As you might know, we are currently (and very expectantly) expecting our fourth boy. Lord willing, Eli Calvin will be here very soon. We are often overwhelmed by the weighty blessing that is raising children. This became all the more apparent for us the other night as we were watching television and came across a preview for a show called something like “True Dreams of a Soccer Mom” or something like that. I can’t remember the actual name of the show, but the premise was that three women had “put their dreams on hold” to raise their families, but this television show was going to give them the chance to pursue what they really wanted in life. One was a fashion designer, one a police officer and I don’t know what the other was.

I’m sure you can guess where I’m going with this. Our culture understands children to be an interruption. They might be a worthwhile interruption, but in the end, they’re still an interruption to what your life is really about, to what you really want. This is entirely antithetical to the way the Bible presents children. Consider Psalm 127:

Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.

Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.

The Psalm opens with a wonderful testimony to the balance between God’s Sovereignty and Man’s Responsibility. We must labor, but unless the Lord builds the house, we do so in vain. Then the Psalmist says something interesting, “It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil.” How different this is from our “hard worker” mentality. Not that we shouldn’t work hard, but sometimes, we just need to rest, trusting God. Isn’t it the truth that sometimes God accomplishes more when we’re asleep than when we’re awake? But that’s not the point I want to meditate upon.

In the second stanza, the Psalmist says that children are “a heritage from the LORD,” and a “reward.” He then compares children to arrows in the hands of a warrior. This imagery has always fascinated me. It implies first and foremost that we’re in some sort of a battle. Paul puts this in perspective, saying in Ephesians 6:12 that

we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Paul says that, yes, we are in a battle, but it is not a physical battle. I wonder how many of us think of our children as weapons in the battle against the “cosmic powers of this present darkness?” The way many of us raise our children, not only do we not view them as arrows, we’ve handed them over to others to aim, not realizing that we might be the target.

It’s not my agenda to convince everyone to home-educate, even some people will read this that way. It is my agenda to challenge Christian parents to carefully examine how is influencing our children, especially in light of Scripture portraying them as arrows in a battle. In this sense, “influence” is also “aiming.” Are our children being aimed at targets that matter and are we aiming them through the sights of Scripture?

We must spend enough time with our children to know their particular gifts and interests and we must encourage those pursuits rather than discourage them. Too often, we chalk up a child’s doodling up to just that, a child doodling. But who knows if that doodling will develop into artistic excellence for the glory of God unless we encourage them to develop their own personalities and pursuits? All children are not the same, yet far too often, that’s just the way we treat them.

Aiming our children does not just mean re-creating them in our own image as though what is important to us will automatically be important to them. Of course, there are Gospel issues that must be passed on, but we must encourage them to view all of life in light of and in service of the Gospel, utilizing their special interests to that end. This is at least part of what it means to “aim” our children and yet far too often, we hand them over to others, whether it be their peers, their school or even the church to influence them. We claim that by selecting these influences, we are in fact aiming them, but there is no replacement for a parent’s input.

It’s time that Christian parents reject the world’s notion that children are but an interruption to our “real” pursuits. God says that they are a reward from Him. Do we believe Him? It’s time we seriously question who is aiming our arrows.

• Read Shepherding a Child’s Heart by Tedd Tripp
• Read Everyday Talk: Talking Freely and Naturally about God With Your Children by John Younts
• Read Teach Them Diligently: How To Use The Scriptures in Child Training by Lou Priolo

We had the chance to take the boys to Sea World San Antonio yesterday. Great fun for everyone! Owen said that he wants to ride the whales when he grows up and that didn’t surprise us in the least! He loved the part where the whale throws the guy up in the air and tried it on the hotel bed later!

Please welcome into the world my newest niece, Eliana Noelle. Julie, my sister-in-law and her husband Nick are adopting Eliana, who was born Thursday, December, 20. Eliana was 6lbs, 2oz, 18 inches long and everyone is doing great. We are so excited for them and ask that you would join us in welcoming Eliana and praying for the family during this wonderful time.

As you may know, we went to AZ to visit family over the Thanksgiving holidays. One evening we went to Peter Piper Pizza with some of my extended family so all of the cousins could have some good pizza parlor fun. A couple of days later, we had one of those “You know you’re Reformed when . . .  moments (as if the fact that we have sons named Owen and Carson and a dog named Baxter is not enough) when Miles, my oldest son asked if we could go back to “John Piper Pizza.”

• Visit Peter Piper Pizza’s official website
• Read John Piper for yourself

We took the boys yesterday to the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. This was the boys’ first time to a museum, so over all they did pretty well. They got a little rowdy by the time they made it upstairs to see the Rothko, Newman and Klein work but we’re trying to expose them to art at an early age. I don’t typically use this space to post a lot of personal stuff, but I thought it might be fun to share some pictures from our trip. I hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoyed the actual trip.

 

 

 

 

 

I’m going to Mexico today for about a week. I’ll be back in the country on next Tuesday, so that most likely means no posts at least until that Wednesday, maybe even Thursday. Kristi’s Mom and Step-Dad are spending some time with Kristi and the boys, which Miles, Owen and Carson are very excited about! I’ll be traveling as part of a new ministry called For the Fame of His Name (website coming).

For the Fame of His Name specializes in church planting and support in the Hueateca Region of Mexico. I’ll be going to Tamazunchale to speak at a pastor’s conference. Our church has adopted a pastor in Jalpa, Mexico and I’m looking forward to being able to meet him in order to be able to better pray for him, his family and ministry. I will be preaching twice, once on “Leadership Held to a Biblical Standard,” focusing primarily on 1 Timothy 4:16, but drawing heavily on the entire book of 1 Timothy and “The Beautiful Servant Leader,” drawing primarily from Mark 10:41-45 and Philippians 2:1-10.

Please pray that I would be faithful to God’s Word, clear in my thought and speech, that the pastor’s would be edified and that, above all else, God would be glorified.

Go with God.

We just returned from our family vacation in Estes Park, CO where we had a wonderfully refreshing time, thank you for asking. The highs were in the 50’s and it was sunny just about every day. Coffee somehow seems to taste better with the sting of crisp mountain air, but it’s good to be back. These first two pictures serve as just a slight indicator of the difference between our two oldest boys.

Miles was perfectly content to fish,

while Owen would rather jump from the nearby rocks.

We were able to do some hiking, some fishing, we saw some elk, we went to Focus on the Family’s Whit’s End and the boys were able to spend some time with their cousins, which they loved. Here are some more pictures:

We’re heading out to Estes Park, CO for a week of family fun and relaxation (that’s always easier said than done, though isn’t it?). I have talked to a couple of friends about providing “guest” posts for the week so I hope to be able to introduce you to a couple of guest bloggers this week. I also hope to post an album review of one of my new favorite albums Doug Burr’s new album On Promenade as well as an interview with Burr himself. I’m not sure what my internet access will look like, so postings may or may not be sporadic. I’ve downloaded a bunch of sermons and I’m looking forward to listening instead of preaching! See you on the other side. In the meantime, visit my wife’s blog to see some mighty cute boys!

• Visit my wife’s blog
• Visit Doug Burr’s official website
• Order Doug Burr’s new album On Promenade

I’m going to need to find a new favorite television show. When we had three sons, the obvious favorite was My Three Sons. But, what could be a better birthday present than finding out that our next child is another boy! That’s right, we found out today what we already suspected, that child number four is actually boy number four! We had an ultrasound a couple of weeks ago when Kristi was having some cramping just to make everything was OK (which it was, thank God!), but the technician wouldn’t confirm anything. Today it was confirmed; baby number four is boy number four.

Though Kristi had certainly hoped for a girl, we’re just thankful that baby number four (still no name) is healthy. We are certainly blessed beyond what we deserve and God’s goodness knows no end. We have much to be thankful for.

After Kristi and I came back from Austin celebrating our anniversary we took the boys camping at the lake in Mineral Wells, TX. This was the first time camping for the boys and I’m not sure we’ll take another family camping trip in August any time soon! We had lots of fun but Kristi and I didn’t sleep well considering the heat and restless boys! I think we both ended up just sleeping on the tent floor!

Miles “accidentally” caught a fish. We hiked down a bit just to check out a spot. We threw in his line once before deciding to look for a different spot and as we all started to walk away, he started screaming that he caught a fish! It wasn’t a keeper, but it was still fun. Go be with your family too.