JAMtime

Do you have “Just A Minute” to watch Idol, Lost, or The Office? Do you have “Just A Minute” to stop into Starbucks and get a weird Frapacrapasomething I’ve never heard of? Do you have “Just A Minute” to go to that BIG game on Friday night or Saturday afternoon? Did you know, there are 60 minutes in an hour- 1,440 minutes in a day- 10,080 minutes in a week- 43,200 minutes in an average month- 525,600 minutes in a year. Wow- what are we really doing with all that time? I believe, we as parents should be trying harder to take “Just A Minute” throughout the day to be more intentional in doing life with our family. Which leads me to this blog…

Well, I told myself that I would never be a blogger, simply because I’m pretty sure no one cares what I ate for breakfast or where I went today. But what our passion (my wife and I) is through this blog is to post about real life family stuff that might help you as parents be better parents, spouses, and live a more Christ centered life. Not that we have it all together, because, believe me, we don’t – we just realize that all of us can use all the support in being a parent that we can get! We will blog about practical tools or suggestions that hopefully might encourage you along your journey. Below you will find a post from my wife, Emily, that I believe is essential in ultimately bringing us to where we need to begin before true change happens. Hoping to bring you valuable Family Stuff that is beneficial to you and your family!

Wendell

A Big Stinky Mess…

As I rounded the corner to our son’s room, a very familiar smell lingered in the air. It was a smell that was undeniable, distinctly him, and yet, one that usually did not bring about strong feelings of affection for my son…stinky diaper. I entered his room, prepared to battle the stench and change his dirty diaper, but I was so not ready for what waited for me on the other side of that door. There he stood in his crib, completely covered from head to toe with his stinky. I just wanted to cry. And then I wanted to leave the room and let someone else deal with it. What a mess! He had it everywhere…all over the sheet, on the bumper pads, smeared on the railings, some painted on the wall behind his crib, books covered in it, all his stuffed animals “christened” with it, and his entire body was streaked like he had gotten into the war paint. But the worst part was his hands…they were completely covered…palms, fingers, even under his fingernails. Apparently, he had unsnapped his clothes much earlier during his nap and taken off his diaper and then played in it a good long while because the stinky was completely caked onto whatever it had touched.

So, after taking it all in, I asked myself what I should do first. It quickly became obvious…I had to rescue him from the mess he had created and take him straight to the tub. He knew that consequences were coming, and I knew that there was a major cleanup coming on Aisle 5, but first he had to be rescued from the mess.

As I fumed during the hour-long cleanup that followed, God began to quiet my heart and help me realize that I had a choice in how I looked at the situation. I could choose to be upset about it or I could choose to use the situation as a reminder of what Christ did for me. Much like our son was wallowing in his stinky, I was once wallowing in my sin. And much like I rescued our son from his mess, Christ rescued me from the mess I had made living in that sin.

I think many times we try to get all cleaned up before we come to Christ. That’s impossible for a couple of reasons. First, we need to be rescued by Christ before the “cleaning up” in our lives can happen. Trying to clean our son before I rescued him from the mess would have been pointless. Secondly, just like our son didn’t have the power or ability to clean himself up, we don’t either – we need Christ’s power to do that. We receive His power when we allow Him to rescue us and we give Him control of our lives.

The same goes for changes in our family…we as parents have to first be rescued by Christ before we can start the clean up process in ourselves and in our family. This blog will hopefully have many practical ideas and helps for your family – and maybe it will spur some on to “clean up” some things in your home and family relationships. The point, though, is this…all of your efforts to “clean up” your home life and family time will be empty if you haven’t first been rescued by Christ, the Great Rescuer. A relationship with Him, and Him only, will give you the power and ability to let Him begin the clean up process. The cleaning up may take a while, but with Him, it is completely possible.

Emily