Clutter

Today, I cleaned my office.

Please do not misunderstand me; I have a good bit of work to do. I have retreats coming up. I am working on two sermon-series for the Spring (1 John and Luke). I have to make another attempt at contacting a woman who wants to buy one of Hope's fantastic cheesecakes. And I still have not taken the time to flip out over the fact that we are within three months of the birth of our second (yet-to-be named) little boy. I have plenty that I need to do.

It is not that my office is even all that full of stuff. I look around and there is not too much to distract me. In the place of multiple commentaries by theologians, there is a fantasy football trophy from 2006, some paintings that I used on stage at camp in 2005, an old copy of Spider-Man from 1966, a Dirk Nowitzki bobble-head, and a stuffed Undertaker that one of our secretaries threw at me. These are what fill the multitude of bookshelves that the previous occupant left for me. (There were some commentaries on my desk-just books that have been 'borrowed' from my peers).

When I walked in today, there was an overwhelming urge to discard of the trash and reorganize the things of value. I tried to work on the 'to-do' list first. It was impossible. So I threw away countless papers that had just accumulated over my six months in this office. I found some books that I intend to read (yet had forgotten where I had placed them). Books are now, at the very least, on the shelf.

I guess I used the word 'clean' a little more liberally than some. I should probably have said, 'Today, I did things so that I could see some progress.'

Paul writes about the hard working farmer (2 Timothy 2). If we just think about the example, the farmer diligently worked while completely relying on God-plucking weeds day after day in the hope that God will send rain. He does some things in the hopes of seeing progress. His hope in God is certain because of God's faithful-and he works firmly within the knowledge of that truth.

Early on in Scripture, God lays out for us the Shema in Deuteronomy 6. God provides statutes and laws that serve to show the follower of YHWH how to avoid the trappings of a mundane, self-seeking life for the sake of them loving Him above all else. He reminds us to have constant reminders when he refers to frontlets. Frontlets literally means 'Everywhere you look, I Am there.' God's desire is for His followers to see Him and know Him in such a way that we could teach Him. Christ fulfills this message in that, in Him, these things are now possible.

What things are we doing in the hope of seeing God's progressive work in us?

Fanboy

It started innocently enough.

I was out of town. Hope told me that she had purchased Shep some superheroes.

My inner dork did a cartwheel. Ever since Hope's pregnancy, I have pointed out anything loosely connected to powers gained through gamma radiation, alien heritage, or accidental bites from a variety of insects. I would casually point to (albeit gaudy) bibs with a man in a mask jumping where milk spittle rests. When Shep was going through his stuffed animal/teething ring/exersaucer stage, I would take a step three aisles over to let him get a feel of Gotham City and the Baxter Building.

So when Hope called to tell me that Shep was now the proud owner of Spiderman, Carnage, a Hand Ninja, and Samurai Wolverine, I realized that all of my hard work was beginning to pay off. Before we knew it, all three of us would be wearing masks and capes and taking care of injured puppies when we were not fighting pedestrian crime.

Thankfully, this all coincided with potty training. What happened when there were no accidents? We could finally look for an Iron Man. If my boy had a successful week, there was good chance that a member of the Fantastic Four was in his future. If he complemented my driving, off to the toy store. He wanted heroes and it was my job as a parent to encourage his inner X-Man.

His collection was growing. The figures come in two packs and, despite the fact that he was the proud owner of 5 Spidermen, 2 Iron Men, and 2 Wolverine, I was able to sit down and begin to have discussions at an early age about how great power comes with great responsibility. We plotted out battles between the heroes and the villains who had oddly taken over the minds of all of Shep's animals (due mainly to a shortage in evil on the retail shelf). He even knew that the Hulk is the strongest there is and would have no problem smashing a T-Rex or an Elmo the size of my son.

We went to the store the other night. Shep asked if he could get some superheroes and had a few extra dollars. I confidently strolled into Toys-R-Us with the boy and we walked straight to the hero section. This is where it all gets a little iffy.

Shep grabbed a Bat Mobile. What is wrong with that? Nothing-well, almost nothing. He only owns Marvel figures. Bat Man is a DC character. My spider senses started tingling. He cannot have 17 Marvel figures and one Batman driving into the fight in his fancy sports car. DC heroes and Marvel characters never overlap except in publicity stunts by the publishers (and it does not take a mutant to realize that those books are non-canonical).

Shep then started to want Toy Story figurines. Next, he wanted the electronic dinosaur (the one with the remote). I kept steering him around the store, hoping that this was not real, just a training simulation like the one's that take place in the X Mansion.

That is when it hit me.

I was vicariously collecting action figures through my 2 year old son. Shepherd was not really collecting action figures-I was.

We walked over to the cars. He saw a three pack from the movie 'Cars' that he really wanted. So we bought them. Sally, Red, and (yet another) Lightning McQueen were now his. At least for a few days, Cars had regained there spot in my boy's vivid imagination.

Which reminds me-we still don't have a Batmobile...