Going to post twice today since I didn't yesterday. We took the kids and headed for the Farmington Fair. It was Agricultural Awareness day and they had all these educational programs and exhibits. We had great time. We got up there around 9am and got home around 4. It was so much fun to take the kids around, spend the day interacting and bonding with them, and helping them learn. I especially liked the blacksmith shop we stopped at in the afternoon. I explained to the kids how their Pappa's Pappa had had a blacksmith shop on his farm. We watched the men heating and molding the metal and making things. One of the men pulled out his banjo and that made my oldest son's day! They loved seeing the animals and enjoyed looking at the artwork, photos, and crafts in the exhibition hall. We spent time over at the Chapel on Wheels and Sarah even helped out with some facepainting. We ran into several different friends and church family and had many great contacts. It was just a great day. The kids were great and learned a lot. Even though it was hot, they walked a ton and it was a long day, we had no fussing or whining and they just enjoyed themselves. It was a great day together as a family. We were all pretty tired by the time we got home last night and everyone was dragging a bit this morning, but totally worth it.

Ok, day 3 of the discipline saga. I am on this subject because this is what God has been convicting me on. As I was further looking up the word discipline in the greek/hebrew lexicon, I found some more interesting ideas. As I mentioned in the earlier post, the verb discipline can mean to hit in the eye, or under the eye. The idea of violently dealing with the problem. There is another way to look at the two words that go together there. One word basically means "under" or "beneath" and the other word means basically "eye". So, it can mean "under the eye" like a black eye, or it could also give the idea of you are being watched. The definition of character that I have heard again and again is "what you do when no one is watching." Now if you think in Christian terms you say, "God is always watching." In fact, this idea is often used to remind people to do the right thing. "God sees you." Now this is true...BUT What about what I see? I am watching too. We keep an eye on our kids to make sure they behave. We sometimes keep quite an eye on others to make sure they behave. How do we do with "self-babysitting"? Instead of needing to remind myself that God is watching or looking around to see if anyone else is watching, maybe I should realize that I am watching and rather than letting my inner child get away with something 'cause no one is looking, I should catch myself and say, "Don't you do/touch/say/think that! Now be good. Obey Daddy!" I think THAT is self-discipline. To keep myself under observation, to keep an eye on myself so that I don't get away with things. You know, when you look at yourself with that attitude, you won't have to worry what other people might see. :)

Yesterday I talked about the need for true self discipline. To really restrain and punish, train and direct ourselves. That our sin nature seeks to satisfy a variety of appetites and we need to punish it. This led me to think about blame. Ever have a bad action/reaction based on your lack of discipline? Let me give you an example, a few years ago, I was involved in a minor fender bender. Well, my car didn't think it was mild since its fender got bent all the way back through the radiator. It happened as I was going just a little too fast (barely) and following just a little too close (but not close enough to be considered tailgating), and not paying quite close enough attention (I was looking ahead to the turn I needed to make), when all of a sudden the guy in front of the guy in front of me slammed on his brakes and stopped. The guy in front of me did the same, as did I. It had just been raining, the road was wet, I slid right into the guy's trailer hitch. No damaged to his vehicle, but I never drove my car again. So whose fault was it? Obviously the guy in front of the guy in front of me who stopped real quick. The guy I hit blamed him. I blamed him. He didn't stick around to accept our blame, but that just made it easier to blame him. Case closed. Or is it. If I had been following behind by 2 or 3 seconds instead of 1.3, if I had been watching more closely and not going 2 over the limit, I would not have hit him. How often do I average over my lack of discipline because I can find someone else who I can blame. They really did help cause the problem, so I can quietly and conveniently overlook the fact that either my action or reaction helped make the whole thing possible. Why discipline myself when I can point that finger elsewhere? God doesn't care what anyone else did when He's talking to you. Do you feel you've gotten on the wrong end of something. Feel misused, abused, accused, misunderstood, ...victimized? Maybe you should stop blaming and start looking at your own discipline, even if the other person seems to have a log in their eye and you only have a splinter. Discipline applies to splinters too.

Now there's a phrase everyone loves and hates. I wonder what percentage of New Year's resolutions each year could fall under the category of Self Discipline. Lose Weight, exercise more, get 'that project' done, etc. etc. Some of us are more disciplined than others and some of us are sorely lacking in this area. For me, time management and initiative were always my areas of poor discipline. I've never been afraid to work hard, but taking the initiative wasn't my thing. And as for managing time, I've never been good at that at all. As I have gotten older and busier, I have had to do much better, but there are still so many areas where I could use more discipline. In looking up discipline in the Bible, you hit two ideas...at least you seem to. Discipline in the Old Testament is all about correction and punishment. "Spare the rod, spoil the child" type stuff. In the New Testament you get more of the idea (it seems) of self restraint and self discipline like we think of it now. Like we would say, "I need to be more disciplined in this area. But when I looked up the New Testament word for discipline, the primary meaning was to punch in the eye. Whoa, kinda violent. I think that is why we have such a problem with self discipline. It is a form of tough correction. We have this sin nature that is unbridled. It wants to just go and satisfy its appetites, whether those appetites are food, or free time, or leisure, pleasure, or whatever. We have to be violent with it. Paul said he buffeted his body and made it his slave. The word discipline really means to cause black & blue. I need to be tougher on myself in many areas. I let myself get away with far too much. I need to violently deal with the sin nature, the flesh, within me and not let it get away with eating too much of the wrong stuff, wasting time, not accomplishing things because I'm "tired after a long day." Etc. Some of the areas where I need to push and force myself are small, non-crucial areas. They may be unimportant areas, but the discipline is vital! So, what parts of yourself do you need to Discipline?

Been looking into the future today. Not fortune telling, just planning. I am excited about the next series that we will be starting after SS kick-off and Gideon's Sunday. Nate picked this one out and it looks really good. We will be team preaching it again. I've worked up my first one and I can't wait to get to preach it! :) We are going to be in the book of Hebrews. Today I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what is next for evening service. We have an organizational meeting coming up and then we will be back to BCBI. After doing a lot of searching and praying, I think I've found what is next. We are going to call the series Biblical Inquirer and talk about Tabloid Bible. We will look at the life of several lesser known individuals in the Bible. I think it will be a good time. I'm looking forward to the other possibilities that we are preparing for. Some more men's ministry as well as looking to how we can be more effective in the children and youth ministry while also maybe expanding our worship times and strengthening prayer meeting. A lot of possibilities, but that excites me. I hope that we can get a good turnout to the organizational meeting as it comes up on September 20th.