Typical Day

Typical Day (Week Day)

People sometime ask what a typical day is like for me at home with the kids. Once I stop laughing at the phrase “typical day” they usually have walked away as I used up their weirdness quota for the day. I mean I’m a stay at home dad of 4 who home schools and is also a part time Associate Pastor. The typical day is full of mistakes, accidents and interruptions. On some days, we visit people, do school, go to the museum, etc. On some days, my greatest accomplishment was taking a shower.

Equally, my new homeschooling motto is this. 

“Make the plan. Execute the plan. Expect the plan to go off the rails. Throw away the plan” – Leonard Snart

 So, after a lot of thinking this is what a day looks like at least some of the time. This is on days where 1) Lindsey worked the night before and/or is going to work today.

6:20AM Alarm (this is assuming none of the kids have woken me up to this point)

Ugh, is that the alarm. Where am I? What time is it? Whose crying? I hope I remembered to prep the coffee pot. Why did I dream about *insert your name here* riding an Ice Cream Pony down the center of the aisle at church while I was preaching?

6:25AM Stumble into kitchen to see I did remember to set coffee maker! Hurrah! (If I didn’t I keep some homemade cold brew coffee in the fridge that I have a small bit off so I can be alert enough to make a proper cup). Once in a blue moon I get that rare few minutes of coffee and time in the Bible without any kids being awake. Those 5 minutes are glorious!

6:30-6:40ish Lucas is awake! I go get him, get him his cup of milk (fixed the night before) and we sit on the couch and watch Sesame Street. I snuggle with him as long as he allows or until the other kids get up and crowd us. This is usually 10-15 minutes.

7:00 AM Everyone is awake!  I’m going to spend the next several hours going “Shhh. Keep it down. Mommy is sleeping.” As she works the night shift and likely didn’t get to bed until 3AM at best.

7:30-8:30 AM Breakfast & Screen time! Kids can watch whatever they want to (that’s pre-approved) on their tablets. This is usually when Sam gets to play Mario or Splatoon. I take a quick shower and work on Laundry while watching something on Netflix. I find shows I like that I only watch while doing laundry or dishes. It motivates me to do them.

8:30 AM – Screens Off. Get the kids get prepared for the day. Brush teeth, wash face, get dressed etc.

8:45-9:00AM – Lucas takes a morning nap. School starts. Lindsey is usually up at this point even if she didn’t get home until 3am.

10:30-10:45 AM – Morning break from school. Lucas up from morning nap. We have an area of the house sectioned off and somewhat Lucas proofed that he roams around in playing with toys, eating loose cheerios from breakfast and being adorable.

10:45- 12:00 PM – School and then lunch. Lindsey heads out to work.

12:00PM – 1:00 PM – Lunch! Leftovers from last night’s dinner or sandwiches.

1:00 – 2:00 PM Finish up school as needed. With homeschooling the bulk of what we accomplish is usually done before lunch. Some days we are done as early as 11:30 if the kids focus and get it done. Some days we don’t call it quits until 5PM. Most days we are done around 1:30. 

2:00-4:00 PM – Lucas afternoon naps if Lindsey is at home. I will go out and run errands and visit mom at Cambridge with a varying number of kids. Errands are the typical ones, groceries, post office, dry cleaners, pharmacy, library, etc. The more kids I have with me the less errands that get done. You ever try to take 4 small kids to Wal-Mart? You should some time! To anyone who was ever upset that I didn’t wave at you at Wal-Mart. It’s not because I have a deep-down grudge against you because you’ve never seen The Princess whatever. It’s because I was busy pulling a kid off a shelf, trying to find the one that had wandered away, trying to keep the baby from eating everything in the cart, and carrying a kid because the cart ran over their foot.   

4:00 PM – 5:00 PM – Errands are done. We are home. If the weather is nice they go outside. If they aren’t grounded and it’s raining they can watch more screens until 5. I start dinner. My cooking repertoire has grown from Bojangles and Little Caesars to various meals. I try to have each dinner with a meat, a vegetable and a fruit. However, some days Little Caesars and no dishes wins out. This is at least once a week. I also have an impressive streak of the pizza not being ready when I go in there. I order a cheese pizza and crazy bread. 9 times out of 10 they have to cook the pizza. This is fine. I know it’s fresh. My wife can go in there and it’s ready every time. As can Madison. I cannot.

5:00 PM – 7:00 PM – Family time. We eat dinner. Play games. Wrestle. Do chores. Dance Parties. Read books. Watch a movie. Bath the children.

7:00-8:30 PM Bed time. I have a tiered bed time system in place presently from youngest to oldest. By 8:30 everyone is usually in bed. I think oh boy I can do all these things now that the kids are all asleep. I start deciding on what I’m going to do next. I could play a video game, binge watch a show, watch current sporting event. So many possibilities!

8:45PM. I fall asleep on the couch before I make a decision.

11ish. I wake up with the TV on realizing I dozed off on the couch again and I stumble my way to bed. Right before I go back to sleep I think to myself “Did I prep the coffee pot?”

Happy Father's Day everyone!

Glen

I don't know about that

I don’t know about that

Recently I watched this skit from Saturday Night Live about the new Amazon Echo Silver

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvT_gqs5ETk

I’ve watched it repeatedly. It’s quite hilarious. It involves seniors arguing with Amazon’s Alexa about things such as the weather outside, kids playing on the street and whether or not Satchel Page is alive (note: he died in 1982) and then they end with the senior saying “I don’t know about that.”

As some of you know my mom was moved into Cambridge Hills Assisted Living facility 2 years ago this month.  First off let me say I could not be happier with Cambridge. They have taken excellent care of my mom. She’s the happiest there I have seen her in a very long time. Anyone that reads this that has visited Cambridge to do any kind of outreach even just to say hey. I want to thank you for taking the time do that. My mom has loved it. Even if she can’t remember it.

I’m up there about 2-3 times a week to visit. I’ve made a lot of friends and have had many a discussion with the residents that end in “I don’t know about that.”

Example:

*Me walking down the hall to mom’s room*

Resident: You there! What day is it?
Me: Tuesday
Resident: What day?
Me: Tuesday
Resident: Tuesday?
Me: Yes Ma’am
Resident: I don’t know about that
*Resident walks off*

My mom was formally diagnosed with Dementia in Feb or 2012, however this diagnosis didn’t actually come until January of 2013. It was considered a retroactive diagnosis that we couldn’t confirm until that point. After talking to friends, family and co-workers thru the years I think the signs may have manifested themselves as early as the summer of 2009. Random things here and there that all came to a head in January of 2013 when she ended up in the hospital for almost 2 weeks.

It was nice in a way to have everything we had suspected confirmed. Then we were faced with what to do next. We prayed about it and figured we would try to keep her in her apartment as long as we could and proceed with planning for the day when we would have to move her in. This most certainly was a struggle. There was legal paper work to get completed, disability claims, financial issues to sort. By the grace of God we were able to have most of that taken care of by the end of 2013.

I got into a routine of coming over to visit right after work (usually bring fast food from somewhere) and hanging out for at least an hour. I had other people I had enlisted to come by and visit during the day. I ended being there most days right around 4 and watching the Young and the Restless with her. There was no talking allowed during Y&R so I would just read the paper or surf the web on my phone. Then mom started asking questions about what was going on in the show. If I tried to make something up she would know. If I said I didn’t know she would get upset. So I had to start paying attention to the show so I could answer her questions. Eventually, I got hooked on the show and was watching it more than she was. When we moved her to Cambridge the promptly stopped watching Y&R as well as smoking. While I didn’t miss having to buy her cigarettes for about a month I kept wondering what Victor Newman was up to.

Overall, my mom’s physical, emotional and spiritual health have improved dramatically at Cambridge even as her mental health has gradually declined. She eats 3 good meals a day. She walks around for exercise. She has friends she hangs out with in the activity room. She also attends the various church outreach services they have throughout the month.

Part of my mom’s particular type of dementia involves created memories. She patches gaps in her memories with invented stories, that she believes are real. This is for both short term and long term memory. Her stories are always quite amusing. I figured I would share a couple of them for you mainly for the fact that I believe should in general do your best to find the humor in things as the struggle is real.

The one where I invented Spider-Man

*In the room of a fellow resident who has a Spider-Man gift bag*
Mom: Hey, I know that! *pointing at bag*
Me: Oh yeah?
Mom: Yes! That’s Spider-Man!
Me: Yes it is.
Mom: You invented Spider-Man.
Me: Uh I have a bunch of Spider-Man comics, but someone else invented him.
Mom: I don’t know about that.

The one where she went dancing in the woods

Mom: Have you met this lady her? *I’m leaving out names of other residents*
*It’s important to note that I get introduced about 2-3 times a week to the people on her hallway. Many of them think this is the first time they have met me, including my mom.
Mom: Me and her used to go dancing back in the day.
*Mom had never met this lady before she moved into the room close to hers*
Mom: Yeah, there was this cabin the woods with a bunch of trees and a wood pile. We would dance there.
Me: Nice to meet you ma’am.

The one where she started texting the DA’s office.

Mom still has her cellphone presently. Thought she has only successfully answers a call about once a month or less. She never really grasped texting before dementia definitely not after.

Mom: I heard from my friend so-n-so the other day.
Me: Oh yeah? (She hasn’t talked to so-n-so in 10+years)
Mom: Yeah on the phone! Look at it.
Me: Uh, ok.
*I scroll thru the phone and find she hasn’t answered a call in a while or made one either. She does have a string of text messages with someone in the DA’s office in Baltimore, Maryland who happens to have the same first name as mom’s friend*

The one where Lindsey is synonymous with anyone who wears scrubs.

Mom: Do you like my toe nails? *takes off her shoe/sock to shoe me*
Me: Yes, they look really nice.
Mom: Lindsey came over this morning and did them!
Me: Oh.
Mom: Yes, she’s a nurse and she works at the big duke.

Mom: What’s your wifes name?
Me: Lindsey.
Mom: That’s right! And she’s a nurse?
Me: Yes ma’am.
Mom: At the Duke hospital?
Me: Yes.
Mom: She came by and took my b/p this morning. I guess it was on her way to work.
Me: I don’t think that was her.
Mom: I don’t know about that.

*My mom remembers Lindsey being a nurse and therefore all nurses, or anyone that resembles a nurse is now Lindsey. *

The one where Pastor Dave raises her from the dead.

This here is my favorite one. She told it every visit for about 2-3 months. To set some context. Mom went into the hospital with bronchitis/pneumonia in Jan 2013 she was really sick and was in there for about 10 days. However, she never coded or was even in critical condition at any time.

Lots of people visited her from the Antioch family in that time including Pastor Dave. People also occasionally bring her snacks when they visit her at Cambridge. If you are interested, take her small bags of chips & cans of Pepsi.

*In Mom’s room where she sees Pastor Dave’s card on her mirror*
Mom: *reading the card* David Chambers, he’s your boss right?
Me: Yes, Ma’am.
Mom: You worked with him a long time.
Me: Over 10 years now.
Mom: He came into my hospital room when I was sick with the bronchitis. I wasn’t breathing and they had put the sheet on me. David walks into the room and *her she pauses for dramatic effect and then claps her hands together loudly*
I TOOK A BREATHE!
Mom: Then he said “What are you doing? This woman’s alive! Phyllis what can I do for you?” and then I said “Bring me some snacks!:
*Mom walks over to her snack basket*
Mom: Then he brought me these chips here.

Have a great Memorial Day weekend!

Sola Scriptura

Pastor Glen

Do I miss it?

Recently I have been asked several times if I missed having a day job or IT in general. I thought I would write a post about it since it’s been a while since the last update.

My IT Career was from Sept of 99 to Nov 2015. God only knows if/when it starts back again if ever. I divide in my mind into 3 phases.

1)     Bank Pt 1: Y2K-May 2005

2)     Bank Pt 2: Halloween 2005-August 2010

3)     Manufacturing: August 2010- Nov 2015

By the time I left work on Monday Nov 30^th 2015 I had all 9 of these things going on.

http://mentalfloss.com/article/94519/9-signs-youve-been-your-job-too-long

I don’t blame the job I had at the time as I was like that before I even started there. Part of the hope of leaving the bank was that a change of scenery may help invigorate my career and restore my love of all things IT. Instead I completed my Masters of Arts in Christian Studies. God knew His plan for me even when I didn’t.

Now that I’ve been out for 18 months I have people ask me if I miss it. I think that’s best answered by first telling a story.

A few weeks ago, it was me and all the kids riding in the van to CVS to pick up some medicine for Sam. I ran in to get what I needed quickly and get back out. Trying to go into any place with 4 kids is a challenge. Trying to go into a place that sells toys/candy is much more so. Sam hadn’t been feeling good for the last hour or so.  

I get the medicine get back in the van. We are riding back home down the gourmet mile (Madison Blvd) and Sam starts crying “Water! Water!” quickly followed by an impressive amount of vomiting. His last meal prior to this had largely consisted of blueberries. This has dyed the contents of his stomach into a purplish red so it looks like he is vomiting blood. I have nothing resembling a bucket to hand him. Madison starts freaking out since she doesn’t like vomit. The panic causes both Anna and Lucas to get upset as well. I’m about 5 minutes from home so there’s no real point in stopping and trying to clean him up. That was a very long 5 minutes.

I get home and Madison and Anna flee from the van. I have to leave Sam in there since he and the surrounding areas are covered in blueberry puke. I put Lucas in the high chair in the kitchen and give him some cheerios. I go back and get Sam out and get him to the tub. I hose him down and bath him good and get him his medicine.  I put Lucas down for a nap. I have all his clothes peeled off and in the washing machine. After his bath, I rest him on the couch and bleach the trail across the house left by our trek to the bathroom. I also bleach the tub (an almost weekly occurrence here) and then I start cleaning the van. First I have to remove all the items in the floor board (a lot) and see which I could salvage and which I had to dispose of. I had to take apart the car seat and wash the parts I could wash and Lysol the rest. I scrubbed the seat clean and the carpets as best I could. I finally give the whole van a healthy dose of Lysol not wanting this stomach bug to spread any further (PTL it did not!). I come inside exhausted and hoping for a few minutes of rest on the couch. Lucas wakes up from his afternoon nap at this point. No rest for me until everyone is in bed about 4-5 hours later.

I tell this to document what was a very difficult day. I was not cheery or happy during any of that. I was exhausted and frustrated. Yet, never once did it even cross my mind that I would rather have been at work at any of the places I had worked in the past doing IT. Not once.

To answer the question. No, I don’t miss it. I’m home.

Pastor Glen

The Gospel Isn't for Everyone. Pt 2.

Hello Dear blog Readers!

Yes, I know this is largely a repeat of a previous blog post. However, that post was done in 2014. Since that time I have been blessed to preach this message several times at different churches. I felt compelled to post this updated version of it. This is from 3/1/17 at Antioch. Enjoy!

- Pastor Glen

The Gospel isn’t for everyone

Today we will be in Luke 10:25-29. In a message I’ve entitled The Gospel isn’t for everyone.

 

A few years ago I was on my way to the post office and I saw a man walking down the street. I automatically assumed the man was up to no good based on his appearance.  He looked angry, disheveled and had the glazed over eyes and shaky hands of an addict. As I was judging this stranger by making assumptions concerning his lifestyle and family history the Lord convicted me. Does this man need the gospel? Yes. Did I want to be the one that stopped everything I was doing to give it to him? No. My own fears, my own prejudices were preventing that. How many other people that are in need of the gospel that would never receive it from me because of my own fear? More than I want to consider. 

I went to the post office and had completed my errand and on my way to the next one. It was then that God brought some old memories from 5^th grade. I did not grow up with an abundance of friends. I started 5^th grade most of my friends were in a different class then mine so I did not see them much, couple this with my parents’ divorce, and it wasn’t a great time in my life. Yet, I did make a new friend that year. We will call him Matt. Me and Matt had known each other for years and were friends but in 5^th grade we spent a lot of time together during school. We had a love for Nintendo, Ninja Turtles, and Nature Boy Ric Flair! We got along great and would partner up and challenge each other frequently. We stayed good friends through middle school, but by high school we never had any classes together and would just chat occasionally in the hall. Then after graduation he went off to college and I no longer saw or heard from him. Then it hit me. The angry man I saw walking down the street earlier was my friend Matt. I had condemned my old friend to hell because I didn’t like the way he looked anymore. 

 Luke 10:25-29 “ And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?”So he answered and said, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’^[a] and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’” And He said to him, “You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.” But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

 

So, why did I ignore my old friend? Because of fear.

“Fear’s a powerful thing
It can turn a heart black you can trust.
Take a God-filled soul,
fill it with devils and dust.” – Bruce Springsteen

It’s easy to be afraid these days. Just turn on the local news. Stabbings, shootings, muggings, robberies. That’s local. That’s down the street from us.  It’s not upstate NY or downtown LA. It’s not a far off place like the Middle East or Africa. It’s terrifying and depressing and makes you feel hopeless. It also makes you want to lock your doors and keep a gun by your bed.  It reinforces the stereotypes we have in our minds of the people that would commit these sorts of crimes. Before you even click on the link or watch the actual story you already know what the perpetrator looks like don’t you? You already have that image in your head and when you see those people in person we do like I did and ignore them and keep on going. We all know what parts of town not to go regardless of what city we live it. It’s quite useful to know and it’s also primarily fear driven.

If anyone has learned properly to harness the power of fear it’s the media. Fearful messages spread, especially those that play into our anxieties. They capitalize on it, after all fear is very lucrative.  They tell us to be afraid of terrorists, homosexuals, heterosexuals, law enforcement, criminals, the government, illegal immigrants, legal immigrants, liberals, conservatives, the rich and the poor, etc. etc.  There’s so much to be scared of!  Finally we shout out that someone should do something, just as long as it isn’t us.  

There is nothing more contrary to God and the things of God than fear.

 

2 Timothy 1:7 “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”

1 John 4:18 “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.”

God is love. Per the above scripture that love casts out fear. Love and fear cannot co-exist. When God redeemed us He did so by giving us a new spirit that is to be of love, and a sound mind. Not the paranoia that fear drives us to. There should not be a more secured and proactive people than the church of Jesus Christ. Yet, we exist as one of the most fearful, reactionary, and sometimes downright hateful organizations in existence. The reason we are like this is because we believe the Gospel isn’t for everyone. Oh, we will give lip service and quote John 3:16 but we don’t believe it. Not fully.

 

We see this in Luke. The Pharisees and Sadducees were constantly trying to get Jesus. They wanted him to slip up in some way. So they tried trick questions and in Matthew someone asked what is the greatest commandment?  Jesus answered and cut right to the heart of the matter.

Matthew 22:36-40 “36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

So what’s the difference between loving your neighbor and loving your neighbor as yourself? We all love ourselves. We’re very concerned about our own welfare, our own comfort, safety, interests, health, etc. We have a hope we want to realize it. We have a desire we want to fulfill it. We have a need we see to it that it gets met. Is that how we treat other people? Are we even that good to our friends? Our family? Our spouse and children? What about random strangers? This is a difficult command. In fact it’s an impossible command. With a command so difficult you really need to figure out who your neighbor is don’t you?

Luke 10:29 “But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

 The teaching of the day was to love your neighbor. However, there also was a very narrow definition of neighbor. It consisted of people that you liked. Tax collector? Not your neighbor.  prostitute? Not your neighbor. Adulteress? Not your neighbor. Criminals? Not your neighbor. Gentiles? Definitely not your neighbor. 

 Jesus then answers his question, and by proxy our question, with a parable. The parable of the Good Samaritan. In a traveler goes on a journey and is a set upon by men of ill tent, they rob him, strip him of his clothes, and leave him bleeding in the dirt. A priest comes by, sees him, ignores him, a Levite sees him also and ignores him and goes about his business.  The a Samaritan sees him and begins to aide him regardless of the circumstance or personal cost. He tends his wounds, applying oil and win, carries him to an inn. Gives him all the money he has to take care of him and promises the inn keeper more if more is required. The Samaritan did this because he was his neighbor. We read that story and are deceived by our true nature thinking we are the Samaritan when the reality is that we are the ill intent and set upon the travelers that get on roads we feel they should not be on.

Who is your neighbor? Everyone. The world that Jesus died for. You know who that includes? Everyone. Annoying neighbor? Your neighbor. Person you blocked on Facebook? Neighbor. That co-worker you wish would quit/get fired? Neighbor. Relative you wish would move to another state/country? Neighbor. Atheists trying to get all public expressions of Christianity outlawed? Neighbor.  Junkie going down the street that makes you roll up your windows and lock your doors? Neighbor.

It’s difficult to love folks, because love is messy. What’s the most loving thing you can do for someone? Give them the gospel, both in word and deed. But Glen! You say. Those people aren’t deserving of the gospel. Agreed. Neither are we. No one is. 

 

Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast”

 

We so quickly transition from grace right back to the law. “That’s not true!” You say. Sure it is. We all do it. We have an image of what people at our church should look like. We know their skin color, clothing choices, background, personality, sexual orientation, political preferences, etc. etc. When they don’t immediately look like that when they walk in the door they can either conform or walk right back out. It’s no different than telling someone they are too sick to enter our hospital. We can’t help you we say. The gospel is not for you. Is it any wonder the headlines are so horrible? 

 When we look at the world today we are in need of a movement of God! Racial tension, economic instability, moral collapse, violence, terrorists, wars… it’s time we as followers of Jesus stopped talking politics and started getting broken over the hurt and pain of a world without God! Our solution is not coming from Raleigh, NC. Our solution is not coming from Washington, DC. It doesn’t matter if you are black, white, Latino, Asian, middle eastern, or European.  It doesn’t matter if you are old, young, gay, straight, male or female. It doesn’t matter where you fall on the political spectrum the answer and the hope is not legislation, the answer and the hope is not in some policy, procedure or election. The answer and the hope is only in the glorious gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, because when God moves people get changed from the inside out and it is real genuine lasting transformation. 

Oh, that You would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains

might quake at Your presence!”—Isaiah 64:1

As Christians,  we believe that the absolute worst thing that could ever happen has already happened. The torture and crucifixion of Christ. We killed the one person who had never done us any wrong, that only had our benefit in our mind. Who loved us more than anyone would ever love us. I’m here to tell you that the absolute depravity of man cannot touch the power of the resurrection. That there is no sinner so far from God that His grace cannot bring him back. The Bible teaches us that the resurrection of Jesus changed the world. Even if the world doesn’t want to admit it yet. In fact, since the resurrection we have been on an unalterable course towards renewal and rebirth. The power of the resurrection heals all, including our fear. 

“This is not the time for labeling, blaming, condemning, conserving, protecting, defending.  For those of us who really believe in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, this is the time to speak with tenderness, compassion, confidence, love.  It is not the time to answer every question that is asked us or accept the terms that are given to us by the world.  When the wrong question is asked, we offer better questions.  When we are given a multiple choice test, we answer in essay.   When we are asked for a clear answer, we respond with a parable.  When we are asked for a position, we give our testimony.”

 With Revival starting on Sunday, with Easter around the corner we will have some of our best chances to tell people about Jesus.  What are you going to do with that chance? It doesn’t require power, fame, money or influence. It just takes the Gospel. 

 Matthew 28:18-20 “18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore[a] and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen”

Snow Stories

Snow Stories

Well, I hope this finds your warm and dry and enjoying milk sandwiches in the midst of the blizzard of 17.

We ended up getting about 9” here at the house.

This was the first year the kids could largely dress themselves for snow! That really helped out a lot. In previous years we would spend an hour plus getting dressed and about 10 minutes outside, maybe 15. This year was the opposite. We went sledding, hiking and had plenty of snow fights!

On one particular sledding run I tripped and fell over while pulling Sam who face planted into a snow bank. We both were stuck momentarily in the snow drift and couldn’t stopped laughing. I took a moment to look up and thank God that I get to stay home with my children now instead of having to hitch a ride with someone or drive really slowly into work somewhere.

I have a lot of really good snow memories from as far back as I can remember. I can remember my mom making snow cream. I can remember sledding down Windsor Drive with the neighbor kids in the late 80’s. I remember building a snow fort with my cousin at my meh-meh’s house in Norlina. I ended up getting to stay there an extra night or two because we got stuck in the snow and couldn’t get back home.

 I can remember it snowing so much in 5^th grade that my mom cursed the snow and wished it would never snow again. It was a few years before it did so again!

In the mid 90’s it snowed again on a weekend I was with my Dad. We borrowed some sleds from his neighbor and spent the night sledding down Gordon Street the street lights and the snow still falling made for a great time and it remains one of my best high school memories.

Then of course was the Blizzard of 2000.

I had just started working at the bank about a month before. We had a meeting early that afternoon about the snow storm. There were a few volunteers who were willing to stay at a nearby hotel. The supervisor said something to the effect of “They aren’t calling for that much snow presently. Just come on in if you can. Stay home and be safe if you can’t.” She gave everyone her home number and told us to call her to let her know either way in the morning. I went home after my shift was over and went to bed like usual.

Then around 5AM my mom woke me up.

Mom: Are you going to work today?
Me: *groggily since this was an hour before I normally got up* uh, yeah if it’s not too bad.
Mom: I don’t think you are going to make it in….
Me:????
Mom: Come look.

I walk into the den and open the blinds to the sliding glass doors on the side of the house. I saw 3 feet of snow as part of a massive snow drift on that side of the house. My mom was concerned about our dog outside in the pen. I went out the front door (which required a decent running leap to get out of) and made my way to the dog pen. I got her into our storage building in the back yard and trekked back to the house. About 6:30 I called my supervisor.

Me: Supervisor, I don’t think I’m going to make it in.
Supervisor: Oh, don’t say that.
Me: You haven’t looked outside have you?
Supervisor: Hold On, oh…. I’ll see you in a few days.

Of course after that it was mandatory to stay in the hotel every time the weatherman said snow. For a few years this meant the Hilton with a food allowance. For the last year two years I was at the helpdesk this meant the Fairfield inn with a promise of reimbursement on meals. I tried that once. It took them almost 2 months to refund me the $5 I spent at cookout. However, I did have a really great manager for that time period as well. She would take us all to dinner at cracker barrel anytime we had to stay over and would get us lunch the next day as well. I’m pretty sure she did that all out of her own pocket as well.

One year shortly before I got married it snowed during the weekend. I was living with my friend Shea and his family at the time. Our friend Jared came over as well as Surge. We wanted to sled but had no sleds. So we drove to Wal-Mart (very very slowly) and discovered they had no sleds as well. So we went into the automotive section and got a large oil drip pan and two tire inner tubes. We then stopped at a service station and filled the tubes with air. We finally get back to the house and as we are walking with our make shift sleds to the top of the hill a snow plow appears and scraps this one road and then leaves. Didn’t scrap any other roads, just the one we were about to sled on. Then it left and didn’t scrap any of the other roads until Tuesday/Wednesday. Undaunted we spent the evening sledding down a nearby road.  We plowed into several snow banks, narrowly missed a mailbox, and managed to abandon sled before we went into a creek. Good times!

Well that’s enough reminiscing now as my bread is ready to be taken out of the oven!  Ugh, that doesn’t look like bread at all. Oh well. I’ll try again.

Much Love!

Pastor Glen

Christmas Survival Guide

Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas is a wonderful time of the year. We’ve had a lot of fun celebrating our Saviors birth so far this month. We’ve been to Jingle on Main, The Duke Homestead Festival of Lights, and several parties. We also decorated the house inside and out. For this first time we have colored lights at the front of the house.

I’m also terrible close to buying one of these things. It’s the fun of having fancy lights without any of the actual work! This is right up my alley!

However, for many people It’s also a horrible time of the year. Holiday related stress and decreased sunlight increases a wide variety of anxiety and depression related illnesses The average person will gain 1-5lbs; spend around $1000, and likely contract a food borne illness due to improperly prepared potlucks. Potential silver lining though food poisoning will help you clear out those 1-5lbs pretty quickly! Merry Christmas Indeed!

One of the main stresses of the Christmas season is family. Especially those difficult family members we all have, and sometime are if we are honest with ourselves.

Queue Robert Earl Keens’ Merry Christmas from the Family.

I heard pastor once says “God gives us family, so we can learn to love people we don’t like very much.” So I’ve tried to put together bit of a Family Christmas Survival Guide to help deal with the four kinds of people you will be interacting with this month and what the gospel response should be.  First some scripture!

1 Thess 5:12-18

 And we urge you, brethren, to recognize those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, ¹³ and to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. Be at peace among yourselves.

¹⁴ Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all. ¹⁵ See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all.

¹⁶ Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray without ceasing, ¹⁸ in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Wonderful: These are the people we like. We are excited to see them! They are the reason we go to the family functions and work parties. They know us, love us, listen to us and understand us. I have no shortage of wonderful friends and family in my life and for that I am truly blessed!

One of the most exciting things to me about Christmas growing up was getting to see my cousin Jonathan. He is six months older than me, and the coolest person I have ever known.  He encouraged me to go church, would tell me things from the Bible, would call me out when I was out of line and would apologize when he was wrong. I got to see him for the first time in 8 years back in Sept and it was like no time had passed at all.

The problem is we often overlook the wonderful people in our lives or take them from granted and then one day they aren’t there anymore because life has moved you both on to the next thing.

And we urge you, brethren, to recognize those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, ¹³ and to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. Be at peace among yourselves

Christmas is an excellent time to reach out and thank those wonderful people in your life and make sure that they know that they are wonderful. That you love them, you appreciate them and that they have made a difference in your life for the better. Pause the reading of this article, go do that, then come back and finish. I’ll wait.

Done? Great!

Worrisome:  This is the worry wort. They basically are afraid all the time. You hear them say “Well I’ve never done it that way before” or you tell them an idea and they launch into 10 different reasons as to why it won’t work. I was going down the road one day and a person called me upset, tore out of the frame. “Pastor, I’m really worried.” They said. They had just had their performance review at work. They got a promotion and a 20% raise. They were telling me all the reasons why this was terrible. Had they been telling me this at person I probably would have slapped them. I would have to add the % points for every raise I got from 2006-2014 in my IT career to get to 20%. Some people just can’t see the bright side no matter what.

Wearisome: A better word for this group would be frustrating, however that doesn’t start with a W. These people are inline just going at a snail’s pace. They never seem to catch up and you think well I’ll be a good person and help them along. You spend time teaching, training, encouraging and just when you think they have it they take a massive step backwards because they did something incredibly stupid.

You put in the maximum effort and the give you the bare minimum return if that. To the point where you throw your hands up in the air and go “Why do I even bother? “

Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all. 

After you’re done throwing your arms in the air bring them back down for a moment. What are we supposed to do with them? Be wonderful! Warn them when they are out of line. Comfort them when they are faint. Come along side them and pick them up, hold them up, when they can’t do it themselves. Above all we must show patience! Why? Because Jesus is patient with us.

Galatians 6:9-10 “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. ¹⁰ Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.”

There are no shortage of times when we are both worrisome & wearisome. We do well to remember those times as we deal with others and show them the love & encouragement that was once shown us.

Wicked: Finally, we have the wicked. The reason we don’t want to go to family or work functions. They do evil. They lie, cheat, steal, and harass. They have destroyed families, reputations and seem to thrive off of drama.  You pray that they don’t make it this year. When they do show up you hold your breath until they leave, or you rack your brain trying to figure out a reason to leave early. The longer you can go without interacting with this person the better and if you never saw or heard from them again it would be fine with you. When you do interact with them it’s to encourage them to move to other cities, states and possibly countries. I know plenty of people that did move to other cities/states/countries to avoid such people.

See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all.

This is the hardest one. How do you deal with the wicked? First off if illegal, harmful or dangerous things are happening then the proper authorities need to be involved. Sometimes you have to call the law on people, even family. You do so in hopes they finally get the help they need not out of revenge. Jesus taught us to turn the other cheek. The response to bullying is not to bully back. We don’t steal from them because they stole from us. We don’t like to them because they lie to us.  As Christians we are to pursue the good not only for ourselves but for our enemies as well.

Matthew 5:44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

John 13:35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

It is our love for others that lets the world know something is different about us and leads them to want to know more about Jesus.

Most of you that read this have attended Antioch Baptist Church at some point or another. Why did you come? Did you just wake up early one Sunday morning and thought you would go to church? Or did you/ do you come because someone showed you love in the name of Christ?

1 Peter 4:8 “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.”

16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Finally, in all things we rejoice, we pray, we give thanks and we trust in the will of God. We aren’t rejoicing that there is sin, or that there are sinful people. We are rejoicing because there is hope for us sinful people! The Church is the only organization that you join by admitting you aren’t good enough that you are in fact wicked and in no way deserve to join. We rejoice in our redemption, in the birth of our savior! We pray all the time giving thanks and seeking God’s will.

When we are in the will of God we are not bothered by the temporary things because they are just that temporary. God’s Love is eternal.

Merry Christmas everyone!  

P.S. A week ago I forgot the diaper bag again. At least I left it at home and there were diapers where I was going!

Year One

My how time flies!

It was over a year ago that I turned in my notice at my Spuntech. On my last day they gave me a nice going away party as well as an Amazon gift card. I bought two foam swords with it that are presently are on the roof of my carport after Sam tossed them up there “defeating the bad guys”. Who am I to get in the way of a power ranger?

I don’t miss having a day job. I’ve done some IT consulting here and there across the past year. It’s been fine but just a reminder that I don’t really miss doing it. Maybe one day but not so far. I’m still the IT guy around the house and with my family anyway.  I also have some handy dandy IT tips for all of you! Enjoy!

It's been nice to be more available for the church and the needs of the church family. I've been able to help with weddings, funerals and other church functions. I've been able to take the kids with me to visit people at home, hospitals, etc. The kids are a huge hit at Cambridge where they are usually the highlight of the day for a lot of people. It's nice to have more flexibility when visiting people.

I’ve had to learn a lot of new things. I’m much handier around the kitchen these days. I’ve always been able to do the dishes after years of washing dishes at the homestead as a teen. A year ago at this time I could cook to a degree. Mostly involved warming things in the oven or cooking on the grill. I’m certainly not a chef by any means these days but I’m definitely further along. The kids really like when I do Iron Skillet Rib-Eyes. Anna’s favorite is when I make “Smash” cheeseburgers. I just recently started cooking eggs for breakfast for Lindsey & Lucas since they enjoy them. There is still much more to learn. Presently the kids are begging me for pancakes so I’ll have to do that next week sometime.

Homeschooling is certainly challenging. Somedays I wonder if it’s all going in one year and out the other. Then later I’ll find Anna playing “Phoenician Trader sailing down the river” with her Lego people. That’s not to say that all is sunshine in rainbows. I’ve lost my temper plenty of times in the last year. There’s been days where we have accomplished nothing because of al l the whining and complaining, and that’s just from me! Yet, I’ve never once thought about updating the resume and seeing what else is out there. After all who can resist this face?

The best part of all of this has been all the extra time I’ve had with my wife and the kids. We have movie nights where we pull out the couch bed in the den and the kids pick a movie. There have been many wrestling matches in the kitchen in which I have lost them all. I feel closer to my family then I have in a long time.

The other day I was riding back home with Madison and I asked how she liked things now that I was home. She told me “I love it! You are home all day instead of coming home at 5 and putting me to bed at 7.”  

I think that about sums it up.

Sola Scriptura!

Pastor Glen

P.S

I'M BATMAN!