Happy New Year

Here is a Puritan prayer that I wanted to share with everyone as 2008 approaches. I love this prayer and hope that it serves to bring you close to Jesus in this new year.

The Deeps
Lord Jesus, give me a deeper repentance, a horror of sin, a dread of its approach. Help me chastely to flee it and jealously to resolve that my heart shall be Thine alone.
Give me a deeper trust, that I may lose myself to find myself in Thee, the ground of my rest, the spring of my being. Give me a deeper knowledge of Thyself as saviour, master, lord, and king. Give me deeper power in private prayer, more sweetness in Thy Word, more steadfast grip on its truth. Give me deeper holiness in speech, thought, action, and let me not seek moral virtue apart from Thee.
Plough deep in me, great Lord, heavenly husbandman, that my being may be a tilled field, the roots of grace spreading far and wide, until Thou alone art seen in me, Thy beauty golden like summer harvest, Thy fruitfulness as autumn plenty.
I have no master but Thee, no law but Thy will, no delight but Thyself, no wealth but that Thou givest, no good but that Thou blessest, no peace but that Thou bestowest. I am nothing but that Thou makest me. I have nothing but that I receive from Thee. I can be nothing but that grace adorns me. Quarry me deep, dear Lord, and then fill me to overflowing with living water.

Misty's iPod

I bought my wife an iPod several weeks ago.
I did it begrudgingly.
Everyone else seems to have one and for that reason I didn't want one.
But Misty is a great wife and she doesn't ask for much when it comes to electronics or trendy stuff. She primarily wanted it for worship music and since it could help her when she leads music for Children's church, we went forward and joined the world of iPod users.
At first I didn't use it very much. I downloaded some stuff for Misty and she used it and let Jasilyn use it.
And then I discovered podcasts. This discovery is about as important a turning point in my adult life as the day I learned to properly utilize hair gel.
Now I'm listening to Mark Driscoll and Matt Chandler while I do dishes. I'm nodding my head to Bob Coy and Andy Stanley while I take out the trash. I'm searching iTunes for every podcast that remotely seems interesting.
The more accurate first line of this post should be: "I bought myself an iPod several weeks ago."

Psalm 124

Psalm 124
A Song of Ascents. Of David.
1 “If it had not been the LORD who was on our side,” let Israel now say— 2 “If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, when men rose up against us, 3 Then they would have swallowed us alive, when their wrath was kindled against us; 4 Then the waters would have overwhelmed us, the stream would have gone over our soul; 5 Then the swollen waters would have gone over our soul.” 6 Blessed be the LORD, who has not given us as prey to their teeth. 7 Our soul has escaped as a bird from the snare of the fowlers; The snare is broken, and we have escaped. 8 Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.

Church Day

Yesterday was what my kids now call "church day." Matt taught our Sunday School class and his main scriptures were Galatians 5:1 and 5:22-23. Anytime you can incorporate crayons, pennies and index cards into a young adult Bible study you get an A for creativity.

Matt's plan is to teach through Galatians over the next several weeks and I'm looking forward to it. The first book study I ever did was Galatians and although I bored the class to death, I learned a lot.

Pastor Mike's 11:00 message was from Psalm 124 and it was excellent and timely. Mike challenged us through God's Word to focus on what the Lord has done for us and to thank Him and praise Him. I was able to sit down and reflect on how good God is. I could write about this for weeks...

A Season Of...

Several days and Christmas has passed since I wrote last. Christmas was a magical time for me and my family and I thank the Lord for it. We managed to keep things fairly simple and we were blessed because of it. I use the word "magical" because I can't think of a better word. I know that some of my fundamentalist brethren will begin to shake uncontrollably when they see that I used that word, but I assure them that we still don't read or watch Harry Potter in my home so all is well.
For Jasilyn it was a season of singing. She sang all around the house with Misty and she sang in the Christmas program for her school and for the Christmas program for church and finally she sang with her school choir during the 11:00 service last Sunday morning. I secretly suspect that she sees herself as Hannah Montana. I noticed that one of Misty's dinner theater wigs keeps getting mysteriously moved around...
For Noah it was a season of realizing he is strong. He walks around the house posing like he is on the cover of Muscle and Fitness magazine. Minus the veiny and ripply bikini clad she-hulk of course. One of Noah's "feats of strength" involves him rolling me off of the bed. It was funny the first eight or nine times but now its starting to wear on me. I lie in bed reading with one eye on the pages and one eye on surveillance duty. Noah will be four in March.
For Jacob it was a season of destruction. If it exists, Jacob will touch it. If it can be pulled to the floor, Jacob will relocate it. His favorite food is bananas. Misty has him on such a good schedule that at lunch time he climbs up in his chair and straps himself in.
For Misty and I the last few months have been a season of slowing down and appreciating what we have. Taking the time to laugh together and tell stories and listen to music and just enjoy where we are in life. If you're not careful you can spend your whole life trying to get to the point where you can just have some peace and sit back and enjoy life, and then at some point you realize that you wasted a lot of time striving for what was available all along.
2007 was a tough year in many ways but it has been a year in which we learned to appreciate the small stuff and enjoy the journey.

My Week In Review

I've been out on vacation for a week so I thought I should drop back and give a rundown of the last several days:

Saturday: Great day! Jasilyn, Noah and I went to Givens Books on Lakeside Drive and we spent the afternoon playing with toys and reading books. Per Jonathan's advice we purchased "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" and we ended our visit by sitting in The Drowsy Poet and drinking root beer. Jasilyn's favorite part of the day was playing with the princess costumes and Noah's favorite part was playing with the trains. My favorite part was watching my children sit cross legged on the floor and look through books. That night we had our first performance of Tree of Life's Christmas Program. I played Joseph and Jesus. My Jesus wig was awful. I looked more like Chong from Cheech and Chong than Jesus. Misty was one of the singers. We finished up at about 9:00 and everyone headed home to get some sleep before returning at 7:00am the next morning. I fell asleep thinking about root beer and books and bad wigs.

Sunday: At 5:30am we got Team Queen up and running. We arrived at the church by 7:00 and I ran back out to Starbucks to get some coffee. We had three performances and they went very well. The Jesus wig got worse and worse. I was able to sit in the audience during two of the performances and watch Misty and Jasilyn sing. Both of my girls were breathtakingly beautiful. I felt like I was watching one of the old "Bob Hope Christmas Specials". At the end of each performance I came out dressed like Jesus at the Resurrection and stood with my arms out in a welcoming gesture to the crowd. At first it was awkward. By the final performance I was overwhelmed with emotion at how unworthy I am to play that role. I got an opportunity to be Christlike as I walked off the stage and a lady whispered "you need a hairbrush". Jason would have whispered, "as do you madame. as do you..." But instead I just smiled and nodded my bad wig in her general direction. All in all it was a good day. We ended the day reading "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" and the kids loved it.

Monday: A day of leisure. I watched a lot of television and listened to some sermons on Misty's ipod. That night we went to Tree of Life's leadership dinner. The food was great. Seven different types of corn pudding. We sat with Joe and his family. Joe is among five people who make me laugh out loud. Corn pudding and laughter don't mix too well.

Tuesday: A hectic day. We ran around catching up on errands.

Wednesday: We watched "The Nativity Story" at church that night. This movie is very good and it does a great job of depicting the humanity of Mary and Joseph. Joseph is portrayed as a strong and good man.

Thursday: We went to Build-a-Bear Workshop in Charlottesville. Jasilyn built a pink leopard. Noah chose a brown monkey. Jacob got his first teddy bear. It was another great day in a series of great days. I am blessed with great children and an awesome wife.

Our Baby

Our baby is now 18 months old. He is no longer a baby. He is the destroyer of worlds.

He eats crayons and when they reappear they no longer resemble crayons in any way except for color.

Aspirations

Yesterday my oldest son Noah came into the living room wearing his SpiderMan costume.

"I'll be back," he said. "I'm going out to save da world."

"Don't forget your coat," Misty replied.

Now That Is Love

The other night my daughter Jasilyn walked up to Misty and hugged her and said, "Mommy? You mean more to me than my Raggedy Ann."

Misty cried.

I'm A Shepherd (update)

Well, I reported to the dress rehearsal for Tree of Life's Christmas Program and I am not playing a shepherd. I'm playing the Good Shepherd.

When I arrived last night I noticed that Pastor Don suddenly stopped talking to people as I walked in the sanctuary. His eyes locked in on me. He put his hand up in the general direction of the people that were asking him questions and he began to stalk towards me. I bravely walked towards Don and met him halfway. Without saying a word Don began to analyze my face.

"Nice beard," said Don.
"Thanks," Jason responded.
"You won't even need a costume beard," said Don.
"That's good to know," Jason responded.
"Cause the beard glue would get stuck in your real beard," said Don.
"That wouldn't be good," Jason responded.
"No, that wouldn't be good at all," said Don. "We can't have Jesus getting glue in his beard."
"Ummmmmm....I'm playing Jesus?" Jason asked.
"Well of course," Don said. As he placed his hand on my shoulders Don pointed me towards my costume and began to tell me my cue.

So I'm playing Jesus. The performances start tonight. I'll be standing with the lost sheep.

I'm A Shepherd

Our church's Children's Pastor is also in charge of all of our dramas. He is responsbile for dinner theater, dessert theater, skits during our services, illusion shows and Tree of Life's Annual Christmas program. Year after year Don waits until the last minute to recruit actors and year after year I publicly proclaim that he will be unable to recruit me and year after year I find myself on stage as Joseph or a friend of Joseph's or someone in a crowd scene or someone leading someone to Jesus. I always say that I will never do it again, yet I always do it.

My resolve to never act for Don is not because Don is a jerk. He is not a jerk. He is a godly man. My wife loves him and acts in every single thing he does and she even helps lead worship in the children's ministry. My kids love Don. They think of him as their pastor. He is a good man. He is a kind man. He is a persistent man. He is a determined man. He is the human version of one of those raptors from Jurassic Park. He gets you in his sights and he approaches you with tunnel vision. When he talks to you his eyes begin to swirl like that hypnotic snake Kaa from The Jungle Book. He asks you to help in a way that you cannot deny and before you know it... you're backstage, tying on a headband and making sure you don't trip over your robe as you practice your lines.

I'm not a good actor. I worry about acting. I worry about performing. These plays traumatize me as I practice my lines throughout the day and as I picture in my mind where I am supposed to stand and when I am supposed to come out. I become obsessed with not messing up and I worry myself to the verge of ending up in the fetal position in a deserted choir room at the back of the church... And when its over I publicly proclaim that I will never act again.

Last night at church I began to breathe easy. We are three days away from the performance and I haven't been asked about being an actor. I'm safe. Aaaaahhhh...

I began to plan in my mind where I would sit in the audience. Who I would sit with. I even pictured myself relaxing in our church's comfortable chairs as I watched the performance. I might even smuggle in some eggnog and sugar cookies. It would be a peaceful Christmas without practices and costumes and...

My musings were interrupted by the intense feeling in my spine that someone was watching me. I looked around and saw no one. I began to breathe easy again but I suddenly noticed a movement in the crowd to my left. More movement. The crowd parted. And there he was. Pastor Don. Staring at me. Moving towards me. He was holding a clipboard and his eyes were burning into me like an infrared light.

I began to walk backwards. He walked faster. I counted the paces to the media booth. My friend Joe was in there and I was quite certain he would grant me sanctuary. I made a break for it but my legs felt like they were in quicksand. I was moving slower and slower and Don was moving faster and faster. He outweighs me by at least a hundred pounds but he is gaining on me. I stop and I face the inevitable. I am prepared to debate my way out of this. What follows is as accurate a transcript of my conversation with Don as possible.

Don: Hello Jason.
Jason: Hello Don. How are you?
Don: Not good Jason. Not good at all.
Jason: Oh? I'm sorry to hear that. Is there something I can do to help?
Don: Yes Jason. You can agree to be a shepherd in the Christmas play.
{Jason clears his throat and produces the following brilliant response to Don's plea}
Jason: Okay.

My first practice is tonight. I'll be standing with the sheep.

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

My brother Jonathan called me last night to let me in on his choice for "holiday book of the year". His choice? "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" by Barbara Robinson.

Jonathan said it caused him to laugh out loud. This endorsement carries much weight for me, so I plan to stop by Givens tonight and purchase a copy.

Here are a few lines from the first page:
The Herdmans were absolutely the worst kids in the history of the world. They lied and stole and smoked cigars (even the girls) and talked dirty and hit little kids and cussed their teachers and took the name of the Lord in vain and set fire to Fred Shoemaker's old broken-down toolhouse.
The toolhouse burned right down to the ground, and I think that surprised the Herdmans. They set fire to things all the time, but that was the first time they managed to burn down a whole building.

I grew up watching the movie version of the book and I know that it is a great story of love, grace and redemtion. Those are three character traits worth reminding ourselves of at this time of the year...

A Package From Kansas

Like a lot of American families these days, my family does a Christmas gift exchange thing where one person buys for another. Most of us are spread out across the state and across the country, so the exchange sometimes gets about as complicated as a pyramid scheme bonus plan.

My oldest brother is in Kansas. He and his wife and two youngest daughters participate. His youngest daughter has my name. Now, I have only met my niece four or five times so I pretty much resigned myself to the fact that her gift was going to fit nicely in the "its the thought that counts category". I was wrong.

I received a package from Kansas last Friday afternoon and my niece had filled it with stuff for me and my family. She made ornaments for each of my children and the kids loved them. She also included three whistle straws that produce a sound that I can only describe as being similar to the scream a coyote makes when it runs through a cactus patch.

My wife surveyed the situation and calmly collected each whistle and that's the last I heard of those wretched devices.

At the bottom of this package was the book "Quiet Strength" by Tony Dungy. Tony Dungy is the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts. I had heard somewhere that he was a Christian but beyond that I knew very little about him. I don't follow football like I used to and aside from listening to my friend Eric attempt to educate me about the goings on in the world of sports I know very little about the NFL, NHL or any other L. So, I appreciated my niece's gift but I did not anticipate enjoying the book. As I mentioned earlier, I was wrong.

The book was excellent. I would never have bought it for myself but I am firmly convinced that the Lord used my niece to place that book in my hands. I will write more about that soon when I have enough time to do it justice. For now, I highly recommend it. Especially if you are a sports fan. Keep in mind that I opened the book with the impression that the Colts were still in Baltimore.

Ice Ice Baby

Lynchburg woke up to ice covered sidewalks and streets this morning. I skated across my porch and made my way to work.
Downtown is deserted. I walked from the coffee shop to my office and never had to use the sidewalks. Walked right down the middle of main street, sloshing through the crystals of salt and ice.

Hope For The Worrier

Check out this passage from Habakkuk chapter 3. I'm a worrier and this passage speaks to me about where I need to be in relation to my reliance upon Jesus. My prayer is that I will get to the point where this is my testimony:

17 Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls— 18 Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. 19 The LORD God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer’s feet, and He will make me walk on my high hills.