Politics

Listening to the radio last week, I heard a talk about former Ambassador Andrew Young.  He is an ordained minister and was a colleague of Martin Luther King, Jr. in the civil rights movement.  He said that is his political career he had four goals that he wanted to address in each of his decisions.

Feed the hungry
Heal the sick
Clothe the naked
Set at liberty those who are oppressed

He was the Ambassador to the United Nations in the Carter administration.  When he first began, the elders of the Native American bands of New York came to him to remind him that he was not their ambassador.  They wanted to give him some advise from their ancestors, though.  They said, "When we make decisions we must think of the seventh generation yet unborn."  Young said that if politicians today began to think of the second generation yet unborn, they would get things a lot better than they are now.

I have just begun reading an abridged version of Les Miserables by Victor Hugo.  Here is a quote from the Monseigneur Bienvenu.

"The faults of women, of children, of the feeble, the indigent, and the ignorant, are the fault of the husbands, the fathers, the strong, the rich and the wise."

Cognitive dissonance at age 8 and 9

It's been a while since I've posted on the books that we are reading.  This one has been so good that I had to write about it. 

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor is a difficult, beautiful, sad and wonderful novel.  Set in pre-civil rights era Mississippi, it follows the story of a black family as they navigate the waters of second class citizenry.  The Logan family is different from many of the share cropping families around them.  They own the property that their family farms.  This fact gives them the strength to question the atrocities of everyday life.  Cassie, the narrator and only girl of the family, struggles to reconcile the things that her mother tells her about who she is and what the whites in her community tell her.

Reading this with the boys has been great.  It has opened their minds to a terrible world of which they know nothing.  It has given me so many opportunities to tell them about the fallenness of the world that we live in.  We have also spoken of the privilege that we have simply because we are white.  Pastor John spoke on racial reconciliation on Sunday (as he does every MLK weekend) and it was another good chance to come back to these topics with the kids.  When the the "N" word came up for the first time in the book, I stopped and had to tell the boys about this terrible word.  This is why we homeschool.  I want to be the one to walk my kids into the darkness of our world.  I want to be next to them the first time that they see things that make them cry and make them angry and make them question.  I won't always be there, but it is a wonderful thing to be with them at first.

If you're looking for a book to read to expose your kids to issues of racism, segregation and a past that was not so long ago and that has huge modern ramifications, then I highly recommend this novel. 

Tender Hearts

There have been tender hearts lately at our house.  The tender hearts are mostly in the men of our home.  When Ben had his birthday, I took him out for breakfast and when I was telling him all of the things that I loved about him and my hopes for who he would become, out came his tender heart.  Red eyes.  Little tears.

His tender heart came out later when we gave him his gifts.  He loved the little camera we gave him.  He said to me, "Dad, thanks for my camera.  It was my best gift."  Then red eyes, little tears, "Actually, my best gift . . . was you."  I hugged him hard, real hard.

Matthew's tender heart comes out all the time lately: when we were at breakfast together, when he told Gigi thank you for his 6 trip, when I thanked God for him at the dinner table, and many other times.

Caleb's heart is different.  His tender heart is out more when he's happy.  It looks like kissing me, telling me he loves me, and sitting close on the couch.  He longs for control, so it usually doesn't get too far down the tears road.

I just read Molly Piper's post about still missing her dead daughter Felicity four years after she was stillborn.  Tears welled.  I am glad when my tender heart peaks out.  It helps me know I'm still struggling.  When my heart becomes hard and there's no emotion, I know I need to get back in the fight for my soul.  I pray that each of my kid's heart remains tender.  It is a tilled soil that is ready for the gospel of Christ.  God promises to remove our hearts of stone and give us a heart of flesh.  A friend used to ask "When was the last time you cried?"  He used it as a measuring stick for how we were living.  I know tears come easier for some of us than others.  My grandma used to cry over Hallmark commercials.  I'm not sure I ever remember my dad crying.  More than the tears, I hope for the tender heart.  There are things in our world that should hurt us and things that should overcome us with gratitude.  I'm thankful for both and the tender heart that responds to each.

My Hope For My Boys

I have been very limited over the last year or more in my times of uninterrupted thought, times when I have energy to vision for myself and my family, to hope and ponder what God has for our future.  With life beginning to settle down, I am once again finding this gift.

Lately, I have been doing a lot of thinking about my boys and what I hope for their growing up years to be.  Ben is about to turn 9-years-old.  There's no turning back.  We're about to get in the thick of it.  Ben will remember everything from here on out.  Amanda is reading a book that my mom sent entitled Boys Should Be Boys by Meg Meeker.  I pulled the following from Amazon which said it was on the back cover.

* Why the most important factor in shaping your son's behavior isn't "peer pressure" (it's you)
* How to preserve your son's innocence (and why it's essential to help him grow up)
* Why boys need less, not more--whether it's computer games, organized sports, or lessons
* How to talk to your son--the pitfalls that moms and dads face
* Why it's not normal for teenage boys to be moody and rebellious
* Why teaching your son about virtue isn't an option, it's a necessity

Pretty much the gist of it is (from what Amanda has told me) that what boys need most is their fathers and to be pushed to be adventurous and given the time and freedom to take those risks.

I was talking with a good friend last week about this topic and about how when I was younger I had many fun and memorable experiences. Many of them were us getting into trouble. For instance, we used to drive around town with one of us on the roof of my parents Olds 88. They would lay across the roof and hold on. Anyone of us could have fallen off there and died. Probably not the best idea, but it was a great story to tell afterwards. I told my friend last week that I hoped that my boys would live lives that would lead to great stories that would also honor and glorify God.

I think one thing that has happened in the last four or so decades is a shift from fathers being the primary early influences on boys to mothers be that influence. Mothers naturally are more worried about the personal safety of the boys. How many of us have heard mothers (and even fathers now) say to their kids at a playground, "Johnny, careful or you're going to get hurt."? I want my boys to be put into situations where the worst thing that could happen to them is that they might get hurt or die. I think that boys are put and putting themselves into situation where the worst thing that could happen is for them to lose their souls.

For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?

Mark 8:36

If your boy is downstairs on his computer all day, he's probably not going to get hurt.  But there's a good chance he could lose his soul.

One of my new favorite artists is Andrew Peterson.  The song below talks about boys living lives where there is a tale to tell.  This is the kind of life I hope for my boys.  This is why we moved to the farm.  This is why I push them to work.  This is why I push them to read amazing stories.  This is why I pray for them.  "The joy in the journey is enough to make a grown man cry."  Ben, Caleb, Matthew, I look forward to your telling the tales.

Grace

Over at Justin Taylor's blog, he had a couple of great posts about grace.  First, enjoy the Blind Boys of Alabama's version of "Amazing Grace" set to the tune of "The House of the Rising Sun."  I love the guttural tones and the idea that God has changed the song for those of us who have escaped the brothel (The House of the Rising Sun) to sing about his amazing grace.



Second, watch this scene from the 1998 film Les Miserables.  I love what the bishop says in the very last seconds.  I am Jean Valjean.

Fighter Verse Songs Blog

Our church uses a program called Fighter Verses to memorize scripture.  One of our good friends is part of a group that writes songs to help facilitate the memorization of these verses.  They have a blog as well that talks about application of the week's verse.  I have been doing a little writing there for the past few weeks.  If you'd like, go on over and take a look.  You can also hear this weeks corresponding song.  Fight Verse Songs blog.

Read Aloud--Where the Red Fern Grows: UPDATE

We finished Where the Red Fern Grows last night at about 10:00.  When we got close to the end we just had to keep going.  There was not a dry eye in the room.  When I finished, I prayed and thanked God that he truly did have a plan and that nothing that happened in our lives was outside of his plan, that all things happen for a reason.

Again, if you haven't read this book before, do it this weekend.  My boss is a huge dog person.  I brought the book this morning for her to read.  I'm sure she'll love it.

Farm Sounds

We have been out at the farm a lot lately, painting like fools. We haven't had a chance to really stop and enjoy it much yet. Last night though on my way out I stopped. The frogs were croaking in the pond, the crickets were chirping: farm sounds. I took the recording below. If you live in the city and haven't been in open spaces lately, have a listen and enjoy. The audio is kind of soft, so you'll have to turn up your volume.

What is God doing?

Sometimes life hurts.  Sometimes we question what God is doing in the midst of this hurt.  I just listened to this excerpt from a sermon from when our pastor had cancer.  I love the truths here presented.

[8] For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. [9] Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.
(2 Corinthians 1:8-9 ESV)

Ankle Update 2

My first day out of my boot at work.  I am so thankful to God for how he has healed my ankle.  This was a terrible time to have an injury like this.  I needed to be able to help around the house and pitch in.  In  God's perfect time he has worked it all out.  Last weekend when all of the work on the Sandra house needed to be done, the doctor told me I was able to ditch the crutches.  This weekend when work will slowly begin on the farm, God has allowed me to have both of my feet back.

I just heard this song on my Slacker station--Much of You.  In my thankfulness, I want to make much of my heavenly father and thank him for the many gifts that he has recently given me.  Healing my ankle seems like a small thing to me.  It isn't though.  He made my body to heal in just the right way, at just the right time.  He protected me from a much worse injury.  Thank you Father for this, my new home, my family, the daily bread that you give me, and most of all for the redemption that I find in your son.

Give the song a listen.  It's a good one.

The Farm

Last year on my birthday Amanda and I were driving together out in the country near our house.  We drove past a beautiful farmhouse that was newly for sale.  We went home and looked it up online.  We were just dreaming.  A month or so later they made a huge price drop.  Another month, another price drop.  We told Shube.  We started the process.

We have been talking about the possibility of buying a place with Amanda's mom or for years.  We've even been close to getting a place before.  The time and the place were not ever right, until now.  This week, we closed on our new farm.  The house is an old one, built in 1914.  There's plenty of work to keep three boys and a grown man busy for years to come.  There will be plenty of work for our girls as well.  The work is exciting though.  The work is one of the main reasons we hoped for a place like this.  Work is a tool to train children in character.  My parents employed this tool all through my growing up.  We have employed this tool already and look forward to its furthering.

We also look forward to the joy that will be shared in a new space.  We hope to welcome many of you in the coming months.  We are thankful to God for leading us in his providence to this point.  We have felt his guidance indisputably through what has been a long and at times somewhat stressful process.

Thanking God and celebrating with Colberts

For the past two plus years we have been praying for the Colbert family and especially Abbey as they all struggle through leukemia.  Today Abbey took her last chemo treatment.  I am officially taking their banner of the blog and celebrating God's amazing grace and faithfulness to them.  I have loved to watch how in the most difficult times they have pointed to God and the strength that he has given them.  We have been drawn closer to Christ and have had many opportunities to hallow his name through their lives and watching this situation, even from so far away.  We will continue to watch for more opportunities to praise God in Abbey's life and in her family.  Jim and Shelley will be able to replay the last two years for their family over and over again and use it as Moses did for the nation of Israel to point to God's faithfulness.  We will do the same.  Thank you God, for sparing Abbey, for upholding her and Jim, Shelley, Jacob, Caleb and Micah, and for making your name great in all of it.

Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations.

Deuteronomy 7:9

An Early Christmas Highlight

Yesterday in our 4th Grade Sunday School class we had a small Christmas celebration.  The week before during the singing time K, one of our special needs girls said, "We're supposed to sing Christmas carols," so we decided to have a time of Christmas carol requests.  Shube came in to play the piano and we were rollin'.  During the first song, K made her way to the front to do some signing to the songs.  She was right next to me.  At one point, she leaned close to me and said with a huge smile on her face, "We're both wearing red today."  All the kids were having fun, but K especially so.  As I looked into the class of about 40 4th graders and 7 or 8 adults, the smiles were huge and we all enjoyed K enjoying herself.  She requested Jingle Bells and we all dove right in.  We sang lots of traditional carols: Silent Night, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, etc.  We finished with a roaring rendition of Rudolph, requested by K!  The teachers in the back sang out all of the "like Monoply" and "like George Washington" tags.

I prayed at the end of our singing, thanking God for the gift of Christmas and the gift of songs that worship him and allow us to enjoy each other.  Is there anything that makes someone enjoy themselves more than seeing someone having a great time?  That was the gift that K gave us yesterday (and has given us often.)  This is the body of Christ.  God has created all kinds of people to give us joy and to bring him glory.  K certainly did both yesterday.  She gave all of us an early Christmas highlight.

Does it get any better than this?

I posted about this after Thanksgiving and you can read Gregg's post here, but I wanted to revisit it. In my mind there are not too many things that I enjoy more than being outside next to a fire. Winter, spring, summer or fall, a fire is an amazing thing. I have enjoyed many memorable camp fires.

• Camp fires at our church summer camp growing up: Once the kids were all in their tents, the counselors would come out and have a camp fire. We'd sing, pray and chat. This is where I learned to love "the church". I got to know people who were older and found out that they struggled with problems just like I did.
• Fire at the new house on Lake Huron: When I was in college, I brought a few of my guy friends up to Alpena. It was early April. We went out to the house that we had just bought on Lake Huron. They were in the process of remodeling it. All of us took off our clothes and swam in the lake. When we got out, there was a huge fire of scrap wood by which to warm up.
• Guys' Weekend fires: I get together with some friends from college every year. Each year we debate what to do. The top priority on the list is always a fire. There is something about a fire that loosens our tongues to share what's going on in our lives. It is the time at which we catch up on what has happened during our year apart.
• Fires in our backyard: Now we have fires regularly in our backyard. Matthew is usually the one who sticks closest to me during this. It's a great place to hang out with the kids. Ben and Caleb are usually playing football or baseball. Molly has just begun to join us. I look forward to many more.

Do you like a fire? Do you have memories of some of your best ones? Share them in the comments.

Small Delights

Our friend Teresa, just recently posted of how a cup of tea is a small delight for her. It got me thinking of the many small delights in my day.

• Matthew saying "Bub-bye Daddy," every morning as I leave for work.
• A hot cup of coffee at work.
• Cozying down under our down comforter when the house is cooling off.
• A fire in the back yard.

These are the mundane, everyday blessings that are often overlooked. How about you? What are the small delights in your day?

Happy 4th Anniversary Gammons Fam Blog

Today marks the 4th anniversary of my first post on this blog. The picture above is from that first post welcoming you all aboard. Thanks to all of you (or should I say both of you) who have been reading this whole time. It has been a good conduit to keep up communication with those of you who are far away. It has also been a good way to meet new people, especially at church. Someone subbed in my Sunday School class a couple of weeks ago and said, "Did you go to Calvin College?" I said, "No, but I worked there." I then asked her how she knew any of that. She replied, "Oh, I was on your blog once." Kind of funny.

Whether you've been here from the beginning or this is your first time, welcome. Thanks for reading.

Summons

This poem was read at a meeting I just attended. I appreciated its spirit.

Summons
by Robert Francis

Keep me from going to sleep too soon
Or if I go to sleep too soon
Come wake me up. Come any hour
Of night. Come whistling up the road.
Stomp on the porch. Bang on the door.
Make me get out of bed and come
And let you in and light a light.
Tell me the northern lights are on
And make me look. Or tell me clouds
Are doing something to the moon
They never did before, and show me.
See that I see. Talk to me till
I'm half as wide awake as you
And start to dress wondering why
I ever went to bed at all.
Tell me the walking is superb.
Not only tell me but persuade me.
You know I'm not too hard persuaded. 

It made me think of the kind of relationship that I want with my boys. What thoughts were brought to your mind?

Scripture memorization vs. Biblical literacy

Can you recite Romans 6:23 and Romans 3:23?  Could you give a brief summary of what the book of Romans is about, who it's written to, and who wrote it?

Which is more important?  Oh, come on.  They're both important.  But we put a pretty good emphasis on scripture memorization (at least our church does.)  But I think we put very little emphasis on biblical literacy.  I would biblical literacy as knowing the overall metanarative of the Bible as well as general knowledge of the content of individual books, passages, chapters, etc.

Why is biblical literacy important?  I think in today's world, we are much more apt to have a Bible available in moments of need.  When someone is struggling with self righteousness, wouldn't it be good to know that the book of Galatians is pretty much all about self-righteousness?  When someone you're struggling with depression, wouldn't it be great to be able to point to a few psalms of lament?  (I can't do this off hand.)  How about when you're looking to pray in public, wouldn't it be good to know where a couple of good prayers are in the Bible.

That's just half of it.  The overall metanarative is the most important.  If we want to know the main character of the Bible (God), then we need to know how he is revealed in the overall story.  We would never go the the Lord of the Rings and read one thing about Frodo and use that as what we say about him as a person. 

My question, is how do we teach this?  How do we teach biblical literacy to our kids?  Teaching our kids 100 memory verses is pretty straight forward.  I don't want to teach my kids 100 Bible stories that tell them to have courage like David or wisdom like Solomon.  I want them to know that God is a covenant God of steadfast love.  I want them to know how that is revealed in different ways throughout the Bible.  Tough, huh?!  What do you think?

Fall Update

It seems as if my writing here has waned in the last season. This is a positive space for me. I have worked to keep it only that. The positive have been the routine, i.e. HOTW, Read Alouds, camping, and some of my philosophical rants.  With the return to Fall, comes a return to greater routine.  I welcome it.  Here is a beginning of Fall update.

• I recently turned 34-years-old.  I always remember growing up and thinking about how old I would be when it was the year 2000.  Twenty-four always seemed so old.  I don't feel old+ten years.
• I ate breakfast with Benjamin this morning for his birthday.  He is turning 8-years-old.  We have been eating breakfast together on his birthday for four years.  I distinctly remember being 8-years-old.  Mrs. Rhabi's class, birthday spankings, writing stories on the paper where you could draw a picture on the top half.  Ben will remember these days.
• Amanda began her third year as the official teacher of our two home educated kids.  She has a first and a third grader.  Transition was a bit of a challenge, but they seem to be off and running.  We went for a date the other night and spent some wonderful, much over due time together.
• Lucy is sitting up by herself and we are trying to train her to crawl.  She is the most independent of all of our kids.  She is a smiley and sweet little thing.  She was up from 2AM-9AM a week ago.  She is getting all four of her top teeth.  She had a couple days of not feeling well and not being very sweet.  Thankfully, she's over that now.
• Matthew is having to come inside.  He lives and loves being outside.  I think the winter will be difficult for him.  He will turn 5-years-old next week.  He loves his brothers, but he and Molly are best friends.  He is growing and beginning to look a bit like a clown on his little bike.  Maybe this Christmas will bring a big kid's bike.
• Caleb is lamenting having to review the things he learned in math last year.  He was so looking forward to charging ahead in that  area.  Unfortunately, they are reviewing counting to 10.  He only rolls his eyes.  He will get to the meat of mathematics soon enough.  He got Uncle Joe's half-sized violin in the mail from Gigi yesterday.  When we got it out of the box and he was able to hold it this morning he was all smiles.  Lessons from Mom will begin soon.
• Molly, almost 3 and a half-years-old, is still a joy to have around.  Like her dad she is at times governed by her belly: grouchy when hungry, emotional when tired.  She loves sitting and reading books or asking anyone available to read them to her.  Pink is still her favorite color, but has begun to be okay with purple, white and some other colors in her pallet.  She is a tough girl, not to be outdone by her brothers or to be left behind.  A skinned knee or even the most recent road rash on her face from a fall of the quad, only mean a brief cry before she's back at it.
• I am teaching second grade on Wednesday night at church again this year.  Amanda is venturing into 4th grade Sunday School team leading.  She will do the logistical work behind the scenes and I'll do the Sunday morning stuff.
• Having finished the epistle of Philippians, we are reading Galatians and celebrating God's completely undeserved favor on us in salvation.  We are working to put effort (unmeritorious effort for sure) into keeping ourselves in the love of God.

We hope this Fall finds you celebrating Christ's grace to you.  Thanks for reading.

Moralism

My mom had a question about "moralism".  This was my response. 

Moralism is making actions the most important thing.  God doesn’t love us or not love us because of our actions.  Sin is a battle that is fought because of our love for God and because we want to become more like him.  It has no affect on our relationship with or to God.  We ARE righteous.  We ARE saints.  Not because of anything that we have or have not done, but because of what Christ did on our behalf on the cross.  Moralism put s all of the focus on us and our actions. 

In this situation moralism leads to legalism.  For instance, when sin is the most important thing in the life of a body, then lots of rules are put in place to avoid sin or the appearance of sin at all costs.  These rules become what makes one a Christian.  A Christian is a person who goes to church, reads their Bible and prays, stays married, votes Republican.  A Christian is person who doesn’t drink, doesn’t cheat on their spouse, doesn’t wrestle with doubt.

When I read the Bible, a Christian is someone who believes the gospel (1 Cor. 15) and that is effective for him, loves God and wrestles with sin on a daily basis.  A Christian is a person who struggles with murder, drunkenness, adultery, gossip, and all other manor of sin.  Someone who is given over to these (Rom 1:18-32) is not a Christian.  But I don’t think that is most of the people that Bob referenced in the article, nor is it a judgment that I would like to make as to when someone has been given over to their sin by God.

Just some thoughts.