Happy Fathers Day me…The Dangerous Book for Boys

Father’s Day is today. Made me think of my favorite dad resource. Happy Father’s Day to you dad’s out there.

When we had Zeke a friend here at the Summit, John Posey, gave me what is fastly becoming my favorite book. Gonn & Hal Iggulden’s The Dangerous Book for Boys is a blast. let me read you some of the chapter titles…

Essential Gear / The Greatest Paper Airplane in the World / The five knots every boy should know (I learned them last night!) / Making a Bow and Arrow / Navajo Code Talker’s Dictionary / Making a Paper Hat, Boat and Water Bomb…

I could go on. Bottom line, if you are a parent of a boy, you will find this to be a fun manual for creating a life of adventure for your son.

A Smile goes a long way

I write this particular post about 2 hours after a group planting seminar we held at the Summit on Thursday Night. While the seminar went well, I have the tendency to turn my head towards the things we could have done better instead of focusing on the great things that came from the night. Its not a healthy habit and one I try and avoid. Its nights like these, nights after big ministry events, that I am thankful for my family. Courtney my wife does a great job of encouraging me. With our son now in the picture, life at home is even sweeter. Regardless of how my day goes, all I have to do is  show up and my son is anxiously awaiting my arrival with a big grin the second he locks eyes with me.

Now, I am fully aware that as a follower of Christ my hope and peace and joy comes to me in my identity as a redeemed child of God. But there is nothing wrong with enjoying one of his blessings in my life! Check out the little guy at 9 months. Hard for me to bring a tough day home with this waiting on me!

Its good to be me

Im spending the day with my family today. One thing I am learning: Even when you love what you do for a living, you still need time away from it. And it is hard for me to pull away, but sooo good every time I do. You should see me right now. Im kicked back in an old fold out nylon captain’s chair (the ones made famous by youth soccer fields across america) in my front yard under the shade of a tree. My lady is reading a book and my little boy is playing with whatever he can roll to (no crawling for big Zeke). I’m reading Moral Darwinism and learning about the history of evolutionary thought and also working on my gardening skills. Pepper & cucumber plants. My first try and so far I count it a success (ie they are still alive). Friday night is also bath night for Zeke. As you can see, he enjoys it (this picture was put up here with Zeke’s permission). Anyways, just wanted to brag on my favorite small group a little and encourage you to build rest into your routine. God took a rest on day 7 to enjoy all he created, I think he was on to something. Thanks God.

All roads end at the ocean…so I gotta fly

Im about to spend somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.5 days on an airplane or in an airport. 24 hours flying time & about 6 of layover time. Sorry, this is not an interesting post. But i will be writing mountains of material on the flights. so look for some good stuff upon my return to the blogosphere. Jesus loves you, time for ambien!

All roads end at the ocean…so I gotta fly

Im about to spend somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.5 days on an airplane or in an airport. 24 hours flying time & about 6 of layover time. Sorry, this is not an interesting post. But i will be writing mountains of material on the flights. so look for some good stuff upon my return to the blogosphere. Jesus loves you, time for ambien!

Singapore? I meant Blingapore

So as you know by my earlier post I am spending 47 hours in singapore. Long story and frankly I dont have time to write about it here. Stuff to do. Anyways, what you need to know is that singapore looks like the product of “pimp my city.” This place is the most technologically advanced city I have ever been in. And Ive been to both Raleigh & Durham North Carolina. Seriously though, they have scanners built into their superior cars so there is no such thing as “paying the parking or toll attendant.” The city is clean and everybody speaks english. The dollar goes just a little further here than in the U.S. and they call elevators “lifts” which is awesome.

I can see why people from around the world come to live here. Honestly since the time I got off the plane ive felt like I am in my own version of Bill Murray’s “lost in translation” only everybody understands me. The adventures I have been on already would probably blow your mind. again no time. Gotta go meet up with 2 ex-patriots one of which we are video-conferencing with because he is in shanghai today. Im telling you, movie script in waiting.

All that said, I miss home and cant wait to see Mrs. Shelton and our little boy.

I think I’ll go for a ride today

Not that I dont love Durham, but I just had an itch over the weekend to go to singapore. After all, its 82 degrees there right now. Below is a picture of singapore where I will be having dinner tonight.

IConverted

This is my first post as a mac user. This morning I made the switch from a pc to a mac and the pastor-teacher in me couldnt help but notice the perfect illustration this experience is for helping me understand my identity as a Christian….I know…just stay with me. Since this is being written from a mac it will probably be cool and insightful.

Switching from a pc over to a mac is a totally different experience than upgrading hardware and operating systems from one pc to another. Im not just upgrading the same basic system, but completely discarding my former computer life and replacing it with an entirely different computer experience. Now, some of the tasks I will do from the mac will produce a similar product as those tasks did from my pc (emails, blogposts, etc) however the internal processes and functions that produce those results will be different. And you know what, some stuff that came with PC life is gone forever for me (microsoft publisher).

Im hoping you are beginning to see an analogy developing. That is, sometimes we tend to think of doing spiritual things like going to church, tithing, being in a small group, & praying before dinner as a part of the Christian upgrade to our PC lives. That is, if our lives are feeling empty or just like they are missing something, we go browsing for some upgrades that will enhance our current lives. That usually works for a while, until we feel like we need our next upgrade. And we end up going from upgrade to upgrade without ever really evaluating the core problem in our life. This is the nature of much religion. It piles on to-do lists or spiritual experiences without dealing with the core problem that is causing the desire for change.

Ok, so the analogy isnt perfect, but it gets better. Christianity tells you to stop trying to upgrade your life because those upgrades are never going to satisfy you since you are a dysfunctional PC. You need a  whole new machine with a whole new operating system. That is, you need a complete transformation into something entirely different, down to your core, than you currently have. That is the message of the gospel. That you must die to your current way of life where you are in charge and be “reborn” as a new creation. That transformation comes by making a clear decision to follow Christ and allow every aspect of your life to be guided by his leadership…or operating system.

Yeah yeah its not a perfect analogy, but it will preach. Here is what you need to take away from this: 1) the gospel is not a renovation of your existing life, but the ending of one life and the creation of a new one. 2) Spence likes mac life!

Perspective

My first child was born 2 weeks ago. This will not be a long blog because the sleep deprivation keeps my brain from focusing for more than13 minutes on anything but, well, sleep. People always told me having a kid changes you forever. I assumed they were referring to that “lack of sleep” as the change, but there is something much more profound that is taking place. This change started 4 years ago when I got married and is now being amplified by the arrival of my son. That change I am speaking of is the shifting of focus in every area of my life off of myself and onto other people, specifically my wife and my son. I’m not just talking about the big things like their health and general well-being. I’m also talking about little things like surprising my wife with ice-cream or making sure my son doesn’t sit in his own poop for too long. And its not like I think about them first and then me second. Contrarily, I find the most joy in my life in their joy. When they are happy, im not relieved, I am joyful. Just this morning my son smiled at me (im sure it was just gas but still) and I was absolutely elated. His happiness made me happy and it was awesome. If I saw his happiness as a task I had to achieve and once I achieve it I could exhale and start worrying about myself, I would be miserable.

This has really helped me consider how I approach God. See, often I will look at God like a kid or spouse that I need to make happy. So I will do whatever it is He wants (read my bible, pray, go to church) so he will be happy and leave me alone so I can go do what makes me happy. So my interaction with God becomes a to do list of sorts. When I don’t do those things, I feel guilty because God probably isn’t happy and im gonna hear about it. But that isn’t the kind of relationship God designed me to have with him. God created me in a way so that the most joy I can find in life is living as he designed me to live. And guess what, when I live this way it is pleasing to Him, which pleases me all the more! As I find joy worshipping God, he finds joy in my worship of Him. Just like I find joy in serving my spouse because of the joy she finds in how I serve her. So I don’t serve God out of obligation but out of a love for His love.

Here comes the best part: Spouses and children may not reciprocate love and joy. Ultimately they will never reciprocate at all times. That’s because they weren’t created to be the SOURCE of my joy, God was. And God will never fail to love me back. In fact, the gospel message reminds me that God loves me infinitely more than I could love him and NOT BECAUSE I love him. He loves me, and you, regardless of our efforts to love him. There is nothing I can do to make God love me more or less. (ok follow this…) So I have confidence in his faithfulness to love me and that confidence in his love brings me JOY, which is expressed as TRUST, which is lived out as OBEDIENCE to his design for me, which subsequently brings me JOY. Follow that? With joy comes trust with trust comes obedience & with obedience comes joy.

Bottom line, Im being reminded to love God like I love my wife and son: I find my joy in their joy .

Would love your thoughts and feedback on this idea. post them in the comment section below.

For Fun

Im a proud pappa and this is what those guys do. They brag about their son to anyone who will listen. So here you go. Actually not to sound too cheesy but God gets all of the glory for this little guy surviving pregnancy and delivery. He not only had the cord wrapped around his neck when he was delivered, he also had tied a knot (yes on his own) in that cord which often will lead to death for the baby. Praise be to God this little guy is healthy and active. For you men out there, he has a strong stream (changing diapers is a steep learning curve) so everything is ok.

Zeke exchanging gang symbols with Dad

yea everything is a little big for him right now