The Joys of Fatherhood

Several weeks ago I was getting my oldest son ready for bed. [That sounds great by the way, 'my oldest son']. This nightly event includes, among other things, changing him into his jammies and changing his diaper. Everything was going as usual until my wife asked me a question. I had just put Aiden on his back in order to begin changing his diaper. I looked up to answer Kirsten's question, just as I had taken off Aiden's diaper. About half-way through my answer I felt something warm and wet on my pant leg. I looked down just in time to see the last bit of Aiden urine streaming out of him and onto my leg. As any red-blooded anyone would do when realizing he's been peed on, I jumped back away from the spray. This jumping, of course, made Aiden laugh--and laugh hard. And what happens when you laugh really hard? You guessed it, you pee more. And more he did. He laughed so hard it made him pee even more on my pant leg. This is made all the more amazing when it is realized that I had jumped back a good six or seven inches. Quite a range that boy has .

Independence Day and Trinity Sunday: Which Do You Observe?

If I were to set the over/under on the percentage of evangelical churches who said the pledge of allegence and sang the Star Spangeled Banner, I would set it at 88%. What gets me about these churches though is that they would look askance at the suggestion that we say the Apostle's or Nicean Creed or sing The Church's One Foundation. Why are churches who are self-consciously against the Church Calendar (i.e., Trinity Sunday, Ascension Sunday) the very same churches who consistently and without hesitation keep the National Calendar (i.e., Memorial Day and Independence Day)? Why celebrate American holidays but not those holy days the Church has for centuries celebrated? Why wouldn't they confesss what they believe and where their allegences lie by reciting, in unison, the Nicean Creed? [By the by, this kind of thinking is the same that will argue against paedobaptism on the basis that there isn't an explicite command to do so but with in the very next breath ask when you are going to dedicate your baby despite an explicite command to do that!]

There are several reasons for thise kind of thinking I suppose, lack of understanding what worship is about, phobias about things that look remotely Catholic, etc., but not the least, I suggest, is that they have a fundamental misunderstanding of where their loyalties should lie. Our loyalties are not first and foremost with America. How can they be? Our loyalties should first and foremost lie with the Kingdom and the Church, whose job it is to exapand that Kingdom. Now, before you label me anti- or un-American, don't get me wrong. I am thankful for those who have fought in wars to protect America. My grandpa and cousin both served and I have friends and other family who have also served. They are truly heroes. I think America is swell. I'm not interested in living anywhere else and given the right circumstances, I'd fight to protect it. But that is my point. The reasons would have to be darn good ones. But for the Church and Kingdom, I am called daily to fight and I'm much more willing to do that (though I fail at it often). For many, the Church is nothing more than a haven for conservative Republicans and if you aren't one of those you probably aren't Christian. Somewhere along the line, Church and State got all mixed up. We need men and women who are followers of Christ first, and Republicans (or better perhaps, Independents or Libertarians) last.