Fatherhood

Day 23 of 30 Days On Dads: Best “Late” Father’s Day Gift From My Kids – They Got Baptized

Posted on by Cool Pappa

MissionMen Logo_new_Watermark

Today, my 14-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter were baptized.

While baptism alone does not save one’s soul, it is still a tremendous moment in the life of a Believer as they follow the example of Christ in Matthew 3:13-17 and his command in Matthew 28: 19-20

3:13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14 But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”

15 Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.

16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

28:19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

What impressed me at our current church is that kids just can’t get baptized by saying, “I asked Jesus into my heart and now my life is super-cool and people love me…”.

Yes, I’ve heard my share of those testimonies in past churches and all I can think is, “Just wait kid, when the pull of the world (e.g. premarital sex, illegal drugs and getting drunk) comes knocking hard…Jesus may be in your heart, but you better know him as the keeper of your salvation during those times!

But my kids had to articulate the gospel and share their testimony weeks before getting baptized. I tried to stay out of the whole process and let them say/write their own confession of faith. What they wrote really made me proud and this was truly the best Father’s Day gift I could have heard and received. I will share with you My Lexi’s testimony, and I’ll post up the Large Professor’s soon as well.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did, as some things are truly worth crying about:

“Hello my name is “My Lexi” (changed for this blog post of course). Life before I believed in Christ was okay, but I did not understand what they were talking about in church. I wanted it to be broken down for me. So I woke up almost every morning, and I would have Bible study with my brother and my dad before he went to work. I learned a lot about God every time we had Bible study, and we still do it today. Then one day, I was in the car with my dad, and we were talking about God. Then I decided to become saved. So I prayed to God that he will forgive me of my sins, because I know that I’m a sinner, and I know that Jesus died on the cross to cover my sins and rose three days later. That was when I was 9 years old, and now I’m 12, and God has helped me since then. Now I want to get baptized, because I want to show people that I want to follow in Christ’s footsteps.”

Day 22 of 30 Days On Dads – Buying High-Priced Sneakers: I Understand The Problem and Insanity, But Parents Are The Solution

Posted on by Cool Pappa

Folks, watch the video below and let me know what you think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=minQyQ30Wt4

If you are spending over $100 for some fashionable gym shoes/sneakers and you’re one paycheck short of a care-package, then you are a sheep. Sorry, but it needs to be said.

Parents, if you are buying these shoes for your kids and

a.) you can barely afford your own mortgage/rent/car note

b.) you are one paycheck short of a care-package

c.) you don’t want your kids “teased” because they don’t have the latest and greatest

You are a sheep as well.

Dave Ramsey says it all the time, “Learn to live like no one else, so one day you can live like no one else.”

But you know what? My generation is to blame! We made Jordan’s the shoes to have and I guess we see why we screamed foul and for help when the collapse of the housing market pulled our pants down, exposing us to the reality that we owned, excuses me, GOT LOANS for houses that we should not have purchased, had car loans that we should not have had and a host of other depreciating material possessions that we are willing to pay top dollar for because we can get the credit.

Maybe gym shoes/sneakers are the “gateway drug” for over-consumption?

NkeCostThe above was found in 1995 as part of the Just Don’t Do It Campaign at the University of Michigan. I have a feeling that since that time, the cost to consumer portion has gone up much more than the cost to Nike or the retailer.

So what “value” am I missing here folks? Check out the video the show on sneakers that aired on ESPN’s Outside The Lines titled, “Sneakerheads” Buying And Selling High-End Sneakers, and let me know in the comments below.

I gotta say though, at least that kid in the video had a plan and may be making a profit, but what about those of you who have them just sitting in the closet, ready to donate next year when that outfit is out of style or no longer fits? You’ll likely be working for that dude in the video one day, but you’ll also be putting his kids through college while you’re buying sneakers from his store.

I have one word: BAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

Sheep

Day 20 of 30 Days On Dads – A Physique Transformation Is Possible, But How Bad Do You Want It?

Posted on by Cool Pappa

mr-universe-bruce-randall

Let me say right off the rip that this is no “If you believe it, you can achieve it” post.

I’ve talked to numerous people who want a physique transformation. Sometimes, they are so overweight or underweight and far from their desired physique, that they begin to get stressed out just looking at how far they have to go.

It’s similar to having the desire to go to California from New York. You really want to go more than anything. But when you look at the distance that needs to be traveled, the gasoline and time that it is going to cost, you start saying things like, “Do I really want to go to California anyway? My car will be worn out when I get there and then I’ll have to buy a new one right? California’s no place I want to be anyway, I like it here…”. So you go back in the house and just live your days talking about the “lucky” people who make the trip.

This is exactly the thought pattern of many who desire to change their physique and health. It’s easier to stay the same, because they really do not want to change as bad as they say they want to change.

Take this lesson from me. I’ve weighed 250+lbs. with high blood pressure and joint problems beginning to impact my activity level in my early 20’s. In a couple of years when I hit 25, I was 200 lbs. and I remember weighing myself on a scale on my honeymoon and I was elated. I never thought I could be under 200 lbs. again. A little over a year after that, I hit my low of 175 lbs. (note: this is why those “recommended weight charts” are garbage because everyone said I looked like a crackhead at that time!)

But I changed not only myself, but my family tree as well (to use Dave Ramsey’s phrase) as my kids now grow up with a totally different view of exercise, diet and overall health. Trust me, they would’ve grown up thinking that having “sugar” was normal, high blood pressure means you’re eating stuff that tastes good, and having heart problems is okay because we are genetically predisposed in that direction anyway.

If I had focused on that fact that I wanted to weigh 175 back when I was 250, I never would have spent what little money I had on that 310 lbs. Olympic set and bench.

Don’t focus on how far you need to go, but focus on what you need to do TODAY.

Don’t focus on how you might feel when you get to “x”, but focus on how you feel TODAY and what are you doing TODAY to feel better?

Don’t focus on whether your clothes will not fit tomorrow, but focus on how you feel TODAY when something does not fit.

Don’t focus on whether your back/knees/hips will still hurt tomorrow, but whether they hurt TODAY and what are you doing to change it besides popping pills?

I could go on and on, but do you get the message?

Just pack the car with necessities for the trip, gas it up, and drive in the right direction TODAY. Trust me, your normal gravitational pull will always be back to where you are today, so if you don’t like CA, it will be very easy to return back to NY.

Hopefully you’ll view NY as a nice place to visit in the future, but you wouldn’t want to stay there any more.

This post was inspired by the video below. Special shout-out to our bodybuilding historian Breeze. Any nuggets of knowledge you can give us on Bruce Randall? You can read more about Bruce’s transformation here…and this is before the steroid-era of bodybuilding!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSeXONFPh_Q

 

Day 11 of 30 Days On Dads – 7-year-old steals car to skip church (video), Sound Like Your Kid?

Posted on by Cool Pappa

This story was actually reported back in 2009:

Who, when they were 7-years-old, had not thought of stealing a car to skip church?

OK, probably not a lot of people, but this young Utah boy took the song lyrics “Bad boy bad boy, what you gonna do, what you gonna do when they come for you,” to heart just a bit too seriously.

The 7-year-old stole his dad’s car to skip church this weekend and drove it 45 mph right back home with the police right behind him.

“His speed was slow, but erratically; and so he would kind of scoot down lower to push on the gas and kinda sit up on the seat more to see right where he was going,“ said Weber County sheriff’s Lt. Matthew Bell.

“People in the neighborhood are talking about this,“ he added.

http://youtu.be/7LehQhSBd6Y

Does this sound like something your child would do?

In 2011, Barna Research reported that nearly 60% of kids disconnect either permanently or for an extended period of time from church life after age 15. At least lil’ man kept it real and decided to not play the church-game for 8 more years I guess.

But why are kids leaving church? Here are the reasons discovered by Barna Research:

Reason #1 – Churches seem overprotective.

Reason #2 – Teens’ and twentysomethings’ experience of Christianity is shallow.

Reason #3 – Churches come across as antagonistic to science.

Taken at: Creation Museum

Taken at: Creation Museum

Reason #4 – Young Christians’ church experiences related to sexuality are often simplistic, judgmental.

Reason #5 – They wrestle with the exclusive nature of Christianity.

Reason #6 – The church feels unfriendly to those who doubt.

For an explanation of each reason and more, please see the article here.

I’ve taught a small kid’s group at church with a congregation of less than 20, but we had 8-10 in the class. I’ve taught a youth group that had a congregation of hundreds, but a youth group of about 20. Kids simply disappeared and never came to class, wandered the hallways, or left the building all together. Parents had no clue where their kids were at while they were in service.

Would this be tolerated in school Monday-Friday? I think not, but it would be on Sunday, and we wonder why our kids leave church as soon as they are old enough to have “something else going on”?

Did I mention sports? You know, how church-folk, will pull the kids out of church to go play ball on Sunday? Now I’m not trying to be legalistic, but can we just have at least one day for worship AND family time?

Many youngsters leave church (they may not be desperate enough to do what young-fella did above) because they are not actually Christians, we as parents set bad examples as we “wear” Christianity on Sunday but not Monday through Saturday, or because we barely go ourselves.

The lesson I’d like to share is one from my dad. You are a family. You worship as a family. And just because you’re in this family, doesn’t mean you’re in God’s family. As my mom used to say, “You cannot grab on to my heels when I’m going up to heaven!”

Church helps give our kids a moral compass (the Word of God). Show them that going to church doesn’t make them a Christian any more than standing in the garage makes them a car. Just like that ball field that’s also calling them, it brings us together with like-minded people. A people with shared values, a similar worldview, and hopefully a love for one another. Of course learning doctrine, instruction and even discipline is a part of church as well, and there’s much more.

On that note, maybe the kid was trying to get away from a church teaching heresy? In that case, “run Forest, run!” and the youngster may be more discerning that the adults around him!

CSD

CSD Snapshot: Ride Or Die Racing

Posted on by Cool Pappa

With your kids, you will reap what you sow…

Cool Pappa's avatarCornerstoneDad Snapshots

I spent last weekend at Milan Dragway with a couple of my sons for their No E.T. day. One of the fastest rides there was the Capri that you see below.

What is funny is that I knew a couple of the fellas in the racing crew that put this Capri together called Ride or Die. Now, I knew these young men way back in the day when they were just learning how to basically drive, but they had a passion for cars that they got from their dad (who owned some of the baddest rides Ford made) so we hit it off right from the beginning.

I won’t use the brothers “government name” out here, but I feel proud knowing that these guys have paid their dues and are now truly driving and enjoying some fast cars, not the 150hp Cutlass’s that we thought were fast back in the…

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CSD Snapshot Ride Of The Day: Mercury Montclair

Posted on by Cool Pappa

When my friends across the pond say “Merc”, I think of Mercury!

Cool Pappa's avatarCornerstoneDad Snapshots

IMG_5464

 

The Mercury Montclair was a full-size automobile produced by the Mercury Division of the Ford Motor Company from 1955 to 1957, the M-E-L Division of Ford Motor Company 1958 to 1959 and by the Lincoln Mercury Division of the Ford Motor Company from 1964 to 1968. Its appearance followed the concept show car in 1954 called the Mercury XM-800.

The vehicle name was introduced in 1955 and applied to Mercury’s premium automobile line. Ford historians are at a loss as to where the name originated; the consensus is that it’s taken from the upper class community of Montclair, New Jersey. For 1955 and 1956, Montclairs featured Mercury’s best appointments, extra chrome trim, and different two-tone paint combinations to set them apart from other Mercury products. 1956 was the year that Ford introduced its Lifeguard safety program, and the Mercury Montclair came standard with a deep-dish steering wheel…

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CSD Ride of the Day: Dart GTS Sport

Posted on by Cool Pappa

It’s car show time!

Cool Pappa's avatarCornerstoneDad Snapshots

69 Dart GTS Sport

SOURCE: http://www.musclecarclub.com/musclecars/dodge-dart/dodge-dart-history-2.shtml

Comments: Dodge introduced a new GTS trim for its Dodge Dart line to compete against Chevy’s Nova SS. The hot GTS was available with either a standard 340 cid V8 with 275 bhp or an optional 383 V8 with 300 bhp. Coupled with its light 3,000 pound curb weight, the Dodge Dart GTS did very well on the street and the track. Unfortunately, the extra weight of the 383 tended to negate the power advantage of the 383 over the 340. Furthermore, the 340 was rumored to actually produce over 300 bhp which helps explains the lack of improvement with the 383 engine. Other technical enhancements included a low-restriction exhaust system with chrome tips, Rallye suspension, 14×5.5 inch wheel rims and E70-14 Red Streak tires. A three-on-the-tree manual transmission was standard, though most GTS models were sold with either a four-speed Hurst floor shift manual or a competition-type…

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CSD Ride Like The Wind Bike Mission Update

Posted on by Cool Pappa

Freeway Bike Path

 

After a night of little sleep but much tossing and turning, mentally getting up for a 90-degree day bike ride was kind-of rough.

But again, I have to enjoy this lovely weather while the gettin’-is-good, so off to the trail I went.

This time, I decide to ride along the freeway on a path that is normally empty but extremely noisy and pretty ugly. This is usually a good one to ride when I know the local park trail is jammed or when I don’t have the energy for the hills of the park…and it’s the latter excuse today.

You know, doesn’t it feel great when your first get on and you’re easily cruising on your mountain bike 4×4 tires at 16+mph. Then it dawned on me. A storm watch was in effect and sure enough, when I turned around to head south, BAM, that headwind knocked me down to 10 mph real fast.

But overall, great ride, 11.2 miles, which brings us up to 82.6 after 7 rides.