crazy.

• Author: Brad
• Filed under: church planting, education, family, fatherhood, parenting
• Date: Aug 19,2007

“I remember when
I remember
I remember when
I lost my mind
There was something
So pleasant about that place
Even your emotions
Have an echo
In so much space

And when you’re out there
Without care
Yeah, I was out of touch
But it wasn’t because
I didn’t know enough
I just knew too much

Does that make me crazy?
Does that make me crazy?
Does that make me crazy?
Probably”

-”Crazy” by Gnarls Barkley

Tomorrow will begin one the craziest times I’ve ever attempted in my adult life…

1) School starts at Missouri Baptist University – where I’ve been since July. If you’ve been following this blog, you know that I am the Worship Arts Coordinator for the new Worship Arts major offered at MBU.

This fall, I am overseeing one class called Worship Performance Workshop where students will be responsible for putting together a multi-sensory worship experience from start to finish.

The majority of my school time this fall though will be directing the ministry group SpiritWing. They already have many concerts booked on the weekends. They are a talented group of kids with tender hearts for ministry. I’m excited to see the impact they will have this year…

2) Tomorrow begins my first semester of master’s level work at Liberty Theological Seminary. I am pursuing a Masters of Arts in Theological Studies through distance learning. But here’s the kicker: I am taking 18 hours in all.

Most people say that 9 hours of master’s level studies is considered full-time. I guess this would be considered crazy sick-time.

The reason for the ambition is that to teach at MBU, I have to complete 18 hours of master’s work. This would allow me to teach in the Spring 08 semester. Your prayers would be welcome…

3) I am beginning a intensive church planting training program with the Acts 29 Network and The Journey in September with other folks like myself – full-time job, married. It is like an internship, but not.

This will be a bi-monthly training session with the pastors from The Journey. Somewhere down the road, God has called me to plant a church. I’m getting a head start this September…

4) My wife and I adjust to four kids. All under the age of 6. And the two oldest being homeschooled.

Whew…

being a kid all over again: the perks of fatherhood

• Author: Brad
• Filed under: family, fatherhood, parenting, television
• Date: Jul 14,2007

One of the perks of being a father is watching an inordinate amount of cartoons with your children. In many ways, you get to be a kid with your kids.

Tonight, while watching the Cartoon Network with my two oldest and their cousin, I saw the best yet: The Bionic Stooges. As in the Three Stooges, yet bionic. Who would have thunk it?

The Robonic Stooges was an animated series developed by Norman Maurer and Hanna-Barbera Productions which originally aired as a segment on The Skatebirds on CBS in 1977. In January 1978, the show was given its own timeslot on CBS and ran for 16 episodes (at 30 minutes each).

In the episodes, the Three Stooges are made into cyborgs and become secret agents. They fight crime with their special bionic powers and are given assignments from Agent 000. Hilarious!

Though I’ve about hit my limit with Dora, Blue’s Clues, and Lazy Town, the random cartoons on Boom and Cartoon Network make it worth it all…

fireworks in a ghost town

• Author: Brad
• Filed under: family, fatherhood, parenting, reflections
• Date: Jul 4,2007

Tonight, my family and I – my wife and our 3 children who are all under 5 – went down the road to an interesting spot to view some 4th of July fireworks. A spot that has an intriguing history.

Back in the late 90′s, St. Louis’ Lambert Airport was promised a lucrative contract with a major airline. And with this deal, Lambert would need to expand – extra runways and concourses, etc. So they bought out some land southwest of their facility which in turn meant that neighborhoods, churches, businesses, etc. in that area would need to be demolished and folks would have to relocate.

Well, the contract didn’t meet it desired expectations. Lambert did a partial expansion [although in February of this year, the city announced plans to continue the expansion]. And acres and acres of land now sit empty as thousands of people had to leave.

The Riverfront Times stated in 2002 that over 1925 homes were demolished and in January of this year, the USA Today reported that ,” … the runway displaced 6,000 residents of suburban Bridgeton from their homes. And John Krekeler, one of 16 Lambert airport commissioners, estimates that only 5% of flights at Lambert use the new runway.”

So today, only a few empty houses and a church remain. A veritable ‘ghost town’ in the middle of a major metropolitan city. But in the very back of this ‘ghost town’ sits a park that is a part of the Bridgeton park system. The park still has a certain level of maintenance. And even though there is virtually nothing around it, I think it was made for a night like tonight.

I saw – no joke – probably 20-25 major fireworks displays west down the I-40 corridor – St. Charles, St. Peters, O’Fallon, Lake St. Louis, Wentzville, etc. – north up the I-270 corridor – Bridgeton, Florrisant, Ferguson, etc. – and northwest into Elsberry, Louisiana, etc. Our kids were mesmerized. And so were their parents.

And there were other families there. Ones that I’m sure remember when this community was a fledgling neighborhood. Now all that’s left are empty lots and the occasional home whose windows are broken and shrubs are overgrown.

As we drove out of the ‘ghost town,’ I couldn’t help but think of all the people who were uprooted from these neighborhoods for nothing. They are now scattered all over St. Louis and St. Charles counties. The band director at my church and his family used to live in one of the neighborhoods. They now live in St. Charles.

But I was also reminded as my family and I left the park that home isn’t a structure. Home truly is where the heart resides. And as I looked at my exhausted kids in the rear view mirror and my pregnant wife to the right of me, I realized no one can take your home from you.

Even if they take your house from you.

pater familias day

• Author: Brad
• Filed under: family, fatherhood, parenting
• Date: Jun 18,2007

It is hard to fathom sometimes I am a dad. Just 6 years ago, I was newly married, pursuing a record deal in Nashvegas, and taking care of a miniature rat terrier puppy named Bebo. I know, what a corny name for a dog….

As I type this tonight, I am listening to my wife talk on the phone to her sister in Iowa – who just gave birth to her first – giving her tips for recovery. I’m looking down at my wife’s stomach and she is great with child with our fourth. Yes, our fourth…

So yesterday for Father’s Day, my wife and I took our three kids to a local mall. We ate lunch at one of daddy’s favorite spots. Our lunches are filled with trying to keep our kids sitting in their chairs, not spilling their drinks or eating the crayons and occasional three-word sentence to each other while we scarf our food. In the old days, Holly and I would have had a peaceful meal filled with much conversation and a normal eating pace.

Next it was off to the bathrooms – to take care of business. My son decided he needed to to really go – if you know what I mean. We are at the stage where daddy still needs to check to make sure one’s hiney is clean. It wasn’t. In the old days, I’m outta there in 2 minutes…

Next, I took the kids to a sports outfitters store called Cabelas. But it’s not because I’m a sportsman. No, it was for the tortoises. And all the stuffed animals you could think of and then some. We even saw an albino catfish and we shot some cork guns. In the old days, I wouldn’t step a foot into this outdoor wonderland…

Finally, we ended up at an indoor playground where the other fathers had stopped for a reprieve. My youngest daughter – 1 year-old – decides to be bold and slide down the 10-foot version in this mall. I saw my life and hers flash before my eyes. She was fine. In the old days, I would have laughed at the 6-foot men having to maneuver in and out the playground equipment to keep up with their kid and went on the video game store.

Father’s Day has become such an amazing thing. In many ways, it’s as much about my kids as it is about me.

You see, in the old days, I wasn’t a father.

And the funny thing is, living in the here and now, getting ready for my fourth baby in August, I wouldn’t trade those old days for a thing.

Except maybe having to wipe hinies…

jaidyn ann kleeman – welcome to our world!

• Author: Brad
• Filed under: family, parenting
• Date: Jun 15,2007

Praise God! A new quiver begins…

Holly’s younger sister and her husband, Rachel and Casey, gave birth to their first child, a girl, Jaidyn Ann Kleeman this morning. She was 7 lbs., 6 oz. and 19″ long.

Congratulations Casey and Rachel. What a cutie! Cooper, Margo, and Sloan can’t wait to see their new cousin…

May God bless you as you enter this new and exciting season of life. Here is the best parent’s prayer I know of. Take the words of this prayer to heart:

Oh, God, make me a better parent.
Help me to understand my children,
to listen patiently to what they have to say
and to answer all their questions kindly.
Keep me from interrupting them,
talking back to them and contradicting them.
Make me as courteous to them
as I would have them be to me.

Give me the courage to confess my sins
against my children and to ask of them forgiveness,
when I know that I have done them wrong.

May I not vainly hurt the feelings of my children.
Forbid that I should laugh at their mistakes or
resort to shame and ridicule as punishment.

Let me not tempt a child to lie and steal.
So guide me hour by hour that I may demonstrate
by all I say and do that honestly produces happiness.

Reduce, I pray, the meanness in me.
May I cease to nag:
and when I am out of sorts,
help me, O Lord, to hold my tongue.

Blind me to the little errors of my children
and help me to see the good things that they do.
Give me a ready word for honest praise.

Help to treat my children as those of their own age,
but let me not exact of them the judgments
and conventions of adults.
Allow me not to rob them of the opportunity
to wait upon themselves,
to think, to choose, and to make decisions.

Forbid that I should ever punish them
for my self satisfaction.
May I grant them all of their wishes that are reasonable
and have the courage always
to withhold a privilege that I know will do them harm.
Amen.

counter-cultural parenting…

• Author: Brad
• Filed under: family, parenting, the art of...
• Date: Mar 31,2007

Via Brant Hansen of Letters from Kamp Krusty:

I’m hereby offering advice to no one in particular. No one asked for it, and no one should vainly imagine themselves its intended audience. So be not offended. I didn’t have you in mind. You probably think this song is about you? Don’t you? Don’t you?

Put Your Dang Kids to Bed!

Seriously. You can do it.

If you want to have a marriage with some zing, put your dang kids to bed. Put them to bed EARLY. Put them to bed on time, the same time, every night, and make them stay there.

Then, go goof off with your wife. Laugh and talk and unwind and watch “Walker, Texas Ranger” until you can’t laugh anymore. Be unproductive. Smooch. Do this every night.

Your kids need to sleep, and they can sleep. They actually don’t have to get up every ten minutes. They’re just doing that to get attention and delay bedtime. Don’t allow it, or you’re a pansy.

This gives you — and, more importantly, your wife — some peaceful time, every day, to look forward to. Moreover, it lets you stay happily married. She’s under less stress, you have time to connect, life is good, your marriage means something, and you remember you’re not just roomies with junior-size roomies running around.

Don’t just “help” with bedtime. Supervise it, entirely. Let your wife use that time as wind-down time, or to take care of last-minute things. Kids will want to make bedtime an endless parade of traditions, too, in order to stave it off. Don’t let this happen. Make it as simple a process as possible. If you want to read a story, awesome! Just start early enough that the lights go off at the appointed time. Your kids will start to complain. Too bad. Lights off. Sweet dreams. Buh-bye.

Let them know that your time with your wife trumps all other considerations, and, after their bedtime, they are “other considerations.” Kids resist this, but — deep down — positively love it.

7 p.m. is not too early for young children. Give yourself a couple hours together, not one or two nights a week, but five or six.

If she’s stressed out every night, because of her job, let her quit her job. If you can’t afford it, afford it. Sell stuff. Move. Rent. Forget the college fund. Don’t buy dumb cars and houses and stuff to make yourself feel cool, and miss out on a joyous, stress-limited marriage. She can take care of herself. It’ll give her time, and energy, to love her children, her neighbors, and you.

So you bought her a nice car? Who gives a rip? She’d rather drive an old mini-van and have you around, living life together at a sweet, beautiful pace. Even if she doesn’t think she wants this, she does.

Quit buying crap and live in a trailer if you have to. And put your trailer-kids to bed, for crying out loud.

There. Sheesh.

My wife and I thought we were crazy. Now, we’re just ‘krusty’…