Exciting Weekend

This weekend was filled with excitement. My younger son learned to ride his bike without training wheels. I then got my oldest daughter to ride her bike as well. All in less than twenty-four hours. They even have requested to go on a bike ride. This all makes me happy since I now can share my hobby with my children. No longer will I have to leave them at home. I can enjoy something as father and son/daughter.
It is exciting to have two of my children learn such a great sport from me, but my oldest son has resisted any attempt to teach him to ride. Maybe with time I can teach him as well.

Being Asked to make the Leap

Yesterday, I listened to my pastor ask the congregation to consider giving more to the church. I feel that I should explain first that we are not a traditional church that works on tithes alone. The philosophy has been that we should give where we felt God was leading us to give. For my wife and I there were a few non-profits that we both liked to give too. Unfortunately, the money in our budget dried up. That's not a good way to put it but it's the truth. The first problem I have with what I just wrote is that I said the money "dried up" as if I only give when I have excess funds. But that's the truth. I gave only when I had the extra money. In the early years of my marriage we gave nothing at all because we couldn't seem to fit it into the budget. That didn't benefit us at all.

Back the main point, I heard the pastor asking us to consider giving even if we didn't have the money. I assure you that he was not trying to bleed us dry or con us out of hard earned money. Our pastor merely laid out the verses from the Bible that showed the tradition of tithe and the benefit God said he would shower on us for giving even when we couldn't. During the whole talk, I heard God speaking to me. I imagined myself walking the high wire balanced perfectly over the abyss of debt and bills. I heard God asking me to leap. I physically felt the rush of adrenaline flowing through my blood. I always hear it in my ears. It sounds like rushing wind mixed with the high pitched whine of a finely tuned engine.

Who knew that God could cause such a reaction in my just sitting in church? I take money seriously. I don't have a lot so I want it to go as far as I can. I am doing better at putting more toward the family and less toward the billing, but I don't have room to mess around. I know what God has asked me to do. He gave me some pretty good ideas how I could make my budget fit around the tithe. Now it is up to me to make the leap. It's really scary, but I know from experience that God will catch me.

Just trying to get something down

I am sitting here listening to Coldplay's Yellow. I am in a mood tonight. We had to finally admit this weekend that we had jumped in over our heads with the dog. He has bitten at least all the children and nearly attack some of the girls friends. I don't know why I thought this would work out. I really wasn't thinking about how big a dog a Saint Bernard was. I also wasn't admitting that I had become the dog's master not my son. The whole point for having this dog was so that my son might have a companion.

Why do good intentions go so wrong? I really started out with the best of intentions. I wanted this only for my son. But within a day or so this dog was not his but it was mine. I was being selfish. I have always wanted a dog. Especially, a dog that was just mine. A childhood fantasy of mine maybe, but it's not right that take away my son's chances just to give myself something. So now it's over. I have a heavy heart. I know that the next time we try this experiment it must only be about my son. I need to let him pick out the dog. He needs to be it's master not me.