Blessed is the Dad who gets to see God's mercy at work

Jadon and I were talking about rather heavy issues of the heart late one night, and we read together part of the Sermon on the Mount in which Jesus declares some rather perspective-challenging truths about who exactly the "blessed" or happy people of the world.  As we discussed what his next steps in life would be, I asked Jadon whether he would rather be known as a child of God with heavenly rewards, or as a child of the world with only earthly rewards.  Based on our interactions from the past, I half-expected him to tell me he's not even sure the heavenly rewards exist, or just cynically tell me he'll take the earthly rewards he can see.  

Instead, he answered, "Of course I want to be God's child, but it would be nice to have all the rewards too."

July 2023

Wheeeeee!!! Whooops!!!

We tried it again the next night with the same chortling success. But the swing twisting proposition failed probably due to excess load…

Hushed Hoots and Hollers for Happy Happenstance

On a quick late evening out for exercise earlier last night, Jadon and I took a brief trip to the little Heritage Park near Akong and Ama's home in Tustin. It was also a quick trip down memory lane since Jadon spent a lot of time there as a baby and toddler, and together we reminisced and commented on some of the renovations around us as we walked toward the swings. It turns out that last night was also a trip for making new landmark memories, as it was the first time Jadon was able to master high-powered self-propulsion on the swings. It still baffles me that as a high level hockey skater for years how he never got the hang of playground swings. But there by my side just a few hours ago was my seventeen year old son, uttering hushed hoots and hollers as he unexpectedly discovered that he could actually make himself swing high back and forth on that silly contraption!

Expresiones impresionantes

Jadon me dijo una expresión que aprendió en su clase: "Come y bebe porque la vida es breve."

Le di el desafío de crear una respuesta para ese concepto, y esta fue nuestra idea: "¡Ama a la gente porque el infierno es caliente!"

A father of discriminating taste

Pregunté a mi hijo anoche: "¿Qué dijo el padre de la manzana cuando ella quería fugarse con su novio?" "Por favor no te vayas. ¡Es pera!"

Trans Faith

The other afternoon when I picked Jadon up from school he shared about a boy in his math class who clearly struggled with his gender identity. "You know what? I felt bad for him and I resolved right then and there that every time I'm in class with that boy that I would pray for him and see what God does in his life."

Thank You Holy Spirit for TRANSFORMING my son's heart!

“Uncle Jadon”

Jadon with the kids last night at 25th anniversary celebration

El Oro Cuando Oro

Jadon has heard me pray with patients in Spanish or Chinese as I often do telehealth visits from home, so it tickled me to hear him announce tonight, "I tried praying in Spanish and I found it to be a very different experience!   It was weird!  Even though deep down I knew I was praying to the same God, it just felt totally different."

I think he's beginning to understand yet another value of speaking in different languages, to have a wider understanding of humanity and to reach others' hearts for Christ in ways that would be impossible without knowing those people's languages, & by extension another value of reading the same Bible texts in different languages and versions, as each translation from the original Hebrew or Greek can bring to light different aspects of life, thought, & feeling…

Vocation of straight-up persuasion

I get frustrated sometimes with the length of time Jadon needs to get ready for bed especially with his skin care, which he admittedly has brought under pretty good control in light of the multiple conditions he has: acne, mild psoriasis, atopia, and sometimes fungal or bacterial infections. As he was putting on various creams, oils, and ointments on different parts of his skin tonight, I told him: "You should open a beauty store."

He chuckled and replied, "We should call it 'The Non-Gay Men's Beauty Shop' — we do NOT sell make up here."

Razz time in rhyme

Hey-Yo , it's Isaac Sohn

I'm crispy, a bit like a crouton

 

24-7, my iPad's almost on

I'm up 'til the crack of dawn

 

When it comes to grass, I'm gone

Can't even mow the lawn

Crappy Humor

Dad (sitting on the John doing his thing)

Jadon (joining Dad in the bathroom in order to stay "monitored" with his own laptop use while doing homework):  Arrrrgh!  It smells like s---!

Dad: What else would you expect?  Flowers?

Jadon: (purposely playing along) Flowers, my a--!

Dad: Exactly!

How did the "Oops!" become "Poos!"  (it had two "vowel movements")

This fool got schooled

Today was a momentous day, for my son actually taught me a Chinese word! When he told his Chinese speaking friends "我不講中文" (I don't speak Chinese), he told me they called him "/sha3 bi1/," so he retorted, "/Wo3 bu2shi4 sha3bi1-a!/"

I thought he must have heard it wrong, like they probably said something like 傻瓜 /sha3gua1/.

"No it was /sha3-bi1/… it means something like 'idiot.'"

I wasn't so sure when I looked it up on Google Translate, but it immediately spat out 傻逼 which, like 傻瓜, means "fool"!

My “dying” wish for you

My dear son, whenever the Lord calls me home heavenward… I don't when that time will be: It could be in fifty years or it could be tonight. But I can tell you now that one of my dying thoughts will be for you and Evangelina to BE THERE on the other side with me when the time comes for you too to enter eternity. Let nothing — even the wrong things I did or the right things I failed to do in your life — get in the way of responding in thankful faith to the gracious offer of salvation and deep fellowship with our Heavenly Father through the life and death of Jesus Christ. NOTHING do I yearn for more in your life than this, dear son. My deepest love for you, as broken and inadequate as you know it is, is that you would know and walk in the greater love of our Heavenly Father...

Straightforward evasion

Dad: Jadon, when you go to college how often will you call us?

Jadon: Not that often, because with Mom, she'll ask me why I'm not doing my homework, you'll be asking to catch up for a long time when I'll have other things I want to do, and Mina'll be asking for help with her math when I'm already already tired of my own math class.

Some Sing Wrong

A funny thing that Jadon and I realized the other day as we continued our reading of the biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer by Eric Metaxas (I try to read the dialogue in a German accent) was that neither of the two major Axis powers in World War II — Germany and Japan, of course — have the "th" sound in their languages. When people of these countries begin to learn English then, they would often mispronounce the "th" sound with an "s" or "z" sound. Could this be one of reasons the two empires found common ground in the war effort (tongue-in-cheek)? Perhaps before the war their leaders had innocently commented on other nations' populations "thinning," or maybe their Navy admirals were commonly misunderstood by others when they were simply trying to express their country's gratitude toward others: "We thank you all!"?

Thus the hilarious English learning commercial we love so much featuring a young German coast guardsman misunderstanding an American distress call just as easily could have featured a Japanese coast guardsman.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmOTpIVxji8

Baptist Bucks, Presbyterian Pennies, Lutheran Legal Tender, Jehovah's Witness Wealth?

Last night I told Jadon I'd give him the money he got back for our being able to resell his "contraband cellphone" (another story in itself!) at a slight loss, & minus a very friendly $5 "advertiser's surcharge" for my putting out the Craig's List ad and going out to meet prospective buyers.  So while he spent about $55, he was getting back $40.  I asked him in which denomination of bills he'd like his money (10s or 20s of course), & he joked that he'd like his money in 50s or even 100s.  I quipped back that in the case of 100s, we could just round the amount to the nearest $100 then, but of course he didn't want that.  Later as we entered his room he joked back, "I'd like my money in Jehovah's Witnesses, Lutherans, Baptists, and Presbyterians" -- perhaps these "denominations" are the most inflation-proof?    

New use for an old word?

Today when picking Jadon up from school I spontaneously texted to him "Here at tower in our Oldsmobile!" Sometimes I wonder if he might be embarrassed being picked up in our 1997 Avalon, so I thought I'd poke a little fun at it myself. Funny thing is that since I didn't know if Jadon understood the reference, I had to look up if Oldsmobile was still making cars, and I discovered that they shut down over eighteen years ago (before he was even born)! Maybe I should have texted "Meet your Oldsdriver here at tower." Thankfully he's fine with both the old car and his old man!