treasures from heaven

 

yeah, so what if we are standing awkwardly close

 

God, in his great kindness, brings special people into your life at just the right moment.

For Beth and I, one of those undeserved treasures happens to be our friends Brandon and Bethan Rogers.  As it turns out, all four of us attended college at Texas A&M and we ran in the same circles.  We went to the same church for about a year and a half, even shared a pair of really close friends that we had in common.

Sometimes, I have found, there are people in my life who I wish I had time to get to know better because there is no doubt in my mind that – if I had enough time to invest in the relationship – we would be smashing friends.  Such were my sentiments towards the incomparable Brandon Rogers.

Lo and behold, the Wilsons and the Rogers both ended up in Louisville, KY attending seminary at Southern.

No surprise here, but we hit it off big time.  The four of us have developed one of those special friendships that just don’t come around that often – especially for married couples.

This week I received two reminders of how profoundly kind the Lord has been to Beth and I by allowing us to be friends with the Rogers:

1. The Rogers donated some of there super busy schedule to take the first of a series of photos of Beth and I as the pregnancy unfolds for the next 6 months (Look for some of these photos to be posted soon, they show just how impressive the Rogers’ photography skills are – be sure to check out their website – bbrogers.com)
2. It sucks when I am unable to answer the phone when a friend like Brandon calls, but in this case the result was truly a treasure from heaven – a treasure that would be almost sinful for me to horde for my own listening pleasure.  So I have elected to share it with you here, exclusively at the re:wilsons blog. 

bellyflies

pretty sure that our little bellyfly doesn't look like any of these

It happened.

Some nights Beth sleeps really deep, others she is more restless.

Well, Monday night was one of the nights when she slept lightly – and it paid off.

About 4 o’clock in the morning, she roused from her sleep with a fluttery feeling in her tummy, a feeling like a little butterfly bouncing around.

At the time she didn’t make a big deal out of it, just closed her eyes and went back to sleep (I think she had a weird dream about her old boss taking over the Democratic National Convention).

It was only after arriving at work that it dawned on her that her little butterfly was actually a little baby flying its little legs or arms around in her womb.

It was a great moment for us.

It was really a blessing from the Lord because it really encouraged Beth that all of her feeling sick is for a reason. Since she is not showing yet, it was the first distinct sign that there is a little Wilson inside of her – and I am thankful for it for her sake.

In 5 weeks we know if our little bellyfly is a boy or a girl.

Excitement abounds.

sad realization

Goodbye Beijing, hello Denver!

It hit me Sunday night while watching the incredible display put on by the Chinese people at the Closing Ceremonies of the Olympics.  

The last three weeks have been absolutely dominated by the Olympic games, the morning shows, the morning programming, afternoon programming, evening news, and prime time all revolved around Michael Phelps, Usain Bolt, the sprite-ly gymnastics team, the medal count – and I have loved every minute of it.  

No, I don’t buy into the great lengths that the Communist Party in China went to in order to convince the world that all is well in their nation.  No, I don’t gloss over the horrible things that the government does on a daily basis to their own citizens – violations of human rights and making every attempt to crush freedom of religious worship. No, the lush HD images did not blind me to the reality behind the system that forcibly made all of those gold medal winning athletes.

But I loved the Olympics and I loved Beijing.  I loved seeing the city during the marathons and admiring the Great Wall.  I loved the competitive spirit and the drive to excellence.  In Beijing, the Olympics are a monument of how great the greatest of humanity can be – and how weak we can truly be.

We can pour every ounce of our  effort, thought, passion, and money into greatness, but even when we achieve our greatest dream – the gold metal or the greatest Olympic games in modern history – we cannot do it all.

The Olympics are about human nature being painted on an epic scale.  The Olympics show the great potential of people who are created in the image of God to achieve greatness.  The Olympics also show us the reality of our sinfulness, our depravity, our brokeness.  

Now the Olympics are over and – unfortunately – Beijing is no longer in the spotlight.  Now we move to Denver, where the Democratic National Convention will be at the center of our American world for the next week or so.

While I have little love for politics, regardless of the party being considered, they are similar to the Olympics.  There is such a hope for victory, for conquest, an aching for “our candidate” to win the race.  

Just like the gold metals of Beijing, however, we all know that the road to human attainment is stained with the guilt of many transgressions.

We are a people of great tension.  We are paradoxes, little mysteries – this world of humanity.  Such potential for greatness.  Such potential for disappointment, for failure, for falling short.

At the Olympics, we hope and herald the ability of sport to save our world from its wars, its hatred, its strife.  In the political arena, we herald and hope for a new day in America, a leader who will save us from our hardships, our wars, ourselves.

Alas, it is not to be.

Israel longed for a Messiah, a Savior who would be a Warrior and a King.  They got him, he came. But he was not what they wanted, his conquest was not the one they were expecting – or that they really wanted.

Not much has changed.  

In this month of Olympic heros and political saviors, see through the hype and realize that, ultimately, another sporting competition and another election is not enough to save this world – we need something more dramatic, more powerful. more revolutionary.

We need God to become a man, to die for our sins, and to rise from death.  We need him to return – thats our only hope.  We need Jesus.

don’t be embarassed

Our good friend Becky, having reviewed our “Tribute to the Peeks”, seems to have felt a slight degree of embarrassment in regards to her appearance in the tribute video.

As far as that is concerned, I don’t see it.  

There is no need for embarrassment, so I must post a video response speaking to the (in)validity of responding with the embarrassment the tribute performance in question:

(Let it be known, far and wide, that this post and video are motivated by purely ridiculous motives and due to the fact that this is probably the only time that this video could ever legitimately be used in a context that even close to makes sense.)

blog got swole

You wouldn’t know it to look at it, but this blog just exploded – multiplying in size by like ten.

No, I didn’t go blog crazy and write sixty blog entries over the weekend, I rolled all of our previous blogs into this one , now definitive, Wilson Blog.

What was added:

focalelement blog – a blog I started early in my seminary career in Louisville because I thought that you had to have a blog to be a seminary student: “but ma, all the other kids are doing it!”  It includes some of my miscellaneous thoughts – some more worthwhile than others – and it did lead to an interesting ongoing conversation between myself and a lady who went by the name “G.D.”  

kywilsons blog – unfortunate name, I know, but it was the first Wilson blog written our for friends and family when we moved from Texas to Louisville.  The name of the blog has everything to do with geography and nothing to do with being newlyweds – lets just go ahead and get that joke out of the way.  I would recommend checking out the Online Tour of our apartment in Old Louisville and the post ‘Junie’s House”, if you are interested in some highlights from our time in Louisville.

main event blog – this was the digital resource I put together for my college group’s weekly Bible study.  We called it the “Main Event” because I owned a pair of socks that had those, now infamous, words printed on them.  I spent about 45 minutes of Bible study with my boy Darnell calling me the Main Event before I realized what was going on.  The rest is history.  I recommend checking out some of my review posts on our studies from the Gospel of John – we had a great time walking through 12 chapters in John in the time that I was there (keep the momentum going guys, you can finish it!)

So, that’s that.

Feel free to ask any questions you may have about all this new (old) material.

napster strikes again

No, I am not talking about the infamous music downloading site; I am talking about my wife – the napster.

Beth has definitely been feeling better as of late – though she is still discouraged that she is feeling sick at all now that she is in the second trimester.  She has been getting headaches and the occasional wave of nausea, but the most persistent symptom of her “baby on board-ness” is fatigue.

My little napster, as I have taken to calling her, only packs enough energy reserves these days to wake up, eat some pickles with a side of a sandwich or cereal, and then maintain a minimally active existence for a few hours before this happens:

 

so sweet is the little mama

Today Beth made me very proud: once we left the house for Saturday lunch and errands, she was able to go to Jimmy Johns to eat; Deals, Goodwill, Pier One, Lane Furniture Outlet and Fred’s to shop, and then chat with our friend Julie Dockery on our couch for 45 minutes – all without slurring her speech from exhaustion (though she was cutely pathetic at Fred’s).

That’s 7 things, if you count them up, and that makes for a good day in the life of lil’ napster (who is sound asleep on the couch as I write this).

the picklemiester

When Beth’s mom was pregnant she had these late night cravings for McDonalds, so she would go late at night and drive thru for french fries, burgers, whatever hit the spot at the time.  She swears to this day that her McDonalds runs were the reason that Beth was such a Happy Meal fiend when she was younger.

What does this mean for for little Wilson? I asked myself this question the other night and I came to a realization.

My child is going to be a picklemiester, just like its mother.  Do you need evidence that Beth has been a monument to pickle consumption?

Evidence A: there are currently two quarts of Jimmy Johns pickles in our fridge – they will be gone by the end of the weekend, guaranteed.

Evidence B: photographic documentation (see below)

 

that's right - Jimmy pickles!

So, the evidence is mounting.  I know that Beth’s mom ate a lot of McDonalds when she was pregnant with Beth.  I know that Beth loved McDonalds when she was little.

I am going to have to face the facts.  My child is going to be a pickle eater, just like the his/her mama.

 While this will be traumatizing to me (I cannot stand pickles), it is better than the other alternative that I have imagined as of late.

 

too many pickles for mama!

Let’s all hope that this pickle mania curbs off soon so that my sweet picklemiester doesn’t give birth to a little green baby!

tribute to the Peeks (abroad)

We had the good fortune of spending almost an entire week with Kevin and Becky Peek earlier this August.  Suffice to say, it was awesome.

I could attempt to communicate the awesomeness in all its splendor, but I would be better off leaving it to this special tribute video.

See, what could capture our time together better than steaks, a lime-size baby in my 12 week pregnant wife, Kevin strumming the guitar, writing a tremendous song about our time together, groupies, and the throwing of underwear (including sports bras, as Beth suggests in the background).

It just doesn’t get much better than that.

We love the Peeks. Thanks for blessing us with your friendship and the way you loved on us during your time in our home here in Jackson.

pastors and politics?

I encountered an interesting clip on youtube, courtesy of Justin Taylor’s blog.

Say what you want about the different candidates running for president, feel free to debate the quality of these pastoral opinions of Barak Obama; there is much to call into question in regard to both candidates.

I certainly have my own political opinions and convictions, but that is not what concerns me most about this clip of various pastors endorsing Barak Obama.  

Biblically, a pastor/elder is to shepherd the church, especially through teaching them the Scriptures (Titus 1, 1 Timothy 3).  The pastor is to be a man who speaks truth, who helps his flock to rightly understand their Bibles and be transformed by them into wise disciples of Christ who believe truth and live according to that knowledge.  

When an individual presents themselves as a pastor and crosses over into politics, naming names and claiming party allegiance, their voice is not merely that of a single individual.  When a pastor speaks with the clarity and specificity of Pastor Brian McLaren and the other pastors in this clip, their opinions are communicated as Pastor – as an authoritative voice that is to come before his congregation, Bible open, to say, “Thus says the Lord.”

Should a pastor remain silent on all issues of political concern? No, that is not what I am suggesting.  

I am suggesting that pastors teach with clarity what the Bible itself teaches with clarity.  Teach your people how to think about politics, what the bible teaches about government, how we should love and care for the poor, why we should care about issues pertaining to the preciousness of human life – teach your people the truth found in God’s word.

 Pastor, yours is a calling to explicate that which is true and refute that which is false, when you herald the name of a political figure or party, you are overextending yourself and saying more than you have biblical warrant to.

Tread carefully with your political opinions: it is just as wrong for you to teach more than what Scriptures say as it is for you to teach less that what the Scriptures say. 

So, is it a sin for a pastor to have strong political convictions?  To be passionate about a particular candidate?  Not necessarily, but the role of pastor should supersede political convictions and cause him to recognize that he is not merely a spokesman for his own individual opinions.  

Pastor, posit and opinion with extreme care in this political season; your task is to shepherd your flock through teaching them their Bibles, not espouse your voting intentions.  

The Pastor should speak with soberness knowing that theirs is a voice with authority. Whether spoken or unspoken, the words of a pastor are marked by “thus says the Lord.”  

Brothers, we will have to give an answer to our words some day (Hebrews 13:17).  Shepherd your people to their Savior, not to their president.

well, i’m (we’re) pregnant!

Lee asked me to do a post about the pregnancy. So, here is what the past 14 weeks have looked like…

napping - i just couldn't wait until home for my Sunday nap.

napping - just waking up from another nap

napping - asleep in the old clayton inn before the Dixon-Miller wedding

napping - Lee's parents came into town. We literally napped, ate, napped, ate, napped and then napped some more. From the left: Beth, Lesa, Scott.

napping - even lunch time is nap time for me

That’s about it! For the last couple of months I have slept, napped, thrown up, and napped some more.

I believe today marks week 14 and there is still no sign of the morning sickness disappearing anytime soon. My dinner last night and breakfast this morning both found there way back into the sink.

As a source of encouragement, Lee has purchased a onesie (is that how you spell that?) that states “I love mommy” on it. Anytime I find myself hovering over the toilet, I turn around only to find him waving the infant outfit like a flag with smile on his face.

right after I had thrown up, he insisted on a picture. I was not amused. so I took another nap

In forthcoming posts, we will post some pictures of growing baby Wilson. As of now, I have nothing to show for the past 14 weeks, but it will come in due time.

Since I don’t have a “bump” yet I thought I would post a picture taken around the time we estimate we first became pregnant.

HAHA! I chose this picture since it was dated the end of May - close to"C-Day"

Stay tuned! More to come!