Responsible Father

A less-than-happy destination after a 7.5 year journey.

Two and a half years ago I posted a five year log of prices that our family had paid for gas.

At that point I had spent $3.99 per gallon twice but had never spent more than four.

Since then I have paid $3.95 once, but have never spent more than four.

Until this weekend.

In one week, gas prices (at least in Minnesota) went up 40 cents.

I’m not happy about this, but at least it makes an interesting blog post, right? Here’s the chart.

We live in the Northern Suburbs of the Twin Cities. I’m told that our region is leading the nation in gas prices. Hooray for Minnesota!

I wrote an article and it was published at the Gospel Coalition. It explains how our family has been benefited from having John Piper as our pastor.

Please go read it.

The morning after the big late April snowstorm I looked out through a window to see this tree.
Was it –

(A) Bent over by the weight of the snow, tired and weary, bent and sad?

or

(B) Holding up strong, despite the weight, knowing that God is working?

In any case, I decided to go outside and take a picture and discovered that without telling anyone, Anna had put on her coat and boots and was shoveling. Energetically.

Stepping outside, I heard she was singing. And what was she singing?

“For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever!”

I hold with those who favor (B).

Dads, don’t compound your sinfully angry outburst towards your kids by sinfully and angrily defending your sinfully angry outburst.

Dads, it’s okay to say (about some negative behavior your child is exhibiting) that it is a phase he or she is going through, as long as you follow it up with (or at least are thinking) – “and we are actively and proactively discouraging that behavior in the child.”

Dads – just to remind you . . .

Friday (or even Thursday) is a good time to turn your clocks forward. That way your Sunday morning will be more pleasant and your Saturday won’t be short.

Dads, tell your kids they should point out that they’ve noticed when you run through a red light. Or go over the speed limit. Or do other foolish thing in the car.

I happened to be looking at an old church photo directory (perhaps from five years ago) and there on page three is a note from Pastor Sam Crabtree. I don’t think I’ve read it before. I liked it. So I’m typing it up here.

Dear Bethlehem Family,

For more than one reason I rejoice that your name is in this book. Yet infinitely more important than having your name written in this book is having your name written in heaven. Having your name written there is better than having power to rule over demons.

Luke 10:20 Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.

If you’re holding this book in your hands, you’re not in heaven yet. But holding this book in your hands might be a means that God uses to ensure that your name is written in heaven. How so? Answer: by knowing and being known by other believers in this book and by encouraging one another to joyfully persevere in faith and confident hope in the promises of God that are yours in Christ Jesus.

This book is not a directory of angels or demons, but of people. But my hope is that the people named in this book (including you, if your name is listed) will bolster each other’s faith in the strength God supplies so that all of us do in fact gain mastery over evil spirits and besetting sins and various trials, bearing one another’s burdens as together we press toward the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Knowing one another is step toward loving one another, and a photo directory can be a very practical tool for getting to know one another, Keep it handy for ready reference, Refer to it. Pray for the people in it.

If you go to a Bible-believing,  God-seeking church, this is true about that Photo Directory that your family is in, as well.

Thanks to Satellite imagery, I now have photographic proof that my kids don’t always keep the backyard clean.

So now that we are in the coldest part of the year, I thought some summer memories might be encouraging and refreshing. Here goes.

Every year on our North Shore of Lake Superior Trip we spend a few hours on Artist point in Grand Marais. And every year those hours are a highlight of the year, but this summer it looked like our joy there might be dampened.

This was because only a few minutes after we got to the east side of the point, rain clouds came over the hill and we saw that we were going to get rained on. So we packed up quickly and headed back to the car as it started sprinkling. But as it turned out, the rain didn’t end our time there.

Here are some truths we were reminded of as a result of what happened next:

1. Sometimes a dad’s job is to get the mom to do what she might not otherwise want to.

It took some time to get to the center of the point where you cross over to the parking lot near downtown. And as we got there (and as we were standing in the rain) I looked up and saw that there was blue sky past the clouds and it looked like the rain would soon be ending. So I suggested that we just wait it out. Debbie was hesitant at first because we were just getting wetter, because it was still raining, but (to her credit) she fairly quickly agreed.

2. Sometime God ordains that bad things will cause better things to happen.

We decided to walk to a section we’d spent very little time at in all of our trips to this point. And there we found a jut-out of rock that was somewhat of a challenge to get to. It was here that we had the most fun we’ve ever had on Artist Point.

If it hadn’t been for the rain, we wouldn’t have stopped at this spot. And for the record, I’d just like to note that I’m aware that in the grand scheme of things, getting rained on is not a very bad thing.

3. Sometimes fear becomes fun.

The jut-out was in the form of a 100 foot oval. At one point this oval was very narrow.
The waves were coming fairly strongly and sometimes would spurt up ten feet high. And if you crossed the narrow section at the wrong time you would find yourself getting very wet. The kids at first didn’t want to cross it, but then saw that the challenge created thrills.

4. Wet clothes dry.

Before we were done, all of us had gotten a little wet, and some of us got very wet. Our clothes were dripping. But it was clean water and the next day (or even later that afternoon) no one would have known that we had been drenched. So what’s the big deal?

5. Sometimes Joy can be free.

Two of our kids said that this was as good as (or better) than a water park. It would cost us nearly $100 for us to bring our whole family to a water park, so this was very encouraging for my Dad ears to hear.

6. Teenagers and 3-years-olds can find the same thing to be fun.

There were no children that were left out, or thought it was boring, or who couldn’t play along.

I just looked at my journal for that day and it said this:

The water running at Artist point was one of the more perfect times we’ve ever had as a family.

I thank God.