I Am

Trying to teach my kids that they need to take responsibility not just for their actions but for things they can improve.

Whenever you face a choice you can choose to take a positive action or no action.  Simple positive actions repeated over time determine the life you lead.

If they see a piece of garbage on the ground they need to stop and pick it up.  "I'm not the one that dropped it," is not acceptable.

This very simple lesson is important to me.  One person can make a difference.

When asked who is in charge "I am" should be the first and only answer that ever enters their minds.

A little effort each day will result in huge rewards over time.

We use piano to demonstrate this to them.  When they get a new recital song, the song is always very difficult.  By practicing every day little by little the song becomes possible.  Everyday  . . . no matter how inconvenient.

Is there something you know you should be doing?  What's stoping you from taking positive action?

I want my kids to know in their souls if they don't do it "who will?"

When you do positive things it increases the chances that positive things will happen to you.  Your smallest actions affect you and the people around you even if you are not aware of it.

The foundational prayer that we pray with our kids is "God, Help them do the next right thing!"  This takes a lot of courage.  When you are a teenager and your friends are experimenting with drugs and alcohol "No." Takes courage.
When you take responsibility for your employees actions this too takes courage.

When asked who is in charge around here? "I am!" Takes courage!

This week I read James 4.  The great thing about the bible is that every time I read it something new speaks to me.  The verse  ^"If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them."  

The important thing that jumps out in this verse is "for them!"  I truly believe that sin is part of the personal relationship that we each have with God. What is a sin for me might not be for you.  Evil is 

By seeing something that can be done better and not attempting to do something about it you have sinned.  

Walking by a piece of garbage on the street "that you see" and not stopping to pick it up is a sin!  This is a very simplistic example but an easy lesson for kids.


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Prevenient Grace

I have not heard this term since I went through my confirmation class. I was confirmed United Methodist around 1982.

Prevenient Grace, "There is nothing this man can do to save himself. Outside help is his only hope." John Wesley founder of the Methodist Church.

I need to reread John Wesley's "Appeals to man of reason and religion." I think I would take more from it than I did when I was twelve.

Bedtime stories from 2000 miles away

I have seen this feature advertised for months.  I honestly had no desire to try it.  I took my three young boys to Haiti.  My wife had to stay home.  My boys are well traveled.  I didn't think much about the trip.  My six year old started complaining about missing mom.

I tried Google Hang Out, I'm in Haiti.  Odd we have internet for free but no cell coverage($3/min) equals no cell coverage.

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I sent her a Facebook message to try Google Hangout.  The whole process took a few minutes to get it to work the first time.  This was a great experience, the next night the fun of playing with the funny hats and sounds was done and Annette got to make her normal funny sounds.  The boys loved it (including me).

Push Back

Ralph Waldo Emerson described this truth of human nature accurately:
Men succeed when they realize that their failures are the preparation for their victories.

POINT #1: YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES AREN’T YOU

POINT #2: YOU CAN’T CONTROL WHAT HAPPENS TO YOU, ONLY YOUR REACTIONS

POINT #3: WHEN YOU STOP BLAMING, YOU TAKE BACK YOUR POWER


Today when I look at the kids in Haiti. I have more hope for them than I do my own kids.
The statement that has stuck with me about Annette's ordeal is "shocking to one's sense of fairness."

The Haitian kids don't expect things to be fair. But, they do expect to be able to have a rational and reasonable conversation.

They don't expect to be treated fairly by the government. The expectation by Haitians is that if you are noticed by an official (doing above average) your lively hoods, business, kids and land will be taken by the government.

When I am able to take a step back and look at the situation from Haiti. The most likely direction for the Haitian kids is up. My kids the next leg will likely be even further down.

Drop off

The little kids in the back of the tap-tap are being dropped off at a Haitian orphanage.

The whole experience brings back memories of taking livestock to market in the back of a pickup with my grandpa when I was a kid. The only difference being that at least some paperwork was done on the livestock(a check if nothing else).

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4th grade

Slow down long enough to make sure to see what is happening.