Tag: ID

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Family

Ready or Not, Here I come…

I was playing hide and seek with Zander today – actually for the first time.  He had this idea that he would hide and call out to me – “come find me”.  At first I was caught up in getting things done for work so that I could take the next week off without ‘too many’ worries. I didn’t want to stop to play with him, but reluctantly I did.

After a couple of half attempts to ‘find’ him and get back to my computer, he comes to me and says, “your turn daddy! Go hide!”.  I realized that he has never played hide and seek and came by the game naturally.  So I turned off the monitor, stopped being annoyed, and started to cherish the moments I had with him.  I explained to him that he had to count to 10 and then come find me.  He counted, then ran straight to me – I was ‘hiding’ down the hall.

So being ‘it’ I told him to go hide, while I counted to 10.  I shouted out, “Ready or Not, here I come!”  Then despite the fact that I knew he was hiding in the den, I walked around the house, jumping around corners shouting “Gotcha!” then in a disappointed tone I would say, “No, he’s not hiding here”.  Each time I would hear Zander giggle in the den.  Finally, I got to the den and he took off running.  I chased him around the house, both of us laughing and sliding in our socks.  He naturally ran to ‘base’ where I had counted.

Then he started, “1, 2, 3…”  I started looking for a place to hide. “4, 5, 6…” I decided on hiding behind the kitchen island. “7, 8, 9…” My heart was racing, “10! Ready or Not, Here I come!”  Zander copied my example to a tee – shouting “Gotcha” and “Nope, you’re not in here” as he want around the house.  Then he jumped into the kitchen and the race was on!  We had a lot of fun and I’m glad I took the time.

Well, Zander isn’t the only child of mine shouting “Ready or Not, Here I come!”  Today is the eve of the BIG day!  Dianne is coming over around 6:30 am to watch Zander.  Stephanie is packed.  The appointment is at 8:00 am.  Everything is set, everything is ready – well… not everything.  I’m not.  In less than 24 hours I will have a new child in the world, and a daughter at that!  Alexis Carol Sackrider is almost here.

I look forward to many great moments with her like I had with Zander today, but I also dread the first time she falls down, the first time she is disappointed, the first time she is embarrassed.  I don’t even want to consider first boyfriends, first dates, first kisses.  Ready or Not…Here she comes!

Categories
myThoughts

Life comes at you fast…

Have ever seen the insurance commercial where some guy is trying figure out what a light switch does in his house and the garage door two houses down is going up and down, up and down, up and down on some lady’s car, as his flips the switch, then the voice over says, “Life comes at you fast”?  The guy asks his wife to look and see if any thing changes in the house while he is hitting the switch – and she just sits outside his view reading a magazine saying, “nothing, nope, I don’t see anything”.  Some days I relate this guy – having some switch in my life that I have no idea what it does, and no one is helping me to figure it out.  Today I feel like the old lady down the street.

My life is getting slammed over and over and with no apparent cause.  I just know that some guy two houses up is saying, “Anything yet honey?”.  Nope, nothing yet…  Look lady,  just get up and help the guy – we’ll all be happier for it.

BTW – TV Fast is still going strong.  I’m catching up on my reading. More on that later…

Categories
Ministry myThoughts

Distractions

I learned something interesting as I was watching a documentary about Border Patrol last night.  Drug smugglers from Mexico will use people who want to come to America as distractions for the border patrol agents to allow themselves a window to get their illegal imports across the border.  They send people across with a people smuggler and watch from the Mexican side how the patrol officers find them, where they come from, how they catch the illegal aliens, and then use that information to cross undetected.

I thought of a friend of mine, who is a magician (http://tru-magic.com).  He uses entertaining stories to distract his audience from whats really going on.  A simple waving of his hand, or making eye contact at just the right moment, delivering a punch line, these are the tools he uses to create the illusion of magic.  Distractions…

Yesterday I got an email from an old high school friend informing me that she was no longer going to accept the new gold dollar because the words “In God We Trust” have been moved to the edge of the coin instead of on the face or the back as in previous versions.  This fact was brought to the attention of many people when the US Treasury mistakenly minted several coins without the inscription on even the edge.  This upset many Christians and has resulted in several angry emails and email chains like the one I got today.  My friend didn’t seem angry, just adamant in Her decision to expressly not use the new dollar. 

Not to pick on my friend, but think about that for a moment.  There are Christians who have decided to ‘take-a-stand’ for God by refusing to use the new dollar coin.  I began to consider how they would make this stand.  Images of gas station clerks standing baffled as some stranger explains to them why they won’t except those ungodly coins as change come to mind.  Are we really so distracted from the great commission that this is what we allow to pass as taking a stand? 

The enemy has sent distractions across our borders and is watching us react, all while moving undetected in the process.  We are watching the left hand, while the right hand is doing that thing we needed to see.  I don’t believe we should ignore the attack on our faith in matters such as the inscription on a coin, or “under God” being removed from our pledge, or the Ten Commandments being removed from our court house walls, anymore than I believe the border patrol should ignore illegal immigrants crossing the border.  But aren’t these things simply symptoms of the problem? Isn’t there a better way to spread this Gospel than refusing to accept a coin?  We are focused on the left hand when our attention should be on the right.  Wouldn’t it be great if we actually showed people how to live the montra “In God we trust” instead of demanding it be printed their coins?