Summer Ministry, Fathers, and Girly Music

a)
Please pray for me – I’m finally hitting the "presentation fatigue" phase in my Support Raising – in other words, I’m getting less and less interested in having to repeat the same 30 minutes presentation 3 times a day. On top of that, Church ministry isn’t always interesting – I think I’m more just letting our young adults group coast right now. Numbers have been pretty consistent and no new people, specifically no non-Christians. Even right now, I’m battling my own laziness: I don’t want to prepare the study for tomorrow and I’m posting on my blog instead.

b)
Father’s Day is coming up. Some short thoughts on this. God’s ordained role for fathers is that of being an authority figure and an enforcer of justice (not a complete definition). Dads are to make good decisions for their kids and spank them hardcore if they misbehave. We have so watered-down the concept of a father that when God doesn’t treat us like Mr. Dressup would, we get upset. "How dare God tell us what to do!" or "How dare God let this happen to me?"
I am very far from viewing Confucian, Asian cultural thought as being reconcilable with a Christian worldview. However, it’s a lot easier to explain God as father to them than to a North American with an effeminate, soft, "Butterfly Kisses" view of fatherhood. Fathers don’t just tuck their kids into bed – they yell at them if they misbehave during Church service. They refuse to buy stupid things for them, no matter how much they cry and whine. They force them to do things that they’ll later thank their fathers for.

A friend of mine used to teach gymnastics to young kids. In order for these kids to get good, they have to be flexible. That means pushing hard. So, my friend would take a kid doing the splits, and physically push the kid a little further. The kids would cry, the parents would complain. The result is that the kids miss out. This is the North American mentality – we are raising up a generation of incompetent and comfortable human beings who, despite spitting in His face everyday, feel entitled to the Love and Grace of God. This is not only logically ridiculous, but also a result of pure arrogance due in part to poor parenting.

So, this Father’s Day, Thank God that He’s a good father. He has good rules that He demands you obey and pushes you down to the ground till you cry to help you be able to follow them.

c)
I got a new Cyndi Wang CD! Real too. Plus, I am now on this pursuit of more girly music. The latest addition to my playlist is Lillix. They are Canadian. They play their own instruments. There are two sisters in the band named Lacey-Lee and Sasha-Ray. And they play bright pop-rock with fun harmonies. What more could you ask for?