13August2016 Savory Sixteen

There is so much to love about this kid right here.  Today we love him because he chose Chili's as his birthday meal.  Happy Chips & Salsa everyone!  :)  Praise God for our gifted, big-hearted and quick witted young man!  Say a little prayer for #Z today, would ya?

1August2018 Cowbird Discipleship

Our recent visit to the States happened to coincide with one of my favorite things in the outdoors, bluebird nesting.  Each day I would check the bluebird boxes behind G-mama's house to check on their progress.  I was surprised to discover the scene above. You'll notice one thing is not like the others.  My first thought was some sort of abnormality or maybe a discoloration, like when you see brown, blue or green chicken eggs. 
After consultation with Aunt M, our resident avian expert, it turned out to be a cowbird egg.  Ever heard of them?  Apparently, cowbirds are what's called parasitic nesters or brood parasites.  Meaning they will lay their eggs in the nests of other species and leave, forcing said other species, in this case a bluebird, to hatch and feed a fledgling that's not their own.  Crazy, right?  Check out more info on that here.
Actually, it's not that crazy, as we see this very same thing in the Church.  Too often we parents drop our children off at youth group or Sunday school or even a Christian school, and allow someone else to raise them spiritually.  This is done because either we feel inadequate or think maybe the professionals can do it better or because we're too busy and maybe even because we're lazy.  No, I'm not looking at you.  I"m talking about that guy in the mirror.  Quiet time, prayer, devotions, Bible study, whatever you want to call it, with your family is a discipline that takes a long time to become habit and too-easily becomes forsaken.  But oh, how important it is!
Check out Judges 2:7-11. 

"And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that the Lord had done for Israel. And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110 years. And they buried him within the boundaries of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gaash. And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel. And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals."

As a daddy, this scares the mess out of me!  I dont want my children to make the same mistakes as their father and I definitely dont want them doing evil in the sight of God.  As far as I'm able, I want to teach them the amazing things He has done, model serving Him with my life, and guide them to the very foot of His throne.  Please pray for me, for us, to lead our five in the ways of the Lord.  May we refuse to participate in cowbird parenting.