortberg called The Life You've Always Wanted. Tomorrow's lesson is about the need to take notice when God is trying to get your attention, stop what you are doing and follow his lead. Just like Moses did when he saw the burning bush and ended up leading the Israelites out of Egypt. I am continually haunted by the thought that every homeless person that I pass by is Jesus waiting on me to take notice and do something. I am even more disgusted with myself because today I was in a gas station buying something to drink for my family. There was a lady sitting down behind the counter closing out her register sobbing. The man who rang me up was standing right next to her. He was obviously affected by whatever was causing the girl to cry, but he stuck to his job as if to give her privacy and hopefully not allow her to disturb any customers. I avoided looking at her. I felt this urge to say something to her like "Is everything OK? or Is there anything that I can do for you? or Can I pray for you?" Instead I tried not to make eye contact and left the store even though my heart was telling me to stop and try to give the woman some sign that whatever is going wrong for her today, God still loves her and there are people in this world who love her too and that things will eventually get better.

Even as I got into the car and told my wife about it, my heart was telling me to go back inside and say something to her. What if today was her last day to live either because she went home and killed herself or because some accident happened to her?

Colossians 3:12 (NLT) Since God chose you to be the holy people whom he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.

James 2:14-17 (NLT) Dear brothers and sisters, what's the use of saying you have faith if you don't prove it by your actions? That kind of faith can't save anyone. Suppose you see a brother or sister who needs food or clothing, and you say "Well, good-bye and God bless you; stay warm and eat well"-but then you don't give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?

So you see, it isn't enough just to have faith. Faith that doesn't show itself by good deeds is no faith at all - it is dead and useless.

My bible commentary on this last scripture says this, "When someone claims to have faith, what he or she may have is intellectual assent - agreement with a set of Christian teachings - and as such it would be incomplete faith. True faith TRANSFORMS our conduct as well as our thoughts. If our life remains unchanged, we don't truly believe the truths we claim to believe."

It is really easy to sit here in the quiet at my computer and type about how I want to go out and have an impact on every person I come in contact with, but as soon as I walk out the door and my personal wants, needs and problems get in the way all bets are off.

Lord, I don't want to learn this lesson the hard way. Please forgive me for not reaching out to that poor crying woman. Please be with her and have mercy on her and provide her with comfort and peace. Please continue to tug on my heart when I need to stop what I am doing and take notice of what you are doing. Please forgive me for being a hypocrite, Lord. I will do better tomorrow. And Lord, thank you for my wife even though she is a Cardinals fan. I am truly blessed.