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“Whoooo Loves You?” CD Reevyoooo… [And Giveaway] @FirstLookCurr

June 1, 2012

This post has been a long time coming.  Then when the First Look Twitter-master asked if I wanted to sponsor a giveaway of two cd’s on OrangeDad, I knew the time was perfect.  I love this cd.  I bought it at the Orange Conference; and, for where Evie is right now (7 months old), the gentleness of the singers is ideal for her.  She giggles a lot when this cd is playing, and it’s a lot more meaningful than “Party in My Tummy” or “Five Little Ducks.”

So…I’m going to listen through the cd and comment as I go, stream of consciousness style…

1. Wonderful Clubhouse Theme

Evie looooves the gentleness of the singer.  She giggles when she hears this music.  Personally, I like that it has kind of a Owl City feel to it (and that I can harmonize with his key)…

2. Ollie’s First Clue

Ollie is an owl, and he presents clues throughout the cd.  Each clue centers around the three truths that we want to instill on our little ones to INCITE WONDER in their hearts.  This one says, “I made you.”  And the kids are supposed to guess who that is…

3. God Made It All

Kind of folksy children’s song.  But I LIKE it.  It’s sweet, and it’s all about how God made everything.  This is a key truth for capturing the heart of a preschooler.  I love the line, “From the shortest short to the tallest tall, God made it; and He made it all.”  Cute.  It goes from creation (like nature) to humans.  This is a fundamental truth in a cool form.  There’s a call and response time too where the guy asks the kids “Who made the _____?” and kids actually answer back.  This is one of my favs.

4. God Made Me– WONDERFUL!

This one is kind of like a funky Southern rock song.  Not my style, but I can see where this one will be fun with Evie as she gets older pointing out all the body parts that they mention in the song (and how God made them).  I would love to hear her singing that chorus– “God made me so wonderful.”  Such an important truth!

5. Ollie’s Second Clue

Ollie explains that God made us (which is hard to miss if you paid attention to the previous two songs!)  Next clue, “I love you.”  Who could that be?

6. No Matter What

This is another sweet worship song with a female lead with a great, clear point.  ”No matter what God loves me.  No matter what He cares for me.  No matter what God loves me.  He wants the best for me.”  What a great bridge to explaining not only how loved your little one is but also that the reason why we obey the Bible is because He wants the best for us.  I love this one.  It’s upbeat and kind of has a K-Love feel.

7. God Said So

A male lead.  Another folksy, worshipy sounding song.  ”Oh, oh, oh, God said so, oh oh.  God said so, oh oh.  He said that He loves me.”  Catchy and really great for us adults to remember too!  I love it because we talk about authentic faith in high school ministry, and that’s really, “God is who He says He is, and He will do all He has promised to do.”  This song hammers that home from an early age.  I like the breakdown at the end.  Another call and answer.  ”What do you believe?”  ”God loves me.”  ”How do you know?”  ”God said so.”  Very cool.

8. Ollie Wants You to Guess Who

Again, I don’t think it’s hard to get these things.  Then Ollie tells us about how we can trust God…

9. How Do I Know?

Piano driven.  Silly.  Almost like a Veggie Tales song (or the fun part of Bohemian Rhapsody… “I see a little silhoutte, oh, of a man…”).  This is EVIE’S FAVORITE.  She loves when I sing this one to her.  ”Listen listen listen.  Look look look.  Open up my eyes and read Your Book.”  It goes from piano driven to polka.  It’s hilarious, and gets increasingly chaotic.  But it’s all about the importance of the Bible.  How cool is that?

10. Who Knows Best?

This one has a sweet 80′s punkish girl sound.  I almost imagine Debbie Gibson or the Go-Go’s singing this one– in a good way.  It’s fun because it has clear body motions that kids get to do: jumping, wiggling, freezing, etc.  It’s all about how whatever God says, we should do it because “He knows what’s best for me.”  This is a fun one.  Love the musical variety.

11. I Can Do All Things

This is what us old guys call a “slow jam.”  A sweet male lead singing to a slow beat about all the things that we can do with God’s help.  Very practical: “obeying my dad,” “hugging my friends,” “saying thank-you,” “sharing my toys.”  I love the line, “I may be small, but God is so powerful.”  This one is really a beautiful song.  I think I’ll cry whenever Evie can sing this one.  I can imagine her struggling to do something one day (whether it’s falling asleep when she’s scared or having a hard time picking up her toys), and we can talk about this song.

12. I Can Do (What)?

This one is a rockin’, rhythmic song that’s another call and response.  ”I can do.  I can do.”  ”What?”  And the answerers are cute sounding little kids.  It’s fun.  And it’s all about how we can do THE RIGHT THING.  A cool song about being obedient.  I love the “I can do.  I can do.”  ”Oh yeah!”  And the little kids are saying “Oh yeah!”  They’re little, and it’s pretty cute.

13. Ollie’s Final Clue

Ollie asks us if we figured out that God knows what is best for us.  He reviews the answers and talks about God sending Jesus.  Cool stuff…

14. Look, Look Everyone

This one is sweet.  It’s all about Jesus coming to earth.  It really sounds like 98 Degrees.  Sweet beat, beautiful harmony.  The lyrics are so great, though, “He is a present from heaven. God gave us His Son.  Baby Jesus.  He is so precious.  Look look everyone.  God gave us His Son.”  I know that a preschooler may struggle with understanding the fullness of the Gospel, but this is an amazing first step into that conversation.  Jesus truly is a “present from heaven.”  I tear up thinking about the day that Evie would accept that present.  OK…I may electrocute myself on my keyboard…  Beautiful song.

15. Ollie Calls for a Party

He gives the kids a chance to shout out that Jesus is the one who wants to be our friend forever.  Then he calls for a celebration!

16. This Is How

This one’s very Owl City (ironically)–sweet and heavily based on electronic beats.  It’s another body part song of how we can love God with all that we are.  Cute and fun.

17. I’m So Glad He Loves Me

This one’s a soft rock song.  It’s just all about how Jesus loves everyone.  ”I’m so glad He loves me.  I’m so glad He cares.”  It goes into how much Jesus loves and cares for us.

18. Oh So Happy Day

This one’s got a fun celebratory beat, like a Caribbean carnival.  It calls for us to celebrate because Jesus is alive.  A great Easter song.  It calls for us to clap our hands and beat a drum (hmm…I’m going to have to buy some instruments…).

19. My Friend Forever

Another soulful Southern rock style.  Not my style, but it’s repetitive about the right things, “Jesus wants to be my friend forever.”  That’s literally word-for-word what we want our little ones to understand in preschool.  Solid.  I wouldn’t mind hearing Evie humming this one around the house!

20. Ollie’s Farewell

Ollie reviews and peaces out.  Apparently, Ollie has business in Seattle.

So…you interested in this one?  I’m going to hold a contest for the two free cd’s.  I’m going to give people a week or so to follow me on Twitter, subscribe via email on the right, or follow the Facebook page.  Then I’ll let you know what you’ve got to do to get your hands on this wonderful cd.

So, in my best Ollie voice, I say, “Stay toooooooooooooooned…”

[Until then, share my blog with your friends!]

Posted by in orange parents, paul, songs, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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Kissing Thumper: Thoughts About Prom #thinkorange

April 29, 2012

Last night, I was awfully jet-lagged from the Orange Conference flight home; but my wife had made me a better youth leader by promising that we would go see a group of students off before prom (so I was going). I’m glad I did.

MK just loves taking pictures of students during those awesome life moments, so I got to kind of hang back with Evie and reflect, project, and think about life in general. I had more than one proud papa or proud mama tell, “Enjoy this [meaning Evie being little] because pretty soon she’ll be going to prom too.” I said she wasn’t allowed just yet. :-)

I’ve still got at least fourteen years, but it did have me thinking.

In that moment, Evie’s greatest concern was kissing her Thumper (the bunny from Bambi) doll and gnawing on his face. One of these days, she is going to have far more perilous concerns. Some “Thumper” may be wanting to kiss and gnaw on her at prom night 2028, and I was thinking about what needs to happen between now and then to equip her to succeed under those very real pressures.

I want her to be so in love with Jesus that, when some befreckled dweeb with Justin Bieber hair bats his eyes at her that she crushes without being crushed.

This morning I was listening to a cd I bought at the Orange Conference with her. It’s all about how God made her, God loves her, and Jesus wants to be her friend forever. I figure that, with this whole relationship with God thing, if I stay in “neutral” (ok stuff but not leading her to Jesus: stuff like Yo Gabba Gabba, Disney, Dora the Explorer, Justin Bieber, or Raffi) I’m not going to be moving her towards Jesus. And, yeah, there’s definitely stuff that will grow her up feeling entitled and give her an attitude (I would consider that “reverse”..won’t name names because I’m not the judge).

But if I can move into first gear (“forward”) from the beginning and inch her closer and closer to a relationship with Jesus then maybe (just maybe) I can rest a little easier on prom night 2028. There are no guarantees. But I’d rather bet on Jesus than that red one-eyed pickle, a princess, an “exploradora,” a hearthrob, a folk artist, or even her old daddy.

She’s got to feel a part of a bigger story. And that starts now.

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“You’re Not Alone. God Is With You.” #fpuforum

February 21, 2012

Last Thursday, I was able to go with my team mates to Fresno Pacific to their Ministry Forum to hear Francis Chan give a series of messages and answer questions about following God.

My orange ears were on the whole time; and I kept hearing references to how Chan raises his family. Here are some things that stuck out to me:

* We shouldn’t focus on the family; we should focus the family on God’s mission. He means this. He’s doing this. His daughters are growing up knowing that the Chans follow Jesus’ call to serve others. More on that later.

* It’s OUR responsibility as parents to make faith personal in our own homes– that way our kids don’t have a stagnant, boring (easily reject-able) faith modeled to them. Rather, they are blown away at the excitement of following God.

There are a few stories that follow those two points that caught my attention.

Chan had been a super-successful pastor/writer in Simi Valley (which I think it pretty affluent). He had it all (or at least my definition of “it all”): a loving wife, healthy daughters, a nice home, books, respect, a huge congregation, etc. About two years ago, he decided to leave his church to go wherever God wanted him to go. It was his wife’s idea to sell the house. She figured, “Hey, if we’re going to do this. We might as well leave no option to chicken out.” Burn the ships! What I love here is that, pregnant with their fifth child, the Chans decided that it was more worth it to follow Jesus than to pursue their own view of success.

Then after a year or so of touring Asia and seeing the church there, Chan realized that his time in the United States was not done. He wanted to reach the poor and voiceless in San Francisco (the “Tenderloin” area). Crazy idea for an amazing suburban “rock-star” pastor/writer to go reach poor people. But he knew that’s what God had called him (and his family) to do.

Also, he told us about being at the airport in Asia, preparing to come home. In Asian Christianity, he observed that there is no such thing as a lukewarm Christian. With so much to lose, why would you not, once you had crossed the line into faith, center your life around the Gospel? He told his family that he was worried about slipping back into the American cultural comfort-mindset. They had a real time of prayer as a family together.

Finally, he told us about his teenage daughter. Daughter stories get me these days no matter what. I can’t help but see Evie in them. [As I write this, she's rocking back and forth in her little swing, chewing on her hand, and wiggling her feet. She's silly, and she's beautiful. But I want more than that. I imagine an end for her. I want her to be a strong woman of God. A woman who makes disciples of Jesus. A woman who loves her husband and children. A woman who knows who she is and doesn't have to accept any watered-down versions that society has to offer.] Anyway, my ears perked up when he talked about his teenage daughter. For one, Chan actually allowed his daughter to travel alone to go on a mission trip to Thailand. He talked about how he wrestled with this one. She felt that God had called her to do it, though. But…young pretty Asian girl going to one of the blackest holes of sex-trafficking in the world? I know parents who are afraid for their kids to go to Hume Lake. But he let her go. He knew she wasn’t his to keep. She was God’s. He made arrangements for her to go and meet a friend in the airport. And then…

Imagine the feeling of being in an interview and getting this text from your daughter:

“Daddy, I’m at the airport. I’ve walked up and down it twice. I’m alone, and I’m scared. What do I do?”

Chan describes having to “take this one,” and texting his daughter back, “You are not alone. God is with you.” And then, immediately after the text, getting the woman who was supposed to meet her on the phone and making sure the two could find one another. [They kept missing each other. She was at the airport.]

I’m still wrestling with this story. All I know is that, on that day, God’s provision was very real to Chan’s daughter. On that day, she began a trip where I’m sure she was used by God in the lives of young people in Thailand. Her passion for others was being fueled while she was growing in wonder of how amazing God can be. Oh, and in the process, I’m sure she was provoked to discover who she was as a young woman of God. A thousand sermons were planted in her heart. Do we allow for similar lessons to be impressed on the hearts of our kids?

I am thankful for the time that I had last Thursday. Like I said, I’m still wrestling with all of this. But it affects my prayers for my family, for my marriage, and for Evie’s life. She’s mine, but she’s not. She’ll always be my little girl, but she won’t.

More questions than answers on this one.

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Focus the Family…On What?

January 6, 2012

This is part two of a series of posts that starts here.

Earlier this week, I was really wrestling with this idea of how, if we’re not careful, we can really make parenting something it is not. Abraham, in the book of Genesis, is given a vision from God for what his family was supposed to be all about.

“I will make you into a great nation,
and I will bless you.
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.”

God, before Abraham even has a kid, tells him that his kid (and all those kids after that) are going to be “a blessing” and that “all the peoples on the earth will be blessed through [them].” When it comes down to it, a “nation” is people. In this case, it is Abraham’s family– and they were made for a reason.

I’m not Jewish. Technically, Abraham is not my father in this sense. But, he is my father in another way. He has often been called the a “father of the faith.” He believed God. He didn’t just believe the trueness of His statements. He believed in God.

God gave Abraham a vision. I believe that the God who Abraham served is the same God who I serve. I want Evie to encounter and fall in love with Him. I look at Evie sometimes; and, yeah, I pray that she doesn’t get things all wrong like I did when I was younger. I pray that having a mom and a dad who love Jesus and believe Him for who He says He is will focus her.

I wrestle with a strong inner desire for my daughter to be “daddy’s little girl” and think I’m the best dad ever. It would be scary, though, if I was everything for her. Nothing can rival God’s love for her. I want Jesus to be everything to Evie and for her to embrace all the implications that go along with that.

Shane and Shane sing about this issue in their song, “The One You Need.” I love what they wrote on their blog about it.

“As new parents, there is ONE thing we want our little girls to know. One Man. The only One Who can satisfy her every need. The only one who can provide a happily ever after. Jesus. Seeing the world through the eyes of a father changes our focus. The broken things become clear and even our own fallible natures are seen in a new light. Sobering truths like this should lead us into a deeper Faith in the only one who is not broken, but was broken for us, the children of God. This is the reality we long for our daughters and sons to live in. That Jesus, is the the one you need. Whom do I have in heaven but You? There is NOTHING on earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart may fail (and mine sure have), but you are the strength of my heart and my portion forever. *Psalm 73: 25-26″

Watch the video here if you haven’t seen it. But check out some of the lyrics:

You know I’ve loved you from the start
So come in close, take my hand
While daddy shares his heart

I wish that I could be your everything
Be the one to give you all the things you need
Sometimes I’m gonna let you down

There’s someone and if you just believe
He’ll be your hero like He’s always been for me
Darling, Jesus is the One you need

No matter what you walk through
He will always love you
Just the way you are

For there’s nothing in this world
That I want for my baby girl
Than to be happy ever after

The story of your life is still untold
I pray the king of all the universe
Would make your heart His home

At an early age, I want to point Evie (focus her) towards this God of Abraham, Moses, the disciples, and her mommy and daddy. I want her to be in wonder of who He is.

And as she grows, I want to bring into focus who she really is– not who boys tell her she is, not who the other girls in school tell her she is– but to discover who God says she is.

And even at a young age, I would love to see her start to see that the world isn’t about her– we are called to have passion for others.

I would love for her to be a blessed girl who is a blessing to others. And I think that all starts with focus now.

Posted by in paul, songs Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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Orange Moments

January 2, 2012

I smell orange moments. I see them. Something jerks at my heartstrings during those times, and I usually weep because it’s beautiful. Yesterday there were a bunch of those moments on a Sunday morning in church.

It was baptism Sunday, and some special things happened. First, we got to hear the story of a young man who gave his life to Christ after being a meth addict. The part that was highlighted, italicized, and bolded in his testimony (for me), though, was that he ended up sharing his faith with his boy. Orange Dad.

After the “scheduled” baptisms, Pastor Mitch invited those up who felt like it was the time for them to be baptized too. Many came forward, but there were two situations that stuck out to me.

One, the mother of a small, small child came up. Now, of course, I’m nervously thinking, “Uh oh, this kid is a little too young to even comprehend baptism,” but it turned into a beautiful moment. In a “let the children come” mindset, Mitch instead took the opportunity to have a spontaneous child dedication in which the church body raised their hands as a sign of blessing towards this young boy and the young mom who had brought him up there. All I could see in this moment was a mom wanting what’s best for her son and a church wanting what’s best for a family. Orange Mom. Orange Pastor.

Finally, and this is the one where the tears started to flow out of my eyes. Keep in mind that I was already a little misty because I had been holding Evie in the back and whispering to her about Jesus throughout the baptisms and worship. Anyway, I see a younger (but not too young) boy pop up; and head towards the stage with his mom and dad. I love this family. As the parents of a tweenager, I have seen them work alongside the middle school ministry in helping their daughter grow in the areas of wonder, discovery, and passion. Implanted in my mind is when we played a modification of “The Newlywed Game” on a Sunday night in which a parent was matched up with their teenager to answer questions about how well they knew one another. Anyway, this dad won with his daughter; and it was hilarious. So…this was fun to watch.

To see my friend fight through tears as he stood in the baptismal (ok…fine, we use a horse trough) and affirmed his son’s faith in Jesus, well, it was awesome. The church created the moment, but my friend has walked with his son through his faith journey enough to know that his son was ready to go. Orange Church. Orange Dad.

After they dried off, they passed me in the back of the sanctuary. First, I gave the little guy manly “knucks” to tell him that he was a wise young guy. Then my friend whispered to me, “Yeah, the last time we had spontaneous baptisms [his daughter and older son] wanted to go forward; but we didn’t know if they were ready. Two months later they were baptized. [My wife] and I wondered why we waited. So, this time around, when [our youngest] said ‘I want to go up,’ we knew it was time.”

I love the way that we do baptism at New Harvest. We do it all kinds of ways. Sometimes it’s planned. We get to hear stories of life-change. I love it. Sometimes it’s spontaneous, and you get to see amazing things that you weren’t expecting. I love that not just the pastor can baptize in our church. Any dad (or mom, for that matter), as long as they are a believer in Jesus, can dunk their child.

I love baptizing teenagers; but, you know, I was thinking about an orange resolution for 2012. As much as I like to wear a Jedi robe and dunk a kid, I think I’m going to ask my teenage “candidates” this year if they would want to share this moment with their mom or dad. Some may say no, but some may have not even thought about the role that their parents have played in their coming to faith in Jesus. I say let’s do more Orange Baptisms.

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Meet Me at Chick-Fil-A

December 29, 2011

Here in the lovely Central Valley of California, we are going to be having an event called: Meet Me at Chick-Fil-A. Members of the family ministry team and I were able to attend the Meet Me at Chick-Fil-A when we went to the Orange Tour down in So-Cal this fall, and it was an awesome experience. Why is it cool? Here’s my top ten reasons:

1. The people who work there have to say, “My Pleasure” when you say, “Thank you.” C’mon. That’s fun to experiment with.

2. You get to meet with other Orange thinkers from your area and bounce ideas about the application of the Orange strategy in the local church. This is what it’s all about.

3. The Original Chicken Sandwich. Seriously, there isn’t a fast food place that I get excited to be at more than Chick-Fil-A.

4. When I went, I was convicted by the questions of other people; and I had the encouragement to do something!

5. You get to wear orange (which just so happened to be my favorite color before the philosophy was even invented).

6. You get to see how other people can take the same curriculum, books, and ideas and put them into practice in totally different, creative ways.

7. Texas Pete hot sauce packets. They’re made in the town I grew up in (Winston-Salem, NC), and they’re vinegary bombness.

8. You can talk to an Orange Specialist. We’ve got one with us in Fresno (Stephanie Porter), and she’s a great resource for when you’ve got questions or are wondering if something has ever been done before.

9. Sweet tea. Cravin’ Mellon (a South Carolina band) wrote a song about the merits of sweet tea. “On the eighth day, God made sweet tea.” It stimulates the mind.

10. Networking. The conversation doesn’t end at Chick-Fil-A. Through Facebook, Twitter, and all that other dinosaur stuff, you can stay in touch with other people who are trying their best to partner with families to incite wonder, provoke discovery, and fuel passion in the next generation.

Find out where there’s a “Meet Me at Chick-Fil-A” Event close to you. As for you Central Valley people, it’s going to be at Chick-Fil-A on Blackstone (near River Park and right off of 41) on Thursday, February 9th at 2 PM.

I’ll be wearing orange.

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Meeting Dads in the Middle

December 6, 2011

I’ve been wrestling with the idea of what is REALLY looks like for the church to partner with the family, and a wise man gave me a great idea. I asked this guy, who is a ministry vet and a guy who really “gets” the orange philosophy what was the best thing he did to grow in his relationships with entire families in his ministry– and I’m not sure what I expected to be his response– but sometimes the simplest answers are the ones that make the most sense.

“Have a Bible study for dads of teenagers.”

I remember already having pushback in my mind, “Wait, no, I’m the ‘student’ ministries director. Could or should I be spending that much time with grown men?” Yes, I know, I laugh at myself sometimes too. But, hey, I’m being honest.

I want to grow alongside other dads. I think that’s the stance that I want to take. I know that I am way, way behind them as far as being a dad goes. I have a six-WEEK-old. They would at least have a twelve-YEAR-old. But experience or even having something to bring to the table isn’t really the issue.

Then my friend when totally counter-intuitive on me and told me to resist the temptation to make the Bible study a topical one about parenting. Instead, he said to just go through a book of the Bible. Again, my mind is thinking, “What, no, I need to be a better ‘steward’ of the time that we would have together.” Actually, what would be better than to go through the Gospel of John, grow in WONDER at who God is, DISCOVER who we are in Christ (and as dads, husbands, etc.), and develop PASSION for others (the world, our family, our co-workers). I think the Bible can do that on its own. So I am going to trust God in this one.

It’s going to be an interesting journey. Something I’ve never really tried before. I’m just the assembler, not the teacher. Something tells me that I am going to learn so much and be blessed on Wednesday mornings at Denny’s.

The joke around New Harvest is that my nickname “PM” is an indication of when I do all my ministry. Some weeks, that’s the way it feels (with an event or meeting nearly every night). Rarely, do I use the AM as a time to do anything productive (I’m recovering). But this is a priority to me, so I am getting up early enough so that almost no one would have an excuse for why they’d miss: 6 AM – 8 AM. I hope that, by creating a middle, dads will meet me there.

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The Day I Became Orange

December 6, 2011

So, yesterday I officially became an “orange” dad. All this orange jive comes from the book “Think Orange: Imagine the Impact When Church and Family Collide…” by Reggie Joiner. It’s an awesome read that I’m reading in small chunks because it’s so, so rich with wisdom of WHY it’s so critical for the family and the church to partner together. In the book, Reggie says:

“There are two powerful influences on the planet–
the church and the home.

They both exist because God initiated them.

They both exist because God desires to use them
to demonstrate His plan of redemption and restoration.

If they work together they can potentially
make a greater impact than if they work alone.

They need each other.

Too much is at stake for either one to fail.

Their primary task is to build God’s kingdom
in the hearts and minds of men and women, sons and daughters.“

Word.

And yesterday was a great first day because MK and I actually got to drop Evie off in our pre-K ministry, which New Harvest calls “Starting Line.”

I wasn’t even remotely nervous because I know how competent the volunteers are, and I know that this is God’s plan for Evie. It was awesome to go to the front desk and have one of the volunteers, Ken, snap a picture of the “drop off” for posterity. [I wanted to bring my camera, but I didn't want to be "that guy" who brings his camera to everything. Thanks, Ken, for helping me have what I wanted!] Here’s that pic:

Then we dropped Evie off with Holly and Sam. It was really cool that Sam, one of our high school girls, was in there that morning! It just felt right. I know Jocelyn (our Starting Line Coordinator) probably made a few visits into the baby room to “see how Evie was doing” too. Evie was surrounded by love. :-)

I love the aim of Starting Line. No, the aim isn’t just, “Survive crying, change diapers, and give them goldfish to eat.” Instead, they are going to do their best before she even enters kindergarten to help her realize that:

“God MADE Me
God LOVES Me
Jesus Wants to be My FRIEND Forever“

Awesome, awesome. The circle has officially widened beyond just family. Evie had some church up on Sunday. And it felt delightfully orange.

Oh, and she was fine. And so were we. After her day, full of Starting Line, “big church,” and Family Life Live, Evie actually slept through the whole night last night. A first. Awesome.

Posted by in books, paul Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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Carlos Is Orange

November 16, 2011

When you google, “orange dad,” this post comes up on Carlos Whittaker’s blog. What I like is that he means what I mean by it. Here’s what he says:

“Here’s the deal.
I have 3 kids.
Sohaila.
Seanna.
Losiah.

All three of them are unique in the way that God has crafted them.
All three of them take a unique style of parenting.
All three of them can be set loose to follow God with the curriculum and ideals behind Orange.
These kids are the world to me.
I want to see them spring to Jesus however that looks.
Falling, stumbling, jumping, laughing, crying, puking, singing, screaming.
However they get there.
I want to help them.
And Reggie Joyner and his team have what I believe is the best way to do that.
They study the child.
They study wonder and put it in a way that I could never.

If parents would only realize how they bore their children. -George Bernard Shaw

I need all the help I can get, and I choose to follow the Orange model to pull that off.”

Cool beans. Any other orange dads out there?

Posted by in orange parents Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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970 Weekends Until I Lose My Marbles…

November 15, 2011

Wow…what an amazing, though-provoking post by Reggie Joiner that came up today. In it he says:

“We handed out jars of marbles to every family. There was one for each child in the home. There were enough marbles in each jar to represent the number of weekends children had left at home before they headed to college. For example there were jars with approximately–

468 marbles for 4th graders
364 marbles for 6th graders
208 marbles for 9th graders
104 marbles for 11th graders

Some parents used calendars to calculate the exact number of weekends for each individual child. They kept the jar in a visible place in their home and removed a marble each passing week to illustrate how much time they had left with their kids. It was a sobering visual reminder of how fast time goes.”

Sobering indeed. So I had to calculate. I will be dropping Evie (maybe “Evelyn” by then) to college sometime in August of 2030. That means I’ve got approximately 970 more weekends with her. Wow. I’ve already enjoyed the three that we’ve had. I can’t imagine what I’m going to do with the 970. I know that I want to turn up the dials in her life to show her that God is amazing, she is an amazing creation, and she can love and add value to others.

So…what’s your number for all your kids? I encourage you to read Reggie’s post.

What’s your number, and what are you going to do with the time that you have?

Posted by in orange parents, paul Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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