patriology:: entry 124

I do some of my best thinking in the shower. yesterday, I was in the shower, and the thought came to me to go and get a bike for jane. it was perfect bike riding weather out, and she seemed to be more and more interested in bikes recently. so after we got ready, we went over to target and picked out a pink and purple big-kid bike. not a tricycle- a big kid bike with training wheels.

we took it home, pulled it out of the box and got it all put together. Deanna got a matching helmet and a bell for the handlebars.

in the afternoon, we took it for a spin in our little parking lot. it took a little getting used to, but jane did really well. I walked next to her the entire time she was on it. sometimes I was in front of her, sometimes behind, sometimes right next to her. when she was about to fall I would catch her. sometimes I saved her and the bike, sometimes I just saved her to show her what would happen if she wasn’t paying attention or steering straight. there was this moment when I was walking next to jane; her handlebars started wobbling and I reached out one hand in front of her, one hand behind, ready to catch her. and I was reminded of a verse out of psalm 139, “You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand!” I think I took a step forward in understanding what that meant.

today jane and I took her bike to a trail near our house to get more bike-riding practice. as she was riding I walked next to her thinking about that verse. “this is how God deals with me. He follows me. He catches me. He rescues me. He does this more times than I even know- and I'm sure most of the time I’m completely unaware of it.”

that psalm goes on to say, “I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence! If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the grave, you are there. If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me.”

God watches over you and me like a father watches over his child riding a bike for the first time. sometimes we are rescued, sometimes we fall, but we are never alone.

this morning, on the trail, jane went down a little slope and her bike picked up speed. she panicked a bit. instead of letting her bike slow down on its own or hitting the brakes, she let go of her handlebar and reached out and grabbed me hand.
sometimes along my way I panic too. I could try to fix the problem myself, or I could reach out to the One who can rescue me. since He’s right there, its not a bad idea.

God is love.
-rev-rob

talking about things

when we stayed at our hotel in Anaheim, one of jane’s favorite things to do was to “talk about things” with me after we turned out the lights, and before we all fell asleep. we would get into our beds and turn out the lights and jane would say,

“hey dad- want to talk about things?”

and of course I would say, “sure! what should we talk about?”

and she would list of a set of topics for our conversation.

every time, the first topic would be, “let’s think of our favorite parts of our day.”

since we have been back from vacation, “talking about things” is a new nightly routine for us. Deanna gets jane ready and gets her tucked in; she reads her a story and has a prayer time; they turn out the lights and then they call me in to talk about things before jane falls asleep. and every time we talk, we begin with, “so- what was your favorite part of the day?” sometimes it gets late, and sometimes we run out of things to talk about, and I tell jane that it’s time to sleep.

she hates to end talking time. a few nights ago she wanted talking time to go longer and she hugged me with tears streaming down her face yelling, “but I want to keep talking!” she loves it so much that an extra-long-talk-time has become a big incentive for jane to try new foods.

to be honest, I love talking time. I love any time I get with my kid. I love listening to her tell me her feelings and experiences. I just enjoy hearing her voice and hearing her talk about anything.

its my current-favorite-part of being a dad.

I used to write these blogs about how being a dad gave me perspective on how God feels about being a Heavenly Father to me; and I can’t help but see the similarities between my love for spending time talking with and listening to jane, and God’s joy in spending time talking to me and hearing me talk to Him. wouldn't that be awesome if I refused to end my talking time with Him!

the other night we went to dinner at the food court in the mall, before jane and Deanna went to jane’s awana class. we finished early, so we decided to check out the disney store- it’s the closest thing we have to Disneyland in town! we were walking and I was carrying jane and she said, “hey dad! I have an idea- let’s talk about things while we’re walking to the disney store.”

“ok!” I said.

“what was your favorite part off today?” I asked.

jane said, “my favore part of today was…right now.”

and she wrapped her arms around my neck.

“right now is my favorite part of today too.” I said.

someday talking with dad isn't going to be cool anymore, but I'm taking it while I can.

being a dad is fun.

God is love.

-rev-rob

lectio divina:: proverbs

I’m finishing up the book of proverbs in preparation for a series in middle school this summer: the quest for solomon’s treasure. I’ve read proverbs a bunch of times, and when I read it, it sounds fairly familiar. but with my recent study on attitude, I saw an old verse in a new way.

there are 4 different times that proverbs talks about “the quarrelsome wife.” usually I read this and thank god that I don’t live with a quarrelsome wife, and feel sorry with those who do. but this time it sounds a little different. here are the four verses:

Proverbs 19:13

“A foolish son is his father's ruin,

and a quarrelsome wife is like a constant dripping.”

Proverbs 21:19

“Better to live in a desert

than with a quarrelsome and ill-tempered wife.”

Proverbs 25:24

“Better to live on a corner of the roof

than share a house with a quarrelsome wife.”

Proverbs 27:15

“A quarrelsome wife is like

a constant dripping on a rainy day;”

so the quarrelsome wife is like constant dripping- they are annoying- they drive you crazy; and you would rather live in a desert, or on the corner of your roof than spend time with them.

this doesn’t just apply to quarrelsome wives- this applies to a quarrelsome anyone. this applies to people with complaining, bad attitudes. the Bible says what we’ve all known all along- no one wants to be around someone with a bad attitude- they are not likable. complaining drives other people crazy. complaining can be so cathartic, and people may entertain you when you have a bad attitude; but in reality, they would rather be anywhere else than around a complainer.

so a good attitude isn’t just good for the soul, its good for relationships too. I recently read this quote from wayne cordeiro in his book on attitude. he’s from Hawaii and he says that a great attitude is like a Hawaiian lei. when you wear it, everyone you interact with has a pleasant aroma when you are near. and no matter who you’re with, or where you go, everything smells sweet. but when you have a bad attitude, its like wearing a lei made out of dead fish. you stink, and so does everyone else. whether we wear a fragrance or an odor is up to us.

I know some people that smell fishy, and I know some people that smell fragrant; and I want to be fragrant. I want my demeanor to be attractive. it’s a choice.

God is love.

-rev-rob

amandapig.com

jane LOVES a series of stories about a character named amanda pig. they are easy to read, and she reads them to herself for hours. she also acts them out. they don't make any amanda pig merchandise, so different dolls and stuffed animals in her room often take the role of amanda and her friends lollipop and oliver. some times jane acts out the books herself.

the other day, deanna heard jane chatting, and she had created her own commercial for a site that doesn't exist, amandapig.com. she has also created a computer game for amandapig.com. check them out below-

Untitled from rob walter on Vimeo.

amanda pig 02 from rob walter on Vimeo.
she reminds me of myself when I was a kid. I loved to read, and I loved to play.
being a dad is fun.

homemade toys:: disneyland

I recently wrote about some homemade toys that I made for Jane- I have actually done this a few times in the past- its fun for both me and Jane to create something unique for her to use her imagination with. after visiting disneyland, jane has decided that her dolls go too-

so we made "It's a Small World" out of legos and construction paper- what do you think?

we play the small world song on repeat on iTunes, and different dolls wait in line and then take their turn on the ride-

another one of Jane's favorite rides was the ladybug ride in california adventure. the first video is Jane and Deanna riding the ride- the second is Jane playing the role of ride operator with the toy ride that we made. she does a pretty good job at it!

ladybug01 from rob walter on Vimeo.




ladybugs from rob walter on Vimeo.
here is a close-up of the bug-cars. we made them out of that colored-foam that you can get at Michael's.

being a dad is fun.

-rev-rob

disneyland part 2

there was this moment, just before we left Disneyland on our second day there- I was riding ‘it’s a small world’ with jane and Deanna for the third time. it was our last ride of the trip. we were all snuggled in together, watching the little characters sing the song; and I thought to myself, “is there any other place I’d rather be, than right here, right now, with these two?”

here are some images from our trip!

we had a LONG six hour drive to anaheim, but jane passed the time watching dvds in the car:

our friend chris got us an autograph book so that we could meet characters and get their signatures. jane is normally afraid of these characters, but by the end of our first day, she treated these characters like old friends:

we were glad to meet all of these friends, but the ultimate prize would be Mary Poppins. Jane is a long time fan of Mary Poppins. we heard that she could be near the carousel or the castle, and we had our eyes peeled for her. jane and deanna were in the restroom when I spotted her. I got on the cellphone and started following her. jane and deanna were close behind me. Jane yelled out, "MARY POPPINS!" she turned around, took jane's hand, and walked toward her picture taking spot. it was the highlight of our trip.

and of course, we also very much enjoyed all of the RIDES at disneyland!

this trip was also jane's first trip in a hotel. this was weird for us, because we all had to go to bed at the same time, and sleep in the same room. jane got a rollaway and we pushed it up next to my side of the big bed. each night before we went to sleep, jane and I spent a long time talking about our favorite parts of the day.

disneyland was awesome! we can't wait to go back!

disneyland party 1

wow! we had such a great time! I'll write more about our little vacation later on- until then here are 3 short videos from our trip: (keep in mind that this girl was super-afraid of meeting costumed characters! I guess that's over!)

bounce party from rob walter on Vimeo.

bouncers! from rob walter on Vimeo.

poppins from rob walter on Vimeo.

jungle junction

jane loves this show on this disney channel:

for several weeks, it was all that she talked about, and she tried her best to act it out and turn her toys into "wheelers" from jungle junction.

she got a big box of legos for Christmas, so I did my best to make wheelers for her out of legos. some looked alright, some were kind of a stretch-

but it was a fun thing to do together. we ended up making a few trips to the lego store to get more wheels and eyes for the wheelers.

every time I made one she jumped for joy and put it into action with the others. we even went to affordable treasures and got some palm trees to make a jungle for the wheelers to zoom around in. it was fun because jane was somewhat obsessed with jungle junction, and I became focused on making them, and we were sort of obsessed on the same thing for a while. we just fed each other's obsessions with our enthusiasm.

but sadly, jane's jungle junction phase is over. she has moved on to new things. she got a new playmat and needed cars to drive on it so the wheelers had to be dismantled. deanna suggested that I take a picture of my wheelers before I take them apart. what do you think?

being a dad is fun.

-rob

Valentine's Day

last Sunday, I went into “the green room” before the service to pray with the pastors, the singers, and all of the people working during the service. I saw my friend Luba in the green room- she was in there as a choir member. I always enjoy talking with Luba. I walked up to her and said, “Hi Luba! Happy Valentine’s Day!” she said, “yes- this is always a hard day for me- Valentine’s Day and my anniversary.” at that moment I remembered that Luba lost her husband of many years just recently.

I gave her a hug and said, “oh Luba- I’m so sorry…”

she said, “you know, I guess it shouldn’t bother me so much, but I just miss getting that little Valentine’s day card every February that says, “I love you.”

she had tears in her eyes.

I had tears in my eyes.

I said, “Luba! you’re breaking my heart right now!”

she said, “you know, my Alex had a knack for knowing when I wasn’t feeling right and he always knew just how to cheer me up- and he would tell me every day that I was beautiful.”

"He was such a good man.” I said.

she said, “I can’t complain- we have wonderful children who love me and love the Lord…”

and then she looked at me with those welled up eyes banged my chest and said,
“now you make sure that you cherish your family and tell them every day that you love them, because you never know when they will be gone!”

I’m sure that my pastor preached an awesome sermon on Sunday, but I doubt that I heard any of it. I just kept thinking of Luba and the pain of her Valentines’ Day. I tried to tell my friend and my wife about the conversation later on, but I just kept getting all emotional just telling the story.

after church I went to the grocery store to get a few things before I went home to lunch. The cashier looked at my things and said, “a little late for buying a Valentine’s Day card isn’t it?”

I said, “oh- this card isn’t for my wife-

this is for my friend Luba.”

tell the people that you love that you love them.

God is love.

rev-rob

you are special.

we have been doing the r12 campaign at our church this month- each week, we focus on a different aspect of an r12 Christian. last week, we looked at the fact that an r12 Christian has a sober-self-assessment- or an honest understanding of their spiritual gifts and their weaknesses; they understand how God made them and what is true about them. the core verse is romans 12:3 “For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.”

I was talking with the middle school ministry last weekend and said something like, ”the point is to not think of yourself as a loser, and not think that you’re all that, just be honest with yourself.” a girl raised her hand in the front row and quietly asked,

“what if thinking that I’m a loser IS being honest with myself?”

time stopped.

God split the heavens and said to me, “you better get this right son.”

it was for this moment that God made me and called me into youth ministry.

time started again. I choked back tears and said:

“you’re not a loser. God has made you special. God loves you. God like to be with you. He calls Himself your Father- and He loves you like a father loves his daughter. You are important. God has a dream for your life that only you can accomplish- you are not a loser. that isn’t true. you are special. you are God’s workmanship- created in Christi Jesus to do good works, which God has prepared in advance for you to do.” and then I went on with my sermon.

this is why I am a youth pastor. to remind middle schoolers that they are loved, they are special, they are important.

you are loved. you are special. you are important. believe that.

God is love.

-rev-rob