Happy Birthday!! You turn 8 today and that just blow my mind!!

Life has been crazy and I am sure that you can agree with that.  We have walked with you through the highs and lows of your life.  You have experienced more in your short 8 years than I did in my first 15!!

You have brought many tears to my eyes.  Through your good heart which makes me so proud of you, to the times which you have felt pain, to the times when you have made me so angry with you.

Almost everyday I see you mature more and more.  You have grown so much in the past year and I hope that continues.

It has been great to see how much you love life.  I love going to scouting events with you, I love how you are interested in music and sports (my two loves) and I love how you are becoming more and more independent.

I hope that some of these thoughts will serve you well this next year and beyond.

1.  Be Positive.  Even when it starts to eat at your gut.  No good comes out of negativity.  You are bright, kind and you do have a sweet side to your personality.  If you stick with that and if you have a good attitude with things so many doors will open for you.

2.  Be Flexible.  I know this is hard for you.  It is hard for me too.  However it will serve you well in your life.  We are working on this and if you need my help just let me know.  People are going to make plans with you and then change them.  You are not always going to do what you expect to do — sometimes when you let things go and let God take over great things are going to happen.

3.  Find your passion.  Like your father you are good at many things and a master of a few.  Find your passion and stick with it.  I don’t care if you try a million things and choose not to do them.  The important things will rise to the top and you will be the cream of the crop.  I see so much talent in you I want you to succeed.  There is nothing better than being praised for doing what you love.  Trust me on that one.

4.  When you find yourself in trouble, be prepared and tell the truth.  I hate to admit it but you will get in trouble.  I only pray that it is not that bad.  But if you find yourself in trouble it does not matter what you did — tell the truth.  Nothing is worse than doing something wrong and then lying about it.  It might seem bad but in the end it is the best thing.

5.  I know you hate it when I talk about girls but there is one word more than any other that you need to remember when it comes to girls.  RESPECT.  I never want to hear that you did not respect anyone, especially a girl.  You are going to notice girls more and we are going to talk about that — like it or not.  But come to me if/when you have questions.

6.  Just say no.  It breaks my heart to know that you are going to experience peer pressure.  I have already seen what other kids at  school have taught you.  I want to be there to tell them to leave you alone.  To try and fix whatever problem they have, to protect you.  All I can do is teach you to do the right thing and to pray for you.  But whenever someone comes to you and tells you to do something, if you feel like you should not do it, THEN DON’T!!  I can’t tell you that enough.

7.  Stay in School.  Of course you are going to stay in school….at least until you are 18.  You don’t have a choice about that.  But when you are in school, listen and learn.  Sometimes things are going to seem boring.  Sometimes they are going to teach you things you already know.  Sometimes things are going to seem so hard that you will not want to do it anymore.  Remember that I have confidence in you and that I know that if you put your mind too it you can accomplish anything.

8.  Have Fun.  Too many times in your life you are going to need to be serious.  Right now you need to be a kid and you need to have fun and enjoy life. Have fun, if that means that you need to be silly and giggle or if you need to take a risk to do something you have never done before — do it!! As long as you are safe and not breaking the law.  It will be okay with me.

I hope and pray that you enjoy your day today.  I am looking forward to this year.  You are going to experience so many things and I am excited for you.

Remember how much I love you!!!

The question I ask each week at the beginning of worship is “Where have you seen God this week?”  But I didn’t start with that question.

Like any good pastor, I steal ideas.  I steal ideas from other congregations that I visit, from pastor friends as we share stories, from reading blogs like this one, or from conferences that I attend.  I stole the idea of asking such a question when I was at Amazing Grace Lutheran Church in Inver Grove Heights, MN two summers ago for my nephew/godson’s baptism.  At the end of the worship service the pastor said something along the lines of “Every week we end worship with ‘Go in peace serve the Lord.’ Where have you seen the Lord being served this week?”

I was amazed by the willingness to answer, and the ages of those who responded, especially the elementary age kids talked about camp.

So I came back to Bethlehem the following week and asked the same question.

Crickets….

Crickets….

More crickets….

(or if you grew up in the 80’s Bueller….Bueller…Bueller)

And not only was I met with silence, the question just didn’t feel right to me.  So over the course of a few months, the questioned changed.  And now my question is “Where have you seen God this week?”

But that isn’t the only way of asking the question.

How have you seen the Lord being served?
How have you served the Lord?
In what ways has God impacted your life?
Where is God in your life?
How has Jesus been your savior?
Who has been Jesus to you?
Have you had any “God-sighting”?
How do you feel the Holy Spirit?
What has happened in your week that made you realize that God was at work in the world?
When have you felt God’s presence?
Where do you see God working around you?
When did God use you to bless someone else?
When did God use someone else to bless you?

Those are all ways of asking the same question and yet they all are slightly different ways of asking and can have slightly different response.

So which question is right for you?

Dear Addyson,

It seems cliché but I do remember the day you were born.  It probably was the worst day weather wise.  It was snowy and the roads were terrible.  But we were up early to drop off your brother at a sitters while we went to the hospital and welcomed you into the world.

This past year I have seen you grow up so much.  Your personality is showing through more and more.  Sometimes I forget that you are turning five this year!  You have such a great attitude about so many things and our family is blessed because you are a part of it.

Life is not perfect, you cry and whine a little too much and sometimes you make me want to pull whatever hair I have left out.  But your positives far outweigh your negatives.

This next year is going to be a big year for you.  We are going to help you take the next step in your life.  You will be starting kindergarten, you will become more independent and as that happens I want you to remember a few things:

1.  You will always be my little girl. No matter how old you get you cannot escape that fact.  I embrace it now because I know in 10 years you will do everything you can to deny that you have parents.

2.  When you face something big and scary remember that you are smart, talented, brave, and God is always watching over you.  It may not seem like that now, and you are too young to really understand what that means but I believe it with everything in my heart.

3.  You are more beautiful than I can ever tell you and more beautiful than you will ever think you are.  Again, this is something that I want you to embrace now (when you say you are beautiful) because there will be times in your life where you won’t see your inner or outer beauty.  I know you don’t get your good looks from me, they come from your mother.  Oh and just let us do something fun with your hair now and then.

4.  You have a family that loves you very much and will do anything to see that you are happy.  I know you love your family and that just warms my heart.  I love how you still want to cuddle with me and it brings a tear to my eye and I treasure these moments because I know that you will grow up so fast.  Please don’t lose this pure love in your heart even when it seems like we are unfair. Remember no matter where you go or what you do, if you ever find yourself in trouble – go to a Lutheran church and tell them your dad is a pastor and they will help you out, I promise.   Also remember that the things which upset you now will not seem like a big deal 5 years from now.  That cycle will happen the rest of your life.

5.  Keep singing.  I can’t tell you enough to keep singing.  You have a beautiful voice and you are so creative musically.  I hope you never lose this passion and that you can keep developing it the rest of your life.  Singing can open so many doors for you.  I never want to be the dad that pushes you to do things that you don’t want to do.  But I will be the dad that encourages you over and over to do the things that make you happy.

I hope you can one day look back and read these things about yourself and maybe remember some of the good times we have had and will have this next year.  I love you with my whole heart and I can’t wait to see what the next year will bring us.

I love you

Daddy

{This is a part of a series called Tuesday Thoughts}

All the warm weather that CNY is experiencing this year is not getting old.  Today Logan and I were gathering up branches that have fallen.  Next week I think we are going to get the lawn mower ready to go.  I’m serious.

My heart still aches for the New England Patriots Loss on Sunday night.  The thing that is bothering me the most is that New England really beat themselves.  Between the 12 men on the field, the dropped balls in the fourth quarter I am not surprised that they lost….oh and don’t get me started on the safety!!

I know I keep saying it but I am so excited with the direction that ministry is headed at St. Mark’s.  There are many things happening and SO many people involved in ministry.  2012 is going to be our year.

I found out Saturday that I have strep.  I hate being sick and I hate having strep.  Thank God for medicine.

Our healing Service on the 29th of January was the most awesome thing I have ever done professionally.  I could not of asked for a better service and I really feel lives were changed because of the service.

I have been working on the church website a lot recently.  I like where we are at right now….feel free to give any feedback.

Over the next week I am going to be posting about some of the plans I have for Lent.  I am pretty excited.

I can’t tell you how much I love this video:

What God moments have you experienced recently?

{This is a part of a series called Tuesday Thoughts}

• I have been thinking since October 18, 2011 — I just have not been posting them.

• The holiday’s (Thanksgiving and Christmas) were great!  During those times I was able to spend time with family and friends.  Every year when we make our whirlwind trip to New England, I remember the importance of family and friends in my life.

• We had a pretty low key New Year’s.  Logan was at Vanderkamp.  So we rented movies and ate Chinese food.

• I continue to work out with No Mercy Fitness.  I have lost about 20 pounds working out with them.  I am thankful for their encouragement and dedication to my health.

• When you Google “Lutheran Pastor” my picture is front and center.  I guess I am the picture perfect Lutheran Pastor.

• I am falling in love with ifttt

• I believe the Patriots and the Giants will be in the Super Bowl.

• I still love Person of Interest but Alcatraz looks very interesting.  Plus Alcatraz has Hurley on it!

• I am really excited for Lent this year.  I have some great things to share about positive changes I am making.

• Tomorrow I am jumping in the Seneca River for Charity.  Crazy? Yes! Stupid? Yes!  Fun? YES!

As a society we are always searching for the next great idea.  It doesn’t matter if it is the next great vacume cleaner or a new way to change the oil of your car – someone is sitting in a room right now trying to think what the next great idea is going to be.

When I was younger I wanted to be an inventor-  I wanted to be the one with the great idea, I wanted to change the world with a new gadget or processor that would make life easier and more enjoyable.

I am finishing up my time with Steve Job’s biography. It has helped me to take a step back and look at my life.  I have always had the problem of saying yes to things because I want to be involved and I want to be helpful.  However, this has led me to take on too much and stretch myself in too many directions.  Now I have the opportunity to take a serious and very difficult look at where I am going to be spending my time and attention and I am going to ask myself if what I am doing really matters or should I be focusing my time and energy on something else.

My hope is that as I focus myself on only a few projects and opportunities in my life that more and more great ideas will be flowing out of me.  Instead of spending only a few hours preparing a Bible Study because I have 100 other things to do I want to spend 5-6 hours on the Bible Study and do it really well.

Here are seven ideas that have come from reading Steve Jobs biography and my reflection upon what I read after.

First, becoming your best self is a choice you make.

Second, change happens through action and the way we create our future.

Third, have faith.

Fourth, facing your fears is not a one-time event; but it does get easier the more you do it.

Fifth, trying to be everything, to everyone does not work. Be Yourself

Sixth, believe in the importance of your ideas, and your ability to bring them into reality.

And, seventh, refuse to give up. 

I believe that if you take these seven ideas seriously this year you will see vast improvements in your life, in your relationships and in your faith.  It will not always be easy.

I come up with ideas all the time!  Some of them succeed and others fall flat.  My goal for 2012 is going to be to try to focus only on a few things