A Beautiful (and tasty) Mess

This past week has been so busy and stressful. It seemed like everything was overwhelming. Thursday and Friday were so crazy that Jeff and I did not get to spend hardly any time together, and then he was working all day Saturday. I have been so consumed with school work that I haven't been spending much quality time doing things with the girls. So, today after church I decided that we needed some sort of family activity to bring us together to just spend time with each other.

Baking is one of my favorite things to do when I just want to let the problems of life fade away into the background. The warmth of the oven, the wonderful smells wafting up from mixing bowls, cooking sheets and baking pans, and the delight found in the first taste of a warm treat were exactly what I thought that I needed after the week that I've had. So I took inventory of what was in the pantry and picked out a recipe. I wanted something seasonal. Fall. It sure doesn't feel like fall here in Texas just yet, but it is officially fall, so whatever we were going to bake was required to have cinnamon and nutmeg in the ingredients list. Glazed Sweet Potato Pound Cake. Perfect.

Sometimes I forget that my favorite tiny humans (Sophia and Aaryn) don't always mix well with my favorite hobbies. Baking is involved. Sometimes the tiny humans who are desperate to help and be involved take an enjoyable process and turn it into a time consuming, semi-chaotic, flour filled mess. So, it wasn't the relaxing, blow-off-steam experience I was looking for. Even so, it was full of laughs and giggles, learning and we were all together.

Jeff helped Sophia and Aaryn measure the dry ingredients, while I cooked and mashed the sweet potatoes. With each measuring cup full of flour that they put into the bowl, little white clouds floated up around their sweet faces. Aaryn loved the process of scooping and pouring, scooping and pouring. The sweet potatoes creamed together with the vanilla and eggs so smoothly into a rich subtly-orange paste. We got everything mixed together and then realized that we had completely forgotten to add the butter and the sugar. You'll be happy to know that you can add those last and it'll still turn out great.

Sophia was so excited waiting for the cake to come out of the oven. The spiced scent rising from the oven and filling the kitchen was a tantalizing foretelling of what we would taste later. When we pulled it out oven it was a perfect "baked sweet potato" color, with a crisp crust around the edges. After letting it to cool enough to take it out of the pan, Sophia got to have the first piece of warm cake drizzled with a sweet sugary glaze. Probably not the best choice for right before bedtime, but what oh well. Sometimes it's nice to treat your children to special things.

Baking with the girls is something that I think that I am going to miss when they are grown up and moved away. The awe and curiosity that they display throughout the whole process is so so sweet. Sophia's desire to help any way that she can and Aaryn's quite nature and tendency to always observe everything so intently are traits that I hope that they don't grow out of when they are older. Letting the girls help me in the kitchen can be so stressful because of my habit of setting up high standards for the outcome. When I am able to let go of my standards and perfectionism I am able to really enjoy the amazing people that they are.

Glazed Sweet Potato Pound Cake

(This recipe was taken from Allrecipes.com)

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups white sugar
• 2 cups cooked and mashed sweet potatoes
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 eggs
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups confectioner' sugar (for glaze)
• 3 to 4 tablespoons milk (for glaze)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla (for glaze)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 10-in bunt pan. Sift together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg and salt. Set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add mashed sweet potatoes and vanilla. Beat until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time (the batter will look curdled). Add flour mixture to potato mixture. Beat on low until combined.
3. Pour batter into 10-in bunt pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about 1 hour and 20 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean. Cool cake for 20 minutes in the pan, then remove from pan and place on serving plate.
4. To make the glaze, place the sugar in a medium bowl and slowly stir in the milk and vanilla, a little at a time, to make a smooth pourable glaze. Immediately drizzle onto warm cake.

I have no idea what I'm doing...

As the title suggests, I have no idea what I'm doing. Right now I should be studying. I am in seminary (for those who may not know, that's theological grad school) and this semester I am taking only six hours, just two classes. But oh those classes! 7 AM Systematic Theology and 8.30 AM Philosophy of Religion, brain-stretchingly brutal classes compounded that they are so early in the morning....so I have homework. I should be reading right now about the Kalam cosmological model, but I am not. Why?
For multiple reasons, thank you for asking.
1. While I like William Lane Craig as a philosopher, he is pretty wordy and (hrmm hrrm) long winded.
2. My wife and I started this blog and I have not really been contributing to it.
3. Ok, so there are really just two.
So I am taking classes (did I already say that? ok, moving on...) and I work full-time. This means that I am busy and rarely home. This makes me sad, but in a way, it is almost bitter sweet. How, you ask? You are full of good questions today! Today when I got home from work my girls were all outside and when they saw me ride up they literally shrieked for joy. That was nice. But because they hardly get to see me, I miss out on some pretty important things.
Proverbs 22:6 says "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it." And Ephesians 6:4 says "Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord."
Now regardless of how one interprets the second part of the verse from Proverbs on a child not turning from the way they were brought up, the point is clear from both verses: parents (fathers, more specifically) need to be about the business of training their children.
But training in what? How?
This is the part where the title of the post starts ringing true. I have no idea what I'm doing as a dad. I suspect that nobody else does, or if they do, they are hiding it really well.
We as dads tend to have these lofty ideas about what family discipleship looks like. It probably takes place after dinner or early in the morning. Children are summoned and they come running down the stairs like it's Christmas morning because they know that Dad is about to impart some wicked awesome biblical knowledge and wisdom. The entire family gathers round to hear Dad reading a passage from the Bible (somehow like James Earl Jones) and everyone is alert and attentive, even the 18 month old. The Mom sings a hymn and the Dad breaks down the passage, just like your favorite preacher, wise commentary from the children surprises everyone, then Dad leads in solemn and respectful prayer, and then everyone hugs and someone busts out a game of jacks or a guitar or something.
This is some horrible lie out of the Christian Leave it to Beaver.
I have a four year old and an 18 month old, both girls. They fight and squabble over toys, or personal space, or breathing air. This happens. Constantly. That mixed with what little time I have to give them, it just feels easier sometimes to not have a family Bible study time.
But all that is just excuses isn't it? I still have an obligation, biblically mandated, to lead my family, to train my children to love and serve God.
Psalm 127:3-5 says "Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are the sons born in one's youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their enemies in the gate."
Obviously I don't have sons. But I think the passage is still pretty powerful as a picture of how children are important, especially for the Gospel, nevermind the so-called "culture-wars". Children, like arrows, need to be made, crafted, carefully and purposefully tuned and turned and made to fly straight so that when loosed, the arrow/child reaches it's desired target. I need to be making my arrows sharp and ready to contend in the gates of life with the Enemy. This is important not just for me, but for them and the future of the Church and the spread of the Gospel.
But how in the world do I go about doing this?
Deuteronomy 6:7 says "Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up." This seems pretty straight-forward: talk about the Bible, all. the. time. Whenever you are with your kids, whether going on a trip to the grocery store, hanging out at home, before you go to bed, after you get up in the morning. Colossians 4:6 says "Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone." This general admonition is perfect when thinking about how to approach teaching the Bible to children. It needs to be the flavoring of our conversations, so that what we say will not be flat, bland, and worthless. But since the law of the Lord is like honey (Psalm 18:10), it needs to be the sweetener to our speech.
Moreover, we simply need to make the time for this if we deem it to be important. That is probably my biggest hang up right there. Do I really believe all of this? Do I really feel the importance of the Gospel, salvation and training for my girls? Do I really feel the urgency? (honest time) More often than not, no. But we still need to set aside the time, as we read and think and discuss, even for a brief few minutes the Bible with our family, our minds will be transformed and conformed to the mind of Christ, God willing. For this transformation to take place, we need to be in the Word.
So how do we go about having a family devotional time? I don't remember where (or else I would cite the source, it was good!) but I read an article about family devotions and it went something like this: set aside time, which ever works best for your family's schedule, then pray, read a few verses from the Bible, and make some comments, ask some questions, answer questions, pray again. Done! It does not have to be perfect or "churchly". It needs to be done. Yes, your kids will want to be doing something else. Yes, you may not "have the time" to do them daily. Yes, you will miss days. Yes, you will have fighting kids, screaming and possibly crying. That is life. We cannot let those be setbacks to training our children in the ways of righteousness. To make those inevitable events in the course of everyday life an excuse to not do something vitally important to the spiritual health of your family is cowardly and shows that we are weak and do not really want to lead our families.

So I want to issue a challenge to the (few) dads who may read this. If you have the Youversion Bible app on your phone (tablet, computer, smart phone, whatever), pick a devotion that is just reading the Bible, nothing fancy, it can be as long or as short as you want. I don't think devotional content is needed, but whatever, your choice. But pick one that has the readings in short(ish) passages, depending on the ages and attention span of your kids, and simply go through it. It can take five minutes, it can take fifteen. But make a commitment to sit down with your family and try to read the Bible together and talk about it.