Going through our series ALL IN has been refreshingly convicting.

Sounds oxymoronic, I know.

Refreshing because God reminds me that  there’s nothing I can do to make Him love me more and nothing I can do to make Him love me less.

Convicting because it just exposes the rottenness of my own heart.  All of our hearts.

Toddlers are so cute.  I know that because I have one of them.  Ika nga, mana mana lang yan. Haha!

However, no matter how cute they are, sinful nature trumps our desire to do good – which is why we need a SAVIOR.  We can’t save ourselves.

No matter how cute kids are, they are still sinners – which makes them cute, little sinners.

The other day, Jenn went into the kitchen to check on our 2 year old Joaquin.  He was fiddling with the microwave oven.  When asked what he was doing, he steps back and with a guilty look, he says, “Nothing!”

When Jenn opened the microwave oven, she found our 9 week old Maltese (dog) inside.

What would cause a 2 year old bring destruction to a cute puppy?

I know. SIN.

Proverbs 14:12. There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.

We all have a propensity for it.

Our Savior needs to save us not just from sin but more so from ourselves.  Left to ourselves, we will mess up.  Left to ourselves, we will destroy ourselves.

For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Colossians 1:14)

What happened to Briggie (our dog)? Good thing Jenn came in the nick of time.  Or else… she would’ve have been ONE HOT DOG.

Stuff like these are fun.  But at some point, it gets old.

I remembered what G.K. Chesterton said about God not getting tired.  Tyler Kenny calls it the “Childlikeness of God.”

A child kicks his legs rhythmically through excess, not absence, of life. Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, “Do it again”; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony.

But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again” to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.

The repetition in Nature may not be a mere recurrence; it may be a theatrical ENCORE.

—G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy, p. 42

Maybe a small thing to some but it’s a big deal for me.

Three reasons I look forward to it (not exhaustive)…

1. DOWNLOAD.  That’s the time of the day where we can all gather and talk about what happened to every member of the family’s day – friends, school, disappointments, exciting stuff, future trips, memories from previous trips, Bible, experiences, real life stuff, etc.

2. UPLOAD.  This is a moment where Jenn and I can ‘upload’ some stuff in to their hearts during their most unguarded moments.  From Bible verses to conventional wisdom… values to vision for the future…

3. FILE SHARING. This can be anything to everything.  Crazy stuff.  Fun stuff.  Insane stuff.  Time where we watch Nathan moonwalk (or at least try to) like M.J.; where Janina sings her new favorite song; where Ryan… simply becomes Ryan… the funny guy… and Joaquin… well, what can I say about this cute guy.

Below is a video that just happened last night during dinner.  These things I actually look forward too.

Small stuff?  Big deal… at least for us…

Joaquin’s Beautiful Eyes from Paolo Punzalan on Vimeo.

PS. Here are a few links I got about the importance of meal times…

http://family.samhsa.gov/get/mealtime.aspx

http://www.supernanny.co.uk/Advice/-/Food-and-Nutrition/-/4-to-13-years/The-importance-of-family-meal-times.aspx

http://marriage.about.com/od/recipes/a/mealtime.htm

http://www.poweroffamilymeals.com/Mealtime_Matters/