Day 248- A Domino First

We got rained out on a family "first" tonight.  We were headed somewhere fun, but the weather changed our mind.  So, we went by Sonic and got ice cream.  Ice cream can sure soothe disappointment.

On the way home, I asked for "first" ideas.  Joel has a small domino set that he's been playing. It is designed to set up and knock one domino down and the rest fall.  We have 3 big sets of dominoes. Joel and I combined these and set them all up and knocked them down via the domino effect for my "first."

We started with the big dominoes.  We worked for a few minutes and one fell down and knocked the rest down so we had to start over. Then, it happened again. We realized that when we touched the table it shook enough to knock the dominoes down.  I cautioned Joel about touching the table.  We started again and got a long ways toward the finish. Joel started working with his smaller dominoes which also have a couple of trick items with them.  I accidentally knocked over the big dominoes again. This happened more times than I care to count. It started getting frustrating.  This took a lot longer than I thought it would.   At one point, Joel said that we (I think he meant me) needed to relax and not get frustrated.  That was good advice. I think that in addition to the dominoes, my patience was getting knocked down a bit.

After a long time, we finally got it all set up. We asked Laura and Hannah Grace if they wanted to come and see.  They did.  I'm glad because I believe two males would have had their feelings hurt in the Wilkinson abode if they had declined.  Joel knocked the first domino down and off it went.  I was really hoping they would all fall down and not have a glitch.  Success!! They all fell down and Joel pronounced it awesome. 

Getting started

Rats; they all fall down but we weren't finished

Starting over

Off we go

It's working!!

 Can you see the ball working its way down the green monster?

Success!!

As we were working on this, I asked Joel what he thought the spiritual meaning might be for this "first."  He said, "What do you mean?" I explained that I liked to say something about Jesus in my blog about my "firsts." He said the table was like Jesus and the dominoes were like us. The table was holding everything up. If it were not for the table, the whole thing would fall down.  Well said, young man.  Jesus said in John 15:5, "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing."  We should make sure that we make Jesus the foundation for all that we do. If not, it all comes crashing down one day. It might be today, next year, next decade, or 1 second after we die. Jesus is the only foundation to build a life, a church, or a home upon.

When we were getting ready for bed, Joel said again that this "first" was awesome.  I said that it was hard and a bit frustrating. Joel said, "Yea, but when they all fell down like we hoped, it was worth it."  Wow, there is some spiritual truth in that.  Sometimes following Jesus is hard.  Sometimes the things we do for Christ tend to fall down or not go like we had hoped (even though we are leaning on Him).  There are times when following Jesus is frustrating due to our sin, someone else's sin, or just living in a sinful world.  Praise God, in the end, it will all be worth it.  There's an old song that says, "It will be worth it all, when we, see Christ."  That's true.  The Bible says it this way in Romans 8:18, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us."

Glad the abundant life is worth it
Barry

3 things I thank God for today
1. Building dominoes with my son
2. Wheels
3. The sure foundation of Jesus

Day 247- A Radio First

Today, I called the local radio station and requested a song for my "first."

I thought about this a few weeks back when I heard a local station doing "throwback Thursdays." This is where the station plays music that is really good; I mean they play more of the older classic rock music.  It started me to questioning myself if I had ever called into a radio station and requested a song before. I don't ever remember doing that though it is possible that I could have during my college years.  We had a station on campus and one of my friends worked there for a little while.  We used to call him and try to get him to play stupid stuff that would get him in trouble; I don't remember making actual, legitimate requests.  Even so, my rule for something to qualify as a "first" if that I have not done it in at least 15-20 years so this definitely qualified.

Our radio announcer here in town is very friendly.  I asked if I requested a song would he play it.  He said he would do his best.  I acted kind of goofy and ignorant and he was still very nice and polite to me.  He even told me that my song choice was good.  In fact, he played it very quickly and I enjoyed my song.

I told him I wanted the song "Don't Look Back" by Boston.  When I was in high school and college, I loved the guitar sound of Boston.  Of course, since it was a "first" I struggled with what song to request.  There is a lot of music I enjoy (especially Christian) so narrowing it down to one choice was not easy.

I did want to make some type of spiritual application to this "first" and that is one reason why I chose "Don't Look Back."  Boston's song "Long Time" may be my favorite of that particular group.  When I thought about Don't Look Back, I thought about Jesus saying in Luke 9:62, "But Jesus said to him, No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." There is a good truth there.  Jesus is so wonderful, majestic, powerful, and loving (and the list could go on) that we should never look back to the things of the world for our satisfaction.  Jesus is so much better than what the sinful world has to offer.  The world holds out the promise of fun, entertainment, power, popularity, and other things such as that.  Yet, the world offers those things in a way that is not pleasing to God.  God offers love, grace, forgiveness, peace and He offers these in a way that you can feel good about it the next day and year.  The world takes the pleasures that God thought of and twists them into something ungodly.  God is the one who had the idea for joy, love, friendship, sex, food, rest, peace, and the other truly good things about life. Since we know that, it would make sense to believe He probably knows the best ways of fulfilling the desires for these things.

Sometimes I hear and see people that are ignoring God and they look like they are having a blast.  I remind myself that true life is not found anywhere but in God. I don't know if those people are having as much fun as they seem like they are. It is not unusual for a big laugh to hide a hurting heart.  Even if they are having the time of their lives, their lives are coming to an end and the worldly party will be over. I'm glad God's party is everlasting.  So, don't look back.

Grateful for the joy of the abundant life
Barry

3 things I thank God for today
1. Music
2. Christian musical groups
3. Tim Hawkins

Day 246- A Damp First

I had lunch with a close friend of mine today. While at lunch, my friend took the opportunity to ask our waitress if she had any prayer requests that he could pray for her this afternoon. She shared about how hard work had been and my friend prayed for her.  As we were paying for our lunch, she mentioned that she had to vacuum the dining area. I said something like we tried not to make a big mess.  Then, a "first" idea hit me. I asked her if I could vacuum around where we sat.  She said that was OK. I pressed it a bit and told her that I would like to vacuum around our area. She said that she would get in trouble if I did that. Rats, that would have been a fun "first."

My friend and I walked outside and I said that would have been a good opportunity for a "first."  It was raining softly and he asked me if I had ever driven home in the rain with my windows down.  I drove him in the rain with my window down for my "first."

You might notice a change from the plural to singular on the word window in the previous paragraph.  That is intentional.  I decided that if I drove home with all the windows down important things could get wet.  I drove home with the driver side window down only.  At first, this seemed like a bad idea.  I figured that I would get very wet and feel very silly.  I did not have a better idea at the moment for a "first" so I just went with it.

This turned out pretty good. First of all, it did not rain a lot. It was more of a sprinkle so I did not get very wet.  Depending on your theological persuasion, you might call this the favor of God, God's predestination for my day, or maybe you think I rebuked the rain. I just know there were scattered showers and it looked like I would get pretty wet and I only got mildly wet. That was a plus. Thank You, Lord.

The other plus to this was that I enjoyed hearing the outside sounds.  I hardly ever drive with the windows down in the summer. It is simply too hot around here.  With the light sprinkle and cloud cover (plus the A/C), it was very nice.  There is something refreshing about hearing tires on a wet pavement plus the other sounds of the real world.  I usually insulate myself in my car with radio, podcast, and Pandora sounds, but this was a refreshing change. Joel asked me what I did for my "first" and I told him.  He said, "Awesome."  I think he wanted in on this one.

The other thing I enjoyed about today's first was that I got to wave at people better.  I saw friends under their carports and could give a big wave with the window down.  We have road construction on our road and I had to slow way down at a bridge.  There were a couple of fellows taking a break and I could actually say hey to them and ask them how they were doing. That's a bit more personal that just the wave over the steering wheel.  I didn't even get very wet.

I asked Joel to turn off the TV and do homework. He did the "turn the TV off with the remote between the legs" move off the couch

 Rainy days and Mondays always get me down

As I was driving home with the my window down in the rain, I thought about how only my arm was getting wet. My hair did not get wet, my back did not get wet, and neither did my feet.  Only the part of me outside the car got wet. We often want God to "rain" down blessings on the various parts of our lives. We would like God to bless our families, money, emotions, relationships, churches, etc.  Only as we put those areas under God's authority can we expect Him to bless those areas.  If we keep them to ourselves (in the car, if you will) and are afraid to trust God enough to put them under His authority, we can't really expect God to bless very much.  If I want God's blessings on my emotions, I have to put my emotions and my mind under His authority- in a place where He can rain on them.  If I want God to bless my relationships, I have to place them under His authority. That would  mean practicing things like forgiveness, patience, and grace.  We can't hide from God and live in a self protective mode and live the abundant life.  We should trust God enough to roll down the window of self preservation and let God rain His love and grace on us.  Far too often I have tried to live safe.  Following Jesus is not always "safe" but it is abundant. 

I love the exchange in C.S. Lewis' book "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe" where Lucy and Mr. Beaver are discussing Aslan the lion.  Aslan is a picture of Christ in this book.  Here's their conversation: ""Aslan a man!" said Mr. Beaver sternly. "Certainly not. I tell you he is the King of the wood and the son of the great Emperor-Beyond-the-Sea. Don't you know who is the King of Beasts? Aslan is a lion, the Lion, the great Lion."
"Ooh," said Susan, "I thought he was a man. Is he - quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion."
"That you will, dearie, and make no mistake," said Mrs. Beaver; "if there's anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they're either braver than most or else just silly."
"Then he isn't safe?" said Lucy.
"Safe?" said Mr. Beaver; "don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the king I tell you."

Glad Jesus gives abundant life
Barry

3 things I thank God for today
1. Sprinkles
2. Bit of a cool breeze in the summer
3. Ice

Day 245- A Thinking First

I have enjoyed listening to Pandora lately.  This is my new find in music.  One of the ads that has come on a lot lately is for a website called Lumosity.  It is for brain games and brain training. I went on the Lumosity site and got my brain profile for my "first" today.  After doing that, I also went to another site (fitbrain) and did some brain training there to add to my brain "first."

The site asked me to answer a few questions about my brain goals.  I did not see a question that said, "Have you lost yours yet?"  Brain goals are not something I think about a lot. Of course, most people as they age say things like "I just want to stay in my right mind." For some, that may be stretching things a little; the assumption their minds were ever right. So, I do think most of us have some sort of goal of not losing our minds and staying as sharp mentally as we can.

I answered the questions and did some exercises. I had to match things, remember things, and mark my answers with the computer mouse.  I did OK, I guess.  On brain speed, I scored 85% higher than others my age who have taken the test.  My theory is that is really high because only the smartest people actually take these tests.  I have absolutely nothing to base this on except my own desire.  I scored higher than 75% of people on the attention to detail section.  Then, on the memory section I scored higher than 41% of the people.  Is that right?  I'm sorry, I just don't remember if that is correct or not.  Maybe it was 91%.  That sounds better.  It really does, but unfortunately I wrote the results down and it was 41%.  My excuse for that section is that I am not as good with the mouse as other people are. I'm using a laptop and others were probably using something that is much easier to pick out the answers faster.  That's my excuse.

Then, they had a training program designed just for me by brain scientists.  The bad news is that I have to pay a monthly fee to participate. That's where they get you.  At the beginning, it said the account was free.  I guess the account is, but to use it for much, it costs money.  That's when I went to the fitbrain website and they let me play some brain games there. I can't play many, but I can play a few.  I spent some time training my brain today.

The fact that this picture (and others) is right side up on the computer but I can't get it right side up on here is not a big plus for my brain score

I do want to have a healthy brain. How we think affects so much of our lives.  Our thoughts greatly influence our moods, emotions, and attitudes.  Our emotions greatly influence the decisions that we make.  If we are going to live strong for Jesus, we must be aware of what we are thinking about and how we think about life.  There are a lot of false beliefs and unbiblical worldviews floating around in the culture and Christians are very susceptible to these.  That's why the Bible commands us in Romans 12:2 (NLT), "Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect."  A very big part of becoming like Jesus is allowing God to change the way you think.  It is so tempting to think of me first, what I want, or what makes me happy instead of what God wants. A good question to ask a lot is, "What does God think about this particular subject or activity?" The Bible is God's primary way of changing how we think. 

I thought about what I've done today and how God wants me to think about it.  Joel went to baseball practice today.  Do I think about things like:

• Is he one of the best players
• Will his team win first place
• Will he get to play a lot
• What position will he play

Those questions are OK and natural.  The kind of questions I need to be thinking about would be:

• How can he learn more about living for Jesus through baseball
• Is he a good witness on the team
• Am I a good witness in the stands
• Is he submitting to the authority of the coach
• How can I connect baseball to spiritual truths for him

Let's not forget how important what we think about is.  Let God's word never be far from your mind and mouth.   He loves to use His word to change the way we think.

Thinking on the abundant life
Barry

3 things I thank God for today
1. Kind words
2. Boiled peanuts
3. Romans 12:2

Day 244- A Sneaky First

Today, my family and I wrote encouraging notes and put them on cars in parking lots for my "first."

This idea came to me this afternoon.  I asked the family about it and they agreed to do it with me. So, we sat at the table and made some notes and wrote something inspirational on them.  Some of us were more creative than others with this idea.  My version was to cut a piece of paper in half and write Jesus loves you on it.  Joel cut out a heart and wrote Jesus loves you.  Hannah Grace drew pictures and wrote Scripture verses.  Laura broke out the scrapbooking paper and made some cards.  Then, we drove to town and cruised several parking lots.  On the way to town, we prayed and asked the Lord to help us put these notes on the cars he wanted us to put them on.  As we were cruising parking lots, if someone saw a car (or truck) they wanted to put their note on, they would tell me and I would drive up close so they could get out and place their note on the vehicle.  The idea we had was to do this while nobody was looking so it would be a surprise.  It was fun to think about someone coming out of a  store and finding a note that said something about Jesus on their car and having no way of knowing who left it.  That way, the only person they can really thank is Jesus.  That's what we wanted to happen.

We had a blast doing this.  It was fun to see Hannah Grace and Joel get excited about making their cards and putting some thought into it. Hannah Grace had her Bible app open on her I-Pod to find verses that she has highlighted to write on her cards. Joel even made up a poem.  As we were driving, it was fun to see which vehicles they chose and why.  Since we were in town, it only made sense to go by Dairy Queen and get a blizzard to top off the experience.

This is something we probably never would have done if it were not for the year of "firsts." This is one reason I chose to do this.  It forces me to think of things I've not done and get creative.  One of the things I want to do and want for my family is to be constantly looking for ways to make Jesus' love real to others.  It is so easy to get caught up with things that we need to do that we forget to look for opportunities to show Jesus love to someone else.  Yet, those opportunities are around us.  I need to pray more and more for God to help me see those opportunities and make the most of them.  I would love for my family to always be watching for opportunities to share Jesus' love with someone else in creative ways.  Many people invite others to church and that's a really good thing. Let's not stop there. Let's help them to see that this is about Jesus and not simply church.  Many people have negative opinions of Christians. Some of those opinions are deserved and some are not. If we can do something to help people see that true Jesus followers love others with His love, we will have done a good thing.

Wanting others to get in on the abundant life
Barry

3 things I thank God for today
1. Leftovers
2. Telephones
3. God's love when we are not even aware of it