HopeForYourFamily

Yesterday, as I was driving home from my office, an electronic sign caught my eye.  A daycare center on my daily commute route has one of those electronic billboard signs that changes to flash up multiple messages.  It’s the kind of thing that grabs your attention the first few times you see it, then fades into background scenery as your familiarity grows.

Unless something particularly unusual is posted.  Like yesterday.

“Part Time Toddler” – the sign proclaimed.  I guess it caught my attention because I thought maybe it was a personal message to me.  It sure sounded familiar.  Turns out the next screen completed the statement – “Teacher Needed.”

For some reason, that phrase keeps rolling around in my head.  Part Time Toddler.  Truth is it wouldn’t be a stretch to print that on my personal-life-business card.

“Hi, I’m Dr. Roger Butner.  Full time Christian counselor.  Full time husband.  Full time dad.  Part time toddler.  Nice to meet you.”

This is not about beating my self up or wallowing or any other such nonsense.  Just an honest declaration that I can sometimes be extremely childish, petty, self-indulgent, and destructive.  Basically, a big toddler.  Not all the time, mind you.  And, praise be to God for His transforming grace, not even as much as I used to be only a couple years ago.  But I can still have my moments.

“My way.  Of course my way is the Right way!  You aren’t paying enough attention to ME!  Why do I have to do things I don’t feel like doing?  I don’t want to share.  Get out of my way.  Don’t try to help me – I can do it MYSELF!  Hurry up.  Meet my expectations.”

You get the idea.  Of course, I don’t usually say these things out loud.  That would sound, well… like some kind of big toddler, or something.  But I do say them with my mind and attitude and life.  It is the human condition in a fallen world.  I know I am not alone in this struggle.

Paul put it this way:

“So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.  For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.  What a wretched man I am!  Who will rescue me from this body of death?  Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

“So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.  Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.  For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering.  And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.”    – Romans 7:21-8:4

Part Time Toddler?  Well, yes.  Growing up in the grace, maturity, and fullness of Christ by the empowering leadership of His Holy Spirit?  You bet!!!  Good News?  Oh, I sure think so!

Tags: adolescence, hope, the journey

This is a fantastic post from Jeff Jenkins regarding the power of building honesty, vulnerability, and trust in marriage. Thanks so much for sharing these insights with us, Jeff!

Tags: hope, marriage / relationships

All this hubbub about the Christian Blogger Awards has got me really pondering the medium and dynamics of blogging.  I would like to invite you to ponder and share with me on this.  For an interesting insight and dialogue on what blogs seem to capture our attention, check out Trey Morgan’s recent post.

How did you discover blogging?

Why are you interested in blogging?

What difference has blogging made in your life?

What do you think is missing in the blogosphere?

Could you make a better or more significant contribution to the blogosphere, and if so, how?

And, while we’re at it, where do you spend time on the blogosphere?  I’m always on the lookout for positive resources that make a difference, whether blogs, or books, or movies, or whatever.

I look forward to the dialogue!

Tags: blogging

In its inaugural year, “The Christian Blogger Awards” are primarily within the Church of Christ brotherhood, given the folks who began the award.  We’ll see how it grows in coming years.  I was honored to be a finalist, and I look forward to connecting more with my fellow Christian bloggers.

And the winners are…

Best Marriage/Parenting/Family Blog: Laura Coppinger – http://heavenlyhomemakers.com/blog/

Best Leadership/Discipleship Blog: Patrick Mead – http://patrickmead.net/

Best Devotional/Inspiriational Blog: John Dobbs – http://johndobbs.com/

Best Theological Blog: John Mark Hicks – http://johnmarkhicks.wordpress.com/

Best Practical Ministry Blog: Trey Morgan - http://www.treymorgan.net/

Best New Blog: Steve Tucker – http://thetractorcab.wordpress.com/

Best Female Blogger: Sarah Stirman – http://sarahstirman.blogspot.com/

And the Blogger of the Year Award goes to…

Trey Morgan – http://treymorgan.net/

Congrats to all the winners.  And may the power of blogging grow throughout the Kingdom of Christ!

p.s. – If you know of other great blogs by Christians that you believe are making a significant impact for the Kingdom, I would encourage you to pass them along to Brad Palmore and TheoBloggers. (as they are the folks who sponsored this new award)

Tags: blogging, community, hope, media, social networking

CHECK THIS OUT!

Where The Wild Things Are, coming at you live this fall!

WAY COOL!!!

Tags: books, media, movies

Last night I experienced not only one of my all time best Dad moments in my five year “career” as a Dad, but a moment that was truly one of the highlights of my life to date.

My son is an extremely gregarious kid who seems always on the go, and who we regularly refer to as “all boy.”  However, he frequently feels intimidated and shy with new people in new situations, especially if it is a somewhat large or loud setting.  So I didn’t know how he would face going to his first ever sports “tryout.”  We signed him up for soccer in our church league, thinking it would be a good opportunity for exercise, building friendships, learning to follow other authorities’ directions, and developing greater self-confidence.  But I was really kinda nervous.  I feared he might crumple and hide when he felt “in the spotlight.”

Wrong!  He was beaming!  It was incredible to behold!  As I sat up in the bleachers with my mother-in-law watching him, I saw something new and wonderful growing in my son – right before my eyes.  He didn’t need me to hold his hand and guide him through it.  He was eager, attentive, (relatively) focused, and just brimming over with confidence and joy.  Kinda reminded me of the story of Crane from “The Secrets of the Furious Five!”  (DVD sequel to “Kung Fu Panda” – watch it.  It will change your life.)

I am so thrilled at how he defied my anxious, rather low expectations and soared with his own wings.  I just had to share that with you today.  May you experience heights of joy in the very near future.

A Thrilled Dad,

Roger

Tags: family, manhood, parenting

Thanks to my friend/colleague/sister/boss, Murphy Toerner, for this post about G. K. Chesterson’s powerful reply to the question, “What’s wrong with the world?”

Tags: hope

This morning I awoke to a Baton Rouge that is both soggy and beautiful.  Sometimes life is like that.  Rains come and fall all over our lives.  As the showers fall or the storms rage, we aren’t quite sure whether to feel anxious or encouraged.  Changes are coming, as they inevitably do, but no one asked our permission first.  We can feel both peaceful and melancholy at the same time.  The rains stop and we venture out of our cover.  Enjoy the fresh earthy scents.  Pull a couple of weeds that have been loosened by the deluge.  Drink in the rich hues of green around us.

The day itself seems to be thoughtful – mournful, sad, contemplative, anticipatory.  A good day for pouring fresh rich coffee and drinking it slowly.  Read some Frost or Dostoevsky or Whitman or Nouen or some other writer who invites you to slowly hear and consider their words.

A day made to be encountered slowly and reverently.  Not to be rushed and ignored, but lingered and savored.

Aaaaaaahhhhh…

Wonder what today will bring.

Even as I consider the last, I hear the fresh rainfall, which God mercifully held aloft until I reached my office.  Open the blinds to my window looking out on the grass and trees and pond and rustic red barn.  Wonder what could ever have compelled me to close the blinds yesterday.  Although I have not yet spent time today in God’s Word, I have spent time drinking deeply of His well of life, seeing and hearing and tasting and smelling and feeling Him and His wonderful creative redemptive Truth all around me.

Ever have a day like that?  We would love to hear about it.

Tags: coffee, nature

I have been reflecting, of late, on the impact and significance of new communication technologies / social networking tools in our culture. The Internet itself, blogs, email, instant messaging, texting, i-phones, Blackberries, MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc. Communication in Western culture has changed exponentially in my lifetime, and I am only 35!

Yesterday I shared a link to a video that gives a rather unnerving, satirical viewpoint on Twittering, the micro-blogging phenomenon of which I have been a part now for maybe two or three months. Today I am glad to share with you how all this high-tech instant communication can be a part of a real relationship where coffee is imbibed, stories are shared, theology is hammered out, and friendship is deepened.

Last week as I was going through my emails at the office, I got an instant message (G-mail style) from a good friend of mine. It was one of those “Wazzup?” kind of messages. Rather quickly, this simple correspondence evolved into some genuine theological discussion. My Catholic friend had been talking to his Pentecostal co-worker about the Trinity, and he was curious to hear my non-denominational, evangelical take on it. I quickly suggested to him that a late lunch at Raising Cane’s was required if this was to go any further. (For those of you living outside the range of Cane’s, you are sadly missing out on the finest chicken fingers and dipping sauce known to the free world. Guthrie’s in Tuscaloosa, AL holds a close second.)

The conversation was spirited, heartening, and rather deep. As we were leaving, my buddy commented that we really should do this more regularly, kinda like the old guys who have breakfast every Friday morning at Frank’s, or IHOP, or whatever. We both laughed, but agreed he was onto something, and left with an undefined hope of continuing this dialogue.

So yesterday he sends me another G-mail instant message, clarifying the Trinitarian view of his Pentecostal colleague, etc. Before we finished the online conversation, we had set up a standing weekly appointment for coffee on Friday mornings at 6:30. I sense real, lasting friendship in the making – the kind that doesn’t seem to happen as much anymore in our culture of surface relationships and conversational skimming. We’ll see.

My point today is this: tools make whatever impact they make based on how they are used by the tool-wielder. All this communication technology can easily be used as a substitute for real relationships while giving the appearance of many friendships. But it can be a helpful method for real people to make real progress in deepening real relationships over real coffee. Bottoms up!

Tags: coffee, culture, facebook, friends, media, social networking, texting, twitter

Check out this post on Walt Mueller’s (of CPYU) blog.  Not sure where the cartoon came from.

“I’m taking you to the Twittersphere!”

So, what do you think?  Regarding Facebook, MySpace, blogging, Twitter, etc, how do you see these “social networking sites” impacting our culture?  Your family?  Your life?  Friend or foe?

I look forward to your comments, and hope to see the site become more interactive and conversational as you add your perspectives to mine and to one another’s.

(Thanks so much to my friend, Jimmy, for tweaking my website for the umpteenth time – this time to make it easier for folks to post comments.)

Tags: adolescence, blogging, culture, media, social networking, teens, twitter