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Category Archives: Family

My Dad and Me

This past Holiday season I received a Christmas card from my Aunt Pat and Uncle Tony as usual. They like to keep the family up to date on their comings and goings during the past year. But along with the update, a picture was enclosed. The same picture seen to the right. It is a picture of my dad and me sometime during my first year.

Receiving the photo caused my mind to be flooded with all sorts of nostalgia about my dad. My dad passed away due to complications with diabetes when I was fifteen. I never really got to know him as an adult, and there are times I’ve really missed having a dad around. But receiving the photo allowed me to reflect on the time God allowed us to have together.

My dad was blind for most of my life but he never let the handicap prevent him from trying to do the things he loved. We used to build model airplanes together. We’d install real gas fueled engines on them and then fly them. He was an amazing golfer before he lost his sight and was actually pretty good without it. I would line up his club head behind his ball and give him the details of the hole, like dogleg right about 200 yds, and he would smack it. Most times the ball would go where he intended it. I learned much about the game of golf from our outings.

My dad always tried to make light of his handicap around others. I will never forget a time when I was about 10, my neighborhood friends and I were playing baseball in our back yards and we began to get into a heated argument about something. Probably balls and strikes. My dad came out the back door with a very serious look on his face. We thought we were really going to get it, and then he yells “If you kids don’t knock off the belly aching, I am going to come out there and insist on calling the balls and strikes.” You could tell everyone was thinking on what he said, and then all at once it dawned on us just what he said. We all busted out in laughter.

I miss my dad but I have the utmost confidence that I will see him again when it is my time to enter the gates of Heaven.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Reflections of Mother’s Day

09 May

I will have to admit I am one of those people who tend to get cynical with days like Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day. I mean, why do we really need to focus on one day to celebrate our lover, or another for our mother, right? We should be appreciating them throughout the year. My mother passed away a couple years ago so Mother’s Day has some what of a bitter sweet tone in the years following her death. But I get real cynical when folks try to lump Valentine’s Day in with Mother’s Day by substituting the wife for mom. When someone asks “What are you going to do for your wife on Mother’s Day?”, my response in past years has been, “Why, she isn’t my mother?”. A bit cynical, right?

This year Mother’s Day was particularly special. My bide and I went to church to worship and fellowship with the local saints. We did a bit of yard work, and then traveled the twenty or so miles into Omaha to participate in the Starbucks Frappuccino happy hour, and pick up a few things at Walmart. I know, the phrase “the little things in life” is our life song. When we returned, our son Corey and his wife Sara, their daughters, our daughter Amanda and husband Reece, their daughters, our son Beau stopped by for a visit and to wish my bride a happy Mother’s Day. We had a wonderful day. We filled up the new kiddie pool for the granddaughters and Crysta, cooked some barbecue chicken, and visited for several hours. It was a glorious and God blessed day spent with family. It was one of those days we will be able to point back, smile, and remember.

I know we should appreciate all of our days as blessed from God, but there are some days that stick out more than most of the others as indeed blessed. I believe this was one of those. It brings to mind one of my favorite contemporary worship songs.

Shout To The Lord

My Jesus, my Saviour
Lord there is none like You
All of my days I want to praise
The wonders of Your mighty love

My comfort, my shelter
Tower of refuge and strength
Let every breath, all that I am
Never cease to worship You

Shout to the Lord all the Earth, let us sing
Power and majesty, praise to the King
Mountains bow down and the seas will roar
At the sound of Your name

I sing for joy at the work of Your hand
Forever I’ll love You, forever I’ll stand
Nothing compares to the promise I have
In You

Soli, Deo, Gloria!

August Rush

13 Nov

Our family just finished watching the most incredible movie tonight. Netflix, our movie rental place delivered it to our mailbox today. All of us have been waiting for this one to arrive so we plopped it right in. Sorry for the commercial. The movie is “August Rush“. It is not my typical genre, but it is going to be one of my all time favorites. Usually the movies I like have to be filled with adrenaline and good dose of testosterone. But this movie appealed dramatically to my passion for music. If you haven’t seen it, I would definitely recommend. It is rated PG and would appeal to all family members. It is sure to be in our DVD library soon. I have provided one my favorite scenes for the movie. My favorite scene is the ending but I won’t spoil that for you. Check out the short clip below.

7 Comments

Posted by barrydean on November 13, 2008 in August Rush, Family, Music, Personal

What should Christians do with Halloween?

20 Oct

Halloween is almost here. This day has become a very popular one in our national culture. Our family has taken a stand of sorts over the years when it comes to celebrating the popular day recognized as Halloween. We basically recognize the day as Fall Harvest day and shy away of the pagan depiction of the day. We have handed out candy at times and have included some juvenile themed tracks as well during trick or treat. I found a Q&A link from the Bible Bulletin Board which is affiliated with Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California and it’s pastor John MacArthur that addresses this issue. What is your response? Please comment and check out my related new poll in the side bar.

13 Comments

Posted by barrydean on October 20, 2008 in Christian living, Fall, Family, Halloween, Theology

Ray Boltz has come out of the closet.

17 Sep

I remember listening to Ray Boltz when my wife and I first discovered Christian music many years ago. He sang some pretty moving songs like “Watch the Lamb” and “I Pledge Allegiance To the Lamb”. Thinking back I don’t recall how theologically sound the lyrics were, but he still had quite an impact on the Christian music world. Now he has “come out” as the homosexual society puts it, and says he is happy again. Oh how the heart can deceive us into believing what makes us happy is right. There is an informative and interesting article about Ray Boltz at The Washington Blade that sheds some light on this story.

How should we think about this? There is a simple illustration I can think of. I am unhappy about having to obey the traffic laws, especially when I am in a hurry to go somewhere. It would make me very happy if I could ignore those laws in those times that are not convenient to me. But the traffic laws have a reason, and that reason is to keep us all safe while we are driving. God has given us laws as well. Whether we like them or not they do exist. Unlike state laws, these laws from God are not negotiable or subject to legislative changes. I believe that some of His laws exist to keep us safe as well. Regardless of the reason they exist, God, the Creator, demands that we obey them. These laws have been revealed to us in his scriptures. As believers in Christ we can choose to obey them or not. But please don’t fool yourself into believing there will not be consequences or an accounting for the foolish decision to ignore them.

As for Ray Boltz, we should be praying for him and his family. We should also be praying for those who will stand up and not be passive while this kind of behavior continues to filter into the local churches. We should also pray that we would make this stand in love and for the ultimate repentance and restoration of those like Ray Boltz. This brings up a thought for consideration. Can you be a Christian and also be gay? Please consider reading 1 Corintians 6. In verses 9 and 10 of that chapter you will find:

9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

The apostle Paul goes on to write to the Corinthians in verse 11:

11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

The scriptures make it clear that believers of Christ have been washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of Christ. We should no longer practice those former things. That is great news. Only by trusting in the Christ, will you have the power to fight against those former sinful things. Amen?

ht: Christian Theology Blog

32 Comments

Posted by barrydean on September 17, 2008 in 1 Corinthians 6, Christian, Christian music, Family, gay, homosexuality, Jesus Christ, Prayer, Ray Boltz, scripture, Theology

Of hummingbirds and bees

03 Sep

This past Labor Day weekend my lovely wife and I took a trip south. Specifically to Hampton, Georgia and then Chattanooga, Tennessee. We left Wahoo, Nebraska around 1am and drove 18 hours in shifts down to Georgia to visit my cousin Judy and her husband Howard (also know by family as Ole Weird). After a day or so of visiting in Georgia we headed back north to Chattanooga.

Our visit with Judy and Howard in Georgia was a wonderful visit filled with late night conversation, honey harvesting, and good old Southern hospitality. During our family reunion my wife developed an interest in bee keeping thanks to “Ole Weird” who is an avid bee keeper. So needless to say she was greatly excited at the prospect of helping him harvest some honey from his bees. I will let her share her experiences of that event from her blog.

Prior to Robin and Howard donning their bee suits to pillage the bee honey, we were sitting on their back deck talking and something very fascinating transpired. Howard and Judy have a couple of hummingbird feeders hanging from rafters above their deck. While we were talking several hummingbirds began to hover around the feeders. They were chasing each other off to get to the feeders and making quite a racket. I was amazed at how close they were getting to us. Pretty soon several more hummingbirds showed up and we had a nice buzzing and commotion going on. I got my digital camera out and tried to take some still photos. The birds were zigging and zagging in and out so much it was hard to get a still photo. So I got the idea to set my camera to video and recorded the video below. I held the camera while they basically swarmed in and out and around the deck. I only captured them in video for a little over a minute but you can hear them chirping and buzzing throughout it.

I was also amazed at God’s creation in the hummingbird itself. Here are a couple of things I have since learned about hummingbirds. Did you know that the hummingbird is the only group in the bird family that can fly backwards? The wings of the hummingbird will beat 15 to 80 times per second depending on the species. That is so amazing to me.

Later in the week I will post something about the visit with our daughter Amanda, her husband Reece, and our adorable granddaughters in Chattanooga.

6 Comments

Posted by barrydean on September 3, 2008 in Family, Georgia, hummingbirds, Personal, traveling

The Chapmans on GMA

07 Aug

If you have access to unlimited kleenex please read further. You may or may not know the story of the accident that took the life of Maria, the youngest of the Steven Curtis Chapman family. If not you can read it here.

Robin Roberts of Good Morning America visited the Chapman home for an interview. My lovely wife has posted the resulting video on her blog. Please check it out here.

Grandmas, granddaughters, and fireflies

05 Jul

Yesterday, July 4th was a big day here in Nebraska. For further evidence just see the picture of our local granddaughter Livy (short for Olivia) nestled up against Grandma after a fun filled 4th of July. Livy fought a surprising fight against Mr. Sandman but in the end the evidence speaks for itself. You can’t hear it but she is actually sleeping to the sound of neighborhood fireworks in the near distance.

Grandchildren are the crown of the aged.. (Proverbs 17:6)

Grandmas are pretty special too.

I have also included a video of something my sweet wife dearly loves to witness. The lighting of the fireflies across the lawn in the summertime. I shot this as we were sitting on our front porch. The video is a little grainy, but the fireflies can easily been seen.

6 Comments

Posted by barrydean on July 5, 2008 in Family, fireflies, granddaughters, Grandma, grandparents, Olivia, Personal

Prayers have been answered – an update

23 May

Although we will miss her, my mother went home to be with Jesus Thursday morning May 22nd. She is absent from her worn out earthly body and now present with our Lord. I want to thank everyone for their prayers for our family. God is so faithful and I delight in His eternal righteousness. I just wanted to share a verse of hope for those who have ever exprienced the death of a loved one who is a believer.

1 For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, 3 if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. 4 For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened, not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. 6 So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. 11 Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience.

2 Corinthians 5:1-11

And one more verse found at the end of Psalm 16.

11 You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Holy Scripture speaks of this joy in the presence of the Lord and what is being prepared and waiting for us in heaven. If you have an unbelieving family member, please be steadfast in your prayer for them. May God draw them to Himself and grace them with the salvation only found in His Son Jesus Christ.

Mary Katherine Mauney Schneider: January 13th, 1940 – May 22nd, 2008

8 Comments

Posted by barrydean on May 23, 2008 in 2 Corinthians 5, Family, Mother, Personal, Praise, Prayer

Prayer request for my mother

21 May

Here is a personal request going out to those who read my blog. My sister called me this morning with some awful news. Our mother collapsed and fell unconscious in her home sometime last night. She was discovered shortly after by a family friend, who called 911. She was taken to the local hospital in Ohio where they diagnosed her with pneumonia. She has since been life-flighted to a wonderful hospital in Cincinnati where they are treating her for among other things blood in her lungs. My mother’s body has been battling lung cancer for the past couple of years and she had been doing very well. Isn’t it ironic, lung cancer and she never smoked a day in her life? The latest news from the hospital this afternoon is that her doctor told my sister and her husband that percentages are against her recovering at this point. Please be in prayer for my mother. She is a believer in a sovereign God and she would tell you that she is in His hands. But also pray for my sister as she is not taking this new development well. Pray that she put her trust in the sovereignty of God as well.