"It is Finished"

Near the end of October and the beginning of November each year there are a group of high school guys who will have more time on their hands than they thought they would have, especially on Friday nights, and especially if they are seniors. If you've ever played the game, or have a son that has played the game, you are in touch with how intoxicating and addicting Friday night football games can be. They are the reason for running in the mornings and lifting weights in the evenings during the off-season, the two a day practices beginning in August, the film sessions on Saturday mornings, and the tremendous sacrifice of time for many other passions that call to a teenagers heart. They are for the family the social connection with the rest of the community at the end of a long week.
So when it ends, for most sooner than they thought it would, it hits you like a ton of bricks when you don't know what to do with yourself after school, or what to do on a Friday night. The hardest part for guys that probably won't play in college is knowing you just had the pads on for the last time. The group that you took so much pride in belonging to is only something you'll talk about from now on instead of participating in.
It's the beginning of a harsh reality in life that seasons in our lives come to an end, and we have to look and plan for ways for new seasons to begin. The void has to be filled with something, and if the athlete and the family aren't careful about filling it with healthy thoughts and activities the world will fill it with negative ones. It's important to pick yourself up off the ground and get back up on the horse....even though it may be a different one than you're used to riding.

I'm thankful that when Jesus said with his last breath on the cross "It is finished" (John 19:30) that He wasn't finished.

Certainly that particular part of his mission was finished, but He was in fact just beginning. So it is with any person that has some era or season coming to an end in their life. It's important to convince yourself and your heart that your grateful for the experience but God has purposed earthly finishes in all of our lives, and He expects us to move on to the next season with the confidence and experience we've gained from the one that just ended.
Psalm 23:6 says "Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." And Jeremiah 29:11 says "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Lastly, to the athlete....always know in your heart how rich you are for playing the game together. You may never play it together again as a unit, but no one can take away the friendships you'll share for the rest of your life. Most older athletes will tell you that if they are still in touch with anybody from high school it is the athletes they went to practice with so many days after school and the ones they fought hard beside on game day. God has used sport to prepare you for the future. Don't waste or foolishly throw away with immature actions the thing He has started in you. He's put it there for a purpose even greater than football. Knowing how He will redeem the experiences He's allowed you to have at such a young age is hard to fathom when the sting of something being finished is still fresh, but take it from an old football player...the work ethic and life lessons he's given you through football will be something you will fall back on more times than you can even imagine in the life He is planning and preparing for you.
Boys of Fall .......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlXDo5WhQXI&ob=av3e


Ray Marsh
Chaplain for Carmel HS Boys Football and Basketball

Being your child's primary spiritual guide ...Part II

Deuteronomy 6:6-9..."These commandments that I give you today are to be upon YOUR HEARTS. Impress them on YOUR CHILDREN. Talk about them when you sit AT HOME and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.Write them on the door frames of YOUR HOUSES and on YOUR GATES." Emphasis added

In my last blog I wrote about God's call on believing parents to be their children's primary spiritual teacher, mentor, and example in life so if you want to know more about why I think it's important please read that post first then this one.
If Kristen (My first born) was the child that started the process in my heart and mind, an experience with my second daughter Kaiti, pushed me to take action on it. She was in the 4th or 5th grade when we were sitting in a church service listening to a sermon being delivered by a very well known and accomplished pastor. He had published several books and started many churches all over the world. I can't recall what he was preaching about that day or what the statement was that caused Kaiti to react, but she poked my arm with her finger to let me know she had something to say. I leaned down and the 6 words that came from my Lord through my little girl that day confirmed for me that it was time to quit thinking good thoughts about having family devotions and take an action step to make it happen. She asked "Is what he saying true Dad?" Those words may not seem like much on the surface, but because the Holy Spirit had been working on my heart they were translated..."Dad, you are her finally authority when she hears things she questions, thinks she understands or doesn't understand. She could just assume that anybody in the pulpit is saying the truth and never question it, but she doesn't. She asks you if it's the truth? You are her standard for accurate truth Dad. She trusts your word more than any one else at this age. That might change some day, but for this time in her life don't miss your call!"

I was more than inspired to follow through this time and after giving thanks to The Father for continuing to chase me on this issue I located the resources I mentioned in part I of this blog.

Kaiti is 22 today but God still uses her in my life to remind me that the choices I made to get more serious about God were right ones. While the world tries to make me feel extreme about my faith she says and does things that confirm for me that she's comfortable with the way she was raised, and the values that are in her life. She expects me to still be a leader today , even though both of our lives have changed more than we ever thought they would. She's not perfect and neither am I, but her love and respect for me show me that she expects me to talk and pray about my relationship with God out aloud, to have opinions that aren't popular ones, and to make sure God is a priority in all the Marshes lives. Recently she told me that even though it's not intentional, she realizes she finds herself attracted to and respects guys that value the kinds of things I value, and have a similar kind of personality. What better compliment to a Dad could there ever be? I love you KaitiBop
She's blogging about life on her own page now. If you'd like to keep up with her check out....
http://kaitibop.blogspot.com/

Being your child's primary spiritual guide - Part 1

Being your child's primary spiritual guide -Part 1
A.K. A. Happy Birthday Kristen, Love Dad

For a long time as a parent I struggled with the fact that I could tell God was calling my heart and telling me that believing parents are meant to be their children's primary spiritual guide as they are growing up, but one thing or another delayed my answering this call until my oldest daughter Kristen was in Middle School. I tried a few different approaches to family devotions with her and her younger sister by two years (Kaiti) until I stumbled across a tape series that encouraged me to have a theme for each month and scripture to memorize that fit the theme. We finally found a comfortable consistency with about 2-3 mornings a week at about 6:10 in the morning, right before breakfast and getting ready for school. When I say comfortable I know that many adults aren't comfortable with listening or interacting with each other at that time of the morning, let alone children. So we didn't always greet each other with smiles, but it felt right and we pushed through until it became an expectation or we all realized it probably wasn't going away =).
At that age no parent gets the affirmation from their kids to keep planning a semi-organized spiritual activity when the sun hasn't come up yet, so there were many days I wondered if what I was exposing us to was going to bring the results I had hoped for, but God kept affirming me by putting people and resources into my life that continued to fuel the fire of not depending on Sunday School teachers, the Church or worse yet their peers be their primary spiritual guides. It's not that they weren't good enough, it's just that they needed to be the supplement to what the parents are called to do for God.

Through hard mornings and easier mornings we took the devotions all the way through Kristen's senior year of HS and it was her freshman year of college at Taylor University when God chose to show me what He had in mind.
It was her first tennis match of her freshman year and her mother and I had come up to take her shopping, get the oil changed in her car, grab a bite to eat and watch the match. Guess who got the job of getting the oil changed? =) So I'm cleaning out the interior of her car so the guys can get in with the vacuums and I come across a poster in her back seat. It was obviously a poster of favorite or valued things that her tennis coach had her and the other players write down on their poster so they could get to know each other better. Like every young girl her age she had written down fun activities and friends, lyrics to songs, movies she had watched, groups that she belonged to (Formally and informally), and books she had read. Then I saw it...written in the corner of the poster were the words "6:10 Dad." Could it be I wondered to myself? That when it came time to tell her teammates about favorite and treasured things in her life that she told them about our morning devotions? I was hoping so and figured I'd ask her about it later in private. Later that day we arrived at the match and I went to shake the coach's hand and re-introduce myself from a quick meeting we had when she recruited Kristen to play on the team during HS, and her reply was...."You're 6:10 Dad aren't you." I was stunned that those words would be the first thing out of her mouth as we greeted. I'm sure my smile was from ear to ear. She went on to tell me that Kristen had shared our devotion time with her and the team as something she was proud of when it came to spiritual things in her life. I held my composure just long enough to finish talking to the coach then gave an excuse to go back to the car because I had forgotten my sunglasses. I really went back to the car to cry.... like a baby. To physically cry, and to cry out to God for affirming my obedience to Him and recognizing my love for my children. My daughter couldn't have blessed me more by telling her coach and teammates about our worship time together on those mornings. It has given me the fuel to continue those kinds of faithful actions with my younger children (One of which you'll hear bout in part II of this blog) and to encourage other parents to do the same with their children. God has given me lots of opportunities to talk about Christian parenting to small group Bible Studies, Sunday School Classes and even from the pulpit occasionally. It is one of my favorite subjects to talk about and favorite stories to tell because I think Parents do struggle with having the energy and guts to be the primary spiritual teacher of their children. We put too much pressure on ourselves to do it perfectly so we keep putting off getting it started or we quit too quickly if our kids aren't telling us they are really getting a lot out of it. God just wants us to be obedient to Him about moving the right direction with our kids, teaching them His ways and Word, to be responsible about the role we play in their spiritual lives and not be depending on others to teach them when we are supposed to. When you are family you all know the worst about each other and sometimes under-appreciate or don't encourage each other enough to do the right things. Much of that pressure is often put on ourselves because we know we have sometimes missed the mark in front of them as a parent in the very areas of life we are trying to teach them to be Godly. God has shown grace to us in those times, and when we can accept it we'll get up, brush off the dirt and try again because we know He wants us to.

Today is Kristen's 24th birthday. She's married now to my awesome son-in-law Ryan, and has grown to become a beautiful woman who I am just as proud of today as I was her freshman year at Taylor.
I love you K-10....more than you'll ever know
Happy Birthday!
Dad

Deuteronomy 6:6-9..."These commandments that I give you today are to be upon YOUR HEARTS. Impress them on YOUR CHILDREN. Talk about them when you sit AT HOME and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.Write them on the doorframes of YOUR HOUSES and on YOUR GATES." Emphasis added =)

Middle C is Always Middle C

Recently I preached a sermon at Carmel United Methodist church entitled "Middle C is always Middle C." My favorite choir, the Purdue Glee Club blessed us with their presence and music that Sunday and it only seemed fitting that I talk about the fact that some things in music can never change if we are to reproduce songs and recognize them generation after generation. I also used the text Hebrews 13:8 "Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever", drawing the parallel that who He said He was yesterday, is who He still is today, and His description of himself does not change over time, despite what a changing world would want us to believe.
I hope you enjoy it and God is glorified....

http://carmelumc.org/images/trad_worship/audio/Middle%20C.mp3

Women are from Nordstroms, Men are from Sears

The link below is a sermon I preached a couple of weeks ago at Carmel United Methodist Church in the Stream service. It is actually the second part of a series. The first sermon (Not linked here) was what our female Pastor Patti Payntor thought that men would want women to know about them. My part was to let men know what I thought females would want men to know about them. The link might be a little shaky at the beginning but hang in there. It gets much better....not necessarily the preaching, but the link =) Guys, I hope you'll especially pay attention to a couple of parts in here about being a better listener of the special women in your life, and what they are looking for in a spiritual leader from you.
Enjoy...

http://carmelumc.org/images/non_trad_worship/audio/A%20Man%27s%20View.mp3

Engaged at a company Christmas party in the middle of a white elephant gift exchange

It's true!
Pretty cool story if I do say so myself =)

While I am excited about how it happened, who it happened with, and what that means for our future together, I don't think I could tell the story better than Becca does on her blog. So, from the future brides perspective here's how the story/with video goes...

www.genesisunit.blogspot.com/ <<< Link to her blog and the story/video

I love you Becca!

RayRay