She is tough.
She is amazing.
She is resilient.
She will not be moved.
She will conquer the world.
She will share it with you.
Tuesday, July 7, 2015
Sunday, July 5, 2015
Launch
We have a Sunday night program at our church (LifeSpring Christian Church - Clovernook) called Launch. Normally, we have some sort of lesson that's intended to fuel our faith and strengthen our community. The idea for Launch isn't new, but the title means something to us. Our motivation is to help students prepare for the future as a worker in God's Kingdom. No matter what they do in life, we are committed to preparing them for what's next by helping students understand their faith and setting them up for a successful "Launch" into the next phase of their lives.
But tonight...we played hacky sack and had a water balloon fight :)
If you're a high school student in the Cincinnati area who is looking for quality church community, we'd love to have you some night. Most of our students attend Finneytown, NCH, and Walnut Hills, but other schools are represented as well.
Take care,
Seth
Love Jesus so much...that you FREAK OUT
This is my daughter, Audrey. She's working hard to explain what the song "One Thing Remains" means. Watch it all, or fast forward to 4:14 for something truly awesome.
There are many things to love about our kids. Something my wife and I truly admire about Audrey is how passionately she talks about things she loves. There is never a shortage of enthusiasm or lacking of energy when she's deep in thought, running around playing the yard (I wish you could see how intensely she swings), or entertaining members of our church youth group. To hear her explain why she loves this song and to talk about why it's important to her faith is refreshing. We can learn a lot from kids. They haven't had time yet to become cynical to the world around them.
Friday, July 3, 2015
A story from September
This
morning I was awakened by my oldest daughter. She was excited that she
could see the sunrise through her bedroom window and she wanted me to
come see because she remembered I love this sort of thing.
“You know how we love to watch the sunrise together?” she said.
“Yes, I do.” I replied.
“Well, it’s happening right now! Come on! Come on!” she continued.
Last night was a late one, but I pulled myself out of bed and I’m glad I did. We went to her room and sat on her bed as we stared in awe at the brilliant array of blues, oranges, yellows, greens, and reds. Some thin clouds rolled over the downtown skyline visible from our Cincinnati home to enhance the view. The clouds morphed into cotton candy and we were detailing every change as the sun continued to rise.
I looked over to see my eldest writing in her journal.
“What are you writing?” I said.
“Just that I’m excited to be able to share this time with you,” she said.
Wow.
Tears welled up in my eyes as I took her hand, kissed it, and looked back out at the morning view. She laid her head upon mine and we sat there until the colors were replaced by the standard blue and white of our daytime sky.
I couldn’t help but wonder about a conversation I had with an old friend a few weeks earlier. He was in a similar setting with his brother and they were watching a sunrise from a beach. My friend asked a simple question when he said, “Whom do you thank for this?”
I think the world is dark in our present time. We are left questioning things on a regular basis and it rarely seems like we have good answers for anything. Whether it’s violence in the Middle East, racial tensions in America, kids bringing guns to school, and on-and-on forever, we are left to throw our collective hands up in disgust and say, “How could these things happen?”
This morning I had a fantastic reminder that things aren’t always in such despair. I was forced to turn off my cynicism and live only for this awesome experience. I truly feel I was given this moment to cherish with my daughter and I, like she, wanted to remember it. I asked myself the same question my friend posed to his brother. To me, the answer is simple.
“You know how we love to watch the sunrise together?” she said.
“Yes, I do.” I replied.
“Well, it’s happening right now! Come on! Come on!” she continued.
Last night was a late one, but I pulled myself out of bed and I’m glad I did. We went to her room and sat on her bed as we stared in awe at the brilliant array of blues, oranges, yellows, greens, and reds. Some thin clouds rolled over the downtown skyline visible from our Cincinnati home to enhance the view. The clouds morphed into cotton candy and we were detailing every change as the sun continued to rise.
I looked over to see my eldest writing in her journal.
“What are you writing?” I said.
“Just that I’m excited to be able to share this time with you,” she said.
Wow.
Tears welled up in my eyes as I took her hand, kissed it, and looked back out at the morning view. She laid her head upon mine and we sat there until the colors were replaced by the standard blue and white of our daytime sky.
I couldn’t help but wonder about a conversation I had with an old friend a few weeks earlier. He was in a similar setting with his brother and they were watching a sunrise from a beach. My friend asked a simple question when he said, “Whom do you thank for this?”
I think the world is dark in our present time. We are left questioning things on a regular basis and it rarely seems like we have good answers for anything. Whether it’s violence in the Middle East, racial tensions in America, kids bringing guns to school, and on-and-on forever, we are left to throw our collective hands up in disgust and say, “How could these things happen?”
This morning I had a fantastic reminder that things aren’t always in such despair. I was forced to turn off my cynicism and live only for this awesome experience. I truly feel I was given this moment to cherish with my daughter and I, like she, wanted to remember it. I asked myself the same question my friend posed to his brother. To me, the answer is simple.
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