Love and Logistics
Proverbs 19:21
“Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.”
As the next few weeks came we began to get a picture of the potentialities that this multi-¬bundle of joy might bring to pass. No one at that time had held their quad-pregnancy past 34 and half weeks. Hospitalization could be expected to begin anywhere after 14 weeks and we were at week 10! Detailed lists of complications due to prematurity were laid before us. We began to quantify percentages and statistics against love and logistics, planning and prayer became the order of the day!
Still, it was a heady and exciting time. My wife and I are nearly opposite personalities. The reality is that this seemingly potential weakness is actually a tremendous strength when we are on the same page and relating correctly. We relate our best when we are God focused and not just dually dedicated to an outcome. In this four faceted instance we were convinced that God had made a multi-miracle and the timing was such as to save us from our own plans and noble intents and to bless and refine our family.
My wife "P", is a gifted, goal oriented administrator, planning and proper execution to her are like sunlight and rain to petunias. Details and multi-tasking draw her in and give her focus. I am, well I am not that way. No not at all. I'm relational, gifted to gab, driven to serve, observe, explain, opine and encourage. The greatest blessings and anchor in my life has been "P" my other and better half. Overall we were in Faith that God had a plan here and we had been fashioned and fit amazingly well for it.
Most folk might have panicked if placed at the juncture we were straddling. For us we felt a sense of challenge and privilege as we plotted and prayed out a plan. Having had two children already we were not novices. The amount of time and effort that would be required was not a blind abstract. Yet the first hurdle was getting them all here with everyone's' health, especially "mom" intact.
We were looking at travel restrictions where our church was 35 minutes away and my wife traveled the East Coast extensively with her partner marketing and managing their company. Weekly sonograms and Doctors visits, stress tests, home treatment and monitoring of blood-pressure and contractions all became part of the average day and night at our home. We were as compliant as possible which means I was hard pressed to keep the throttle down on "P" and her instinct to out perform.
We began going to a church close by, marketing went telephonic and we both learned to practice supervised Perinatology at-home. All the balls stayed in the air sort of like juggling Jell-O. Even with everything on an even keel we knew that when they came home someone would have to be home fulltime. So with prayerful consideration of incomes and temperaments we concluded God's wisdom and circumstance had elected me as the at-home father of quadruplets.
Prayer and Ponderance
Proverbs 21:5
James 5:11
Job 12:13
Proverbs 8:14-16
How well do you plan out your endeavors?
How often do you plan at all?
How much does planning allow us to keep in the game?
How often do you seek God’s input?
How much of His word goes into your plans?
How do we take scripture and make modern applications?
Regardless of some opinions the Bible is a relevant guide even to day. Listen for God’s
heart and approach to different matters and His priorities. Inject these into your
planning and you are going to find great success!
Monday, June 29, 2009
Friday, June 19, 2009
Unexpected Expectancy
Unexpected Expectancy
Luke 6:38
“…A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap…”
Quadruplets! What a large odd word that seemed to bode tremendous uncertainty. We had always enjoyed being parents, especially of infants. We worked well together and I made sure to do all I could to not leave “mommy” as the sole comforter and custodian. In our discussions about twins we had concluded that with our older daughters help we would manage fine but quadruplets were another league all together. I mean up to this point we had never even seen triplets let alone bring home quads!
Much happened in my prayer time that morning that will wait for another venue to be fully discussed. The gist was that we, and especially I, needed to change priorities. The desire to be affirmed had blended into the desire to help others. Compromise had crept too far into our motives for ministering; approval had eclipsed obedience, maintaining the program was preventing the meeting of genuine needs.
This was all taking place around 8am on a Saturday that was supposed to see around fifty parents and teens coming to our home at 3pm for a meal and the unveiling of our one year schedule for youth group curriculum and activities.
My wife and I began our discussion with her telling me she had been hurt but was forgiving me for last night’s in-action. I apologized profusely and insisted that the news though mind blowing was exciting for me. God had already begun to stir up a sense of expectancy in both of us. Who had ever heard of such a thing let alone been blessed to live it!
I explained that we had to lay down our plans. My time with God had convinced me of this; she agreed but cried all the same. We had been impacting these kids. The group had grown; anticipation was aroused in the entire congregation that we would make a change. Yet they had no idea of the adversity and constrictions that were on us. Kids whose parents did not come to our church could not be in the group. Our group could not be a part of out side activities held by any other Para-church or Christian out reach other than those inside our “Apostolic Covering”. All along we had known these were not really biblically sound practices and hoped to bring new freedom and fellowship into these kids “Christian Experience” but for all of our compromising and detailed planning an undeniable call had come that we had to answer.
Friends and family were amazed at our news. Most were tossed for a loop as we explained the little we knew about the demands of quad-pregnancy and at home care. All seemed to confirm our need to make this our primary priority. The remainder of the day was spent making disappointing call to disappointed parents who ranged from ecstatic and understanding to angry and annoyed at our news. With that sad chore done we were left trying to fathom the uncertain void of this oddly unexpected expectancy.
Prayer and Ponderance
Mark 4:8
Proverbs 16:9
Psalm 127:3-5
Proverbs 16:25
Is more of something always better?
What would your reaction be to news about Quads coming?
Does God have your permission to change your plans?
Does He need permission?
How do you view children, blessings, burdens or what?
Can we always be assured our plan is right?
How willing are you to lay down your dreams or plans for God’s?
God is always sifting and refining us, building us in our stewardship and trust of Him. Sometimes He will interject majorly our reaction will say much about our walks.
Luke 6:38
“…A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap…”
Quadruplets! What a large odd word that seemed to bode tremendous uncertainty. We had always enjoyed being parents, especially of infants. We worked well together and I made sure to do all I could to not leave “mommy” as the sole comforter and custodian. In our discussions about twins we had concluded that with our older daughters help we would manage fine but quadruplets were another league all together. I mean up to this point we had never even seen triplets let alone bring home quads!
Much happened in my prayer time that morning that will wait for another venue to be fully discussed. The gist was that we, and especially I, needed to change priorities. The desire to be affirmed had blended into the desire to help others. Compromise had crept too far into our motives for ministering; approval had eclipsed obedience, maintaining the program was preventing the meeting of genuine needs.
This was all taking place around 8am on a Saturday that was supposed to see around fifty parents and teens coming to our home at 3pm for a meal and the unveiling of our one year schedule for youth group curriculum and activities.
My wife and I began our discussion with her telling me she had been hurt but was forgiving me for last night’s in-action. I apologized profusely and insisted that the news though mind blowing was exciting for me. God had already begun to stir up a sense of expectancy in both of us. Who had ever heard of such a thing let alone been blessed to live it!
I explained that we had to lay down our plans. My time with God had convinced me of this; she agreed but cried all the same. We had been impacting these kids. The group had grown; anticipation was aroused in the entire congregation that we would make a change. Yet they had no idea of the adversity and constrictions that were on us. Kids whose parents did not come to our church could not be in the group. Our group could not be a part of out side activities held by any other Para-church or Christian out reach other than those inside our “Apostolic Covering”. All along we had known these were not really biblically sound practices and hoped to bring new freedom and fellowship into these kids “Christian Experience” but for all of our compromising and detailed planning an undeniable call had come that we had to answer.
Friends and family were amazed at our news. Most were tossed for a loop as we explained the little we knew about the demands of quad-pregnancy and at home care. All seemed to confirm our need to make this our primary priority. The remainder of the day was spent making disappointing call to disappointed parents who ranged from ecstatic and understanding to angry and annoyed at our news. With that sad chore done we were left trying to fathom the uncertain void of this oddly unexpected expectancy.
Prayer and Ponderance
Mark 4:8
Proverbs 16:9
Psalm 127:3-5
Proverbs 16:25
Is more of something always better?
What would your reaction be to news about Quads coming?
Does God have your permission to change your plans?
Does He need permission?
How do you view children, blessings, burdens or what?
Can we always be assured our plan is right?
How willing are you to lay down your dreams or plans for God’s?
God is always sifting and refining us, building us in our stewardship and trust of Him. Sometimes He will interject majorly our reaction will say much about our walks.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
In the Beginning A Q.D.D.D.D.
In the Beginning
Jeremiah 29:11
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”
In the beginning we were told we were having twins! This news was taken with joy as we had wanted another child for some time. Still twins required some review of our plans. At the time I was a purchasing agent for the maintenance of the world’s largest industrial bakery. My days started at 5 Am., ordering from Germany or France, ending at 3:30pm with queries to the orient. My wife was a successful entrepreneur supervising multiple employees in a multi state endeavor.
I was to become Youth Pastor and we the Youth Leaders at our church in just a few weeks with ordination following two months later. My position as Elder and my wife and my work with youth were eating up some 30 plus hours weekly. Still with careful consideration of our situation we decided we could do it all with twins and our 9 and 6 year old daughters in tow!
Truth be told we were stretched too thin but we knew we could perform at the highest level and we were not going to disappoint our audience. Then the truth hit us and our world went sideways.
Around 2:30am on a Friday scantly two weeks after we had been informed about a double delivery my wife woke me up in a panic! She was bleeding and did not feel well. I was zonked. Running on five hours sleep or less was taking me down. Friday was the only night I could really rest. She could not roust me. Fortunately we lived only 5 minutes from a hospital so off she went into the night panicked and alone. I laid there drowsily pondering if we would loose our twins, too tired to do little else.
Now I know these do not sound like the actions of a loving husband and father. You would be right to make that assessment. This was also not indicative of my personality or parenting style. I was woefully spent from months of putting on a façade. Running a rat’s race in a stained-glass maze. Winking and nodding at doctrines I did not truly accept. Leaving my family to attend meetings where nothing was accomplished and much was left undone.
My wife returned a little before 5am and gave me news that did get my attention. We had not lost two babies we had gained two! She was fine but hers was a quadruplet pregnancy and in the morning we had to make some serious decisions. I told her I was glad she was ok and that God was in control and took advantage of few more hours of rest.
About 7am I got my coffee and honestly prayed for the first time in months. It was as if God had been wryly waiting for this conversation. In short time I received peace, release and purpose. Peace from realizing He really was in control. Release from my performance efforts to serve Him. Purpose in seeing His plan and lying mine down in exchange.
Prayer and Ponderance
Isaiah 55:8:11
Acts 16:6-7
Psalm 86:11
Samuel 15:22-23
Have your plans ever been up rooted suddenly?
How easy was it to let go of your plans?
When this happened did it turn out better or worse than you had first planned?
Have you ever felt you had been part of a “Divine Intervention”?
How can we determine if God is rocking your world or just circumstance?
Has stubbornness ever foiled your obedience?
I had been stubborn about my plan to serve God. When I humbly prayed I saw how compromised I’d become. I embraced His plan happily!
Jeremiah 29:11
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”
In the beginning we were told we were having twins! This news was taken with joy as we had wanted another child for some time. Still twins required some review of our plans. At the time I was a purchasing agent for the maintenance of the world’s largest industrial bakery. My days started at 5 Am., ordering from Germany or France, ending at 3:30pm with queries to the orient. My wife was a successful entrepreneur supervising multiple employees in a multi state endeavor.
I was to become Youth Pastor and we the Youth Leaders at our church in just a few weeks with ordination following two months later. My position as Elder and my wife and my work with youth were eating up some 30 plus hours weekly. Still with careful consideration of our situation we decided we could do it all with twins and our 9 and 6 year old daughters in tow!
Truth be told we were stretched too thin but we knew we could perform at the highest level and we were not going to disappoint our audience. Then the truth hit us and our world went sideways.
Around 2:30am on a Friday scantly two weeks after we had been informed about a double delivery my wife woke me up in a panic! She was bleeding and did not feel well. I was zonked. Running on five hours sleep or less was taking me down. Friday was the only night I could really rest. She could not roust me. Fortunately we lived only 5 minutes from a hospital so off she went into the night panicked and alone. I laid there drowsily pondering if we would loose our twins, too tired to do little else.
Now I know these do not sound like the actions of a loving husband and father. You would be right to make that assessment. This was also not indicative of my personality or parenting style. I was woefully spent from months of putting on a façade. Running a rat’s race in a stained-glass maze. Winking and nodding at doctrines I did not truly accept. Leaving my family to attend meetings where nothing was accomplished and much was left undone.
My wife returned a little before 5am and gave me news that did get my attention. We had not lost two babies we had gained two! She was fine but hers was a quadruplet pregnancy and in the morning we had to make some serious decisions. I told her I was glad she was ok and that God was in control and took advantage of few more hours of rest.
About 7am I got my coffee and honestly prayed for the first time in months. It was as if God had been wryly waiting for this conversation. In short time I received peace, release and purpose. Peace from realizing He really was in control. Release from my performance efforts to serve Him. Purpose in seeing His plan and lying mine down in exchange.
Prayer and Ponderance
Isaiah 55:8:11
Acts 16:6-7
Psalm 86:11
Samuel 15:22-23
Have your plans ever been up rooted suddenly?
How easy was it to let go of your plans?
When this happened did it turn out better or worse than you had first planned?
Have you ever felt you had been part of a “Divine Intervention”?
How can we determine if God is rocking your world or just circumstance?
Has stubbornness ever foiled your obedience?
I had been stubborn about my plan to serve God. When I humbly prayed I saw how compromised I’d become. I embraced His plan happily!
Monday, June 1, 2009
Boycott the Octomom Show
These seem to be the movers and shakers that control access to air waves and audience gathering for much of what we see. The Office, Biggest Loser, on and on. Find one you might like to stop watching if the octomom makes it to the tube.
Stand up and shout this down!
3Ball Productions1600 Rosecrans Ave.Bldg. 7 2nd Flr.Manhattan Beach, Ca 90266310-727-3337 P310-727-3339 www.3ballproductions.comJ D Roth
Reveille LLC100 Universal City Plaza, Bungalow 5180Universal City, CA 91608CA Tel. 818-733-1218Fax 818-733-3303PR@MayoCommunications.com Howard T Owens
Stand up and shout this down!
3Ball Productions1600 Rosecrans Ave.Bldg. 7 2nd Flr.Manhattan Beach, Ca 90266310-727-3337 P310-727-3339 www.3ballproductions.comJ D Roth
Reveille LLC100 Universal City Plaza, Bungalow 5180Universal City, CA 91608CA Tel. 818-733-1218Fax 818-733-3303PR@MayoCommunications.com Howard T Owens
Octomom on Reality TV: Gas on the Fire
The lady who insists her 14 kids do not need a father will be having a show to prove her point. http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/us_world/Octomom-Gets-Reality-Show.html
Nadja Suleman the Octomom has a deal with the same group that brings us The Biggest Loser. Indeed it is the 14 kids that are to be the losers, joining the Gosselin septuplets and twins as the latest make-believe and exploit them while their cute crew on TV’s multi-family train wreck and circus sideshow revue.
Here is the only person more able to degrade family, fatherhood, multi-parenting and the culture more than Jon and Kate. At least Nadja is not writing a book with Zondervan or some other “Christian” cash-in group doing the real writing. Perhaps that will be coming later.
I for one am sick and tired of having faith, family, fatherhood and multi-parenting spat upon by money hungry and maladjusted attention seekers and hypocrites. Christians, dads, moms and all that hold family and the protection of children dear need to rise up against this junk.
If we do not more girls will think having a child without a dad in the mix is cool. More whack-jobs will seek IVF and other fertility seeking 9’s 10’s or more in one pregnancy. I mean $75K a show, free Disney trips, Hawaiian resorts gratis, big house, big car come on what’s stopping them!
Time to make an outcry, start a boycott, write the publishers, advertisers, networks and others who surf along on the profits generated by the lies, neglect and abuse these kids are suffering.
As time allows I will offer up contact info for those mentioned until then …
Be Bold, step up and speak out against this or sit back and get a chuckle or two at their expense. Be an advocate for kids and family or be part of the audience that drives it all along. You choose. I say thumbs down and TVs off!!!
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