Back again?

A few know I have taken this school year off from ministry because I have had some very serious doubts about the basic truths of modern Christianity. Some of those with whom I have discussed this know that I am not reacting to hypocritical Christians, although there are plenty of those around me. It is also true that I am not swayed by the problem of evil, though it is a reality. The simplest version of why I "left" the faith is that I lost the sense that it was true. It is very important for those who care about apologetics to realize that any belief in the Christian god must be "presuppositional" in that the individual must first choose to believe that there is an all-powerful God of the Christian type. The Christian scriptures declare that God can be seen in nature, but in reality scientific observation will not reveal the presence of God unless one already acknowledges the presence of God. The athiest sees a beautiful sunrise and sees an amazing interaction between gravity, gasses, and light while the Christian sees the same, thinking that God somehow planned this interaction. Belief in God does not guide the proper observation of the sunset, but this belief allows the Christian to give the interaction unobservable meaning. "The heavens declare the glory of God", but only to those who are willing to believe.

So what can explain the difference between the athiest and the Christian observing a sunset? The best answer is the effect of a strong desire to see God that exists in the mind of the Christian. The nonchristian often believes the Christian's desire to see God comes from a need to belong to a specific group or the desire to claim special knowledge, but a Christian will probably cite the effect of the awakening of the Holy Spirit in his "heart" to explain how he can see God working around him. This is where I felt like I "lost" God. I lost the sense of this "awakening" by the Holy Spirit so that I did not have the intuitive sense that He was there. When I tried to "find" God, the logic of it all evaded me, and so I decided to let God pull me back to him if he existed. 

I now have the sense that this is beginning to occur. I am in the early stages, but I began praying again this week. For the sake of understanding what is going on I am going to document my progress, and I welcome comments as encouragement or challenges to rethink what I write. Those who have been praying for me I thank you.

This past weekend

On Saturday, February 11th, Josh and Joshua ran their first 5K during the Mercedes Marathon.  They seemed to enjoy it, though it was VERY cold.  We even had some snow flurries.  They did a great job!

After their race, we went to Boutwell Auditorium and hung out for an hour and a half or so until the girl's races' were to start.  They ran in the Kid's marathon.  Each year, the kindergarteners through the 5th graders run the first 25.2 miles at school and the final mile, they run downtown.  They get a medal at the finish line.  They love running in it!

                                                                                                                                                         
   I was VERY proud of my runners! :-)

February

Well, it has been quite a while since I last posted.  We have been busy with life.  The kids are busy, busy with school and I can't believe that they are over halfway done with this school year.
Joshua has been doing very well in 6th grade at his new school.  He is enjoying playing the trombone in the band and Friday got first chair in the trombones and was very excited about that. Though it saddens him, and me, he has decided to take this season off of soccer.  I think it will work out for the best,but he is going to miss it.  It will be nice not to have soccer practice two nights a week and Saturday games for the next couple months though!
Abby is enjoying her 5th grade year at school.  She LOVES her teacher this year, so that is really nice.  In December she was in the Nutcracker and loved that.  She is busy with her ballet two afternoons a week, and still loves it. 
Sarah is learning a lot in 3rd grade and is busy learning her multiplication facts.  She is doing great with them.  She is also in the Catechism class at church and is busy learning all 150 catechisms.  They are over halfway there.  She is doing great with it, but I think she will be very glad when she is done. :-)  She is also busy with her clogging and really loves it.  There are a lot of times we are walking in the grocery store or somewhere and she is clogging away while she walks along with us. 
We have had a very mild winter this year, so the last couple days have been a shock to our systems. :-)  It has gotten very cold.  I am looking forward to the weather warming up and planting a bunch of flowers on our porch again! 
Just wanted to give a quick update.  Hopefully I will update again soon with some pictures from this weekend.

First Day of School!

On August 10, the kids and I went to Abby and Sarah's schools and met their teachers.  The girls were very excited.  Abby has Mrs. Belski and Mrs. Puller.  She was thrilled to have a couple kids she knows in the class- especially her friend Lauren, who has been in her 1st, 2nd, 3rd and now 5th grade class with her.  :-) .  Sarah has Mrs. Allen and was thrilled to have her.  She was Joshua's 3rd grade teacher also, and he LOVED her.
That evening, Josh and I went on our date and when we got back, we told the kids to get in the car and took them to Yogurt Lab as a surprise.  We had to end the summer with one more fun outing together!

The next day we were up bright and early and getting back into a busy routine.  Here Joshua, Abby and Sarah are, walking out the door for school.

         
I have a friend who takes Joshua to school every morning, so I am thankful that I only have two school carpool lines to sit in, in the mornings.  That saves me some time, so I can get myself back home and back out the door in time to head to my school.

Week before school started

Seems like life has suddenly gotten busy now that school has started!  Here is a short recap of the week before school started.  We had a couple of the kid's friends over to play.   Joshua's friend Keifer came over to swim for a few hours.  They had a lot of fun together!

                                                Joshua read a whole lot this summer.

The kid's enjoyed Lazy Days with Grandmama again this summer.  Mom plans something fun to do with the kids once a week during the summer and the kids love spending time with her.  As a fun ending to the summer, they planned a party to have with their other cousins- Charlie, Sam, Noah and Gray.  Lillie and Eli came too, but they hung out with their Mama's and took naps.   Mom came and picked up the kids on Monday and they went to a local bakery and picked out some fun cookies for the little boys to have at their party.  Tuesday morning, I took them down to Dad and Mom's house so they could have their party.   I love that the cousins all love each other so much and really enjoy being with each other.  Even with such a big age difference. :-)    They had a great time!

I dropped the kids off and then a little later went back down to visit with Mom, Bec and Angie for a little while and enjoy a yummy salad that mom had made!

Josh and I had a meeting at Joshua's school that afternoon, so the kids stayed there and she and dad took them to IHOP for dinner before bringing them home.  The kids loved it!  Thanks dad and mom for letting the kids have such fun memories with y'all!

Strike up the band!

His first try at the trombone

Learning how to hold the trombone

Joshua has been looking forward to joining the Pizitz school band ever since he realized there was one. I wasn't sure what instrument he planned on playing, but this last week Joshua made his choice.

Joshua scored 8 out of 10 on the flute

I like the way the school assists students in finding a reasonable match. In a room full of instruments and musicians, the students carried a list from station to station trying the trumpet, trombone, tuba, baritone, saxophone, clarinet, flute, drums, bassoon, and oboe. The musician at each station gave each student a quick introduction in how the instrument worked and they had a chance to try it out. The student then received a score from 1-10 on how well they picked up the basics of that particular instrument. Joshua scored strongest on the larger brass instruments, though he did pretty well on all the instruments. In fact Joshua confided to one of the instructors that he really wanted to learn to play all the instruments there that day. He had the hardest time with the flute on which he scored an 8. To my surprise he chose the trombone as his top choice and the tuba as his second. I think it scored so highly in his mind because it is an instrument that also is included in the school's jazz band.

The first trombone he tried at Art's Music Shop

Here is a link to the video I shot earlier of Joshua trying a trombone at Art's
So today was the day Joshua got his trombone from Art's music shop in Birmingham! He chose a used Getzen 747 that he couldn't wait to try out when he got home.

Getting ready for school

This morning I cleaned a neighbor's house and then the kid's and I went to Pizitz so that Joshua could set up his locker and practice his locker combination.  I cannot believe that I have child in middle school!!  And that he has a LOCKER! :-)

We set up his locker and then he practiced his combination lock for a little while.  Hopefully it will go smoothly when he starts school on Thursday.  Watching all the girls set up their lockers made me thankful I have a boy going this year.  You should have seen all the decorations, rugs, wallpaper etc... that they used.  The lockers looked VERY cute but it sure was easier to put in a shelf and a couple magnetic holders. :-)

When we were done, we went to one of the gyms and helped clean up the supply sale that had been going on for a few days.   It is the only fundraiser the school has, so we are encouraged to buy the supplies there.  The prices weren't that bad, and I have to admit I wasn't looking forward to driving all around looking for specific items, so yesterday, we bought Joshua's supplies there.  It sure made it simple!  I think all 4 of us enjoyed cleaning up and we had fun visiting with friends while we did it.

 Tonight our Sunday School Class had a party at someone's house and we had hamburgers and hotdogs.  We enjoyed visiting and catching up with friends while the girls had fun swimming in the pool!  Joshua didn't want to swim but had fun playing ball with some of the boys and watching the kids swim.  

I am so thankful for friends and for the schools that our children have the privilege of attending!