I don’t know what the fascination is with these particular type of books, but I have recently finished 3 books that are similar in their stories. Each one of these stories revolves around the concept of living a year in the shoes of someone else, sort of.
I started with the book “The Year of Living Biblically” a while back. AJ Jacobs, writer for Esquire, began a year long journey of taking the Bible literally, and living by those standards. The read is actually quite funny, there are parts that will cause you to laugh pretty hard, so make sure your not in a coffee shop like I was.
This book actually inspired to other writers to take on journeys of their own. The first was a young man by the name of Kevin Roose. Kevin was actually AJ’s “slave” (intern) in the book, and through his experience he decided he wanted to learn more about the Christian moral majority fundamentalist right. So naturally he found his way to Liberty University, a very conservative Christian college, started by none other than Jerry Falwell himself.
Kevin’s book ” The Unlikely Disciple” was an interesting read. First off, being at Liberty is going to give you an inside look into the Christian culture, but to be honest it is not a culture that I myself have experienced. Here is the thing: it would be really easy for someone to go into Liberty and start ripping that place apart, but Roose doesn’t. He gives it a fair chance, and I think he makes some fair assessments about the whole experience. The book was good, I enjoyed it. Nothing too surprising happens. Roose does manage to sing in the choir every week, interview Falwell, and enter into the subculture of the moral majority.
I got a gift card to Barnes and Noble for my birthday from some friends, so I was cruising around and I came across the book ” The Year of Living Like Jesus” by Ed Dobson. I don’t know what it is about these books, but I couldn’t stop. There is something about a guy (or girl) that is on a mission to live a year of life that is totally unfamiliar to them. Maybe there is a deeper issue going on with myself. Maybe I want to do this, but haven’t found the courage to take it up. I don’t know what it is, but I love these reads. Dobson’s book has some teaching elements to it, I really enjoyed those parts of the book.
Here is the deal. I suggest all 3 books. They are good, eye-opening, hilarious, and just good reads. Don’t expect to walk away transformed, or feeling like you learned a ton, but you will enjoy them.
Well….. (deep breath)
Right now, Liz and my little man, Ethan, are upstairs taking a nap. I actually have a few minutes to let my mind wander and reflect. So here are some thoughts on being a dad
My favorite thing in the world… letting Ethan lay on my tummy and sleeping. There is nothing better than my son sleeping on my chest. I hope that my son will know how much I love him already. So yesterday he was laying on daddy getting some tummy time and he started pecking away at my chest. I hate to disappoint, but I didn’t have what he was looking for. It was pretty funny. So my laughing must have upset him, because he proceeded to pee on my chest. (it leaked through his diaper)
I love when he wakes up and starts looking around. His eyes are beautiful, and I love when he stares into my eyes. I Hope that my eyes tell him that he is special, that he is loved, and that I am here to take care of him.
Screaming… WOW! My boy has some vocal cords, and he uses them. In the hospital I remember saying specifically ” his little cry is so cute”. Well, the first night we were home with him, I remember thinking ” Ok, his cry isn’t as cute as I thought”. This boy can belt it out. For some reason we don’t get too much crying in the day time. We get to hear it starting around midnight, ending around 5:30am. The whole sleep deprivation thing is real.
Time with my wife: it’s hard! Liz and I have been married for over 4 years, so for the first 4 years of our marriage, it was just us. We had a ton of time for ourselves. Now we seek out 10 minutes to get in a quick hug and encourage each other in our new journey of parenthood. Liz has already told me that she misses me. We haven’t been away from each other for more than 4 hours in the last 6 days, and that was only twice. Yet, she misses me.
Most importantly: I want my son to know who Jesus is. I want him to understand that he doesn’t actually belong to Liz and I, but to a God who is crazy about him. I hope that he will learn about Jesus starting now. I hope that the way Liz and I treat each other, treat him, treat friends, treat family, and how we treat strangers would all point to Jesus. I hope that we begin to model a life that is in complete devotion to Christ for Ethan. I want Ethan to see the importance of community. I am a firm believer that it takes a village to raise a child, and I want him to experience love from friends and family. I hope that Ethan learns that this life is not the easy life, but the best life.
I wish I could properly express myself. But… I can’t
I have been married to my beautiful wife for 1,492 days. One-thousand-four-hundred-ninety-two days!. I can honestly say that I am more in love with Liz today than any other day of my life. If you don’t know my wife, then all I can say is… sorry. She truly is an amazing woman.
She laughs at my ridiculously stupid joke… she laughs a lot. She misses me when I leave the house. She may not know it, but I love when she gets sad because I have to leave the house. She gets the cutest little pouty face. I love when we play a 4 player game by ourselves, mostly because we have to make up our own rules, but we LOVE IT! I used to love riding bikes together. We would ride to blockbuster to get a movie, or to a small restaurant to grab some dinner. I love when we get on a plane together. She ALWAYS falls asleep in my lap. I love that. I love when she comes to my work to see me, especially when I am speaking. She always finds a way to encourage me.
My wife is a special young Puerto Rican lady. And the best part is…… She is going to be a great mother. We are moments away from being parents, and I have no doubt that Liz is going to be a great Mom. I can’t wait to see her love Ethan. I can’t wait til we get to go on family shopping trips. I can’t wait to go see her family and friends in New York. She is going to make a great MOM.
And… she is beautiful.
I am at a loss with some of these things. But… they are a reality of what is to come for my wife and I. Here I am, Nov. 16th, my wife could “go” anytime now, my lil’ man could emerge into this world. And me… well I guess I am ready, or as ready as I will ever be. I am genuinely getting excited. I can’t wait to see what God has knit together with our genes. Brown skin, freckles, blue eyes, and RED hair?
The other day Liz and I were in target shopping for the essentials for all parents. Well that’s what I have been led to believe anyways. There are some items that I will spare you with, but to think that we have to buy a breast pump? No thanks… It was actually kind of embarrassing carrying that thing around in our cart. I am sure that it won’t be long before I am immune to those types of things, once the parenting begins.
Here is what we are doing right now to prepare:
- I am nesting more than Liz. I am wanting to have the whole house picked up and cleaned. Hoping that we won’t have to mess around with that once Ethan arrives.
- Reading! I have been reading books to him almost every night. I actually really enjoy this. I get all close to Liz’s tummy and read him some fun kid books. I figure I will wait to start in with the CS Lewis material.
- Hangin’ with friends. I am trying to get some time in with my guys before my world is flipped upside down.
- Work… I don’t know what to do with this one, but I am confident that our leaders will handle everything in an excellent fashion when I am out. (I have no idea how paternity leave works?)
- Sleep – I am trying to sleep as much as I can, or actually I am wanting Liz to get as much sleep as she can.
The time has come. We will be 38 weeks this Friday. I am going to be a DAD! Weird…
I can’t wait to meet my little man. I can’t wait for my little man to meet all the people in my life that are so important to me and Liz.
Any last minute advice???
It’s just softball, It’s just softball. This is what I need to keep telling myself right now. Every Monday night I get to go out and play softball (which I love) with some great guys. I can honestly say that I Love my Monday nights. I look forward to them every week.
But… when it comes to softball there is 1 thing that can ruin a night for me. Not a bad hitting night, not a bad fielding night, but when the other team is a bunch of trash talkers.
So tonight… we played some major trash talkers. I mean these guys were downright jerks. They were yelling at the ump for no reason at all, they were actually calling him some pretty ridiculous things, and they even started saying some things to us. The guys I play with are some pretty level-headed dudes, that never get into with anyone, we don’t argue calls, we just wanna go out and have some fun. But I could tell that I wasn’t the only one that had the night almost ruined because of these guys. One guy said something to my buddy Jeff, then the whole field went dead silent. It was kind of creepy, no one said anything. We all just stood there. It was a real damper.
I talked about taming the tongue this weekend to our jr. high and high school students. I found myself having to swallow some of the words that wanted to creep out. I am not a big talker, but I HATE it when guys come out and take things too seriously.
What gets you going?
Right now we are going through a series in our Jr. High group titled “UPSIDE DOWN”. When you read the parables of Jesus, he is constantly flipping the popular ideologies and practices of his day upside down. He is taking the cultural “norms” and poking holes in them.
Personally, I find this to be the most refreshing part of Jesus, and at the same time the most challenging part of his teaching. He calls the disciples and all who hear to a new kind of life, a new kind of living, and gives a new vision of what the Kingdom of God is like.
What would do if we took these ideas, teachings, and thoughts of Jesus to heart? Would the way we live today look differently? I would argue Yes, and even those of us that would call us Christians, I believe if we really began to live according to the way of Jesus that we too would begin to live very differently.
In the parables, Jesus is often times speaking to the Pharisees. The Pharisees were the religious folk of Jesus’ day. I can’t help but think that those stories are still being directed at the Religious folk of today. As I go through the stories, I can’t help but think of us inside the church needing to listen to these stories and truths just as much as anyone. This has been a part of my teaching over the last 3 weeks, which has been great to teach, but also very good to hear.
For example, this weekend I am teaching about the Great Banquet. Sometimes we forget who the Kingdom of God is for, we (Christians) can become very pious, thinking that we have it together and it is “others” in need of God’s grace.
Oh how quick we forget. We (christians) sometimes have such a short memory. I sometimes have a short memory. I was ( and am everyday) in need of God’s saving grace, in need of the mercy that God hands out, broken and lost. The message of Jesus is beautiful, and I am in need of it.
I have been loving this series. What is your favorite parable?
That word would describe my blogging activity lately. I promise to start putting some more up. Not that what i have to say is soooo profound, but I will do so anyways.
I keep hearing people say ” I can’t believe it was 8 years ago already”, and I totally get that. Maybe because we all remember so vividly what we were doing that day. I remember almost everything from that day. The image of the planes going into the towers, over and over and over and over again. The towers falling to their end. The cloud of smoke that covered the sky of NYC.
I can almost feel the tears welling up inside of me right now as I recall that day. I am saddened that we live in a world where something like that is a reality. My heart breaks for the families that lost loved ones that day.
As I was driving on the freeway this morning I couldn’t help but think how quick we seem to forget in this country. The popular phrase for 9/11 is ” we will never forget” or something along those lines. In that we will never forget that day, we seem to forget easily some things so closely related to that day.
Do you remember how much the people of this country seemed to come together as a result of that day? Everyone all of the sudden became a life that we cared about. We almost instantly felt drawn to people, our neighbors, and strangers. There was a sense of togetherness that swept through this country. I don’t know if that is so much the case anymore. Or, how about the lives of our soldiers. It seems so crazy to me how we have lost so many lives in Afghanistan and Iraq, and yet we don’t so much as blink at the death tolls. Not that we don’t care, but we certainly don’t lament in the same way. The current wars have cost our country and other countries exponentially more lives than Sept. 11 did.
I hope we never forget. It was such a sad day.
