So I gave up Twitter and Facebook for Lent. I’m not sure that I learned a whole lot from the experience. I didn’t seize the day more often or learn a new skill with the extra time I had on my hands. But I did notice a few things that I think are worth mentioning.

1. I Relaxed More – For some reason that I’m sure is unhealthy, I feel the need to monitor social media at an alarming rate. I check twitter and FB over and over again throughout the day. I wonder what other people are up to and I look to see if anyone is noticing that “funny” thing I wrote earlier.
“What was that sound?”
“Just my latest tweet blowing up!”

The last 40 days have given me a lot of perspective. I don’t need to know what everyone is doing all the time. I can relax and enjoy where I am and who I’m with.

2. I Enjoy Blogging. Obviously I haven’t been keeping up with this site a ton, but my other site, TeamBrownTown.com has definitely gotten a lot more attention recently. It’s been fun to spend that time working on something rather than just reading stuff. That brings me to my final big point.

3. I Want to be a Producer, Not a Consumer. For whatever reason, I enjoy making and doing new things. I like to create. But when I’m spending south free time doing Facebook and twitter, I’m not really producing. Sure I might write something humorous or useful sometimes, but that’s not the majority of my social media time. No, most of the time I’m stuck on the Social Media Teat just nursing away. Depleting. Consuming. It’s not healthy. In the words of Bernie Mac, “I’m a grown man!” I don’t need to be a consumer. God made me to be a producer. Over the last few weeks I’ve definitely been producing a lot more creative projects and I’ve loved it.

So, now what? Do I leave the Social Media world forever? I don’t think so. There’s definitely a place for it in my life. I just need to make sure I’m not stuck in Consumer land anymore. I’ll probably unfollow and unfriend some folks in the near future. I’ll also probably cut way back on my monitoring efforts. I’ll still tweet but I won’t be checking my twitter feed every few minutes. Not exactly sure how I’ll do that but I’ll start figuring that out tomorrow. Your suggestions are welcome.

Today I was reading in John and stumbled across John 5:13. It’s interesting.  Jesus had just healed a man who had been ailing for 38 years.  Jesus asked the man if he wanted to be well.  When the man said, “Yes,” he was immediately healed.  Jesus told him to pick up his mat and walk.

This all happened on the Sabbath.  When some of the Jewish leaders saw the man they reprimanded him for carrying his mat on the Sabbath (something he hadn’t been able to do for 38 years) and he told them that the man who healed him told him to carry his mat.  They asked him who healed him but the man didn’t know.  Why? Because Jesus slipped away into the crowd before the man could figure out who he was. Jesus did this sort of thing on a number of occasions, especially after healing people.  He would heal someone and then ask them specifically not to tell anyone who had healed them.  Jesus just wasn’t into self-promotion.  He knew his time was coming.  More importantly, he didn’t heal people in order to make a name for himself.  He healed them so that they would be healed.

Every day on Twitter, Facebook, etc., I’m inundated by shameless self-promoters telling me all the great things they’ve done or re-publishing all the great things that others have written about them. I’m tired of it.  In my opinion, if you do what God made you to do and you do it well, you shouldn’t need to promote yourself.  If you’re faithful, God will find a way to promote you.  People will find out about you because of the work you do. You shouldn’t need to promote yourself.  Just do good work and let that speak for you.

I’m about to thin my twitter herd a little.

“Why so many kids?” We get this question, or some variant of it all the time – in the mall, at restaurants, from complete strangers as well as our friends and family.  It’s a reasonable question.  Not many people are doing what we’re doing and we recognize that.  For whatever reason, it’s become more the norm for a couple to have two or maybe three kids, and space them apart over several years.  Because of that, a lot of people are surprised when they see us rolling into a restaurant with four kids under four.  Most people smile or laugh, but some give nasty looks.  Not often, but that does happen.

And the question remains.  ”Why so many kids?”

Well, the answer is pretty simple.  We think God wants us to do this.  Not only that but we believe that these kids aren’t just a responsibility but that they are a huge blessing.  Take a look at Psalm 127:

1 Unless the Lord builds the house,
They labor in vain who build it;
Unless the Lord guards the city,
The watchman keeps awake in vain.

2 It is vain for you to rise up early,
To retire late,
To eat the bread of painful labors;
For He gives to His beloved even in his sleep.

3 Behold, children are a gift of the Lord ,
The fruit of the womb is a reward.

4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,
So are the children of one’s youth.

5 How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them;
They will not be ashamed
When they speak with their enemies in the gate.

To me this says that real worth isn’t measured by the size of your nest egg, but by the size of your nest.  Or something like that.  Your bank account isn’t going to give you a full life, but rich relationships with a family that adores you can.  Not only that, but having a “quiver” full of “arrows” is a sign of power.  Your kids are arrows you launch into the world to defeat the works of the enemy – and the more arrows the better. If you love them well, raise them up in the admonition of the Lord, and prepare them as best you can for what awaits them in this world, then when it’s time for them to launch out on their own, they’re going to be strong and have an impact.

For me, I never care to have my name on a building or a fat bank account.  I want my name on a bunch of kids who are living for and loving Jesus wherever they are. That’s why we’re having so many kids.

The Story

A lot of you have asked for the details on Paul’s interesting journey into this world. So, I’ve written up a little timeline of how everything went down. Yes, this really happened to us (I keep having to tell myself this).

The date is March 7, 2007.

7:30am Desi and I wake up. She mentions that she’s having a few contractions and that I should go ahead and go to work in case we have the baby later and I need to leave early.

8:00am After I shower and get dressed, I start feeding Abbie breakfast and getting her dressed.

8:20am Desi tells me that things are progressing quickly and that we need to get somebody to come pick up Abbie.

8:21am I start calling our list of folks who can watch Abbie.

8:35am I get ahold of Ann Piper, a friend from my high school days and current co-worker at Watermark. She’s not far away and heads over to get Abbie. I pull together the stuff we already had packed for Abbie and get her ready to go.

8:50am Ann arrives at our apartment. I meet her outside and get the car seat put in her car and load up everything. She takes Abbie up to Watermark for a fun day of playing with everyone in our office.

9:01am I call our midwife, Lindsey to let her know that we’re on our way to the hospital. I then take Buster the Boxer out to go potty.

9:14am After returning from taking Buster out, I throw our bags in the car and come back in for Desi. She lets me know that we’re not going to make it to the hospital. Whew! After letting that one sink in, I call 911 and then call Lindsey back. She hunkers down in an exam room with several of her staff listening in and begins to talk me through everything.

I look at Desi and can see that the baby is already crowning. My amazing wife has gotten all the way to this point, basically on her own as I’ve been running around taking care of everything else. Wow! Lindsey tells me to take off my shoes and pull out my shoestrings so I can tie off the umbilical cord. Smart. Then she has me get ready to catch the baby. On Desi’s next push, the head comes out and I can see that the cord is up over his shoulder or possibly around his neck. This freaks me out a ton, but I don’t say anything to Desi because there’s nothing we can do about it anyway.

9:18am On the next push Paul is born and I catch him quite easily and ease him down to the bed. I’m checking him out because of the cord thing but he’s doing fine. I’m talking to him, to Desi, and to Lindsey on the phone (who’s going completely nuts in a happy way) all at the same time. Welcoming him into the world and telling Desi how great he looks and how amazing she is. Lindsey tells me to tie off the cord and get him up next to momma. I do and Paul and Desi lie next to each other covered in blankets until the paramedics arrive a few minutes later.

9:26am After checking out Desi and cutting the cord, the paramedics load us into the ambulance and we head to the hospital. The paramedics are a little freaked out at first but they calm down in the ambulance and it’s actually kind of fun. Sort of like the first time you ever rode in a limo, but different.
By the time we got to the hospital they already knew to expect us and they checked out Desi and Paul and everything was fine. They cleaned up Paul and tended to Desi and we finally got to relax a little.

So, there’s the story in timeline form. I based the times off of my phone logs and a couple of checks of the clock I did along the way. If you’ll notice, Desi’s entire labor was less than two hours in length. Quite amazing. She suffered no complications and didn’t need one stitch or anything like that. Paul also did fine and needed no real intervention at the hospital other than the normal testing and checks that they do for any new baby.
God was totally taking care of this one. We had an amazing peace and great help. We’re extremely blessed and thankful that he allowed us to have our baby at home on our own bed and that everything went so well.
Thanks for all your prayers and congratulations. We’ve enjoyed hearing from you all.

Peace…

Les

‘Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. ‘Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.’ (John 17:24-26 NIV)

this is a continuation of the prayer that Jesus prayed just before going to the garden and being captured. he’s praying specifically for all the believers that would follow the disciples, right up to the present time. i think the coolest part of this passage is in the last verse: I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.’

Jesus knows what he’s about to do. he’s about to go to an agonizing death on the cross. why? so that you and i can know the love of God. more than that, so that we can have the same love that God had for Jesus within us. and more than that, so that Jesus himself might be in us. honestly, i really don’t know how that last part works. i believe that it does, but i really don’t know how. the love of God thing, though, that i can understand somewhat. i think that’s what we’re all really searching for anyway. we try to fill that void a million different ways, but the thing we really want is to have the love of God in us. for believers, we should be experiencing that, right? but sometimes it seems that we either don’t feel it or don’t trust it for some reason. i don’t know why that is. i guess it’s the old sin nature just not wanting to die, or it’s the enemy trying to rob us of the full life that God intends. regardless, we should be on the lookout for anything that blocks us from experiencing the love God wants to implant in our souls. it’s the one thing that will truly satisfy the longings of our souls.

‘My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. (John 17:20-23 NIV)

Wow…this is really powerful. It’s the continuation of Jesus’ prayer from yesterday and now in addition to his disciples, he adds all the believers since and those in the future into the mix. my first impressions: what an honor to know that Jesus really was thinking of me as he was about to go to the cross. in addition, how great is it that his life and his words weren’t just for those back in 30ad, but for all of us up to now and into the future? this really speaks to the timelessness of the gospel.

and then there’s the detail of what he was praying for – in short – unity. in his final hours before unjustly enduring the most tragic torturous form of execution ever devised by man, jesus found it important to pray that the believers of the future would be made perfectly or completely one. does that mean there should be no denominations or differences of opinion? i don’t think so. i think it’s about being unified about the core issues of the faith: the trinity, the Godship of Christ, his sacrificial death, our being saved by faith, etc. and not letting petty issues divide us. why? so that the people of the world can see that God sent Jesus to do what he did and that God loves them. when the church argues and fights over petty issues and dogmas, the people of the world disregard the church as irrelevant and pointless, and they’re right to do so. the church has to find a way to celebrate our common ground and respect our different worship styles, our different teaching styles, and our different doctrines. I realize that there are some completely false teachings out there that go against the core of the faith and we should stand against those teachings, but for everyone else we have to learn to get along. why? so that the people of the world will see the church for what it should be, a group of people who love God, each other, and the people of the world. that’s part of our mission.

I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. (John 17:14-17 NIV)

in this passage, Jesus is praying specifically for his disciples just before going to be captured. note that he specifically asks God not to take them out of the world, but rather to protect them from the evil one. he makes it clear that the disciples really aren’t of the world, and that in fact the world has hated them, yet he doesn’t want to pull them out of the world.

for Christ-followers, it seems that much of the time we expect God to pull us out of difficult situations or remove us from the world somehow. we hole up in our churches, Christian bookstores, and even Christian themeparks. we boycott anything that goes against our moral code and yet we’re supposed to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth. how are we supposed to enlighten the masses if we don’t ever see them and they don’t see us? i understand that we need to avoid things that will pull us down or tempt us beyond our ability to withstand. however, we can’t remove ourselves from the world. it’s just not God’s plan. his plan was for us to stay in the world to spread the good news. so that’s what we must do. don’t pray that God will remove you from the part of the world where he’s placed you, pray that God will sanctify you by the truth of his word and protect you from the evil one.

ephesians 6:14-18.

this is one of those passages that just makes perfect sense:

the belt of truth – making God’s truth the center of your being.
the breastplate of righteousness – the absolute protection of doing the right thing.

feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace – walking in peace with God and with the people around you.

the shield of faith – God’s impregnable aegis against the enemy’s attacks.

the helmet of salvation – God’s grace protecting our thoughts and minds at present and our souls for all eternity.

the sword of the spirit-God’s word cutting throught the ambiguities of a relativistic culture.

be alert and pray – constant radio contact with the One who can protect, heal, love, and save for all eternity.

this all makes so much sense, but it isn’t always easily put into practice. how many days do i walk out the door without putting on any armor? how alert am i really? do i pray in the spirit on all occasions? not really. what would happen if i did…if we did? i know some of the struggles of this life wouldn’t have the effects they do now. maybe perspectives on all sorts of things would change. maybe we would be able to focus a little more on the things that matter in this world, namely the things that aren’t of this world. maybe we wouldn’t be so easily wounded. maybe we would defeat the enemy when we see him at work. maybe…

i was visiting a catholic church today and discovered that they no longer call confession confession. they now call it reconciliation. i really don’t know what to think about this from a theological perspective, but my first impression of it is favorable. it seems like saying the same thing only with a more positive spin. “confession” sounds like a real downer, like something most people wouldn’t want to do. on the other hand, “reconciliation” sounds like something anyone would want to do. it’s an interesting change. in fact, that sounds like something that the protestant church wouldn’t feel the need to protest so much. protestants wouldn’t really care to reconcile through a priest, but it would be cool to reconcile with another person, or more specifically share with another person what’s been going on and relate to them your need to reconcile with God. that would be more of an accountability partner sort of thing…very cool.