A Halloween Masterpiece

Whew.  Definitely the most tiring Halloween yet.  And only the third since Isaac was born.  Guess we better suck it up and enjoy these moments while they last, though right?  And so we did.

Rebecca is the Halloween costume mastermind in the family, and isn't it funny the pressure you put on yourself to find the perfect costumes for your kids?  Then again, maybe that wears off after the first few years.  You seasoned Halloween parents know better than I do.  Regardless, my wife came through in 2008 with an adorable golfer costume for Isaac, and she... delivered (pun intended) again last year with Isaac's UPS-man costume.  How do you follow that cuteness?

Last year's UPS man costume (2009)

And this year we add a six-month-old baby sister to the costume equation.  I suppose we didn't have to dress her up, but we figured she was going trick-or-treating with Isaac, so we might as well figure something out.  So building on an idea Rebecca found in a magazine we created our Halloween masterpiece... Isaac as the artist and his baby sister Ella as his masterpiece.

Happy Halloween!

The Artist and his Masterpiece

The Artist and a portrait of his Mom

The Artist and another beautiful portrait

Today's Good Read: 1 Thessalonians 2:4-6

The Christian Atheist

I am by no means a book critic.  More accurately, I am an aspiring bookworm.  That is, I really enjoy reading, but I have to learn to stay awake long enough to finish books in a timely fashion.  I actually end up reading the same pages and paragraphs and two or three times because I nod off, twitch back into alert mode, re-read, and repeat as necessary until I give up and turn off the light.  I'm sure some of you can relate.
Anyway, I recently managed to finish a new book that I thought I would recommend to anyone who claims Jesus as their Lord, Savior, et al., but whose faith could easily be challenged or "called out" (with regard to their "un-Christian" behavior) by friends, family, neighbors, co-workers, and in this day and age... Facebook friends -- yup, you see it all the time in status updates... "Praise God!" one day, and "I got hammered" the next.  Heck, I'd be willing to bet you've seen, "Praise God, I got hammered!"
So the book is perfectly titled The Christian Atheist by Craig Groeschel (pastor, LifeChurch.tv).  It's about "believing in God but living as if He doesn't exist."  It's a book for the self-proclaimed Christ follower that: doesn't really take the time to get to know God; doesn't pray as often as he should; doesn't always think God is fair; doesn't always forgive on the level he has been forgiven; doesn't think God can change his ways; continues to worry all the time; doesn't share his faith; wants to claim Christ but not be a part of His church; and more.
On levels fortunately much lower than they were ten years ago, I still wrestle with my newly defined "Christian Atheism" daily, but I believe God can change me, has changed me, and is changing me.  This book actually helped me identify some specific areas I can improve on and better represent Christ to the people around me.

Today's Good Read: Titus 1:16