Shana's Update: Bogie

This post is in memory of my first 4-legged baby, Bogie.

Truett: Walking in Mommy's boots.

Truett: Forts + Boys = FUN FUN FUN

Josh teaching his son the art of forts.

Truett Videos: Coloring

Truett was coloring, but then it turned into this game of pick up. He is so stinking cute.

Truett Videos: Playground on Vacation

These are great videos of when we went on family vacation at the park. Truett loves to play at the park, can you tell?

Truett Videos: Roller Coaster Daddy

This was in October when we went on our family vacation. Truett loves this game.

Truett Video: Halloween Videos

These are some really cute videos of Halloween.



This is a good one after we got back and he dumped all his candy out because he saw the Godshall kids doing the same thing. He just kept putting them all back in his pumpkin bucket. So cute!!!





Earlier that day we went to a birthday party for one of Truett's girlfriends, Mady.

Truett: Thanksgiving

This was our first attempt at Thanksgiving dinner. This was the actual Thanksgiving dinner. Truett was having a rough day it seems.


This was the second attempt. He looks way happier doesn't he?

Truett: Cute as always!!

This guy is just to cute.

For Husbands and Fathers

I've been working through Colossians and came to a very familiar passage the other day:
"Wives submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Fathers, do not provoke your children lest they become discouraged." Col. 3:18-21

This is a pretty common passage, especially when it comes to the structure of the home. There are two things here for husbands and fathers that I noticed. For every instruction to one family member there is a corresponding one for the man. You have some instruction for the wife and then a follow-up command for the husband. You have some instruction for the child and then a follow-up command for the father. If you needed more biblical proof that the man is to be the leader in the home then here you go. So, my two things....

1. You want your wife to be submissive? Then love her and don't be a jerk. Submission is more than just obedience. Obedience isn't what Paul is after here. That comes with the child. Your wife is not a child. Submission has more to do with "follow-ship" and the recognition of headship. If you are not the leader in the home, chances are its not your wife's fault (although that's not to excuse wives from responsibility). Ask yourself this, who wants to follow a jerk? Not me. If you're harsh, demanding, and unloving, don't sit around and wonder why your wife doesn't follow your lead. Also, her submission is "fitting in the Lord." This means that if you're not leading in a way that she can follow - by loving her - then not only are you sinning, but you are contributing to her sin.

2. When I came to verse on children obeying their parents I wasn't thinking of how that applied to me until I read the next verse addressed to fathers. Truett isn't at the age where I can simply tell him to obey. However, he is at the age where he can recognize when I'm in a bad mood. He can be provoked and he can be discouraged. I want him to obey me as he grows. One, it teaches him about authority, but mostly, according to this verse, it pleases the Lord. I want my son to please the Lord in all that he does. However, if I'm provoking him and being harsh with him, he won't want to obey me and will become discouraged. Just like with your wife, what kid wants to obey a jerk? If he's not obeying, he's not pleasing the Lord. The discipleship of my child and his obedience to me is tied directly to the way I treat him and encourage him. This means that if you're not fathering your child in a way that he can obey you - by encouraging - then not only are you sinning but you are contributing to the sin of your child.

When I was writing about this in my journal I really felt the weight of responsibility of shepherding my family. The Lord has given me a great one, I pray that I will be able to lead them in ways that they can grow in the Lord as they grow in our family.

I pray that for you - husband and father - as well.

Truett Videos: Bad Parenting

We are probably bad parents for teasing our kid like this. It was hilarious. Truett kept hitting daddy with this wooden spoon. It made me laugh so hard because I didn't think he knew what he was doing at first, but daddy wasn't a huge fan. We had to put a stop to it and I had to control myself.

Truett: Zoo Trip

Truett had a good time on the playground at the Zoo. He loves playgrounds.

Truett was scared of all the animals. He would shake his head no pretty hard.

We heard this lion roar it was really cool

This guy went to the bathroom in front of us and made a small lake with it.

Truett: ATL

Some friends of mine had to go to Atlanta for a conference and needed a place to stay. So they took me along and we all stayed at Dean and Judy's. It was a great week. As most of everybody knows Judy is the queen of hospitality so they were in for a treat. We all had a great time. Here are some photos from the week.

Dean and Judy had a bonfire so we could cook hot dogs and make smores.

We found a park with a great beach and playground for a picnic one day. Truett loves playgrounds.

I think Judy had fun with all the kiddos too.

Truett: Halloween

Here are some really great pictures from Halloween with Truett. We had a really great time. Josh carved a pumpkin with Truett of Truett. It was really awesome. I had so much fun my cheeks hurt at the end of the night.

These are the Godshall children we went with. It was so fun.

Aliens and Catholicism at The Fresh Market

Are you The Christian at your job? You know what I mean. When people have problems or questions you're the person that people come to. At my job, I'm kind of that guy. I've worked at this store for 2 1/2 years and people know me as the seminary guy or the preacher guy. That carries with it a good bit of weight and responsibility. I really have to watch my responses to coworkers and less-than-desirable situations that may come up. But it also means that people come to me with the strange questions and say awkward things. Does that ever happen to you?

The last two nights I've stocked shelves in the grocery department because there weren't enough hours to go around in the meat department. I was NOT happy about that. I have the second most seniority among all the guys back there and yet I'm the one whose hours get cut. This is the time of year where I can work full-time since school is out. And I NEED those hours to make money to pay for school (one more semester!). This is one of those situations where I have to watch how I respond and I must confess that I haven't responded as well as I should have. However, God has a way of working things out. While I'm not working where I'd like to be, I get to talk to a whole set of new people.

First, the awkward comments. Last night I was leaving work I had finished my job - fronting and facing the whole store. No big deal. So I really had nothing to do. I asked the store manager if there was anything else I could do because I didn't want him to send me home early. There wasn't so he sent me home. The awkward part came when he said, "Just make one more round and then you may go my son." My son? MY SON? He knows I'm in seminary and I guess he figured that's what we say there. Yep. Seminary is a place where we all walk around in frocks and refer to each other as Fathers and Sons and only speak in 15th century English. Its weird what people assume. I did tell him that I had never used that phrase with anyone and we had a good laugh. The weird things people say because they don't know what else to say. Eh, whatever.

Second, there's Glenn the Alien Guy. Glenn is an upper middle aged guy who doesn't get out much and watches a lot of History and Discovery. So, consequently he really thinks the Bible has something to do with Aliens and that Aliens really exists. He spends a lot of his time trying to convince me, but, oh, I don't know, call me a skeptic. Glenn is one of those guys who tests me in ways that no one else does. Two reasons:

1. When he talks to me its rarely in private so other people listen in. Most of these people think Glenn is crazy. He's actually pretty smart. He's got this whole algorithm figured out on how he's going to win the lottery and runs a lottery pool at work. Its crazy, but he's dedicated. I think I could write a book on this guy. Back to my point - people listen when we talk. I'm not saying I respond as graciously as I should every time we chat about E.T. but what if I joined in with the "making fun" crowd. It would be really easy to do. I mean he's a giant slow pitched softball on a pee wee field. Guaranteed home run. What would that say about the gospel? It would slam the door on him and everyone else. I'm certainly not saying that this is easy, but the Lord has really taught me patience with this guy. Why can't God save him too? Why wouldn't God save Him? He's the type of guy that is a social leper and needs to stand at the edge of the city and beg for attention (Luke 17). We should have mercy on such people. Not because I'm the "it" guy or have better social skills than him. Its because I was that guy on the edge of The City looking in and Jesus had mercy on me. Who am I to look down on him because he believes in Aliens. We were all hostile to the gospel and enemies of God at one point. His idols are aliens and money. Mine is usually me.

2. I'm learning a whole new set of apologetics with Glenn. How do you rightly defend the faith against aliens? Not that aliens are attacking Jesus or anything. But how do you fit the gospel into a guy's world view that includes crop circles and flying saucers. He thinks that Enoch was taken up by Aliens. Seriously. So I may need your help on this one. Here's what I've done so far. Every time we talk about it I try to get the focus of the conversation off of aliens and on to God. I learned a lot of good conversational apologetics from a book called "Pastor's Sketches" by Ichabod Spencer.... written in the 1850's. Anyway, he also believes in God and insists that he grew up Southern Baptist. Usually I conceded to him that aliens might exist. BUT, if they do, they are a product of creation and that there still is a Creator. So last night I took him to Romans 1 and showed him what happens to those of us who exchange the worship of the creator for the worship of creation. So I say, "Glenn, all of creation is pointing to their Creator and aren't meant to be ends to themselves for worship. Aliens should point us to God - if the exist." My goal is to show him, as great as aliens might be, God is greater and his affections and worship should be directed towards Him - through Christ. So, those have been my big challenges the last few nights.

Any thoughts on how you might share the gospel with someone like Glenn?