like a fire

So when I started this adventure, Cathy was studying the patriarchs of the Bible and reminded me of Jacob wrestling with God. She encouraged me to hold on for the blessing. That seemed like a great little story about how we should wait for God. Well, that story is becoming more real, except for the blessing part. Let me break down the score for you.

Paul:
No Job
House back on market after second buyer backs out
No resources to follow other pursuits
Big Holding Pattern

God:
Being Sovereign
Being Love
Trying To Do Something With Paul’s Life

A friend recently said about his similar circumstance, “God got me into this, He can get me out.” I don’t know what is on the other side of this time and I don’t even really know if this is me wandering in the wilderness, but I do know that God is good and one day I will get His blessing. Maybe He will even change my name.

In marketing, many conversations begin with finding what is remarkable about a product. It is hard to promote a product that isn’t remarkable in any way. By remarkable, I mean that people will find it so exciting that they will talk to their friends about it without being prompted. I have been thinking that this is not unlike evangelism.

Evangelism is becoming a secular word. Marketers refer to it in their promotion plans. They speak of an evangelist as a person who loves something so much that they promote it without being asked or paid. What ever it is that they promote, they find it so interesting that they want to tell others about it.

I have a friend who loves a game called The Settlers of Catan. He loves this game so much that he not only tells people about it, he invites them over to play. He has converted people to this game and they are converting others. He is a Settlers evangelist. This game is remarkable to him.

What is remarkable about the gospel? So much has already been said about it and so many people know the basics of the gospel that it might be hard to find something truly remarkable about it. Don’t get me wrong, I think the gospel is amazing, but that isn’t what is remarkable. Remarkable is what people work into conversations without being asked. It is what people are so excited about, that they talk about it without being prompted.

Remarkable is not:
Generic - Jesus died for your sins
Common - The same story already heard
Impersonal - Some random story about some random person
Canned - Can you imagine the reaction to reading a propsoal from a script?

Remarkable is:
Specific - Something that touches one person
Mythic - Just like the movies, it transcends the believable
Personal - This is my story
Impromptu - Excitement is its own transition

After three months out of youth ministry, guess what I am excited about?

Most of yesterday was consumed with taking care of all of my girls. Cathy had been fighting off a severe sore throat, which took her to the doctor and required a shot in the bottom. Jane introduced me to the many flavors of spillage. For the uninitiated, that is Jane-speak for throwing up. There is nothing like having your daughter coming to give you a goodnight hug and throwing up as soon as she touches you.

This flavor of puke just happened to be crackers followed by Backyardagan Gummis mixed with applejuice. I didn’t take a picture. Sorry.

Cathy says that I am tender-heated, because I spent the day looking like I was about to cry. I think the hardest thing in fatherhood is watching children suffer. For some reason, it doesn’t even have to be my children, either. I just have a hard time watching some go through a tough time.

Thank God, today everyone was feeling much better. Two days straight feeling like that would put me into a fit.

The latest in my “adventures in fatherhood” finds me at church today. We are visiting a church and that means learning a new system of childcare for our children while we are in worship. We have learned several systems through the three years of parenthood, so this is no problem. I am constantly amazed at the comments I get from complete strangers about my own children. Comments like, “They are so beautiful” and “Aren’t they precious?” I’m not amazed because I don’t agree, but because so many others think my kids are as beautiful as I do.

Today’s adventure is a typical first visit for Elizabeth. We take her to the window, put her down, and before we can say good-bye, she is playing. We come back to get her and there she is still playing. There is usually a moment of recognition where she realizes that we left and are not back, but that is very brief. After picking her up, I realize that there is some extra bulk in her bloomers. Immediately I think that she has a “boomer” as our nanny used to say. I’m thinking of ways to hand her off to Cathy when I notice that this one feels pretty hard and odd in shape and placement. I search said bloomers and find a toy tea pitcher. That’s right, my little girl is trying to sneak a toy out of the church in her bloomers.

Amazing.

While I am still looking for a job, Cathy is working at Walgreens. So far she has been in training, which is a ten day full time process. During this time, I have learned a lot about fatherhood and seen many things. So I decided to start a series on those experiences for the benefit of all who should read. All of these are based on actual events with no embellishment.

Today, we went to the Galleria Mall in Hoover, AL. Jane is not very impressed with the mall. Unlike the Florida Mall that has the M&M store, the surfing store, the Playmobile Store and a play ground to play on, the Galleria Mall has little to offer the casual shopper that Jane is. After being at the Galleria for just 30 minutes, Jane is ready to go. Not even the promise of food treats will appease her. This is really fine because we got a late start (getting Jane and Elizabeth out the door is quite the challenge). Actually we were a bit late to leave because I needed to stop by the store on the way home and replenish the bottomless need in the Martin house for juice and bread.

The bottom line here is that I seriously miscalculated the time.

By the time we left the Publix, both girls were in a state of low blood sugar and were quite grumpy. For Jane, that means repeatedly asking the same questions. For Elizabeth, that means yelling a lot.

So I rush them home, get a pizza in the oven and start trying to get them ready for lunch and then nap time. While do said preparations, Jane walks into the kitchen with a bouncy ball in her mouth. This is the kind that is clear and has a seascape inside it. Our conversation goes something like this:

Me: “Well, sweetie, are you hungry?”

Jane: “Yes”

Me: “Well, don’t eat the ball, it will ruin your lunch.”

Jane: “I’m not eating it. I’m just chewing it, Dad.”

Me: “!?!?!?!” (trying not to laugh)

I guess I should be glad we had already cleaned up the other small chewable things in the house, like books. Here’s to human chew toys.