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dc 08/21/08 |
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Daily Courage Devotional
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Fathers, do not exasperate your
children; instead, bring them up in the
training and instruction of the Lord.
EPHESIANS 6:4 NIV
I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know
me....just as my
Father knows me and I know my Father....and I lay down my life for
the
sheep.
JOHN 10:14-16
Exasperating our children is easy,
right? What about not exasperating them? Some time this summer Thom
McAdory gave the Sunday message and the one thing that jumped out
and stuck for me was the following suggestion: Say yes more often
to your kids. The potential for disaster is certainly inherent. The
suggestion was not: Always say yes to your kids but rather say yes
more often to your kids.
If we are honest with ourselves,
we are saying no more often than yes to our children and the truth
is, sometimes no is the only answer to a particular question(Insert
horror story here). That said, an increase of yes can go a long
way. This can also be applied to praise. How often are you praising
your children? It is likely a safe bet that you correct them more
than you praise them and again, sometimes correction is the only
response to certain actions.
Just some more food for thought as
I wade through what exasperates and what just might eliminate or at
least reduce exasperation in our children.
-K
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dc 08/18/08 |
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Daily Courage Devotional
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In the town of Cave City,
Kentucky, about a mile from the entrance of Mammoth Caverns
National Park stands a general store-looking building with a huge
sign announcing that you can buy gems and cave rocks and souvenirs
and sodas and sunglasses at Big Mike's Rock Shop. This large sign
includes all the information I just mentioned but also has an
artist's rendering of a big man's face. One can only assume that
this is "Big Mike". Big Mike smiles at travelers from his big
sign as they head towards the caverns. As you know
if you have been reading these encouragements Eric and I were in
Cave City recently to visit Mammoth Caverns. Going in and out of
the park several times in a few days had us looking for and
identifying landmarks to let us know how close we were to the
park.
Big Mike's big 'ol head was one
of those landmarks. As we approached Big Mike's on one of our
treks to the park I said, "Look for the giant Daddy-like head
coming up on your right!" I said, "How would you like it if my big
head was on a billboard at home?" Eric's response was, "What would
be wrong with that? It would be cool to be on a billboard." After
pausing for a second he said, " Dad, there's nothing wrong with
your big head."
It took a second or so to register
but it dawned on me that my son was trying to make me feel better.
He did not want anyone bad mouthing his dad, even if it
was.....his dad. He also has a big head.
He comes by it naturally. I have a tendency to be
self-deprecating when it comes to my weight. I have done this much
of my life as I have struggled with my weight for much of my life.
When you make yourself the butt of the joke you beat others to the
punch. Theoretically, people are laughing with you
not at you.
What struck me was Eric's comment
that there is nothing wrong with my big head. At eleven he knows
that I am not always okay with my weight and will often, as I said,
make myself the brunt of the joke first. I have mixed feelings
about what I have taught him here. He has clearly learned something
about his father in his eleven years as son. He showed compassion
and in a tiny way was an accountability partner to his father,
"Dad, there's nothing wrong with your big
head." This is good.
Have I also taught him that he
needs to be ashamed of his size? He is big for his age, always has
been and likely always will be. He is big and will
be big like his father is big. I can go down all sorts of
roads here. Have I set a bad example for my son by
being very overweight?
My good friend Bryan Cheever and I
shared similar experiences we had while waiting for our doctors to
come back to an examination room. Both of us looked in our charts.
Patients are at times left alone with their medical charts. Both
Bryan and I are considered not just obese but morbidly
obese. As it is who we are and how we cope Bryan and
I have made a joke of it and will, for our own amusement banter in
the following way: Bryan, are you obese? Why no Ken I
am not merely obese. I am far more than obese. Bryan, whatever do
you mean? Ken, I mean that I am MORBIDLY obese. Ah! I see Bryan
well so am I. Is that right Ken? Yes it is Bryan Yes it is. And so
on and so on....
Eric has witnessed these
conversations and others as I have described. I like to think
that he has learned some survival tactics from it. At times I have
used my weight to beat myself up and put myself down. Eric has
witnessed these self-defeating moments of frustration as well. When
we are transparent with our sons about our own struggles they get
to see how we cope. They are always watching us and always learning
from us. Even if what they learn is that they would like to
live differently. God uses it all for His glory. All of
it.
-K
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dc 08/15/08 |
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Daily Courage Devotional
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Today's dc is a "coming
attractions" announcement. Next week (and until the Holy Spirit
pulls me in a different direction) dc will be devoted to how we do
and how we can encourage and influence our children.
Whether we focus directly on it or not everything we do (and
don't do) teaches our children how to be a Christian man or
woman.
As I often do I am asking you for
your stories, your experiences (good and bad) in this area. We
learn best from our triumphs and our mistakes
together.
Send me accounts of your
challenging moments as a father (past, present and future). I may
send your comments out as part of dc or may comment on them. I will
only do this after contacting you for permission first. If you
would like to send responses and are comfortable having things
shared as along as your name is not used just indicate that in your
response.
Do something to encourage your
children (no matter how old they are) today.
K
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dc 08/14/08 |
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Daily Courage Devotional
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today's dc was sent by Ron
Meroney. It is a prayer included in the volume Valley
of Vision. -K
O my forgetful soul,
awake from your wandering dream;
Turn from chasing
vanities, look inward, forward, upward, view yourself, who and what
you are,
why here, what you must soon be. You are a creature of God,
formed and furnished by him, lodged in a body like a shepherd
in his tent;
Do you not desire to
know God’s ways?
O God, you injured, neglected, provoked benefactor when
I think upon your greatness and your goodness, I am ashamed at
my insensibility, I blush to lift up my face for I have
foolishly erred.
Shall I go on neglecting
you, when every one of your rational creatures should love you, and
take every
care to please you?
I confess that you have
not been in all my thoughts, that the knowledge of yourself as
the end of my being has
been strangely overlooked, that I have never seriously considered
my heart-need.
But, although my mind is perplexed and divided, my nature perverse,
yet my secret dispositions still desire you. Let me not delay
to come to you;
Break the fatal enchantment that binds my evil affections, and
bring me to a happy mind that rests in you, for you have made me
and cannot forget me.
Let Your Spirit teach me the vital lessons of Christ for I am slow
to learn; and you hear my broken cries.
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dc 08/13/08 |
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Daily Courage Devotional
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You are my lamp, O LORD;
the LORD turns my darkness
into light.
2 SAMUEL 22:29 NIV
dc is still in the caves this
morning....
The first tour we took was lantern-lit. They
call it the Star Chamber tour for an optical illusion that is
created by approaching lantern light on the ceiling at one point in
the cave. There were probably thirty of us and about ten lanterns.
At one point all are asked to sit on benches in an "open" area in
the cave. The guide asked for all cell phones, etc. to be placed in
pockets or turned off completely. Pretty amazing that cell phones
were still on. You do not get any "bars" when you are under the
earth! No towers here.
The guide was trying to eliminate all light.
His assistant scooped up all of the lanterns and slowly walked into
a side cave. This allowed the light (of the lanterns) to leave
gradually. We sat in complete darkness for a few moments and were
even led in a chorus of eerie noises by our guide who once the
lights were out said, "Okay. Let's get all the heebie-jeebie
noises out of our systems." Eventually we did and we then had a few
moments of silence in the dark before the assistant emerged from
the other end of the side cave with the lanterns.
I was struck by the fact that even
during this "exercise" where we were all well
aware that our guides could switch on the power box in a
heartbeat and illuminate the cave we still felt the need
to fill up the quiet. It took real concentration to allow the
cave to be completely dark, completely devoid of
sound.
In your day to day how difficult is it to wait
on the lamp?
K
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dc 08/12/08 |
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Daily Courage Devotional
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written by Ken Mitten
You are my lamp, O LORD;
the LORD turns my darkness
into light.
2 SAMUEL 22:29 NIV
Last week Eric and I drove up to
Kentucky and spent a few days in Mammoth Caverns. If you have not
been there I suggest finding your way there some time. Mammoth
Caverns is part of a national park and as such the tours of the
caverns are given by experienced guides. On one of our tours, our
guide spoke at length about his great-great grandfather and
great uncle who were tour guides at the caverns many
years ago. His great-great grandfather was a slave. I
was surprised to learn that many of the early
tours of the caves were led by slaves. He told a
story that had been told to him about his great-great grandfather
making his way in the cave to a group who was having dinner in the
caverns. This was a regular occurrence as well.
Great-great grandfather had two
bottles of wine and four roasted chickens and some more food that
he was delivering for the cave meal. Along the way he dropped
his torch and it was extinguished. He was in a cave in pitch black.
Pitch black. Could not see an inch in front of him. This was not
like entering a movie theatre and trying to find your date who has
already sat down. Your eyes do not eventually
adjust when you are hundreds of feet
underground.
Our guide shared that g-gfather
had been told that if he was ever stuck in the dark in one of the
caves that he should not try to find his way out or along. It was
far too dangerous. This was a time before uniform paths and an
electric light source to illuminate the cave. One false step could
lead to great injury or sudden death. He was told to sit and wait
and eventually help would arrive. The story goes that he was
petrified for the first ten minutes and it took everything in him
to not scream out. Eventually he began to sing "Amazing Grace" and
focused all of his attention on the face of God. He waited for four
hours but said that after that first ten minutes of fear he truly
sunk into the arms of Jesus waking up when help
arrived.
When it is darkest is often when
we decide that God has let us down, has abandoned us. My first
instinct is usually to scream for help or often in anger or self
pity, instead of patiently waiting.
What do you do in your pitch black
cave moments? How long before you give in and wait patiently/listen
patiently for Him/for His voice?
K
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dc 08/05/08 |
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Daily Courage Devotional
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Today's DC was written by a brother
who chooses to remain anonymous.
His title for this is :House of
Bread -K
What some have seen as an accident of history
was a carefully worked out plan by God, that Jesus was born in a
small village located on the road to Hebron, outside the city of
Jerusalem.
Bethlehem. In Hebrew,
the word means house of bread or meat. By definition it
carries a rich Christian heritage that Jesus Christ, born to a
humble family in a cave used for a winter shelter for livestock, is
not only our Lord, He is our source of life. As the Bread of
Life, He gives to my soul what food provides my body.
He is nourishment to an empty heart, filling me with
everlasting hope. He is my strength in a moment of weakness,
lifting me above temptation. He is my banquet table,
providing joy and fellowship with those who share in His
abundance. Each time I partake of Him, I am reminded again
that He alone can make my cup run over and fill me so that I shall
never want for more. Amen and amen.
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