Thirty-five years ago today (July 17th) my beautiful bride to be “pledged her troth” to me. To a recovering hayseed that sounded mildly naughty but I learned it meant that she promised her fidelity to our relationship. She meant it. Today we celebrate well over three decades together. Hard to believe. Just for grins I went back and took a look at some of the top music in the year we got married. There were some hits that did not make the cut for the solo at our modest wedding. For example, Paul Simon’s “50 Ways To Leave Your Lover” was axed. Go figure. Joni rejected The Captain and Tenille’s moving rendition of “Muskrat Love” without allowing debate. I felt like Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” would be a great crowd warmup. Rejected. “Shake Your Booty” by KC and The Sunshine Band was summarily dismissed. But one song from 1976 that was not wedding solo worthy still describes how I feel about the lovely Mrs.Burchett. Orleans
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(From theFish.com) One of my go to artists for the iPod Devotional walks with dog friend Hannah is Tenth Avenue North. Their lyrics touch my heart and inspire me on the journey. Today an old favorite popped up thanks to the shuffle feature. The song “You are more” talks about a young woman lost in fear and shame. She says, “How did I get here? I’m not who I once was. And I’m crippled by the fear That I’ve fallen too far to love” That is a lie from the very pit of hell. The lyrics beautifully convey that no one has gone too far to experience God’s love. But don’t you know who you are, What’s been done for you? Yeah don’t you know who you are? You are more than the choices that you’ve made, You are more than the sum of your past mistakes, You are more than the problems you create, You’ve been remade. Most of
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(From theFish.com) Never know what the shuffle mode will turn up on the old iPod. Today a song by Kris Allen provided the fodder for today’s devotional. The topic may seem a bit dark but it actually provides a blueprint for joy and peace. We only got 86,400 seconds in a day to Turn it all around or to throw it all away We gotta tell them that we love them While we got the chance to say Gotta live like we’re dying Live like we’re dying? What would that look like? Here are my thoughts. Love your wife. Most of us repeated something like this on our wedding day. I, (Guy in Tux), take you (What Were You Thinking Beautiful Bride), to be my wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death
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(From theFish.com) A song by Joy Williams popped on the iPod shuffle rotation and is this week’s iPod Devotional. The lyrics resonated after reading a story about a dating service for “beautiful” people. In a press release that seemed to be designed to generate moral outrage and (surprise) free publicity the company announced that 30,000 “ugly” people were being removed from the site. A hacker’s virus had allowed unattractive people to get through the screening process. So I had a chance? These poor souls could access counseling to deal with not being beautiful enough to make the cut. I would suggest that you might need counseling if you even applied to this site and not if you are drummed off of Narcissism Island. I am not listing the name of the site because I suspect this is a publicity ruse. But the business of dating sites for attractive people only is real. Most of us deal with appearance issues at
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Every dad leaves a legacy. I have learned a few things through trial and many errors about being a dad who is trying to leave a positive legacy. Previous installments detailed two ways to leave a good legacy. Love Your Wife Affirm Your Kids Today we will examine two more ways to establish a positive legacy. And we are adding a very dangerous twist today. I polled my three sons about my strengths and (gasp) shortcomings as their father. Those knee-buckling results were both sobering and encouraging. First, the third way to leave a positive legacy as a dad. 3.  Enjoy every mile of the journey The best description I have heard about being a parent is this bit of wisdom:  “Parenting…the days are long and the years are short.” In his book, Being a Good Dad When You Didn’t Have One, Tim Wesemann gives his readers a two-word piece of advice: “Lighten up!”  He says that adults laugh an average of 15 times a day while
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This week I am doing a brief series on leaving a legacy as an earthly father. Every dad leaves a legacy. The only question is what kind. The first step to leaving a positive legacy is to love your wife. For some readers that already has not worked out. That does not mean that you cannot leave a good legacy. There are many ways to redeem the father/child relationship. The second part of leaving a legacy that endures is to be an encouragement to your kids. Paul wrote this simple instruction to the church at Colossae. Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged. The Message translates this verse  like this…. Parents, don’t come down too hard on your children or you’ll crush their spirits. I cannot remember hearing a lot of teaching on that verse over the years. It is really easy in this success mad culture to discourage your children. Nearly every dad wants his child to be successful.
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Occasionally people will observe our three wonderful sons and ask something like this. “What did you do to parent such great kids?” My response is simple. “I married Joni. The rest is a blur.” There is a little too much truth in that answer. She was and is remarkable. But we did partner in this grand adventure called parenting. Along the way I learned some things mostly by error and stumbling trial. Over the next two days I will share what I have figured out with the disclaimer that I do not claim to be an expert. It is with humility and grateful appreciation to God that He has given me the gift of this family. One thing I have learned in my journey is that every dad leaves a legacy. The only question is whether that legacy will be good, bad, or indifferent. Being a father is tough because we generally learn how to parent while on the job. From
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