A few weeks back I ordered a doll kit from www.Doorposts.com and when I received it, I knew that I would not be able to put it together. It was all in little pieces, and let’s face it, I am no seamstress. I asked a lady in our church to put it together and today I got it back. It looks awesome! She did an amazing job on it. It looks professionally done – I really mean it.

The doll is a normal looking doll with normal hair, beautiful dress, etc… but when you pull the dress up there is another doll on the bottom. The other doll is a pig with a raggedy torn dress. I am looking forward to teaching my children (especially Hannah-Grace) about the true meaning of beauty. The kit also came with a book, “Beauty and the Pig.”

I am planning to take about a week to read through the material and begin using the doll with the book to start teaching my children. I’ll let you know how it goes.

The Bible verse that is the focal verse is Proverbs 11:22 “As a jewel of gold in a swine’s snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion.“

It is such a blessing to have a church family that can help me with stuff like making this doll. It was such a blessing to me for her to make this for us.

Tonight our small group met at the FMH emergency room. We put together little yellow plastic bags (complete with Daybreak logo), filled with candy, apples, water bottles, pretzels, and various happy meal toys. We then went through the emergency room and offered these bags and offered to pray with people. Who hasn’t been to the emergency room, having rushed out of the house (because it was an emergency) and have had to sit there for hours with nothing to eat or drink, or even do.

We saw some people who had visited Daybreak months before and disappeared into thin air. I do have a new theory about people visiting and not coming back to church. It’s not that they didn’t like us, they are just still waiting in the emergency room!

C. was able to pray with a woman and talked to her for some time, and I and D. were able to pray with people as well. So overall the event was a great success. All my kids also went. Joshua was cool with just holding the bags and handing them out to the rest of the team. Caleb and H-G were racing against each other to see who could hand them out the fastest. Isaac was well past his bed time, so we had to keep the stroller going at all times. All of them (except Isaac) kept sneaking candy out of the bags, so we are going to have to discuss why we were giving it away.

Joshua, Caleb, and I sat on their bed the other night as we were preparing for them to go to sleep. I knew that some older boys on the bus had been calling them names and aggravating them, so I wanted to see how they were dealing with it. After talking with them, I discovered it wasn’t the older kids picking on them, it was a boy their age. Joshua and Caleb were upset because this young man would not listen to them as they told him about Jesus and God.

Who knows how five year olds explain the great truths of the Scriptures, but the other boy put his hands over his ears, shook his head, and said, “I’m not listening, I’m not listening, I’m not listening.” My sons of thunder were upset that there was a person who would not listen to the stories of Jesus. It upset them that their friend did not know Him.

So I am praying for another night to sit on the bed with my boys and discuss not only that we need to tell others of Him, but that we should do it with “gentleness and respect.”

Perhaps we will look at 1 Peter 3:15-16 “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, ¹⁶keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. ¹⁷It is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.”

I believe that one of the ways maturity shows itself is that a person realizes some things about themselves and accepts them as fact. Can people change, absolutely – but they have to be willing to accept the facts as they stand. For example, math has never been my strong point – can that change? Sure, but I’m not in that big of a hurry to sign up for a calculus class any time soon! Also, I have always admired people who run marathons, but I have no desire to put in hours and hours every week, to prepare for the race. I prefer to use my time doing other things (which usually involve potato chips or French fries).

Which leads us to my point, discipline is something that is difficult and requires commitment. You become like what ever you are committed to. If you run eventually you will look and act like a runner (beyond a sweat suit and shoes). If you take enough classes and do your homework, you will have a degree of math proficiency.

So at age 33, I realize that I am maturing (whether I like it or not). I have chosen to follow a certain life course. I have chosen a certain lifestyle, to be a certain kind of father, person, etc.. and the Lord has blessed me. Sometimes the decisions have been good and sometimes not so good. I realize that I will more than likely will never be president of the United States, fly in outer space, or shoot spider webs out of my hands as a super hero. And you know what? – I’m ok with that. God has blessed me and I am happy with my life.