Knowing the God of the Gospel

Complaining or Praying? My wife and I are in the throes of child raising seemingly every waking moment of our lives, and one of the things we spend time talking about and thinking about are the forces that shape our children.  My words shape my children, and what I emphasize and what I correct reveal what I value.  My actions shape my children, as they constantly watch my every move and call me out when I have a little ice cream and they are excluded.  The videos, entertainment and culture shapes my children too, as they watch images, see clothing and track with how people behave, often imitating what they see others do.  Recently, friends of mine visited our house and their 14 year old son was constantly wearing a pull over stocking cap as some teenagers are prone to do, even in the hot summer.  Well, my son Daniel was watching this teenager (Spencer) like a hawk, and this teenager quickly become a hero to my son Daniel.   A little while later, Daniel and a group of us traveled to t

   As a father of three young children, finding the balance of how to discipline in love is a great adventure.  As a friend mention to me at lunch today, kids go through stages of development and navigating their stage of development requires new GPS settings every day.  Both of my twin children are a hand full, but my son Daniel right now is really challenged when it comes to following instructions.  Yet it seems that his disregard of instructions is not really rebellion, often it is just curiosity.  Daniel is curious about everything and sometimes directions get lost when he is really focused on something he is curious about.  Yet during these times when he is lost in his own world, I can get impatient and my voice can have "an edge".  When I'm tired, the edge becomes particularly evident.  Sadly, sometimes I can have an edge with people too.  When travelling through life, I often project onto God my own moods and attitudes and often wonder if God "has an edge to

The Problem of Forgiveness     My two four year old kids are learning about forgiveness.  They often act selfishly against each other, offending each other and we are teaching them to apologize and forgive.  It is often a rote catch phrase they quickly spout off, knowing that it is an appropriate practice in life and relationships.  They often throw the phrase into situations of conflict, knowing that it is important, but not always grasping the concepts of offense, forgiveness and the resulting reconciliation that forgiveness is intended to accomplish.   Why doesn't God simply forgive us with words of forgiveness like I require of my kids?   Why should our forgiveness depend on Christ's death on the cross?  As one French cynic once said, "Why can't God practice what he preaches and be equally generous [to us]? Nobody's death is necessary before we forgive each other.  Why then does God make so much fuss about forgiving us and even declare it impossible with