Some Blog Site

Welcome to the first annual National Insult a Stranger Day.

To celebrate this day, you need to find someone you don’t know, discover his take on any given topic, then insult him for having that opinion.
Or insult him for existing.
Or because you don’t like his name.

“But wait!” you may say. “Isn’t that just a normal day on the internet?”

Yes, yes it is.

And that is kind of my point – to show the need for a National Be Nice to Someone on the Internet Day.

Although I’m not sure if the official day of observance is August 20 or March 4. Maybe it could be both?

(Bonus points if your first thought was “It should be every day.”)

This Public Service Announcement is brought to you in part by my commute.

What’s wrong with this picture? And what’s right with it?

We will come back to that. First, though, let’s look at this photo.

By the way, all photos are courtesy of my dash cam.
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This was indirectly inspired by a recent post about things learned from Visionary Family Ministries.

Women, here is a tip to help you when speaking to your husband: don’t insult him.

I know that sounds obvious, but you might not know you’re insulting him.

Let me give an example.

Let’s say Dear Husband is working on a project. Maybe it’s changing the car’s oil. Maybe it’s replacing the kitchen faucet. Maybe it’s installing a sprinkler system. Doesn’t really matter, other than it’s something that, when it’s done, he can say he accomplished it.

Now let’s say you see him working on said project, and you want to be helpful, so you ask him if he needs any help.

That was the insult.

I know you meant well, but just don’t ask or say anything about needing help.

If you are worried about his safety, then stay nearby (but out of harm’s way) so he can ask for help once he realizes he needs it.

If you have seen The King and I, then you may be familiar with the concept of letting the king (or husband – those terms are interchangeable, right?) think he thought of an idea that you led him to.

In summary: if a guy wants to do something, let him accomplish it on his own.

Also, results are not guaranteed. Your mileage may vary. Some guys might like being asked if they need help, as if they are still kindergarteners.

The exception – the only time you can offer help – is if the help is one of his children. If you say “Little junior wants to help. Is there anything he can do?” then he will find a way to need help. Even if it is just handing him that wrench.

This is the follow-up to the previous blog post about our week at Maranatha, mainly more information about Visionary Family Ministries.

If I could sum up the teaching of the week in one paragraph in my own words, it would be this:

You are a pastor.
You have a congregation.
How are you leading and teaching them?

Now to use his words, paraphrased.
“For most of history, discipleship and religious teaching was family-centered and church-supported. In the last 100 years, it has switch to be church-centered and family-supported, leading to weakened faith.”
“The family is God’s plan for small-group ministry, the primary tool for evangelism.”

Now back to regular bloggy writing:
From my summary, above, you have a congregation. In my case, it’s a congregation of 5 – a wife and 4 kids.

Who is responsible for their spiritual development?

Not the head pastor. Not the youth pastor. Not anyone in the church organization.

The husband/father is.

If, in an average week, you are doing nothing to promote spiritual growth in your wife and/or kids, then you need to start. Make a plan and start small.

Of course, Visionary Family Ministries is a good place to start

Other Things I Noted During His Sessions
I have heard sermons preached on Ephesians chapter 5 before – the roles of husband and wife. But Rob Rienow’s exposition of it was the first I can recall that gave the Why behind each command. It made sense the way he explained it.

Women must be careful with criticism. “If a man decides that you can’t be pleased, then he will stop trying.” Applies to her dealings with kids as well as husband.

“Honor your father and mother, that your days may be long in the land which the Lord your God gives you.” is a familiar verse, but misapplied. It is not a cause-and-effect that applies to individual people – the you in there is plural. It is a promise to the nation, society. When kids don’t honor their parents, families break down. When families break down, society breaks down. When society breaks down, it doesn’t last long in the land. That’s what the verse means.

In conclusion, Rob Rienow is a great speaker. If you get a chance to hear him at an event, go. If you don’t get a chance, you can order the DVD set and have almost the same effect.

People often ask us “How do you keep your house clean with 4 boys?”

Answer: we don’t.

Sure, our house gets cleaned, but it doesn’t stay clean.

Exhibit A

Here we have the upstairs landing/play area. If you want to get to the closet (back left, out of the photo), you have to make your way carefully through the Lego minefield.

You’ll notice there are a couple of spots cleared for feet, but not many. And if you are carrying anything large to or from the closet, your best bet is to shuffle your feet to plow through the Legos.

My son was interested in reading a particular book from the library. We were not familiar with the author nor the series, so I set out to learn something about it before giving our approval.

My normal source for age-appropriateness and objectionable-content reviews of books is Common Sense Media, but they did not have anything for this book. So I thought I would look up other reviews, such as at Goodreads or Amazon or other places that people review books.

One of the strengths of the internet is that anyone can join discussions and contribute things, i.e. crowdsourcing. Reviews should, and many times do, benefit from the myriad inputs.

But one of the weaknesses of the internet is that the quality of contributions vary wildly.

In this case, most of the reviews were worthless. Most of them were a star rating (mandatory), an expression of sorts (I LOVED THIS BOOK!!!), and then a plot summary (It was a very exciting book that starts with the such-and-such and then this happens and they have to figure out this thing, etc.) There were very few helpful reviews. The reviews that were helpful seemed to use the format of listing pros and cons.

An Open Letter to Book Reviewers

Transcript
Father: Are these your mobile devices?
Son: Look, dad, it’s not what you…
Father: And what is this? Minecraft??
Son: Dad, I …
Father: Answer me!
Father: Who taught you how to do this stuff?
Son: You, alright!
Son: I learned it by watching you.
Partnership for a Mobile Device-Free America

What are you teaching your kids?