It's all about Jesus

There was a visiting pastor speaking at our church this past year.  He was talking about the Christian Missionary Alliance denomination and how really they are just simply all about Jesus.  (One of the reasons I LOVE this denomination and my church!!)  But he began to talk about the Bible as a whole, and I think this is a basic teaching about the Bible...it's all about Jesus!  All of the Old Testament is pointing to Jesus, the Gospels tell His story, then the letters point back to Jesus.  John Soper, the visiting preacher said it this way:  "God told us what he was going to do, then He did it, then He explained it."  It is a look at the Bible from God's perspective.  Because of where I am in life, I instantly thought about my parenting.  Isn't this the model!  I need to teach (verbally) my children the values I want to instill in them, then model them, then explain my actions.  It is God's model...I'll imitate him and make it my own...surely He knows best!  He is the Good Father after all!
This model also works for discipline.  "Tempie, I am going to put you in time out now...{Time out}....Tempie, do you understand why you were in time out?"  Works the same with spankings or any other form of discipline used.  By the way, I choose the word discipline intentionally over the word punishment.  But this model for discipline is the same God used for His people.  God warned the Israelites many times...stop or you will go into exile...{exile}....Do you understand what just happened?  It's intentional, it's measured, and it's discipline...not anger, or punishment, or even simply consequential.  Discipline is to be so much more.  Discipline comes from the same root word as disciple.  It is to grow a person into who they are made to be.  It is about encouraging growth and change.  Not just about beating a bad habit out.  That's what punishment and consequences are about.  They are about what you are not to do, not about who you are to become.  I believe that having kids is all about making disciples.  It's my reason for having them.  I intend to learn as much as I can from God about how He has made disciples.  Who else has His track record?!

Things I want to remember

There are some things and some moments I want to be sure to record and remember somewhere about the first week of baby Zeke's life.

• The first to come to mind is his first birthday party. Tempie wanted to make him a birthday cake, so that's what she and my mom did while we were in the hospital. They brought the cake up and we had a birthday party for Zeke.  It was a brilliant big sister moment for Tempie!
• I want to remember God's gift of an hour during labor, just before pushing, and how He gave me Psalm 126 & 127.  Zeke is a reward...not sure what for....
• I want to never forget Zeke cooing at us for the first hour of his life.
• Sitting at the kitchen table, by the window, nursing Zeke & watching Bert play outside with Tempie, Ada and JJ.  Beautiful fall leaves, weather, lots of laughter.  I want  to remember JJ's face as he jumped into the leaf pile.  It was a taste of Heaven!!