This Blog Now Found at www.Dadof5girls.com

I am excited to announce that this blog now has it's own domain.  Please visit is at

www.dadof5girls.com.

See you there!

Bronzer and Highlighter: How God Uses Teenagers and Makeup

A few days ago, my oldest daughter came to me with a question. "Dad," she asked. "Why should I have to put both bronzer and highlighter on when I do my makeup?  Don't they just cancel each other out?"  With a very confused look on my face I replied, "Why are you putting metal and marker on your face?"  (At this point, my daughter fell down laughing.)  Many that know me will tell you that I am a real guys, guy.  I love sports, soccer and NASCAR especially.  I have selective hearing, which drives my wife crazy... yet, for some reason, God saw fit to bless me with five beautiful daughters and a breath taking wife.  So... in my house, I get asked questions about makeup and nail polish, hair dye and bath products.  I get to peruse through wedding magazines and hear about the latest relationship happenings of people I've never heard of. At the end of the day there's only one word that describes my life.

JOY!
(That's the color pink for all you guys out there.)

I love being a husband and father, however when I dreamt of what life would be like with a house full of children the only thing I got right was the part about having a HOT wife.  I thought for sure I would have a house full of boys.  We'd wrestle in the living room and throw the ball outside... We'd head out to the woods and come home proudly wearing all the dirt and stink we could find.

But God knew better...

My favorite verse is Jeremiah 29:11...

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."

I don't miss the fact that I haven't come home smelly after a day romping in the woods nor do I miss the fact that I've never taken any of my daughters fishing.  What I have been able to do is paint their fingers and toes and I've been asked, "Do I look pretty daddy?"  Dreams are wonderful!  They inspire innovation and creativity but they are just that... dreams.  God,on the other hand, doesn't have dreams... There is nothing that is known that is not known by God.  What He does have are plans.  A plan.. A plan for me.  All of it meant to give me a future and hope.  For me, my plan meant 5 beautiful daughters and a stunning wife that drives me to Godliness.  It means bronzer and highlighter, (because there are features of your face that each of these products enhance or diminish as needed.)  But there is one reality that all the plans God has for you and I have in common.  Joy

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God."

Hebrews 12:1-2

I am the joy that God through the writer of Hebrews spoke of and because the plan God has for me  includes a house full of women, I understand that I am His joy.  For that, I am very thankful...  

My thought's on the movie Noah

I don't usually take on the controversial especially when my remarks run the risk of upsetting so many in my own camp. None the less... Most of the world, it seems, is aware that the latest work out of Hollywood, Noah, is hitting the big screen. Of course, there have been comments from both sides of the fence about the movie. However, the comments that strike me the most, are the ones from believers I know and love, shouting about the movie not being true to the Bible. I guess the question I have is, why did you honestly expect it ever would be?  Hollywood has never produced a movie, inspired by the Bible, that was consistent with the Bible.  All of them have taken artistic license and none of them have stayed true to the text. (Okay The Passion of the Christ came close.) I guess the big question is why are so many Christians expecting non-Christians to act like Christians?  To my knowledge none of the people involved with the making of the movie Noah have claimed any belief in Christ. In fact, some have gone so far, as to step as far away from that belief as possible.  Why can't we take this movie for the opportunity that it is? An opportunity to open a conversation about the Bible.  Non-Christians by their very nature lack the instruction of the Holy Spirit to bring about understanding when reading the Bible.  The only logical conclusion that any believer can come to is when a non-believer reads the Scriptures, Satan will have the upper hand when it comes to bringing about understanding.  Now that's not to say that the Holy Spirit can't speak through the darkness and shed light on a soul desperately needing living water.  But that is to say that Satan is in the business of doing everything he can to disguise, hide, and thwart the truth.  Don't get me wrong I do believe it is the responsibility of believers to use the scriptures as the light unto the path that it are.  But can someone please explain to me the evangelistic method that's being employed whenever we shout at nonbelievers for being nonbelievers?  Yelling at Hollywood and being furious at them for creating a movie about a biblical story that is not in line with that biblical story is only going to serve to widen the gap that would need to be crossed to reach the lost.  Should conversations be had about this movie's inaccuracies?  Yes! However, I believe those conversations should happen over cups of coffee and dinners with the family, after all those involved in the conversation, have had a chance to see the movie.  Take those opportunities to point out where the movie misses the mark biblically and use the movie as an opportunity to show the Bible for the work of truth that it is. Hollywood is not the evangelistic arm of Christianity. The Bible says the church has that job. We've got to take the  ministry of evangelism to heart and action.  Expecting Hollywood to win the world to Christ only leads to a darker darkness.

Communication

I don't think that there is any one who will argue with the fact that communication is something that we all could do a little better.  For me it is very frustration to be misunderstood, misquoted, misrepresented... you get the picture.  The reality is that when it comes to communication, humans by in large, have a very difficult time with something that seems so simple. If you don't believe me think about the times when you have thought one of the following phases:

I know what I meant, why don't you?
I understood exactly what I was saying!
Well it made sense to me!

One of the sad consequences of mans fall from grace was that for the rest of our human lives on earth we would struggle with communication.  In Gen. 2: 25 it says, "And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed."  Not ashamed!  What a reality!  Adam and Eve for at least a time truly had an existence where they could say anything and there were no negative consequences and the remnants of this existence remain to this day.  How often I have heard people, most of them single, say things like, "I just want someone I can say anything to and they still love me."  Adam and Eve knew this reality because there was no such thing as something that wasn't lovable.  They lived in the center of God's love and in the mist of that love was complete fulfillment.  The truth is that the person who wants someone to love them no matter what,  are actually looking for fulfillment. The absolute that hasn't changed since the beginning time is that fulfillment can only come from a right relationship with God. If you really want to be a better communicator, you need to go to the source and invest sometime at His feet.  It will be then that God will be able to mold you into the communicator you can be.  God is not bound by a lack of understanding.  Who better to consult when it comes to the words that flow off our tongues.