Storytime Elmo @ the Coates’

The girl’s Aunt Leigh and Uncle Dan sent them Elmo live yesterday in the mail. I didn’t know what all of the fuss was about it but now I get it. It is a very cool toy and captures the attention of a 6 year old down to 5 months.

On the plane

We headed to the airport this morning and blasted off to TX. I say blasted because when you take off from John Wayne airport, you literaly take blast off. There is a noise abatement in Newport beach which causes all of this….but I don’t mind at all. It is pretty fun to say the least!

I am sitting on the plane with my family truly amazed. I don’t know of a family in the world that God could have more richly blessed me with. Daily I am amazed at their unconditional love and support. None of us expects perfection from one another but rather grace. I watched my kids sit through an hour wedding and wondered just how many kids could do something like that.

We have our melt-down moments for sure, myself included. But life is good and we only God to tell thanks.

Now Allison, she is not defineable. She is beauty, love, God’s grace, forgiveness, support, gentleness, trust, faith, answered prayer/ prayer warrior, peace, self-control, wonderful mother, caring wife, and many more words that fall short all rolled up into one. We together are one just as God intended and she makes me better in just about every area of my life. I could not imagine this transition without her!

So here we are on the plane….ready, thankful for God using is….

Crazy emotional for women’s gymnastics???

O.K. – so I am literally wiping tears away as I watch Nastia and her father during the women’s all-around at the Olympics. I am thinking to myself, “self, why in the world are you emotional?” I answered self, “self, its because you always get emotional when you see a daughter interact in such a loving way with her father.” I mean, can you imagine how many times they have probably been at odds with one another? Her father is not only her father but also her coach. I am sure there were so many times that he had to push his daughter to a near breaking point because he knew it was going to be the best for her in the future as it would prepare her for a moment such as last night. Wow! It reminds me of that old tv show “Father knows best.” 

I know you know where I am going with this. God loves us so much…much more deeply than we will ever fully recognize or comprehend. His love for us moves Him to grow us and prepare us for the challenges that life has to offer. His desire is to see us up on the podium of life as we are rewarded with the very crown of life which is eternity. And as we are going through our ups and downs, twists and turns, spills, falls and the like, He is right there watching us, ready to catch us if we fall, ready to hold us, ready to tell us exactly what we need even if it is not what we “want to hear.” 

God’ love for us is so BIG yet His love for Himself is ever BIGGER…and that’s O.K. because HE is GOD and HE makes the rules! You see, in the end, as He looks at us on the podium of life, He is the one that receives the most GLORY!

“Daddy, Are you trying to be more like Jesus?”

Our second daughter, Karis, has a wonderful heart. She is acting out a little these days but still has these moments of incredible insight, warmth, and care. I was having a time the Lord at the dinner table (not as we were eating- that would be odd, but just at the actual table) when she came up to me asking me what I was doing. She has seen me read, pray, etc., etc., but this time I had a workbook out and it just looked different to her. I told Karis that daddy was trying to be more like Jesus. She looked at me and walked off kind-of talking under her breath and skipping to her own beat. This morning when she saw me in the same posture, she said, “Daddy, you trying to be more like Jesus?” I responded, “Yes Karis….trying…but I am not doing that great of a job.” She said “Oh,” and walked off. 

I few minutes later I passed by her room and there she was, in a similar posture, “reading” a little book (she can’t read yet) and saying “Jesus…I love you…you love me…thank you….help me be like you” I walked in and sat down and asked her about Jesus and what He was like. We talked about His love for us and our love for Him. I walked away with a greater understanding of just how much I model for my children. You have heard that things are more easily “caught” than “taught” and boy….that is the truth. 

Tyler is growing up

It’s amazing how time flies by so quickly. It’s like the older I get the faster time goes. It’s not that big of a deal though because life is so good…confusing…complicated…obviously. 

Tyler is my 4th child. He is blessed with 3 older sisters. People ask us if we are finished and I always wonder, “finished what?” We never really planned on having 2 when we had 1. Our philosophy has always been to take one at a time. Is life challenging? Absolutely! 

Tyler is totally dependent on me and Allison. There is really nothing that he can do on his own. He is the very definition of “needy.” But above these things, in many ways he reminds me of how I am to approach the father. No, I don’t cry when I am hungry or anything like that (o.k. maybe sometimes), but I am to come before the Lord recognizing my neediness. I realize that Tyler may not recognize his neediness but he understands when Allison or I am with him and he understands that we are the ones who provide what it is that he needs to survive. I may be able to speak more eloquently and do more for myself, but sometimes I don’t recognize my extreme need for God and consequently overlook God as the one who provides what I need daily, moment by moment to survive. 

I will be the first to telly you that the analogy isn’t perfect, I am not trying to say that it is. All I am trying to say is that there is a lot I am learning from a 4 week old…..

The convicting simplicity of my oldest middle child

I am usually amazed at children’s comments. They have an uncanny ability to make what adults see as so complicated, very simple. My oldest middle child, Karis, has one of the most caring hearts. She cares about people so much that I am beginning to wonder who her parents arelly are. I after all am a single’s pastor and therefore only care for those who are single between the ages of 24 and 59. If you are married (other than in EPIC) or outside of that age range, I don’t care about you (only kidding). But really…she is caring.

As of late, my oldest, Ella, and Karis have entered into the realm of competition. Everything is about who is first or who is fastest. This is fine with me because it has always been my mantra that second place is only the first looser (again…only kidding…kinda). Well they were racing to do something and just by the sheer fact of Ella being older, more developed, and longer…she won the race. Karis was distraught of course by her older sister’s victory and needed her dad to console her…which I gladly did. As she sat there in my arms, she looked up into my eyes with such and intense understanding of truth and said, “daddy, in Heaven, we are all winners….right.” My reply in the very touching expression of innocense and pure understanding said, yes, Karis…you are right. In Heaven we are all winners.”

The simplicity of a child is so often a powerful blow to the “complexities” of our ADULT life.