Wednesday, April 26, 2006

What my kids have taught me . . .

* It's always been hard to accept Jesus as Lord. In "kid language" we explained to the kids that "Lord" means that he's our "Line Leader" and we should go wherever he follows. Especially with two boys not far apart in age, our kids always want to be the line leader and dictate what movie they will watch, who gets to sit in the front of the van with their baby sister, etc. It’s hard to let someone else take the lead, but that’s exactly what God asks us to do. Let go and let Him carry out the perfect plan that He has for each of us.

* It's always been hard to rely on things that you can't see. Our kids love waffles for breakfast. Before we wanted them getting syrup all over them we would just spread butter on the waffles to give them more flavor. What happens when you spread butter on a hot waffle? Right, it melts! I remember vividly one morning when Collin (around 2 years old) brought his waffle back into the kitchen and said "Daddy, no butter." I told him that I had put butter on it, but he insisted that it wasn't there. When I realized why he thought that, I told him to taste it. When he put it into his mouth, he immediately walked back to the table and kept eating. In my time with God over those next few days, He recalled that scene over and over again to me. When I realized this lesson and began to let that truth sink in, I realized the ways that I didn't see God at work in my life when He was so evident. I also realized the difficulty others have at "seeing" God and believing in something/someone that they couldn't see with their own eyes. All we need do is look for the results, the evidence, the difference that He makes. O taste and see that the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8).

* “No” is a legitimate answer. Why is a legitimate question.

* You have to fall down a lot before you learn how to walk. You have to actually walk to learn how (you can't watch educational videos, talk about it, or think about it -- just do it).

Continue to Part 2

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Ordained as a Deacon

Wow, what an awesome and humbling experience! On Sunday night (4/23/2006), Memorial Baptist ordained me, along with several other men, as a deacon.

It was a great service with praise and worship, a charge from Pastor Gregg, and an awesome prayer time where all of the new deacon's and elder's were prayed over. To coincide with the ordination, our church allowed us each to select a new Bible that we picked out from Sonrise Christian Store. We had our Bible's available on a table for others to sign.

Most surprising to me was that our family drove in from Arkansas to be there! My grandmother, my mother-in-law, my boys (my baby girl is too young to understand it), our good friend Patricia, and our sister and brother-in-law with their kids from Arkansas all to be there -- what a blessing and an honor!

Sunday, April 23, 2006

Now that I have this blog . . .

Now that I have this animal, I might as well feed it.

My next thought for what to do with this blog is to diversify my postings into what is interesting to me and would be relevant to various audiences -- Web stuff, personal finance, spiritual musings, etc.

The other big thing is to create categories with links in the sidebar. Using the categories, my Mom can click on "Family" and just get my postings about family stuff and my pics of the kids but my buddies can read about "Sports" (like how I think that TO will be a the cancer in the Cowboys locker room at some point, probably by November). The issue is that Blogger is a free service and doesn't make that very easy to do. Since I'll have to do some research and HTML coding, don't hold your breath too long!

Friday, April 21, 2006

Fantasy baseball 2006 -- Cheeseheads

I was invited to play in a fantasy baseball league (if you don't know what that is, let me know and I'll explain in another post) and it's been a lot of fun this year. It's a 6 team Head-to-Head league which I've never played in before so that's even more fun to learn a new format. I'll explain my team name another time. Just for interest, here's my team as of April 21, 2006:

Catcher - Pudge Rodriquez, Det, drafted
First - David Ortiz, Bos, drafted
Second - Chase Utley, Phi, drafted
Short - Jhonny Peralta, Cle, drafted (not misspelled)
Third - Alex Rodriquez, NYY, drafted
Outfield - Vladimir Guerrero, LAA, drafted
Outfield - Carl Crawford, TB, drafted
Outfield - Bobby Abreu, Phi, drafted
Outfield - Gary Sheffield, NYY, drafted
Outfield - Barry Bonds, SF, waiver pickup
Utility - Travis Hafner, Cle, drafted
Outfield/1B - Lance Berkman, Hou, drafted
Third - Scott Rolen, StL, waiver pickup

SP - Curt Schilling, Bos, drafted
SP - Dontrelle Willis, Fla, drafted
SP - Rich Harden, Oak, drafted
SP - Bartolo Colon, LAA, drafted
SP - Carlos Zambrano, ChiCubs, traded for
SP - Brett Myers, Phi, drafted
SP - Barry Zito, Oak, drafted
SP - Roger Clemens, Hou?, drafted
RP - Francisco Rodriquez, LAA, drafted
RP - BJ Ryan, Tor, traded for
RP - Jonathan Papelbon, Bos, waiver pickup
RP - Duaner Sanchez, LAA, waiver pickup (for Holds)

More updated pic of kids

After this pic, I will get back to normal blog posts, but this pic is a great example of their personalities! Caris is my baby girl -- happy, cute, vivacious, beautiful little girl. Collin is my oldest boy -- caring, handsome, athletic, sweet big boy. Cooper is my younger boy -- outgoing, fun, creative, cracks us up boy.
Enright kids

Thursday, April 20, 2006

Tae Kwon Do

My 7 year old son and I started taking Tae Kwon Do this year and we both really like it! It's a very new experience for both of us and it is both challenging and rewarding. We work out in a local church facility and the program is called the Christian Martial Arts Association. Along with the standard American Tae Kwon Do requirements for achieving a belt rank, we also must memorize scripture. My son and I both tested successfully for Gold belt (the 2nd ranking) and it was a wonderful rite of passage for us. We are thankful for the physical exercise, mental focus, spiritual training, and wonderful people that we have met during our CMAA training.

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Blog Title: Heart, Soul, Mind, & Strength

It came to mind today to actually use a real title for my blog instead of just "Chris' Thoughts" or something else generic. When thinking about a title, my goal was something relatable, fairly general, easy to read, and meaningful.

These four words encompass a persons whole being and are derived from Mark 12:30 Love the Lord your god with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.

In addition, this is a passage that I have focused on with my boys for a year or so therefore it's meaningful for our family (more on that later).

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

January 2006 they're always ridin' me about something

Kids playing horsey with Dad

Just me

The family June 2004

First post

This is my first post to my new blog -- started 4/18/2006. I have considered blogging many times but never thought that I had anything relevant to say that would encourage others or be a useful use of e-space. My other hesitation has been not knowing if I will actually keep up with blogging to keep it fresh and updated. Anyway, I just thought that I would give it a shot. Please give me feedback on whether to think that my "ponderings" are relevant, useful, or encouraging.