Kenya – One Of The Best Christmas Presents Ever!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

I just wanted to share a story from my Christmas experience today.  I was blown away by one of the best Christmas presents that I have ever received.  As a family, we had decided to keep it pretty low-key this year as far as presents go, since we were saving up for our big trip to Kenya this summer.  Honestly, this wasn’t the easiest choice to make.  It’s hard not to want to give your kids and family as much as possible.  Despite the “tough” decision, our family – especially our kids – handled this Christmas remarkably well.

Today as we were opening presents with my wife’s family, it was fun to watch as my two nieces tore into their gifts.  It was also special to see the genuine appreciation from our kids as they opened their own gifts.  But my daughter took the cake for my Christmas experience today when she handed my wife a small box that she had purposefully prepared to give to the two of us.  When we opened the box, we discovered over $42 mostly in one-dollar bills that she had saved up from money she earned selling her homemade jewelry.  This act of pure generosity brought tears to my eyes.

Our upcoming trip to Kenya is going to be exciting and life changing, but what I’m experiencing already in preparation for this trip is already changing my life.  To know that my daughter is so willing to think of others first is a true gift.  Today, I learned so much from her – about putting others first – about correctly prioritizing things – and about what Christmas is really all about.  No other words can fully express the emotion that I experienced today.  I am one proud dad!

Merry Christmas!

Primal by Mark Batterson

I just finished reading Mark Batterson‘s new book, Primal.

Wow!

This was the best book I have read in a long, long time.  Mark Batterson provides a refreshing look at a basic, foundational commandment – The Great Commandment – to love the love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Mark is obviously a well-read, intelligent author.  I love the detail and thought he pours into each word of Primal.  It seemed like every page and every paragraph packed a punch that left me wanting to read on.  More than that, Mark is passionate about loving God with everything he’s got.  I finished Primal challenged – challenged to love the Lord with a renewed compassion, a renewed wonder, a renewed curiosity, and a renewed energy.

Primal should be the first book you read in 2010!

Thank you Mark Batterson for spurring us on.

Sex God by Rob Bell

So I’ve had this book by Rob Bell sitting on my night stand for several months now.  The first time I tried to read Sex God, I just couldn’t get into it.  I’m not exactly sure why.  I think part of it was that I was trying to read all of Rob’s interesting end notes along with reading the book.  I think this may have prevented me from getting into the flow of Bell’s most recent book.

If you’ve read Velvet Elvis (his first book) or seen any of the Nooma videos, you know that Rob Bell has an interesting way of connecting life to God.  I’ve always been blown away by his creativity and his ability to help people connect to the creator of the universe.  Sex God fits right into this mold.

When I finally gave it a second chance (without reading all the interesting end notes), I finally got into it.  In Rob Bell’s unique style, God uses sex and marriage to point people to God.  You’ll have to read it to see more about what I mean, but I’ll leave you with one quote that from the epilogue that nails it for me.

I finish with this story because life is messy.  Gut wrenching.  Risky.  Things don’t always turn out well.  Sometimes they don’t turn out at all.  Sometimes everything falls apart and we wonder if there’s any point to any of it.  We’re tempted to shut ourselves off, fortify the walls around our hearts, and forge ahead, promising ourselves that we will never open ourselves up like that again.

But I have to believe that we can recover from anything.  I have to believe that God can put anything – anyone – back together.  I have to believe that the God Jesus invites us to trust is as good as he says he is.

Loving.

Forgiving.

Merciful.

Full of grace.

Sex God was worth the read.  (Next, I’m looking forward to reading Mark Batterson’s new book – Primal –   I’m expecting an early copy in the mail any day.)

Cub Scout Reflection

I have really been enjoying Cub Scouts lately.  First of all, it’s given me some great times with my son.  Together, we have camped, learned about fitness, learned about citizenship, learned about engineering, hiked, and had fun.  I’ve also really enjoyed the interaction with the other parents.  Last night at our den meeting, I was given a “brown” shirt.  In other words, I asked by some of the other leaders to help lead.  I’m excited about this opportunity.  I’m excited about more opportunities to get to know parents.  And I’m especially excited about the endless opportunities to spend more time with my son.

Phillies Phever – My 1st Playoff Experiences

This year I have had the privilege to attend my first two professional sports playoff games.  And it’s been a blast!

The first game was Game 4 of the NLCS, when the Dodgers came to town to play our beloved Philadelphia Phillies.  After the initial euphoria of an early lead, the fans at Citizens Bank Park were nearly lulled to sleep when the Dodgers took the lead and kept it for several innings.  This all changed when the Phillies came from behind in dramatic fashion in the bottom half of the ninth inning thanks to a game winning double by Jimmy Rollins.  Let me just say that I have never, never experienced anything like that before.  In the stands, fans were hugging and high-fiving complete strangers.  It was truly an unbelievable experience – one I won’t soon forget (thanks to a great friend).  The only dark cloud of this game was an unruly Phillies fan who sat beside us in the last row of the upper deck behind home plate.

My second playoff game was Game 3 of the World Series, when the hated New York Yankees drove down the New Jersey Turnpike to take on the Fightin’ Phils.  My buddy and I found a great place to stand right behind home plate – which gave us not only a great view but also an overhang to stay out of the on-and-off rain.  Again, there was initial euphoria when the Phillies took an early lead after an 1 hour and 20 minute rain delay.  Unfortunately, things fell apart after the Yankees hit a controversial home run off a TV camera, and the Phillies went on to lose the game with very little fight.  Obviously, the outcome was disappointing, but the overall experience was pretty amazing – from the hoopla outside the stadium – to the national news coverage – to obnoxious Yankees fans – to the huge American flag during the National Anthem (sung by the cast of Glee) – to the brush with fame (Derek Jeter’s dad walked right by me) – to the hope that we’ll take the next one.  It really was a cool experience.

Both of these playoff experiences were somewhat surreal for a guy like myself who has cheered for the same team for nearly 30 years – who still has all his baseball cards – who root-root-roots for the Phillies.  I’m truly grateful to a great friend who invited me to join him in such amazing events.  With the Phillies down 3 games to 2 games, I’m hoping the Phillies can take Game 6 tonight (back in NY) – and then we can talk about Game 7.  Let’s go Phillies!!!

Pay it Forward – Egg Style

This year, I started raising chickens.  Why?  Good question!  I guess it sounded like a good idea at the time.  A good friend of mine was generous in giving my family eggs from his own chickens and eight baby chicks.  Since the end of May when I received the baby chicks, I’ve been anxiously awaiting the arrival of our first eggs.  I was thinking maybe we’d see some in September, but I knew this might be a little early.  By the middle of September, I was checking the chicken coop every day to see if there were any signs of just one egg.  Well, I repeated this daily journey to the chicken coop for several weeks with the same result – no eggs yet.

Finally when I least expected in, I visited the chicken coop on Friday, October 23rd, to find my first two eggs!  That’s right, not just one – but TWO eggs!  It was such an exciting experience.  My son was present for my celebration.  I’m sure his ears were hurting after all of my “Wahooing” and carrying on.  I couldn’t contain my excitement.  After 21 weeks, we finally received our first eggs.  Since this day, we have racked up over 30 eggs.  We’ve enjoyed scrambled eggs and pancakes.  And we’ve stopped buying eggs at the grocery store.

One of the best things about this whole chicken/egg project is that I now have eggs to give to other people.  This past weekend, we gave away our first mini-carton (8 eggs) of eggs.  It is so great to pay it forward – egg style.  I’m looking forward to this opportunity for many years to come.

(If you live in the area and you’d like to be put on the waiting list for eggs, drop me a line.)

Cub Scout Camporee

I know, I know, I know.  It’s been a little while since I’ve posted anything here.  What can I say?

Actually, I’m sure I could share quite a bit…I was at the Phillies’ game when Jimmy Rollins hit a walk-off double to beat the Dodgers in the NLCS…my chickens finally started laying eggs…I’m heading to my first World Series game this weekend…I visited to new Wegman’s in our area.  All these things were pretty cool and were new experiences in my life.

There is one experience that really stands out for me as a highlight for this month – I went on an incredible, fun, wet camping adventure with my son last weekend.  If you live on the east coast, you might remember that the weather last weekend wasn’t the greatest.  In fact, the rain at times was downright torrential.  Despite the bad weather and the resulting muddy conditions, I had an awesome weekend with my son and his Webelos Den at the Lafayette District Extreme Challenge Boy Scout Camporee held at Pennypacker Mansion.  Besides camping and cooking in the mud, we spent all day Saturday using compasses to navigate a challenging course while we hopped from activity station to activity station.  The kids had to navigate a pitch-black hay maze on their knees.  They had to work together to drag a log up a big muddy hill and then saw off a slice of wood using a two-man saw.  They had to work together to build a catapult to shoot water balloons at a “raging” fire.  They had to tie a knot around a stake without getting closer than 20 feet from the stake.  They had to build a container to safely drop an egg.  All in all, they did nine different stations that were creatively laid out by the Boy Scouts of Troop 105.

At night, we dodged thunder and lightning to make it over to a large tented area where we enjoyed skits and a movie.  Isaac and I both had a blast!  Apparently, we weren’t the only ones.  At our pack meeting this week, several of the other dad’s were commenting about how much fun they had camping together with their sons and the Cub Scouts.

I’m looking forward to more opportunities to enjoy these kinds of adventures with my son!

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