Jesus Mosaic from entrance to Hagia Sofia

Today, May 30, 2009, Malia said that she wanted to talk more about becoming a Christian.  I was happy to stop what I was doing and talk with her, so I had her climb up and sit with me in my chair.

I was immediately aware of my own great need for grace, and for the Holy Spirit’s help in what to say to her.  I began by praying for both of us, and asked that the Holy Spirit would give me words to say and the Spirit would make Malia’s heart soft and receptive, and grant her the understanding she’d need as a four year old.  I also confessed my faith in the Lord to bring her to salvation when she is ready, and resisted the urge to try and make her salvation a product of my own effort by coaxing her to repeat my own words in a sinner’s prayer.

After praying with her, I had the great privilege to have her listen attentively while I got to explain the entire Gospel from creation, the fall, to the promise of a savior, to Jesus’ birth, death, and resurrection.  I went on to explain Jesus’ great love for us, and his purpose in restoring Christians to a loving relationship with God the Father.  I asked her if she loved her daddy and mommy, and she said of course she did.  I responded by saying that she loves us because we loved her first, which is exactly why Christians love God through Jesus’ work on our behalf.

I also told Malia that Christians place their trust in Jesus and his work on the cross to fix our broken relationship with the Father, but that many people sadly try to rely on their own plans and effort and that they can never be saved that way.

After Malia had no more questions, I prayed for us again – that her spirit is or would be regenerated, and that God would continue to give Keisha and I grace to lead Malia well in following Jesus.  It was a very encouraging talk, and it was a great honor to declare the Gospel to myself and Keisha all over again while sharing it with my oldest daughter.

Update: Drew Goodmanson from Kaleo church in San Diego has a great post on his blog about preaching the Gospel to yourself

However, as my friend Greg once observed, the DMV is the great equalizer because everyone regardless of class or privilege has to show up in person and wait in line just like everyone else.  Now, coming from Washington State, I guess I’m just familiar with the hoops I have to jump through, so they seem normative.  And, since many Washingtonians lament what they feel are nanny-state, tax-and-spend tendencies, I figured that I would have it easy by comparison in North Carolina since politically there is a decidedly conservative lean.

In short, my hopes and expectations were unrealized.  The simple process of getting a driver’s license, and trying (still) to get our car licensed and registered has actually been far more expensive and time consuming than what I was accustomed to. It’s a lot of stuff that I’d rather put off for later, but it all has to be done within 30 days of becoming a resident and the fines for non-compliance provide me with the necessary motivation!

I don’t even want to think about how many hours I’ve burned going from one place to the next, but I guess if I start treating it like a scavenger hunt, then maybe it will actually be kind of fun?!  Oh well, this is all just part of getting to know our new home.  On the plus side, here it’s not uncommon for street speed limits to be 45 mph in the city, yes I repeat, in the city, and u-turns are welcome.  Now those are perks I can live with!

What failure looked like...

Today was a day of some wins and some losses.  On the positive side, today the family enjoyed some time together in the warm sun, checking out the swimming pool at our new community.  We slathered our pasty white Seattle skin with SPF 30 sunscreen and relaxed in and by the pool.  There is a separate kiddie pool, and Malia thoroughly enjoyed checking things out.  She was enthralled by all the kids and the activity, but she was only splashing around up to her calves.  If some water got on her face, she’d run over to towel off before heading back to wade some more.  It was pretty comical, since the purpose of a pool is to get wet, and cool off!  Before long, she was running and splashing, and slipped a little so that she got completely under.  And then she delightfully realized how much better it is to get COMPLETELY in.  You could tell she felt like she had discovered a new country!  From then on, she spent most of the time really in the water, instead of just splashing around.  The first venture to the pool was one of those memories I want to cherish for life.

After that, we came back home and I wanted to enjoy the nice weather and the patio by cooking us dinner on the grill.  I got a pretty late start though, and right off the bat I felt like I was under a deadline.  My only ambition was to make hamburgers and hot dogs, but somehow I gave in to the temptation to make the perfect cookout meal that my family would love.  (Enter unrealistic expectations, tinged with hopes of my family applauding my grilling prowess.)  Malia and I had a sweet conversation on the patio while waiting for the coals to get ready, but by the time they were hot enough to cook over, it was already way past normal dinner time, and I felt even more pressure to get it done.  I went “by the book” for how long the hamburgers should cook, and pulled them off.  We dressed them all up in the buns, with condiments and everything, only to discover that they were pinker than pink in the middle.  They clearly weren’t safe to eat, and on top of that, Malia completely soured on the idea of hamburgers after being so enthusiastic 20 minutes earlier.  We ended up putting them in the microwave for a few minutes to make them safe, but by then they were only marginally appetizing.  We “enjoyed” a strained meal while Malia did little but push things around on her plate.  All in all, it wouldn’t have been such a big deal, but my unrealistic expectations were dashed.  I know that the problem wasn’t the hiccups themselves, but that I had been clinging to visions of an idyllic 50′s style family cookout.  We can file this one away under needing to learn to enjoy the journey, and not staking everything on the destination.