Just catching up...

We've had a couple of really busy weeks. I just needed to catch up on a few things we've been doing.

We took a field trip to a farm last week. The baby chicks were a big hit!

Sienna turned 5 on May 21st. We had her party the weekend before. Here's sissy helping open her presents.

This was her favorite present. She's gotten quite good on it. I was worried she'd be wiping out a lot but she's a pro!

Welcome to the newest member of the Harrah family, our guinea pig, Bruce.

I got my pictures out of order. This is another one of the farm. They got to pet a baby chick.

Thursday Thoughts

DEAR ABBA


I’ve been thinking about two similar points of view that have been expressed to me at different times in the recent past. First, I heard it said that when we go to church we must wear our best because we’re coming before the Almighty. Maybe you’ve heard this too, “Wouldn’t you dress up if you were going to meet the President?” I guess the implication is that God deserves at least as good as you’d give the President. Well my response is always the same. “If I were his daughter, he’d be as happy to see me in my pajamas as in my Sunday best.” I venture to guess that the twins don’t put on formal gowns before they come by the White House to see Daddy Bush. It would be disrespectful for me to refer to him as Daddy Bush or to show up to dinner in my PJs, but not for his children. They get special privileges.

Second, I read a book a while back which devoted an entire chapter to why it is wrong to refer to God as “daddy.” At the time, I remember thinking, “how weird that someone would spend so much time thinking about what terms of endearment someone else should or shouldn’t use toward God.” It seemed a silly thing to argue over, quite frankly. I think the point the author was trying to make is that our prayers to God and our reference to the Almighty should be reverent. Both of these points of view seem to imply that a familiarity with God is somehow irreverent.

These comments came to mind again recently when, in Bible class, our teacher mentioned Galatians 4:6, which reads, “And because you are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of His Son, into your hearts, crying “Abba, Father.” In Romans 8:15 it says that because we are adopted we can cry “Abba, Father.” Christ referred to God in the same terms in Matthew 14:36. So I started thinking about the way I refer to God. Normally, I just say Dear God or Heavenly Father. But it occurred to me that I only use this terminology because it’s what I’ve always heard in the liturgical prayers given from the pulpit. As for me, I want to be like Christ and He called God “Abba.” I knew a girl once who gave her daughter a really unusual name. She knew it was a Japanese word and liked the way it sounded but had no idea what it meant. I thought, at the time, how sad it would be if she found out it meant hateful or something unfortunate like that. Lucky for her it meant flower. Anyway, before I started referring to God as Abba I figured I ought to make sure that I knew what I was saying.

Here’s what I came up with. In the Old Testament the Hebrew word most often (pretty much always) translated father is ab or abi. Literally it means father and it denotes patrimony. Abba, apparently is another form of this word. It only appears in the three verses mentioned above in all of New Testament scripture. In the verses in Romans, Paul was drawing a contrast between the old and new systems. He was saying that under the old system we were slaves but now we are children. As children, we have the privilege of referring to God as our Abba. In Galatians, he says that under the old system we were heirs but still children and as children we were treated as slaves. Now, though we are full grown and treated as sons and are therefore given the Spirit which allows us to cry out “Abba.”
I did some research online and from what I can surmise; abba was the affectionate term used by Hebrew children to refer to their father. It is the equivalent of our modern day term daddy. It is not a formal name. Under the old law the Jewish scribes would not even write the name of God. He would never have been referred to in such familiar terms. Abba is familiar, it is affectionate, and it denotes love. It’s one of the beautiful things about the new relationship that Christ made possible, a familiar relationship of a child to his or her father. I love I John 3:1, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” Is God worthy of respect? Absolutely! Should we be reverent when we address Him? No question! But from my perspective, he’s more than just the Almighty Creator of the universe, he’s also my Abba. And that’s the way I start my conversations with him now.

THURSDAY THOUGHTS

What Every Mom Wants to Hear


Since Sunday is Mother’s Day, I thought that I would use this week’s Thursday’s Thoughts to share the following. It is from a talk that I gave at a Mother-Daughter banquet a couple of years ago.

My daughters didn’t emerge from the womb and proclaim, “Mother, I understand the great sacrifice you made to bring me into the world. I accept your love and return it unconditionally. I want to be pleasing and obedient to you always.” In fact, I don’t expect that ever, but it would be nice. I’d settle for “thanks for the peanut butter sandwich, mom.” But, I was thinking, what if I could write a script of the things I’d like to hear from my girls now and in the future. As I was thinking, it occurred to me that I’ve probably never said these things to my own mom. So, let me take this opportunity to tell my mom what I think she needs to hear from me. Then, I’m going to laminate the list for my own children.

Mom,

#1 You did a good job and I’m glad that I was born into your family.

#2 I don’t blame you for any mistakes you made. I’m not permanently scarred because you made mistakes. You did all the big things right and you definitely did more good than bad as a parent and as a person.

#3 I appreciate all the sacrifice you made for me. I’m sure that I’m not even aware of half of it.

#4 Thank you.

#5 You gave me the ability to accomplish what I have and I am who I am, in large part, because of you.

#6 You’ve left a lasting legacy because of your “unfeigned and sincere faith.”
In II Timothy, Paul gives credit to Timothy’s mother and grandmother who passed on to him their “sincere faith.” Lois, his grandmother, first taught her daughter, Eunice. She went on to teach Timothy who became an evangelist to the church in Ephesus. Who knows what my two children will accomplish in God’s kingdom because of your example and your dedication to “bringing me up in the way that I should go.”

So, we need a practical application for all the other moms reading this. II Timothy 1:9 says that we’ve been called to a holy life. Make this your first and most important task. Then, entrust your children to the only perfect parent, God. I doubt, if you do these things, that your children will remember your parenting blunders. I can only hope so because I’ve made them all.

We're gonna have to move!

I have a funny Ainsley story that I just must tell. One evening recently she was in the kitchen and came running into our bedroom clearly distressed about something. She was out of breath and panted "I was in the kitchen and I heard what Uncle Don was watching on TV." Assuming some inappropriate language, I asked her what she heard. She was visibly shaken when she explained, "The man said that America is for sale. They're gonna sell America!!" When we stopped laughing we reassured her that we weren't going to have to move and America is not really for sale.

On second thought though, maybe a move isn't such a bad idea. With the presidential candidates we've got to choose from...

Hernia Surgery

So, yesterday i had surgery to repair a hernia. They gave me some pretty good drugs intraveneously and yesterday afternoon I was walking around thinking, "No sweat." Well last night the drugs wore off and by this morning I was feeling pretty rough. Our girls spent the last two nights with Chris' parents and I think they had enough sugar to last a lifetime. Doughnuts for breakfast, chocolate chip cookies and brownies, just to name a few of the treats. I didn't think that they'd ever want to come home after being spoiled rotten by the grandparents but they were excited to come home. Ainsley had apparently been so worried about me that she cried every time she heard my voice on the phone. She told my mother-in-law that she was worried daddy wasn't taking good enough care of me. She seemed so happy to see me when she got home it just melted my heart. She hugged me and stuck really close all afternoon. She watches the clock very closely so I don't miss a dose of pain medication. She is so maternal. She's got me wrapped in an ace bandage and checks my scar as often as I'll let her. Maybe she'll be a doctor someday.

Thanks to everyone who has been praying for me. Surgery was successful and the doctor says that after I heal I should be feeling a lot better. Good News and the answer to prayer.