iLife-It's All About Me!

 Today, I am doing a talk on iLife- Who are you living for?  I fear that all too often, even though we may not notice it, we tend to live for ourselves, so our lives become literal "iLife's" because it's all about what "I can get" or "what I can do" and we miss the real focal point of true living.

  As I survey the teen culture, this iLife is pervasive in the lives of our teens and sadly we have created it for them.  We adults are responsible for a legacy of greed and selfish living.  We desire what we want and we don't stop until we get it...so it's no wonder this trait has been passed onto our adolescent offspring.

  I am guilty of being selfish just as anyone else is, but I live as if I am not selfish...weird little pickle I find myself in.  I thought I was living life for Jesus...then I got married and had to realize that I was all too comfortable with living how I pleased.  Now I had to share time, share space, share money and *gasp* actually "get permission" if you will on whether I could buy a new expensive toy or not.

  That in and of itself I thought was a tough adjustment, so by the time I found out Hilary was pregnant with MJ I thought I was now a selfless human being...finally on track with living for Jesus.

  Then MJ actually was born.  I lost (and still do) countless hours of my precious sleep.  I had to be interrupted by cries when I tried to study for my ordination.  "My" money was being spent on things I never heard of before: bottles, special soap, diapers, wipes, butt cream, clothes (even though they are MUCH smaller, the price tag doesn't reflect that), baby food, car seats and much much more.

  This is where it hit me: I've been living for myself, even though I thought I was living for Jesus.

I'm finally ready to admit it: I am selfish and need God to strip me of myself daily.  Even some of the stuff I've "done for God" I am slowly being able to see are tinted (OK, sometimes downright plastered) with selfish motives.

Tonight, with the Middle Schoolers, I won't bore them with things they don't understand (like getting married and wiping their baby's butt), however I will share with them the story of the Rich Young Ruler from Mark 10.

  Here, we see a guy that thought he was all good.  He was a good man (he followed the law), a rich man (wealth equals God's favor in the Jewish mind) and a powerful man (power also translated into God's favor for many).  He possessed the "trifecta" for what many Jews thought was a clear ticket into heaven.  He followed the law and had the perceived favor of the Lord.

  YET, Jesus says he's missing something.

His good living was not for the Lord, but himself.  He loved the wealth and power he had more than following God.  He was a man who lived a great life for one purpose: selfishness.

Our world is full of good people, but who are they living for?

Who are we living for?

Taking an honest look at myself, I have to be honest when I say a huge portion of what I do that needs to be given up to the Lord so it can be HIS and not MINE.  I need to surrender those things to His will and say: "Lord, I want to live a life that is all about bringing Glory to Your Name and has no selfish motive behind it".  This is something I have begun to pray for.  I do not want to ever hold something so tight that if and when God asks for me to hand it over I refuse.

  I desire favor from the Lord and blessing, but I am beginning to desire those things not for myself, but so I can return them to the Lord and see him pouring out his favor on those around me.  This is new, I must admit and something I am still wrestling with.

Let's give up the iLife we're been living and begin to live lives for God and His Name!


Marv Nelson
ACAC Student Ministries Pastor

My Little Buddy!

  I may not express this often in this venue (the blog) but I LOVE being a Daddy!  I just can't help but crack a grin when I think of my little guy.  I mean, look at that picture of him smiling...how can you NOT crack a grin with that little face looking at you smiling?

  Having a son has made me reflect a lot, mostly internally on what it means to be a father.  It's helped me see in myself my own selfishness, which is complete and utter sin.

  Being a daddy has also helped me sense, experience and think about God in a whole new way.  He has revealed himself more times than I can count in the short time I've been a dad and I love it!

  One of those moments was on a recent "Daddy Day" that MJ and I had together.  Hilary has been working on Mondays, so little buddy and I hang out all day on Mondays.  About a week ago, he and I were having our day together when we went to the playground to play.  I usually let him loose and let him walk all by himself to the playground where he begins to play on the plastic slide, the little plastic tube and pretends to drive the car with the metal steering wheel that pops out of the plastic wall.

  Before we got to the gate, MJ runs back over to me and raises his right arm to me.  This was a new gesture for me, so I looked at his little hand sticking in the air and finally realized he wanted me to hold his hand!

  Not to be overly sappy but this hit me in a profound way where I almost started to cry.  He wanted his daddy to hold his hand and lead him to the playground.  He didn't want to go it alone and he wasn't afraid or embarrassed to lift his little hand and ask me to hold it as I guided him into the play area.

  The sad thing is, I forgot all about this story until just now.  I didn't tell Hilary about it because I forgot it.  As I remembered it, I vowed I would write it down because it was an extremely touching Father to Son moment.

  He has since done it to me a couple times (usually he does it to Mommy) and each time, it warms my heart.  Being entrusted with this little munchkin as my responsibility is daunting at times but rewarding all the time.  I am called to be a steward of my sons heart.  His heart ultimately belongs to Jesus, not me so I am asked for this short time before he grows up to guard that little heart, protect it and grow it up in the way in which it should go.

   I'm lucky, because I have an amazing, beautiful and wonderful woman who can do and does more than I do with him.  Hilary loves that boy so much and it is such a joy to watch her interact with him and see his little smile light up when he sees her and plays with her. 

  This is my family, this is my home! God has blessed me with such amazing family members that I'm blown away by His grace.  It blows my mind to think that so many "dads" are out there neglecting and ignoring their children.  Is it hard sometimes?  Yes.  Is all that worth it?  ABSOLUTELY!  Men who walk away from their children are childish punks who shouldn't be having sex.

  OK, I should stop before I write another post on that...

  Fatherhood is amazing and a blessing to me.  I wouldn't trade it for the world!

Hilarious Anniversary Outtakes

  This past Thursday: May 27, 2010 was Hilary and I's 4 year anniversary!  We were blessed to get away for the first time overnight without MJ since he was born.

  Now don't get me wrong, we love MJ but it was nice to have a night off.  We decided we would go to a nice Bed and Breakfast we were at with my family way back in November called The Red Maple Inn in Burton, OH.

  It's in Amish Country so we knew we were sneaking away to some quiet, relaxing times...well we thought so!

  When we got there we were bombarded (from all sides) that there was going to be a Civil War reenactment right next door to our Inn the following day (we got in on a Friday and Saturday was the BIG reenactment).

 Hilary and I had never experienced a Civil War reenactment before so we didn't know what to expect.  We found our way over to the "sight" on Friday only to find a real Civil War camp.  People were dressed to the Civil War nines and we felt like we travelled into the past.  Gun powder was on sale, the town mayor was walking around (and staying in our B&B...) swords were low priced and it was just plain weird.

  Once we crossed the mini-bridge back into the real world we went up to our room to get ready for dinner.  We were going to go to "Mary Yoder's Amish Kitchen" to get some real Amish food!  We were excited because we were gonna get some good old down home cookin.

  On the road to The Red Maple Inn we had some snacks of which I ate an entire bag of Pizzeria Combos (the big bag) so I was just a bit hungry going to Yoder's because the combos (and appetizers at the Inn) were starting to wear off.  I scavenged the menu of Mary Yoder's looking for the best sounding most filling (and least expensive meal) I could find.  Then I found it: Mashed Potatoes and Noodles in a Chicken Gravy.  I was intrigued--could this really be?  So I ordered it: --------------------------->

 

  I have called this little meal: "Yoder's Carb Coma".  After eating 1/2 of this Amish delight I felt a bit loopy.  My stomached was bloated like I was a freshly 7mos. pregnant lady.  I felt dizzy and not coherent and Hilary couldn't stop laughing at what I was saying...not because I was funny but because I was literally drunk on carbohydrates.  I was sick...so sick in fact that as we were leaving I went up to the little Amish host and said: "We're not paying cash, we're going to pay with my credit card, I have no cash, so how can we tip the server?"

 

She in her Amish garb, cute little bonnett and fresh bought Nike's told me: "that there will be a print out of a little paper (she showed the approx. size of the paper with her hands) in which you can right in the "tip" amount and add up your "total" and at the end of the night she'll know what you tipped her."

 

Hilary BUSTED out laughing and I was so doped up on carbs I didn't realize why.  She said to me as we were leaving: "Marvin, you just asked a question which anyone would think you'd never been in a restaurant before...much less worked in one for 6 years! You knew the answer to your own question, it happened to you every night."  I thought for a second and realized how dumb my question was!  I said: "Wow, look at what carbs can do to your body."

  When we got back to the Inn we were so full all we could do was sit on the couch in our room and vegetate.  That is until the Civil War drum processional thought that 9:15pm was a GREAT time to practice for the BIG war in the morning.  The snare drummer had about 17 solos to the marching tune and by solo 18 we turned on the TV, and promptly fell asleep at 11pm.

  That is the long and short of a marvelous adventure!  It was silly, fun and oddly relaxing.  Even though I was a little messed up due to the carbos in my "Yoder Carb Coma" we still were able to have good conversation and tons of laughter along the way!

  

Family Life at the Nelson's

It’s been awhile since I did a blog about my family, so I decided it’s about dang time! Today is my 4 year anniversary and I am more sure now than I was then that I am the luckiest man on the planet! Hilary is my best friend, my wonderful bride and an amazing mother to our little boy MJ! I am so grateful to the Lord above for her!


This time last year (8:45-9pm) we were enjoying our last few moments of our reception. We were probably scrambling around trying to find the food that was promised us only to find that the servers at our reception hall had scarfed it all down!

We told the hall that the left over food was going with us (Hilary and I of course) so we could eat for the next week. Needless to say we needed to find other eating arrangements!

It was also around this time that Hilary and I noticed that we hadn’t had a piece of our cake. We took little bits of it and smooshed it into each other’s faces …wait I gently placed it in her mouth when she put some on my nose…that’s right! Anyways, we didn’t even get our own piece…nor did we have any left-over to save for the 1 year anniversary.

It was a CRAZY wedding day and in the end none of that stuff mattered anyways; we had each other and that’s all that mattered then and now! God has been so gracious to us and has blessed us with our little Marv Junior (MJ as we most often refer to him).

MJ is now walking and babbling like a champ. He can make doggie noises, bear noises, cat noises, cow noises and sheep noises on command. He is so cute when he does his little bear growl…I think he actually thinks he’s scary but he’s just too darn cute to be scary!

My favorite thing that Hilary and I taught him is his “This is how he dances” impression. This comes from the e-trade babies on the airplane commercial. We got MJ to wave his hand around while pointing his finger every time we say: “This is how he dances!”

There are fewer things greater than being a daddy! I enjoy seeing him grow up, understand things and learn. He is a little bundle of joy that seems to draw people to himself and make them smile…every time!

Watching MJ explore new worlds, experience life and smile at his progress is quite the beautiful thing. I will make sure to keep up with his funny antics on the blog because he is sure to continue to do some crazy and wild things…looking forward to what he will say when he can string along coherent sentences…I’m sure he’s going to be a hoot!

3 Cheers for my wonderful wife: Hilary you are an AMAZING wife and a WONDERFUL mother! Thanks for 4 great years and a lifetime to go!