Allowance Time!

We discussed an allowance for Eliana with her today. We asked her what her normal daily chores should be. She rattled off a list: Go to bed, take a bath, play with her friends, eat dinner, play games, visit her friends, eat breakfast, play with her toys, etc. After we brought her back down to tasks that would help the family and house, we decided on putting up her toys and clothes, helping put up dishes, and similar. We discussed a quarter per day if all of her chores were done. Eliana is a shrewd negotiator, though. She insists that we need to give her a nickel. While I'm all for that, mom wants to stick to the quarter.

Punishment for the friends....

Eliana decided that Susan, Lucy, Peter, and Edmund (her friends/brothers and sisters depending on when you ask - she got into Narnia in a big way) had "broken" her toybox. She resigned them to the hall for 2 minutes as punishment. Susan was initially left out, but after some clarification, it was determined that she was there as well. Apparently Lucy was the main culprit and the others were covering for her. She disappeared in there a couple of minutes ago to fuss at them and let them up. She does pick up on the oddest things at times. :-)

Zoo Trip with Eliana

Eliana decided late last night that her daddy was one of her "sons" (the other being a doll she's had for almost 3 years) and that we needed to get a good nights' sleep because we were going to the zoo "tomorrow". She then had me lay down on the couch to sleep and she lay herself down on the other couch with a blanket and pillow.
After a small amount of time (to work as "night", I suppose), she came over to her happily dozing dad and woke me up gently by shouting "Wake Up!" as loudly as she could. She then hurried around fixing me breakfast, insisting that I get dressed, and dragged me off to the "car" (a spot in the living room not particularly different than any other). We then got in the car (after opening the "door" of course) and she realized she had forgotten her key. She left me and the baby doll in the car while running to her kitchen to get her key (a pink plastic knife). After driving frantically (never saw those elbows move so quickly), we arrived at the "zoo".
I was then given a tour of the zoo (aka living room) where she picked up a souveneir and showed me the animals (in this case a giant stuffed chicken). We then had to get back in the car and go home so we could nap before going back to the zoo.
At this point, it was actually past bedtime. We all got ready to go to bed for real after some cleanup of the toys that were out.

She'd been to the Dallas Aquarium a couple of days earlier which probably prompted this trip. She got a set of binoculars while there and discovered last night how they are actually supposed to work. That was pretty cute as well.

Ordering Your Private World - Strength of Mind

I've been reading through Gordon MacDonald's book "Ordering Your Private World" lately and just finished the chapter on keeping your mind healthy/strong as a Christian. He presented a lot of food for thought that really resonated with me.

He commented that we need to exercise our minds as Christians because God created us in His image. We have the mind of Christ and therefore should be the most creative people in the world. Instead, we often turn off our minds and follow some strong-willed leader semi/mostly blindly. (Jonestown anyone?)

We also need to use our minds so we can engage the culture. If we aren't constantly exercising and disciplining our minds towards Godliness, then we are more likely to get sucked into the culture around us and dragged down into that culture. God's word is filled with examples of how Israel continually let themselves be influenced by the people around them rather than witnessing for the God who'd called them His people. In Judges, it ends with the sad line that "Everyone did what was right in his own eyes." In Chronicles, Israel is led away into captivity for falling so far from God - first with the northern kingdom who never had a God-following king, then with the southern kingdom who had some good kings, but not enough.

Even the churches in the New Testament let themselves get carried away with the flow of the culture - probably why we have so many exhortations to exercise and discipline ourselves to be in the world, but not of the world. As one hymn tells us - this world is not my home, I'm just passin' through. We need to do our part while we are here, but this is not our final destination and too often we live like it is our last stop.


One comment that really touched a nerve was "amusement". Gordon brings our attention to the root for the word - muse, to think, a- without. Basically, this leads us to "without thinking". I've been convinced for a long time that our society will rise or fall based on how we use our leisure time. Do we amuse ourselves? TV? Games? Music? Sports? Books? All of them are good, in moderation. I tend towards books, games, and music - sometimes too much so. I have to ask myself regularly - Am I building myself up through these leisure activities, staying put, or actually moving backwards?

The last point Gordon brings up is based on another author and how we need to serve God with all of our mind, soul, heart, and strength. Gordon touches on how this can relate to people who are emotional, but don't have any intellect behind the emotion. Others who are intellectual, but don't have depth or emotion. Still others who have experience, but no emotion. We need to be perfectly balanced or we'll find ourselves out of control and easily manipulated (or the manipulators). Personally, I need to guard against over-intellectualizing my faith and translating that head-knowledge to heart-knowledge and life-application.

If you're reading this - how is your private world? Are you mentally flabby in your faith or are you growing? Are you the same Christian you were 1 year ago? 5 years? 10 years?

In Him,

-Peter

The Butt of Too Many Jokes - Contemporary Christianity in the USA

I'm not really a King of the Hill fan, though I understand that quite a few people find it amusing. Only reason this stuck in my mind is due to this post:
Challies Dot Com: The Butt of Too Many Jokes

I liked the basic premise of the discussion - contemporary Christian culture in the USofA. We get caught up in things about Christianity that are cool and tend to discard them when they aren't fashionable anymore. He brought up WWJD branded items, magazines, music and similar items that are fads and then as their popularity wanes, they are relegated to a box somewhere or a garage sale. The best quote I read was along the lines of how we need to be careful about how we treat God so that He doesn't end up in that box of all the things that were fads and have now been put away because they aren't cool anymore.

How am I presenting God to my family? Am I careful to present God to them so that He isn't something that will pass if He becomes uncool? Sure, VeggieTales are great, but I'm sure that their popularity will fade at some point. The same holds true for jewelry, clothing, books, pop music. Sure some of them will last longer than others, but God is so much more than those things. Definitely something that I plan to think about some more.

Blue houses don't make us happy

Once again, Eliana demonstrates that she takes in more than we realize. As we were driving along on the way to church, we detoured past a house that mom has looked at for a while just because she's liked the look of it. She pointed it out to Eliana and noted that the blue house was the one to look at. Eliana pointed out that our house is brick. She the explained to both of us that "blue houses don't make us happy."

Too true, now if that would only apply to items that are pink for a certain small girl I can think of. :-)

Hats don't guard cars

Eliana's been toting her bears around lately (sometimes a tiger, dog, or doll instead). Joe was the favored bear for a while, but we wanted to ensure that he'd be safe so we insisted that he stay behind to "guard the car" regularly.

Today Eliana decided to pick up her play cowboy hat (the one that's bright baby-blue) and wear it in to church. Mom tried to convince her that she should let the hat guard the car. Eliana looked at her mom and explained to her that "Hats don't guard cars. Bears guard cars." She then proceeded to pick up the hat and wear it into church.

That girl picks up on the strangest things at times, but it makes life all the more interesting.

A Capella singing and our "Heart of Worship"

Doxologue has a great post on the plans to worship with no instrument other than the human voice this coming weekend. I agree with their post when they say that this is not the only way to worship. What caught my attention here was David's thoughts about the words and even the thoughts behind what we're singing. He also mentions that even if we sing beautifully, God doesn't want that offering if the words we sing don't match the attitudes in our hearts.

First, we need to concentrate on what we're singing. As one of my pastors used to tell us - the only thing that makes a song "Christian" is the lyrics. A lot of our more popular hymns have melodies taken from popular songs of the day, including drinking songs.

Second, do the words we sing line up with what's in our heart? Are we singing songs that praise God for his blessings while we are consumed with thoughts on how we can manage our money better? Do we completely contradict those words by thinking, "What blessings?"

Third, are we so consumed by the type of music we're singing that we don't really mean what we're singing? I tend not to prefer "contemporary" style worship. However, that does not mean that it should affect my ability to worship God through guitars and drums. Other countries have completely different styles of music used to worship God - probably a whole lot different than anything I'll ever hear in the USA. Will that stop me from offering my praise? If I were to attend a church that only used guitars/drums/praise band, will that hinder me? (And I'm not proud to admit that I've definitely put self first some of those days when that did happen.)

Lastly, David brings up a good point on how our main instrument to worship God is our voice. And behind that, our hearts. The best band, the best choir, the best praise team, the best director - all mean nothing if our heart is not in unison with the words proceeding from our mouths. God looks at the heart. He knows what we're offering to Him.

Am I offering my best when I sing to Him or am I just singing? Am I singing to glorify myself or Him? I know that I'll be thinking about this next time I'm singing corporately.

Vain Worship (from Pastorway)

OK - this post (pastorway: Vain Worship) got me thinking quite a bit. Am I like the people he mentions in Ezekiel 33? Am I someone who pursues teaching, but doesn't do what the teacher says? Am I like the people Jesus talks about in Matthew 15:8-9? Do I draw
near to Him in the physical sense yet distance myself or even go the opposite way spiritually? Pastor Way writes a great devotional discussing true worship vs. vain worship.

How am I applying or not applying the truths from the messages or Sunday School lessons I've heard lately? How am I changed day by day? In short, am I worshiping in vain or in truth?

How are you doing spiritually? (i.e. What are you reading?)

John Samson wrote a great article that challenges all of us about what we are reading and how it affects our spiritual walk. Find it here:
Reformation Theology: How are you doing spiritually? by Pastor John Samson

He begins with a story that I know I can relate to and probably a good portion of us could if we were honest with ourselves. A man approaches the pastor and admits that his spiritual and devotional life is just not where it should be. My pastor right now touches on this - we need a foundation of prayer and Bible Study for our lives. John takes this even further when he challenged this man by asking "What are you reading right now?" This definitely challenged me as I have a tendency towards science-fiction and fantasy - some of it edifying, other parts just fluff or filler. I enjoy tales such as the "Christ Clone Trilogy" and even "Left Behind". I've read some great Christian fiction (including Pilgrim's Progress and CS Lewis' works). I also tend to read non-Christian fiction.

This post really challenged me to take up more edifying reading. I've started and paused Ray Stedman's Adventuring Through the Bible several times. Not because it's boring - far from it - but just because I'll put it down and not make a point of picking it up again for a while. I think it's time to resume that and get back on track with material that builds me up more than just occupies my time. I don't think there's anything wrong with entertainment, but I'll admit I've had a little too much of it lately for my own good.

So, if you're reading this - what are you reading right now?

In him,

-Peter Schott

Prayer Meetings - some thoughts

I came across a great post over at Doxologue discussing the mid-week prayer meeting that is somewhat common in US churches. David discussed how his church uses their mid-week prayer time with a good basic description of how the prayer meeting progresses through the evening. He touches briefly on how some churches have turned this time into a time of teaching rather than prayer.

The last paragraph dealt with churches not encouring their members to come together for this time of corporate prayer. It also touched on how we as believers tend to get caught up in other events. This touched a chord with me as I know I tend to make excuses rather than try to attend the church's regular Wednesday meeting. "The traffic is too rough." "I'm busy helping the churches I serve through my job." "I got in late today so I need to stay late." (Now there's a lame excuse - especially for my current company/position.)

Excellent read and well worth checking out this site in general as the posts are always excellent and thought-provoking.