The Blind Leading the Blind

“He also told them a parable: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher. “” – Luke 6:39-40 (NLT)

To properly relay and teach the Good News of Christ’s Message, it’s important that we enlighten ourselves as to His intent and desires for our lives.  Through spending time in God’s Word, encompassing our days in prayer and reaching out in radical love and service to others, we gain the true meaning of Jesus’ teachings in our hearts, and can then more effectively deliver that hope to those around us.

The Gift of Reflection

Dear Lord; Happy Tuesday Father!

Well Father, to start off our week together I want to thank You wholeheartedly for the wonderful Christmas weekend You Blessed my family and I with.  Saturday evening we attended a beautiful candlelight service at Ewell’s-St. Paul UMC, followed the next day by a lovely Christmas morning with the kids and a trip to my (earthly) father’s house for a family dinner.  And most importantly Lord, I was Blessed to have three whole days spent wrapped in the love of my wife and children.  It was an absolutely joy-filled time of respite and celebration Lord, and for that I am truly grateful.

Today Father, I’m very Blessed to have the opportunity to share a guest “Email to God” from a dear lady and fellow Christian Blogger; Jean Wise from HealthySpirituality.org.  Jean’s posts never fail to inspire and encourage her readers (including me), and I’m excited to have her sharing her prayers here today.

Happy New Year, Lord!

I love the end of December – watching the transition from one year to the next. It is a time of new beginnings and renewed energy. You invite me to sit with You, reflecting on the past 12 months and praying about the coming year.

Lord as we “harvest” my journal, sort through my emotional ups and downs, and dig deep into my past experiences, help me to remember You were with me then, You are with me now, and will stay by my side into the unknown future.

I pause and lift up 2011 and my entire life journey once again into Your hands. With a highlighter and my favorite pen in hand, what shall we look for?

• ·      Cherished moments.
• ·      Unexpected joys and obstacles
• ·      Reoccurring thoughts or stubborn nudges that You won’t let me forget
• ·      Bible verses that guided me or still sing to me even if I don’t know why
• ·      Times I felt Your presence and times I walk in lonely darkness
• ·      Lessons I learned and lessons that will take a life time to fully comprehend
• ·      Answered prayers and dreams that still bubbled with life and passion

Lord, be my companion, teacher, and guide as 2012 unfolds. Let this coming year be filled with warm relationships and the strength and wisdom to help those You place before me. Help me to love You more, love others as You do, and to love myself as only You can.

And Lord I ask for a bit a whimsical joy in 2012. Give me childlike wonder to see your creation with new eyes. I ask that You lavishly send love, peace, kindness, and patience to fill my heart and remove the pettiness, greed, and jealously that I hide in its corners.

The gift of 2012 is not for me, but an opportunity to serve You, love You, and give You glory. Father, the One who “makes all things new,” help me keep my eyes only on You the coming twelve months.

Thank You for being the God of our yesterdays, of our todays, and all of our tomorrows.

Amen

~Jean Wise

 http://www.healthyspirituality.org

Lessons from a Nine-Year-Old

Dear Lord; Happy Friday Father!

Today Lord, we’re celebrating at the Malmstrom home.  Nine years ago today at 12:23pm, You Blessed us by bringing Aidan Patrick Malmstrom into our lives.  🙂

I love both my children dearly Father, and over the years each of them has brought me unique perspective, as well as taught me some valuable lessons.  In February 2005, I wrote a blog post for another site about my experiences taking care of Aidan while Shannon and Jonathan were at A.I. Dupont Hospital for a few days.  It described the unique little boy he was at age 2, and some of the things he’d taught me at that point in time:

Lessons from a Two-Year-Old

Over the last several days, I have been privileged to be instructed in the ways of the world by a mind so uncluttered that my perspectives have likely been forever changed. I’m speaking of course, of my two-year-old son Aidan.

It all started when Jonathan (my older son, or as some know him Mini-Me) was kept at the AI DuPont Hospital for Children for a three-day stay. Jonathan was born with a rare and serious blood disease called Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis (LCH) which nearly took him from us shortly after he was born. Thanks to the responsive and meticulous care of the Hematology and Oncology staff at AI, he recently celebrated his 5th birthday with us in December. However, as this disease is not clinically curable, whenever Jonathan develops any inexplicable or significant medical symptoms he’s carefully checked for any potential re-involvement of the ailment. Therefore, when he started showing flu symptoms and his blood counts were suspiciously low last week, back to AI he went. With Shannon staying close to Jonathan’s side, my attentions were now redirected to care for our younger son (and future NFL linebacker), Aidan.

To any of you that don’t know us, my wife and I very definitely have his-and-hers children. Jonathan, in a nutshell, is me. I understand nearly everything he does and why he does it. Aidan however, is a male version of Shannon with a slightly destructive twist. Don’t get me wrong, I love both my children to no end. However, sometimes I have problems relating to the thought processes that dictate Aidan’s actions. He’s a wonderful child with an incredibly warm heart and a seemingly endless reserve of energy. It’s just that his methods for getting from point A to point B sometimes serve to confuse me completely. Therefore, while I was in sole custody of this little enigma I took the opportunity to carefully follow and analyze some of his daily routines. From this, I learned some important things.

Let’s call this list “Everything I need to know, I learned from my two year old” (Ok, so it’s not terribly original, but you get the reference.)

1. An object is not necessarily made from the sum of it’s component parts. In fact, it’s very likely that if you smash it repeatedly into something else, it will have a whole new set of parts you knew nothing about.

2. Poop is funny stuff. In fact, it’s even funnier if you squish it around until it’s coming out of every seam of the diaper trying to contain it.

3. A child’s hearing ability is inversely proportional to how badly they really want to do something they aren’t supposed to.

4. An item’s original intention is never as interesting as the myriad of things you can make it do outside those boundaries.

5. The word “No” can be an entire language onto itself if said with varied volumes, tones and facial expressions.

6. Perpetual Motion can be achieved through the right balance of chocolate milk and mac-and-cheese.

7. Computer wires look exactly like the ropes that “Dora the Explorer” uses to swing across rivers and such.

8. Drawing and coloring should never be restricted to something as unimaginative as paper.

9. Do everything with a sickeningly cute smile and 9 out of 10 times you’ll get away with it. On the 10th time, run faster than daddy.

And I’m learning more every day…

God I love my kids.

~Phil Malmstrom

Therefore Father, to mark Aidan’s Birthday today I thought I’d share some additional “chunks of wisdom” that he’s enlightened me with since that time.

Lessons from a Nine-Year-Old

1. Laundry baskets are far too structured an idea for truly free thinkers.

2. With the right combination of Lego parts and some cheese quesadillas, you can in fact create sentient life.

3. The time required to shower is directly proportional to how much hot water is available and how many good songs are playing on the radio.

4. The response “One more minute” is actually a phrase apparently derived from some other language meaning “When I feel like it…”.

5. When you have HUGE dimples, you can get out of amazingly difficult situations.

6. If you want to stay up a little bit later than regular bedtime, the phrase to use on dad is “Can I just go read my Bible for a while please?”.

7. With the proper amount of barbecue sauce, almost anything is edible.

8. The word “no” is simply the beginning of the negotiation process.

9. If negotiations don’t go well and finally break down, it’s still good to be able to outrun daddy.

And I’m still learning more every day.  🙂

Heavenly Father,

I thank You Lord, for Blessing our family those nine years ago by placing Your child Aidan into our care.  He’s a kind, smart, fun little boy Father, and I feel privileged to be his earthly father.  Please continue to watch over him Lord, and guide him to grow into the godly man that I know he can be.

In Jesus’ Name we pray,

Amen.

~Phather Phil

Thankful Thursday: A Perspective of Gratitude

Dear Lord; Happy Thankful Thursday Father!

And once again Father, we come to my favorite weekly post here at PhatherPhil.org; Thankful Thursday.  As we draw closer to Thanksgiving Lord, it seems as if more and more folks are taking time out to focus on the many Blessings You bestow on us.  And while my heart sings seeing such a wonderful outpouring of gratefulness this time of year Father, it also highlights to me one important thing that I think sometimes we all miss…

Your Blessings grace our lives EVERYDAY; not only at Thanksgiving, not just every Thankful Thursday, but every minute of every day.

Even when we don’t have a Holiday to direct our attention to Your many gifts Father, it’s important to recognize and celebrate the fact that we exist and thrive within Your mercy and grace each day.  By keeping that fountain of gratefulness flowing in our hearts, we’re better able to weather our personal trials and at the same time to share that perspective of gratitude with others around us.

“And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” – Colossians 3:17 (ESV)

When we do everything from that foundation of thankfulness Lord, our lives become brighter in so many ways.

And on that thought Father, here’s this week’s Thankful Thursday list!  Looking back over the past seven days Lord, I’ve been especially grateful for:

391. Daily Inspirations.

392. A wonderful guest “Email to God” written by Lisa from “A Moment With God”.

393. Completing the final session of the “Treasures of the Transformed Life” Small Group Study.

394. New contact lenses.

395. A quiet, but loving and productive weekend spent with my family.

396. The help of a close friend in cleaning and repairing a “brewmeister” I was given.

397. A profound and overwhelming moment of “Spiritual Release” You gave me Tuesday morning.

398. The “Glue” that binds our hearts to Yours.

399. Feeling better following a two-week-long respiratory illness.

400. An update to the Android version of the YouVersion Bible App that brought some great new features.

401. That nine years ago tomorrow, You Blessed Shannon and I with our youngest son, Aidan.

402. The encouragement, kindness and support I received from one of my Facebook friends this week.

403. A fun “one on one” dinner out for Aidan and I while Shannon and Jonathan were at church groups last night.

404. Getting caught up on bills last weekend.

405. That even in our brokenness, our sin, and our pain You forgive us, and seek to draw us to You.

We continue to live bathed in Your grace Lord.  🙂

Heavenly Father,

We thank You Father God, for the many Blessings You bring to our lives each day; both those that fill our hearts to overflowing with Your benevolence, and those that Bless us quietly from the sidelines.  Please help us to maintain grateful hearts, and to reach out and share Your many gifts with others.

In Jesus Name we pray,

Amen.

~Phather Phil

Meditations Monday: The Glue That Binds Our Hearts

Dear Lord; Happy Meditations Monday Father!

To start off our week together Lord, I want to thank You for the many Blessings You graced my family and I with this past weekend.  As I still wasn’t feeling very well, we spent much of Saturday at home, save for a much-needed grocery shopping trip, and finished the evening off by curling up on the couch together and watching the final chapter in the Harry Potter movie series.  Sunday we started our day with an inspiring worship service at Ewell’s St. Paul, and then joined some close friends for a brunch to celebrate the birthday of one of their children.  The afternoon was filled with a marathon of housework, homework, bill-paying and laundry, but at the end of the day we were all able to relax a bit before bed, and enjoy some quiet time together.  You know Father, as my Walk with You progresses, I find myself appreciating those times of unity with my family more and more.  I’ve always enjoyed “family time”, but the more connected I become with You, the more connected I feel to them as well.  🙂

In her message this weekend, Pastor Kris made a statement that’s been churning around in my head ever since.  She told us that one of her seminary professors had once said that if you look at the Bible as a whole; the Old Testament, the New Testament and the Gospels, the one underlying concept that’s consistent throughout and that ties it all together, is love.  Now Father, while initially this may seem like an awfully simplistic and obvious statement, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it was a fundamental point that quite often we miss.

Throughout the Scriptures as well as in our lives today, we see many examples of the wide range of ways You show Your love for us.  Some are obvious, and come in the form of Blessings that clearly enrich our mortal lives and bring us immediate joy.  Others however, may be perceived as negative events that seem to complicate our lives and cause us difficulty.  The point that we need to remember however is this; just because things don’t always go as we expect or desire them to, it doesn’t mean that it wasn’t an act of love on Your part nonetheless.  I liken it to when I have to discipline my children.  I certainly don’t enjoy reprimanding or punishing them, but in my desire to be a loving, caring and responsible parent, sometimes it’s necessary for me to correct and guide them by providing a response that makes the point apparent and relevant to them.

In one of the most beautiful, and I believe powerful passages of the Bible, the Apostle Paul describes this love that You’ve given us, and the importance of it in our lives:

“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” – 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 (ESV)

I view love as the “glue” You use to bind our hearts to Yours Father.  You bestow it on us freely, and through Christ’s example, You lead us to share it with others in a similar fashion.  Such an overwhelming gift Lord, and one that grows more and more prominent as our walk to You progresses.

Heavenly Father,

We thank You Lord, for the love and Blessings You give to us freely and abundantly each day.  Please open our hearts and our minds, that we may more fully come to recognize Your acts of love in our lives; both those that fill our hearts with overwhelming joy, and those guiding actions which while sometimes painful, are done as the caring, loving, responsible Father that You are.

In Jesus’ Name we pray,

Amen.

~Phather Phil