Fallen Prey to Nicknames

You know I have always been one of those people that was never a big fan of nicknames, I mean everyone has them, the problem is that they are not your real name, they are some stupid name that has evolved due to some prominent story or happening ones life that results in a nickname, My great friend Carlos for example, his name (nickname) is Bumper, I mean that is how most people know him, I love that name, I only know one bumper. Here is a kid who bumped his head alot as a kid, so his loving parents Carlos and Martha or maybe it was Jay or Michelle decided to call him bumper. But what about those stupid names that we give our kids, Here is where I have fallen prey to the nicknames. We spent hours trying to come up with the perfect names for our kids, like names that are significant to us, and I have found that we call them not by their names any more but by ridiculous names, in fact there may even be a way we say the nick name by like raising our voice or talking in a baby voice, I am so guilty of this. Any way here is a break down of what I have been guilty of in regards to nicknames.

First of all My oldest daughter Molly has the nick name Rooter, Now this nickname was cute when she was 3 months old, (due to the fact that she always would "root" for food, those of you that understand know what I mean, she breast fed, so whenever you would touch her cheek she would swing her head around in that direction and well, root for a breast, ya know, boob, milk) anyway we still call her that and it is so funny. Hey Rooter! I mean what are we really saying when we call her that, "Hey are you looking for milk still"! You get the idea. A few others have been: Molly Mc Butter, Molls, Squirrel, Molly girl, etc

Maggie is our second oldest, her nick name is scooter, she used to scoot around on the floor, that name is not so bad but we most often call her "The Magster" like a title, Like "Hey how is the Magster today" as if she is some object of deity or something, Hey little Magster. Next it has morphed into "Magpie", so we are very guilty of nick names

Last but not least is Ezekiel, His name "Zeke" is based after my Grandpa "Clarence" who (get this) has the nick name Zeke, so my son's name is Ezekiel but we call him Zeke named after my Gramps who is Clarence. His nicknames are out of control because my daughters have given him an enormous amount of silly names. One day watching Cinderella, during the song that says, "Cinderelli Cinderelli night and day its Cinderelli" (THis is where the mice are singing etc.") My daughter starts to call Zeke "Monkatelli" MONK- A- Telli, I asked her what is that from, she answered, "the song on Cinderelli that goes, Cinderelli Cinderelli Monkatelli Cinderelli" So there you have it Monka telli was born, Now Monka telli has morphed in to just "MONK" and then "MONK MONK" and now "Tellamonkey" and finally "Monkey", last but not least and I hope this is the end of this but we have managed to morphe this name finally to just "Telly"

You may ask why all the nick names, but honestly it is probably not the nicknames themselves but rather how we pronounce the nicknames in stupid voices, High pitched baby voices that we would probably think are totally appropriate in the confines of our house, but I ask you, would you be caught dead singing that voice in public or around your peers? My wife will often say. "Matt sing the new song you made up for telly"! Are you kidding!!!

I never thought I would say this but I have fallen prey to the nicknames...

Naked

Sin is alive and well, and before I begin I am not one of these guys that is all about sin and salvation for just a future place in Heaven, as if I have purchaced, (through Christ) my ticket to Heaven and now I am just waiting around to get the "prize". I believe that we are to some extent able to experience a little taste of heaven right now, as we grow in our sanctification as we struggle and wrestle with this relationship. I do however, think we are not takinig sin seriously enough in our christian culture today. It is almost as if we have begun on this new post modern quest for an old school "works based salvation", I mean it is like we are trying to pull Justification out of the Gospel. It is like we have forgotten why we primarily need Jesus. Why do we primarily need a savior? Well our culture would tell us that we need "Jesus" so we can be more like Him, or so we can learn to love like Him, Or be like Him, I mean what would Jesus do right? Or we need him to show us that we need to be taking care of the world. Now do not get me wrong, All those things are good but let me ask you, when can we really experience those things? Well in our present state, at least according to the Bible, we cannot do anything like Jesus due to a little thing we posess that separates us from God the Father, this is called SIN. This sin saparates us from a realtionship with God, in fact the Bible is pretty clear that we are not doing ok in our present state, but are in fact dead in our sin. Not flopping around reaching out for good, Not doing ok, and needing Jesus to make us better, but rather dead, (ROmans), SO how can we think that we primarily need Jesus to begin to do things that can only take place after we have been made right, How can we love like Jesus when we are dead, how can we learn to love like him when we are dead. How can we begin to be like Him when we are at war with His Father? This new thinking is becomoing very popular but if you look at the heart of it, this thinking is nothing more than a new and improved works based way to "find favor" with God. Our works are superseding our need for our relationship to be made right with God. Our works dictate our "primary " standing with God. I am all for learing to love more like Jesus, but lets face it, we are not Jesus, and any possible way that we are capable of being like Jesus is through His spirit, not our works, but his fruit. And that can only come after we have been made right by having Christ's work ont the cross claimed in our lives as being a sinner. Recognizing our need for a savior is crucial to the difference between Justification by grace through faith ALONE, or Sanctification by works, without Justification.

We are becoming experts at moving out from under the work of the cross ad resurrection, as soon as we stop living out from under the cross and ressurection, something will take its place, that something is us, our works our love, our wells dug in africa, our words, etc. These things in context of the process of sanctification are fine, but they are dirty rags in and of themselves.

What is our primary need for Jesus? Do not be so quickly fooled into thinking it is other things. There are many secondary reasons for Jesus, do not get me wrong, but if we get Justification wrong we are nothing more than a religion- Religion- What I do for God......


Adam was afraid because he was naked...... Stripped of His self worth because he had fallen short of the glory of God, separated from God due to his sin, not because he did not love like Jesus or God, not naked because he was not loving others the right way, but because of his sin, his choice to try to go up on God's level and be fulfilled with himself rather than God. The created trying to be fulfilled by the created, not the creator...

God must have taken sin seriously enough, if it was just a matter of learning to love better or be a better person, he would have told Adam to do just that, but He does not, he takes it so seriously, He promises to fix what we cannot fix, to give His son to fix our mess, He holds back man's rightfull curse and gives it to His son, (Gal. 3). If God takes sin seriously we need to get back to that. Deal with our sin and move on but don't right it off... Don't make light of it. We need Jesus desparately to forgive us of our sin, so we can move on and love like Him, learn about Him, love others, etc...

It has been a while

It has been a while since I have written, gosh, a year? Maybe more, it just goes to show how big the internet is if it can manage to afford to keep this blog on line and not mind that it is basically useless. I have been teaching this year at Heritage Christian again, (this by the way is the only job I have kept for more than two years) so I am excited. Maybe brealing the norm is on the horizon.

My parents are coming this week, this is always a treat, Just hanging out with them and learning fromt hem and enjoying them as they enjoy my kids. My Son Zeke is probably the newest edition to the mayhem at my house and although i have 3 kids, a son is much different then the girls. He has been sick and unlike the girls he needs extra care, he is so helpless and dependent when he is sick, My wife says that that is a "boy thing", She notes that when I am sick, I am helpless too. Our daughters on the other hand are much more independent.

What I have been finding out though is justhow much I love this little guy. I mean he is the cutest boy in the world. But really I have noticed that I am understanding more and more about how much God not only loves me but how much he loves His son Jesus. I would easily die for my son in a second, but your son? I don't think so, So I would die for my son in a second, but think of this, would I let my son die for one of my daughters? i do not know, But I do know this, I would nnot let my son die for you, no offense to all 3 of you who read this, but let's face it he is my son.

God let His only son die for me, not even Himself or He for His son, but He let His son die for me.... And it is not even like I appreciated it. I maybe could begin to think about letting my son die possibly for someone who appreciated it, But in reagrds to a generation that is perverse and rejecting of what I am considering to allow happen to my only son, no way.

I also know that God allowed His son to die for me when I did not even love Him. As I look down at Zeke and see him and wonder about the man he will become, I bet God was thinking about that in the garden so long ago. "What shall we do lest they become like US and eat of the tree of life and live forever", God has this talk with himself and decides that day to fix what we broke, what man and woman broke. As for me if I was Elohim I would have to pass, I would possibly destroy them and start over, But God promises the man while he is cursing the snake that he will send a "Seed" through the woman to fix what had been broken. That day God made a promise to break that sweet perfect relationship with Himself and allow his son to be killed, But the Son went willingly. He went willingly. I understand so much better now how much God loves me and His son, and my son as well.

Part of the plan

I think we make this whole Gospel thing about us and not about who it really is about, Obviously God. I was reading the story in the Bible about when god gives Moses His Mission in Exodus about freeing His people, what kicked me in the butt, is that when god tells Moses what God is going to do it is different then what he asks Moses to be a part of, or should I say, Moses is only aloud to participate in half of it, the crappy half if you ask me.

God says He is going to do a two fold mission, 1. Rescue his people from Egypt and 2. Deliver them into the Promised land, two fold, two parts right? Well his mission to Moses is only to include Him in half of it, the resuing part, and why does God not allow Moses to experience the other half, the "promised land part", If you read ahead you find that Moses goes on to treat God's people badly, he gets mad at them for whining about no water again, he thinks his ministry is a failure, he thinks it is his ministry, He hits the rock, and does not speak to it like God says to, he is frustrated with God's people, He gets frustrated with God's Bride, What he thinks is a failure is not to God, it would seem like a failure to me I mean come on they wandered around for 40 years, so all those years ago. All those years ago God knew Moses would elimainate himself from the total missiion, God did not include Him, because God sees the future.

Moses made the mission about him and not about God..... the Mission is always about God, we are lucky to be a part of it, let's just not forget who is running the show............

New Baby

Well my wife did it again, 3 for 3. Our newest Vander Wiele was born yesterday at 5.45pm, Ezekiel Alan Vander Wiele, 8 lbs. and 12 oz! he is a big boy but a little shorter than the girls. My wife is amazing. She was induced in the morning of January 7th and that evening had the little screaming boy.



Everytime I witness the birth of one of my kids, because (I mean come on what more am I than strictly a witness) I am amazed at how much my wife and by the way her body has to go through. As we walked laps yesterday to help the baby drop, I had the nerve to complain about being hungry, I told my wife I was so hungry that I understood how those starving little Ethiopian kids felt. She had not eaten since the night before. I went down to the diner for lunch yesterday and had pizza and a steak burger, when I got back to the room, I did not tell my wife that i had so much food, because when I came in she was enjoying a cup full of ice chips. I am such a jerk.



As I watch the baby deliver I am always amazed of creation and the miracle of this little thing who has been overtaking my wife's body and soul for so long. He is so dependent on her body and her soul. I mean if she doesn't care about him she will not take care of her body to help him grow, and then by the time he is born she loves him so much already.



I think that is how God feels about us, we are so dependent on Him, we are dependent on His body and His soul for our survival, we are like little parasites, but that seems to be ok with him. We need His soul to Pursue us through His spirit and we need His body to do the ultimate care for us. That little guy needs his mom so much right now, he is so dependent on her.



It is always easier for my wife to love the kids so much after they are born, she already has had that bond spiritually with them. For me it takes a little longer, I have to experience him. I am glad God loves me unconditionally.



We will now embark on the ever not fun baby stage as we call it, 2-3 months of hell on earth of late nights and feedings. It is a blessing.... I am ready, so I think

parent teacher conference

I was nervous going into my first PTC as a parent and not as the teacher. I was nervous, I mean I know my girls are the smartest, prettiest, most well behaved girls in the world, so what did I have to be nervous about. As my wife Abby and I sat down with my daughter Molly's pre-school teacher Mrs. Boltz we began to discuss things like "wandering" and attention spans and developmental ability. All of the things the teacher said were good, only a few improvements. I know now how hard it must havebeen for my parents to sit year after year in my PTC meetings hearing how I needed improvement inthis or that area, like "Matt is a jokester, Matt is disruptive, Matt got caught cheating again, Matt was smuggling crack cocaine in again to class" you know the basic stuff.

I think what I realized today was very simple, the apples do not fall far from the tree. Molly is a product of two oldest children, enough said. My hands were a little sweaty, as we began to go through the report card, All was well, just a few improvements, no big deal, before we knew it we were out of the room and on our way. It was not so bad. I also realized that my kids are not perfect, at least most people have not realized it yet..

God'sWill

Well for many of you it has seemed as if I have fallen off the face of the earth. I went to NY for the summer and then returned and have yet to update this thing called "blog". I have been spending a lot of time with my family and studying for my classes. I signed on to another year of teaching at Heritage Christian school again, I was asked back and that is always a good sign.

I have been teaching "God's Will" or better put the topic of God's Will in my classes. If you were to ask just about anyone what God's will is for their lives you may get answers like, : "It is God's will for me to glorify him, or Serve others, or minister to others, lead others to Him. All legitimate things. But a thread that i found that runs through all of their answers is that the question arises "how do you do that" I mean how do you glorify God as a 16 year old let alone a 31 year old, or how do you serve Him?

What if we were too concerned about a "specific will" for our lives from God and ignored all the general wills He gives for us as believers in His word. What if we focused more on the general wills for our lives as believers, (and by the way pick one to work on and it will take you all of your life) and not so much on the specific will for our individual life. It is interesting but the Bible does not lay out "specific" wills for our lives, I do not see my name in there, do you? What I do see is a plethora of wills that are general for all believers, you know the same for all, the same for everybody.

What if the general wills were "prerequisites" for the specific will, what if to find the specific will for your life you needed to take the prerequisites course work first. I mean it makes sense. how can you walk before you can crawl?

What if we put so much emphasis on "specifics" and no emphasis on generals that we made the specifics more difficult than they really were.

If my daughter and I went into a candy store and she said "dad can I have some candy?" what do you think I would say? She might say, "I do not know what I want, snickers or reeses?" I would say, "get whatever YOU want", What if God's specific will for was the accessibility to anything our hearts wanted if we took the general wills more seriously. I would not say, "Oh you want reeses? Here, here's a snickers, and your eating the wrapper too!? " No I would get her what she wanted, why would God give us a stone if we asked for a fish or some bread?

What if God's word is true when he says, seek my kingdom first and all the detailed specific stuff will be added to you! What if God was like, "I do not care which college you go to, " pick one, "which one do YOU like"? I mean if you have been seeking him through the general wills any way, would you not be in tune with him anyway?

What are these general will s anyway, well 1. God wills for all to believe and know the truth, we call that in our culture, "getting saved" (Timothy), interesting I wonder how fogged up God's will could be for us if we thought we knew him and we did not!, or 2. it is God's will that we are "living sacrifices",(romans) or 3. This is God's will you Sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality, (Thess)4. it is God's will to submit to authority(Peter), 5. It is God's will to be filled with the Holy Spirit! you get the point(eph)

What if God's specific will for our lives could be whatever we want if we take the prerequisites first, seeking his kingdom and obeying, then the detailed decision would be added to us. Now go decide!