Yesterday was a good day. It started with me sleepily waking up to the great joy of my kids. C-6 was jumping up and down with excitement as I walked into the kitchen. I felt like I had won the NBA Championship or something. (Go Lakers!) There was genuine excitement as they were able to share gifts for me (a basketball, and a wrist rest for my computer… Yeah! No Tie!) and honor me. I really felt honored and loved. Even our pre-adolescent had a smile on his face (rare these days). I love being a husband and dad. Though it is not all easy.

Lately, my oldest is beginning to feel the pull of independence. He is exploring whether the things we have taught him all his life is really his. He is questioning the authority of what we have taught him and he is recognizing our fallibility. I am actually very excited but a bit anxious too. Will what we implanted deep within him: faith, truth, epistemology (big word… how do we know what is true), morals, grace, sense of justice, etc. take root so that it becomes his. I feel like for the first time we are flying solo without a net and its exhilarating and scary.

The last couple of weeks our church has been doing a series on families. The one about marriage and parenthood was nothing new but it really hit me how much I had been so focused on work and ministry that I was losing touch with my family. I felt like I wasn’t doing a good job at home and so it was easier to focus on stuff that seemed easier. I am trying to learn how to re-connect with the family and design in more time just sitting and being available for the family (which is really hard in our action oriented culture).