it only took 5 minutes

My six year old son likes to ride his bike. He knows how far along our neighborhood's loop he can ride before turning back. He likes to start by our front porch where the sidewalk is at it's highest and get a good run. He loves his red, white, and blue bell that makes that classic "duh ling, duh luh ling" sound (thanks go to my wife for helping me with the spelling of "duh ling"). And I think he likes the sense of freedom and independence he gets (the sort of feeling you and I might get in a Mustang convertible). (Wow, all this paragraph needs is a choir to hum "The Battle Hymn of the Republic.")

My daughters (ages 2 and 4) envy his ways of the bike. When my son asks if he can ride his bike I almost always let him. And when I let him his sisters almost always ask, "Dad, can you help me ride my bike?" and "Dad, can you help me ride my sister's bike?" (My youngest doesn't actually have a bike.) And when the girls ask I am almost always in the middle of something that makes me feel too busy. And so I almost always turn them down.

Well, on Sunday (August 31) I happened to be driving with my daughters to return some movies we had rented. (Get ready for unnecessary details...) They thought I should go to the library. (Here comes one...) Our library is closed Sundays in August. So they asked about Monday. And Monday was Labor Day, so of course the library would be closed. (And now back to relevancy...) "What's Labor Day?" How do you explain that to a four year old girl and her two year old sister? "It's a day when people cook out." Sooo, we began to plan a picnic. And because my girls envy my son's ways of the bike. I promised we would bring the bikes on our picnic.

We went to a park with an exceptional playground. We brought bubbles for blowing, a football for tossing, and a paper table cloth to decorate with crayons. The kids loved the playground, but the bike was the thing, so they asked me to get out the bikes. I turned my son loose on his and got my four year old ready for a turn on hers. "Look ahead so you know where to steer." "Pedal backwards when you want to stop." And then she was done with her turn. And her two year old sister went at it. And after a second turn for each of them it was all over. And five minutes of my life had passed. When they were done I thought "Is that all?" It seemed it took more time to load and unload the bikes than they spent on the bike. I said, "Are you done?" "Yeah, but it was fun." (I guess my four year old sensed my need for some sort of affirmation at that point.) And back to the playground they went.

Life Lesson: I make parenting a lot more difficult than it has to be. Give the kids 5 minutes.

weak links?

Quiz
The name for this blog was inspired by an experience with
a. breakfast meat that was undercooked
b. a place in the fence through which the dog escapes
c. a poorly maintained golf course
d. Mark 2 and 2 Corinthians 12

Easy answer right?
Undercooked breakfast meat.

Of course this blog name has theological intentions. There is a story in Mark 2 (to which I refer very often) about a paralyzed man with some very good friends. God used and continues to use this story to make us sure of our calling to minister in Belgium. I'll skip the Reader's Digest version of the story and let you look it up, but here's the bottom line (and the connection to this blog title). The person in the story who by all appearances had the least to offer to Jesus was the very one Jesus used to prove his identity as God and his authority to forgive sins. As the work of God was on display in this man's healing (both physical and inner) we, too, are called to allow God's work in our lives to be on display (and in the near future the exhibit will be traveling to Belgium).

This bottom line is also seen in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10. Paul has credentials. But he will only boast in his weakness. In response to a "thorn in the flesh" God said to him "...My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." And in typical upside down kingdom logic Paul writes, "...when I am weak, then I am strong."

This blog title is also intended to be clever. Of course revealing that intention risks diminishing the cleverity (as does making up words). But in spite of the risk I'll explain (the obvious?). InterVarsity Link is the program which makes the opportunity to serve students in Belgium a possibility. We are the links between InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA and our sister IFES movement, Ichtus. And as we've previously established, we are weak ones at that.

May God be merciful and be glorified.

welcome

Hello and welcome to my newly named blog. If you'd like to read old posts please go to http://unfinisheddeck.blogspot.com until I figure out if you can import posts from a different blog. I should let you know that I also hope my wife will post from time to time as well.

Thanks for reading.
Jeremy Hamilton
Your friendly neighborhood (InterVarsity) staff guy