Heberws 12:2

What is your hope built on?

If you are a Christian - you might say, my hope is built on Christ. However let me ask you - if we were to ask your wife or your children - what would they say? Would they say, 'yea, dad's hope is on Christ and he lives that out in every way'?

You know men, we can't do this on our own. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to turn our eyes off ourselves and onto Jesus, but Satan's work is the opposite. He is constantly attempting to make us prefer ourselves instead of what Christ calls us to. Sometimes we can hear in our minds thoughts like this: 'your sins are too great for forgiveness; look, you don't have faith; you never ask for forgiveness; your a quitter, you won't make it; your not a joyful soul, aren't you suppose to be joyful; who could ever tell you are a Christian by the way you act'? Notice how all of these thoughts are about ourselves? Guys, we will NEVER find comfort looking within. The Holy Spirit turns our eyes away from self, entirely. The Holy Spirit tells us that we are nothing, but that Christ is all in all. Remember brother, it is not our hold of Christ that saves us - it is Christ; it is not our joy in Christ that saves us - it is Christ; it is not even our faith in Christ, though it is the instrument - it is Christ's blood and merits. So let's not look so much to our hand that is holding onto Christ, look to Christ! Don't look at your hope, look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.

Oh, I'm telling you dad, father, brother - We will never find happiness by looking at our prayers, our accomplishments, or our feelings. It is what Jesus is, not what we are, that gives rest to the soul. Truly, if we were to overcome the enemy and have peace with God, it must be by looking unto Jesus.

My hero Charles Spurgeon writes: "Keep thine eye simply on Him; let His death, His sufferings, His merits, His glories, His intercession, be fresh upon thy mind; when thou wakes in the morning look to Him; when thou liest down at night look to Him. Oh! let not they hopes or fears come between thee and Jesus; follow hard after Him, and he will never fail thee".

'My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus' blood and righteousness:
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus' name.'

OZ Lotto goes to 90 Million Dollars

Some of you may have been tempted.

Some of you would never think of wasting your money on a lotto ticket.

I on the other hand, I bought into the frenzy - when OZ Lotto was at 50 million dollars.

The dreamers imagined themselves spending a mere $136,000.00 a day for a year. Crazy aye?

Well imagine you did buy into the frenzy. You purchase the ticket, justifying that it's just a one off. You hope that you might be the lucky recipient, but then what would you do with the money. It's a crazy and bizarre exercise.

After learning that you haven't won, you feel really deflated and bummed. 'Why did I buy that ticket?' 'What a waste of money', you may think. I did!

Then you learn that no one won the prize. Instead the jackpot has increased to 90 million dollars. Surely purchasing another ticket won't harm anything... Maybe my luck will be better next time. Well, instead of $136,000.00 a day you could spend almost $250,000.00 a day, for a year, I'll just try my luck one more time!

STOP!!! do you see the way we can get sucked into the frenzy? What's even more concerning is the way the mind can justify your behaviour?

In actual fact, this has been a crazy exercise for me. I have seen how my heart wants to have money so that I can be self sufficient. Oh sure I can justify my reasons to also include that I want the money so that I can provide for my children, I can help others etc... But I also know how I long to buy a huge house with all the extras for my large family. I could also buy a new van and a motorbike and a holiday home and a trip to America to visit my family there and a ....

What a discovery of my heart! A desire to not have to wait on God for my daily bread. Oh Lord, forgive this heart of mine...

Please know, those things that I have listed that I want, are not wrong in and of themselves. But I know my heart motive is to not have to wait for these things - but to have them NOW! To not have to ask God for help for these items.

Dad's we are tempted everyday to be self sufficient. To be independent. To be reliant on no one. Oh God help us to be dependant upon you. Especially when we are parenting our children with an eternal perspective...

Encouraging your kids in... ART(?)

Hey Dads - I am not always good at showing admiration of my kids efforts. Not a great admission! However, I am learning and growing in this area, which I am grateful to God for His patience and kindness in helping me.

For some reason I find it easier to be really excited and encouraging when the kids are younger, but as the kids get older my praise turns from words of affirmation to grunts or nods... My kids should be given more than that, I reckon!
This picture (above) was done by my oldest daughter who is very artsy...

Following are a few pictures my kids have been doing on the computer.

This football picture is done by my oldest son, Caleb - who loves AFL (Australian Football League). His teams colours are black and white!

To be frank - I think these pictures rock! I would not have been able to make these master pieces...

This one of the family was done by Bella. She is 5!

This one was done by my son Noah, who is 7. He likes dinosaurs. "Dad, it's a T-Rex"! Pretty good huh???

It's amazing how we can bless our children and encourage them, even in art. May I do this more, may I do this better, may I do this often and may I do this well!

The Sacraments

A mate sent me this today and I am so grateful for the thought provoking questions: Peruse through them and perhaps consider how you could teach your child about, The Sacraments:

1. What is a sacrament?
2. What is baptism?
3. When should a child be baptised?
4. What is a believable profession of faith?
5. Does God save young children?
6. What is the role of the parent in evaluating a child's readiness to be baptised?
7. If my child said a prayer and invited Jesus into his heart, isn't that enough to be baptised?
8. What is the Lord's Supper?
9. How do baptism and the Lord's Supper differ?
10. When should a child receive the Lord's Supper?
11. Should unbaptised children take the Lord's Supper?
12. What do I say to a child who thinks he is converted if I don't think he is ready for baptism or the Lord's Supper?
13. Are there any problems with waiting too long to baptise a truly converted child?
14. If I have a child who is unbaptised but receiving the Lord's Supper, how do I go about removing this privilege?
15. Why not baptise infants?
16. What do I do if my child was baptised as an infant?
17. What if my child was baptised at an early age, and now I don't think he was really converted until later; should he be baptised again?
18. What is the role of the church in evaluating a child's readiness to be baptised and receive the Lord's Supper?

If you want some help on how to answer these questions look here! When you click on this link it will provide you with more resources and a wonderful blog to bookmark. Have a look around and be encouraged!

Now I reckon that by providing your children with this sort of biblical truth will clearly serve them. I also believe that by having these sorts of conversations is another way that you can be parenting with an eternal perspective...

Fathers Day in USA

Today, in USA, it is Father's Day!

... an event that brings gladness to some - sadness to others. For me it's a mix of both!

Gladness, that I recently got to see my dad... Sadness, that I don't see him very often! However, I am grateful for where I am and where my dad is.

You know, my dad has taught me alot! He taught me how to work, he taught me how to interact with people, he taught me how to fish, which to this day, I hate fishing! He taught me how to provide care for others, and he taught me how to call a mechanic, gardner, electrician, plumber, carpenter, banker & most importantly my Heavenly Father.

You see my dad taught me that everyone has abilities. We can't all do everything, but "what you oughta do is" call someone or find someone who has the answer... Ain't that right Peco's? Perhaps I need to call you a bit more - our phone ain't worken to well... LOL

Well dad, from across the Pacific, Happy Father's Day!

Our Church

For the past 6 months I have been leading my family on Sunday mornings, in our home, for church. This is not something that I highly recommend: however, it has served us.

You see, I am apart of a group of couples who are going to be planting a Sovereign Grace Church in Australia. If you click HERE: you can read about what is happening & more of the history of what is going on.

We live up in Newcastle, NSW and have been exploring the area and prayerfully awaiting on the Lord and the leadership of Sovereign Grace to confirm that this is where we sense the Lord leading us to plant a church.

In all of this, we are so excited and really appreciate the care and leadership provided to us during this precarious stage. It really has been wonderful, which has only confirmed that we really want to be apart of this ministry.

Well this week we received an exciting update about our church that we are going to be apart of.

I have so wanted to put this on here - so officially - here it is:

So you are Newcastle, this says Sydney... That's right - we are relocating to Sydney as we sense that this is where the Lord is leading us. If you are a regular reader of this blog, I could really use your prayers. I will need a new job, a new home, and resources to make this happen!

This morning in home church we looked at Luke 12:22-34, which encouraged us all!

This is an opportunity to lead our children and model, with joy in our hearts, the "cost" of following Christ. Truly an opportunity to parent with an eternal perspective...

Preview Songs from Our New Kid’s CD: To Be Like Jesus

Preview Songs from Our New Kid’s CD: To Be Like Jesus

Don't know about you - but I appreciate music with great lyrics. The song's stick in your head and begin to influence your thinking. I am very excited about this new album and I hope many kids and parent's will be singing these songs too!

Just another resource to help you as you, parent with an eternal perspective...

Everyday Talk About Music

Got another wonderful resource for you father's out there. It's called, 'everyday talk' "Talking Freely and Naturally about God with Your Children". The book is written by John A. Younts. If you click HERE you can order one direct from Amazon. Such a great investment!

I learned about this book when I was at a workshop about parenting older teens. I don't yet have older teens, but I wanted to get a head start on equipping myself with some information on how to serve my children as they get older and face "different" situations.

I have 3 chapters to go before I have completed the book but I was reading this last night and thought, I want to share this with you now!

The chapter is called: Everyday Talk About Music. It's chapter 11 in this fantastic book and what he addresses is so crucial for us as father's.

Let me just back track with you for a moment. When I was a younger man, I had a guy who was fairly influential in my life. He had a great understanding of the power of music. In fact he lead the music at our church and did it well. He had me read alot about music and it's power and influence on others. One of the most helpful exercises we did was look at the Bible. There he showed me how important music was and then he showed me the role of the three different arch angels. Gabriel, Michael & Lucifer. It was there I began to understand that caution and care needed to be exercised when listening to music, personally.

Prior to this, as a kid growing up, my parent's did not allow us to listen to secular music. We were allowed to listen to the Christian station, but if we were caught listening to secular music we would be grounded. And because I ALWAYS did what my parent's told me to do - (NOT) - I noticed that I was affected by music. In fact I would say I was super sensitive to music. The words played on my brain and affected my mood. Now some guys aren't like this, to them, it's just noise in the back ground. So I think Younts is right in getting us as father's to ask the question, what role does music play in people's lives? I mean if we ask our kids this, and listened to their answer, it would be quite insightful for us. It would be quite interesting to hear how these artists words are shaping our sons and daughter's thinking.

I don't think we should be alarmed (yet), but I think we should begin the discussions and hence, why I am recommending the book! I highly recommend it because there are many other issues that he raises that will give us as father's insight into where our kids are at and who is shaping our children's thinking. But in light of music here are a few other question we could be asking our kids: "What defines music as good or bad? What is the potential negative impact of bad music? What is the potential positive impact of good music? What should be the focus of our everyday talk about music?"

Now can I just throw some caution to you? Please listen and ask questions when you do this with your kids. One helpful warning that Younts provides is to be careful that we don't rouse or antagonize our kids about their style of music. This will only tempt them to want to listen to that music more, he suggests. However, we want to equip them with the skills to sift through the messages being communicated in the music that they are listening to.

Here's the reality guys: Most musicians are not out to "get" our kids - they are out to communicate a message, which will influence our kids to think as these "artists" think! In some cases this may be good - but in others - perhaps not! Here's what we are listening for by asking these questions: what is the message the artist is communicating and how is it effecting or infecting our children? That's what you want to source out, I reckon!

I trust you will get a copy of everyday talk - it will help you in parenting with an eternal perspective!

Needing Help with Praying?

This morning I woke up and wanted to pray - but my tongue seemed tied. You know when you want to say something, but can't seem to find the right words?

Well, you may not have that problem - but if you do, I have come across a wonderful tool to assist you. Especially in your prayer life. There is a wonderful and helpful book entitled: 'The Valley of Vision" 'A collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions'. Click HERE and you can order yourself a copy.

This is the prayer I audibly prayed this morning:

O Thou that hearest my prayer,
Teach me to pray,

I confess that in religious exercises
the language of my lips and the feelings of my heart
have not always agreed,
that I have frequently taken carelessly upon my tongue
a name never pronounced above without reverence and
humility,
that I have often desired things which would have injured me,
that I have depreciated some of my chief mercies,
that I have erred both on the side of my hopes and also of my
fears,
that I am unfit to choose for myself,
for it is not in me to direct my steps.

Let thy Spirit help my infirmities,
for I know not what to pray for as I ought.

Let him produce in me wise desires by which I may ask right things,
then I shall know thou hearest me.

May I never be importunate for temporal blessings,
but always refer them to thy fatherly goodness,
for thou knowest what I need before I ask;

May I never think I prosper unless my soul prospers,
or that I am rich unless rich toward thee,
or that I am wise unless wise unto salvation.

May I seek first thy kingdom and its righteousness.

May I value things in relation to eternity.

May my spiritual welfare be my chief solicitude.
May I be poor, afflicted, despised and have thy blessing,
rather than be successful in enterprise,
or have more than my heart can wish,
or be admired by my fellow-men,
if thereby these things make me forget thee.

May I regard the world as dreams, lies, vanities, vexation of spirit,
and desire to depart from it.

And may I see my happiness in thy favour, image, presence, service.

In Jesus' name, AMEN!

TIMING! TIMING! TIMING!

Timing - Timing - Timing...

It happened again this morning. I was presented with an opportunity to serve my wife, but instead I looked at the clock and thought - 'why now God, I'm about to walk out the door'.

Here's the setting...

My pregnant wife is sitting on the bed with a note pad and pen and I notice dollar figures are being written down. Budget stuff! I am thinking, I need to go but I also need to serve my wife. So my wife updates me about a promised present that we have not been able to provide yet, and tells me about a conversation she has overheard the kids having about a hopeful outing they are expecting to go on.

Well, in my godly way I address the hopeful outing in a very non gracious and mater of fact way. This then tempts my wife to fear I will execute this sort of tone with my children which will hurt them deeply.

In the mean time, kids are coming in and out of our bedroom as we are trying to have one of those important, whispering/parent discussions and the time has clicked over to 8:11. I need to leave by 8:00 to be at work on time - So what do I do? I grab my bag and walk out of the house, throwing a good bye to one daughter and waving to another who is waving to me from her bedroom window, sadly.

I'm sure you may have experienced an event like this in your home? It's not pleasant is it? You kinda want to yell and go , ARGGGGG?????

As I am undertaking the 25 minute drive to work I am thinking of how unrighteous my behaviour is and what I just modeled for my children. I think Lord I need to make this right. Please forgive me! After that I called the kids and apologised for not saying goodbye to them and asked for their forgiveness.

What about your wife you ask? Great question!

I have learned that my wife needs abit of cooling down time when discussions like this happen. So I got to work and sent her an email to apologise and explain my thinking abit better. Thankfully by God's gracious kindness my wife forgave me and we kissed and made up!

Here's the issue - there are several - But the biggest one I think is this: TIMING is so important!

WHY is timing important? Because these sort of conversations need time and discussion. You see, if I am not providing proper leadership for my wife, then she is going to feel fearful or anxious. Why would she get like this? Well in my case, it's because I am not taking the time to lead her and care for her. I need to ask her how her day is? How are things in the home going? What sort of needs are there? For her and the children... Which is why date nights/planning nights/family nights are so important!

I share this with you to encourage you! Timing is important! Now I know that sometimes these sort of conversations will happen even if you have lead well - but as I reevaluated what took place in my home this morning, it was as a result of my poor leadership to my wife!

So if you can learn from my mistakes - that's good! I reckon timing is important - ESPECIALLY TIME WITH YOUR BRIDE -

it will only help you better parent with an eternal perspective...

Laziness

Hey - here I am! I have not fallen off the face of the earth, though I have not been well... But no real good excuse as to why I have not been blogging, other than laziness!

Do you ever evaluate what you are doing? Do you ever wonder if your life is passing you by? Do you ask yourself what effect you are having on those around you?

Over the past few months I have been reflecting on areas of my life that have been unproductive. There are many, much to my disappointment, however I don't want to stay in this state.

Funny you know, I have been reading a book called 'Manhood' An action plan for changing men's lives. It has been a helpful book for me to read. The chapters go like this.
1) The Problem 2) Seven Steps to Manhood 3) Liberation for the Rest of Us! 4) You and Your Father 5) Sex and Spirit 6) Men and Women 7) Being a Real Father 8) Making School Good for Boys 9) Finding a Job with Heart 10) Real Male Friends 11) The Wild Spirit of Man 12) Men's Groups.

All topics that men think about and want to learn about - but don't really talk about with each other. This author has really researched and studied these area's and serves his reader well.
The guy who has written this book is Australian. His name is Steve Biddulph. He is more known for his book 'Raising Boys', perhaps? Nevertheless, this is a great read.

Now the book is not written from a Christian perspective, however there is some truth in this book that is rather confronting. Here is a big one! We as dads are more influential on our children than we think we are.

So often we think that by chatting with our kids and telling them what they oughta do, is going to be enough. Sadly it's not what we tell them, rather it's how they see us living that speaks a hundred times louder that anything we say.

That truth is so hard hitting and confronting I can feel like an absolute failure and think to myself - why bother? But rather than thinking like that and living in condemnation or defeat, I need to take my thoughts captive and pray. You see, because I believe in Jesus I can run to the cross! I can cry out and ask God to help me! I can read God's Word that reminds me that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me! You see brothers, I am able to confess my sinful ways to my Heavenly Father and receive forgiveness. I don't have to live in a defeated state, because I am not defeated. I am convicted but not defeated. The Bible reminds us that there is therefore now NO condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. So we can repent of our sin, whether its being lazy, harsh with our wife or children, being dishonest, viewing porn whatever the sin is, we must repent and ask for help.

After asking God for help, another helpful idea is finding a mate you can talk with and ask him to hold you accountable for how you are using your time. Invite your mate's accountability as you seek to lead and serve your wife and children better. Remember that if your sinfulness is effecting your wife and children (which it will be), remember to humble yourself before them and apologise. That is something you can model for your children, if your wondering where to start!

This is something that I am working on - because I know this will help me as I parent with an eternal perspective...