Troublesome Times Are Here

My pregnant wife woke up with some fluid discharge that didn’t seem normal.  Thinking that it wasn’t anything to worry about, we simply shifted schedules that morning.  I took charge of our youngest while she dropped off our older two at school.  From there she visited her OBGYN.  Bad news—her water had broke at 29 weeks and a day.  From this point forward, our life was turned upside down.  In an instant, Christmas plans were canceled, schedules were altered, and fears were aroused.  She was immediately admitted to a nearby hospital and then transferred by ambulance to a hospital better equipped to care for premature births.  Since that time, she has been under the watchful care of doctors and nurses who have prepared her and our baby for an untimely birth.  That was a week ago.  Thankfully, the baby is still in mother's womb and seems to be doing fine.

That’s it.  That’s the story.  But, I left out one key aspect—the body of Christ.  During this time, our brothers and sisters have been loving us.  Some spoke truth into our lives.  Some showed us mercy.  Some helped us.  Some encouraged us.  Many, many have prayed for us.  Words cannot express my debt of gratitude for how my wife and I have been loved during our ordeal.  One member was hurting, and yet all of the members felt that hurt and responded.

Where to Begin?

I’m interrupting my current interruption (yes, I promised a few more blogs on the tribulation, which I interrupted to talk about Santa Claus) to talk about the tragedy in Connecticut.

There are several questions that come to mind when something like this happens.   We all want to know why.  Why did he do it?  Why did God allow it?  Why does our culture have so much violent crime?  Then we turn to what.  What can we do to get justice?  What could we have done to prevent this?  What can we do to stop it from ever happing again?  What should we do with our own children?  What should we tell them?  What should we do for the families who he so devastatingly affected?

I do not know the answers to all of these questions.  I do have some very well organized thoughts about self defense in general, about guns in particular, and about the public policy that surrounds both of them.

Santa Claus, Santa Claus, Must Have Been Old Santa Claus

I’m not sure when it happened…sometime before I was born…but it did happen.  Santa swooped in and stole the starring role of the Christmas season.  Yes, Jolly Old Saint Nicolas is a thief—at least the Saint Nicolas that I grew up with.  My wife and I have decided not to do “Santa Claus” with our children.  Our decision bewilders many adults, and so I thought it might be helpful to write down our reasons.  Our reasons fall into two categories.  The first is more pragmatic while the second is more theological.  Both of our reasons have the same root cause: Santa Claus is a lie.

There, I said it.  Maybe you thought it was an innocent fairytale.  But when it is cut black and white, it is a lie.  I realize that not everyone who reads this blog will share my worldview.  I trust that no one who reads this blog will believe that Santa is real.  So, when we tell our children that there is a jolly fat man who rides a sleigh pulled by flying reindeer, makes toys in the frozen north, and delivers those toys to every child around the world in one night we are distorting reality.  We are bending our children’s perspective in an unhealthy way.