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Category Archives: Family

The Dangerous Book For Boys (Part 1)

This week Dr. Albert Mohler has commented frequently about a new book just released called “The Dangerous Book For Boys” by Conn and Hal Iggulden. I have just purchased the book online at Amazon.com and await it’s arrival. Dr. Mohler gave the book a very possitive review. I cannot write any more about the book than to say read what is on in Dr. Mohler’s review of the book which can be found here. I have been looking for something to get my young adult boys away from the computer gaming systems. My wife and I finally had enough, and packed them all up and put them under lock and key. Now they will be looking for something to do after they get home from work instead of vegging out in front of the tube playing games. Lord willing they will get interested in some of the things that can be experienced and found in this book geared toward guys. I am looking forward to it.

After I have read the book I will provide my own review and experiences from it.

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Posted by barrydean on May 24, 2007 in boys, Family, leadership

Biblical motherhood and the news

14 Apr

I am borrowing a bit from Dr. Mohler’s radio program from this past Tuesda Captured Brits y. I do this because it is so pertinent to a study I attended in this week’s IBS class. IBS stands for Institute for Biblical Studies. (The link will give you info from our church web site)

This past week we discussed the biblical roles of men and women. You may have heard some of the details surrounding the kidnapping ordeal of the 15 British troops captured by the Iranian military and their subsequent release. Some of those details involve the exploitation of the lone female soldier. During his usual denunciation of Western policy in the Middle East, Iranian president Ahmadinejad, made this observation.

“You will know that among the detainees there is one lady who is a mother of a child. Why is it that the most difficult work like patrolling at sea should be given to a woman?” “Why is there no respect for motherhood? Why does the West not value its women?”

This telling observation in the whole scene stood out for me, especially in light of the recent study of women’s roles. It does cause me to ponder the question. Is it really biblical for a woman, especially a mother and wife, be in the military?

In our IBS class we discussed three main attributes of a biblical woman. Those three attributes are:

Women are Helpers
Women are Nurturers
Women are Submissive

I’d just like to focus a bit on the second attribute, women are nurturers. I think that providing some scripture would help at this point. If you read 1 Timothy 5 you will understand that the apostle Paul is providing Timothy with guidance toward dealing with women’s roles in the church and in the home. Several verses in this chapter deal with the women’s role of nurturing. Titus 2:3-5 also depicts women in this nurturing role. Paul writes in verse 5 that women should be “working at home” (ESV).

This one attribute is the one attribute that provides an answer to my question above. If a mother or wife is serving in the military can they also fill their womanly role as a nurturer? Now I know some folks may say that they can if the husband is also in the military. But I would have to disagree because being married in the military is no guarantee that you will be stationed or serving together. If the couple have a child, who would provide the appropriate nurturing for the child? The military demands a lot from those serving and a mother would not have the necessary time to fill this biblical role. I believe the bible teaches throughout that it is the responsibility of the mother to provide the training and the passing on of the gift of Christ.

Please understand I am not saying that I agree with the way the Iranian president Ahmadinejad used this situation to point out the so called flaws in Western culture. Like I said before this was unashamedly an exploitation ploy for the world media. But the words he used did strike a nerve within the body of Christ.

Kudos and citations go to Dr. Albert Mohler for covering this in his radio show and blog seen here.

Also kudos to Todd Swift one of our elders at OBC who lead our IBS class and provided the scripture for me to use.

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Posted by barrydean on April 14, 2007 in Family, news, Women

The dating game

29 Nov

This past Saturday my lovely wife and I went out on a double date with some frien Dating image ds from church. It was an evening that we looked forward to and the expectations were exceeded in my estimation. We all went to a nice out of the way family Mexican restaurant. The food was delicious and very filling. They serve great enchiladas that are available with an assortment of fillings, one of which is cottage cheese. I had the beef and cottage cheese because I like cottage cheese but I’ve never had it on an enchilada. It was very good, and I ate every bite of it. After dinner we went to the theater to see The Guardian movie with Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher. The film took the time to develop the main characters which seems to be missing from most of the latest movies being made. The movie was well enjoyed all around and the evening was a big hit.

I would recommend dating your spouse on a consistent basis. It is something I am attempting to pursue with my wife. It is nice to spend time getting to know your wife again. It seems it is the only time we can put the day to day activities aside and focus on each other. I hope we will use this time to know each other so when the time arrives when we are alone together, and all of the kids are gone, we will have something to talk about, and things to do together because we still know each other. This weekend we will be attending my company Christmas party and we will be on another date for that.

God is good.

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Posted by barrydean on November 29, 2006 in Family, Personal, Praise

Family fun night

11 Nov

Last night was a good night. Our daughter Crysta had an idea and asked for the evening to be a night of family fun together. We agreed. We had a nice dinner and dessert (a delicious piece of homemade pecan cheesecake that Robin made) and then we played our favorite game, Apples to Apples. If you haven’t played this game you should find one. It is very fun and each game only takes about 20 minutes to play. We learned last night that there are some fun variations to the game. During the game there was some of the usual sibling picking but it never got out of hand. This was a great blessing. Our son Sean is usually the dominant player but Crysta won a couple of games which made her happy.
After the game as we were getting ready to watch a movie together I received an instant message from Don an old friend (yeah I said old) of mine. It was good to hear from him, it had been a while. I met Don at my first job out of college. He and I were both computer operators. He was on the first shift and I was on the second. I thought he was pretty cool because he drove a 1978 Silver Anniversary Corvette (yeah….single), and he was very helpful to me in learning my job. I am very grateful to him. We have kept in contact over the years but it had been awhile since we’d spoken. My wife was gracious and let me converse with him for awhile.
After we finished talking it had gotten pretty late so Robin, Crysta, and I went upstairs to watch “The Maltese Falcon” with Humphrey Bogart and Sean got online to play XBox 360 Live. What a blessing to me when God gave me a family. I have not been very grateful for them and have taken them for granted more times than I know. I love them all and pray there are more evenings like the one last night.
God bless.

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Posted by barrydean on November 11, 2006 in Family

I’m such a geek

11 Oct

And I couldn’t be happier. It has been quite some time since I last posted. Much has happened. I have finally realized that door to door sales is not a career suited to me. I do admire those who can do it.
I will admit that the attraction of career independence and the possiblity of unlimited personal income was also an attraction. But the sales were just not coming. I couldn’t deal very well with the “no” after each presentation. So for the past week I have been considering going back to my original career in the Information Technology field. (Robin has been silently considering this longer.) This thinking was even more emphasized when I found her looking through the classifieds the other day in order to provide for some supplemental income.
About the middle of last week I got a phone call from a woman who works for a local consulting firm. My name was given to her from a good friend of mine and she that he had given me a raving reference, even knowing that I was no longer in the career field. She said they had some opportunities to present to me and wanted to know if I might be interested in meeting with them. I met with her and with their president. I really liked what I was hearing and seeing. Things have indeed progressed since last week. So much so that as of today I went to the office to fill out paperwork with their HR person in order to be officially hired. I will be working as a project leader at one of their client sites in Lincoln which happens to be Cabelas (very cool).
Praise the Lord!!
I am just amazed (God thing) at the way things have fallen into place (God thing) in such a short amount of time. (God thing) I have never been hired for a job so quickly, especially without doing much of the job searching work on my own. (again a God thing) When I met with everyone at the office the other day they were all amazed at how quickly this has all come together. I said that it was “defintely a God thing”.
I know that God is sovereign over everything in my life and that there was a reason I went through the sales adventure. I’m thinking it was to humble me for the most part. It had become a source of pride as of late. Enough of that, I didn’t mean to write an essay. I just wanted to share some of what has been going on recently. I will again try to make my posts more frequent.
Thanks be to God for His enduring patience.

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Posted by barrydean on October 11, 2006 in Family, Personal, Praise

It begins tomorrow

19 Jul

The day of my new career is here. I have been appointed and I can now begin to sell, sell, sell. I am totally relying on God to provide for me and my family in this new business. I have never really sold for a living before, let alone working for straight commissions. Praise God for this opportunity to be dependent on Him and Him alone. I thank God for my friend and mentor Scott. He has provided me with some great training so far. He will be providing feedback as I go through my sales opportunities for the remainder of this week. I would also like to thank my wife for being so patient and tolerant these past few weeks as I have been home and derailing her days. I know she has been more than ready for me to be out of the house and her hair. With God’s abundant grace we haven’t killed each other. God is good. I will post how my first day goes tomorrow.

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Posted by barrydean on July 19, 2006 in Family, Personal

Repenting from my absence

13 Jul

My absence was in part because of my feelings of irrelevance. My concern that that no one was reading my blog site. I allowed those feelings to dissuade me from doing what I enjoyed so much with this blog, and that was to express my thoughts and experiences. To write them down so I can review them later. Kind of like a diary of sorts although I write as if others will be reading it. If anyone is consistently reading it then that is a bonus. I have returned in part because of encouragement from my wife and because of inspiration from a blog I try to visit often.
Irish Calvinist is a blog site of a good friend of mine and brother in Christ. He shares some great insight and is very committed to posting something relevant every day. His site is visited by numerous folks and creates many comments and dialog.

My wife and I are also celebrating our wedding anniversary today. We have been Married 14 years now, and as my wife likes to say “and they didn’t think we would last”. We would not have made it if not for God’s rich and abundant grace. He gets all of the glory.

Much has happened since my last post in April. I shared that God had seen to it that my employment with HP was done and that it was time to move on. I have been led by God to pursue a totally different career than the one I have been in since 1985. I will be selling insurance. This is the kind of job where I will be totally dependent on God. It is work that is all commission. I will be going into folks homes and convincing them of their need for long term care insurance. It is a product I am only beginning to really believe in.

For the past few weeks I have been studying for the Life and Annuities / Accident and Health insurance exam. I failed it the first time and took it again a week later and passed it with flying colors. Praise be to God. I have also just finished my final college class to receive my BS degree in MIS. The class was Intermediate Algerbra. It is a required course for the MIS degree program. I tried taking CLEP tests in advanced math but failed because I have not studied any advanced math since high school. (A long time ago) I took the Algebra class at Metro Community College. It was a tough go but with God’s help and my wife’s encouragement I passed. Woo Hoo!!

The type of insurance I will be selling is one I can truly believe in. Nursing home or long term care insurance is a huge need for the elderly. It is a product that I am inspired to provide for the elderly. It helps to fill in the gaps of Medicare coverage. There are some rather large gaps. I am being mentored and trained by Scott, a friend of mine, who is very successful in this career and has eagerly been helping me get prepared for my new career. I will be selling under his agency. I will write about this some more at a later time. It may be boring to some, but I am learning to appreciate it.

To close out this much anticipated posting (ok, I may be fooling myself) I will use a quote I found that I think applies here.

“Repentance is a grace of God’s Spirit whereby a sinner is inwardly humbled and visibly reformed.” By the puritan Thomas Watson.

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Posted by barrydean on July 13, 2006 in Family, Personal

Let the healing begin

24 Jan

Praise the Lord! Robin’s hernia repair surgery went very well today. The surgery was at 7am and she was out and in recovery by 9am. She was put in an observation room until tomorrow. Thanks mom, for being there for her this morning and waiting with me until she was out of surgery and her room. When I left at 4:30pm she was a little more coherent and getting a bit hungry. The doctor said that she should not be lifting anything heavy for about 6 to 8 weeks. We will keep an eye on her to make sure that happens. Again, Praise God!
On a more somber note, I have not mentioned that my mom has been diagnosed with lung cancer. She is taking it pretty well, that I can tell over the phone. Please be praying for her. Also, my sister’s stomach ailments have finally been diagnosed. Her doctor has prescribed some medication and she hopes to be better in a few weeks. PTL! My Ninnie is out of the hospital, she was having some dementia problems and her bladder was really acting up again. She will be staying in a nursing home for a few weeks.