I’m once again struck with the content of 1 Timothy 5:24-25 (NIV), The sins of some men are obvious, reaching the place of judgment ahead of them; the sins of others trail behind them. In the same way, good deeds are obvious, and even those that are not cannot be hidden.

At once both warning and encouragement.

I have an aquarium in my office now.  Frequently I’m distracted by splashing.  Every time it is the same thing – one of them – I call him the “bully fish” – is chasing the other fish around.  So, the other fish all cower in the corner behind the heater until the bully fish gets bored.

As the person in charge of food supply and environment control – as the source for everything this nasty bully needs to live – it angers me that he has the audacity to make use of my provisions to go around an make life miserable for his cohabitants and at the same time ruin my enjoyment of my aquarium.

Just who does this little oppressor think he is?  I’ve got a mind to….

My two year old is learning how to play hide-and-seek.  When ever he’s looking for me and I get found and jump out and say “ah ha!”, or when I’m chasing him – you can see his whole body tense up with that perfect combination of terror and delight.  His first step is away – that’s the terror part, but the next steps are right at me with arms wide open – that’s the other part.

We both love it.

said my 4 year old, frustrated and exhausted, after excitedly trying to tell me something about something.

I know how he feels.

Learning is a painful process and it leads to greater accountability.

Ignorance really is bliss – but it leads to death.

I accelerated up the curvy on-ramp to merge perfectly into the crowded traffic on the west bound highway.  I maintained highway speeds and got off at my exit a couple of miles later.  When the light turned green, I turned left and suddenly noticed a loss of steering control and a lot of metallic noises from the front passenger side tire.  I made it to the shoulder, got out, and discovered that my wheel (front wheel drive) was no longer attached to the car! 

I’m told the ball joint/transmission/axle thingy broke. 

I’m sure grateful to God that it didn’t fall off just moments early at highway speeds in rush hour traffic.

You can’t just do it once, and then the car will drive itself.

Same with parenting.

It’s the name of one of my favorite books.  Written by D. A. Carson.  I met him once, after he spoke at Seminary, and I told him how much I enjoyed his book – to which he said that hadn’t heard that very often regarding that book, because it’s sort of technical and often “assigned” reading.  That’s me. 

I’ve heard the term before, but it was particularly meaningful to me when it was applied to the adopted child character in the movie “Martian Child”.  Old souls are aged by suffering.

It saddens me, and I’m reluctant to admit that my soon to be 4 year old son has an old soul.  

My goal as his father; Proverbs 20:5, ”The purposes of a man’s heart are deep waters, but a man of understanding draws them out.” 

My plane was supposed to leave an hour ago – but it’s not here yet – it’s in a hanger somewhere.  I’m sitting not far from the flight crew – they’re waiting with the rest of us.

It’s exciting to think about what I may be missing.