Grandpa Papi Performance

My dad wrote and performed a song for my daughter Julia. It’s a great song and great performance! It’s been fun to be a dad but also fun to see my parents as grandparents. My dad goes by Grandpa Papi which is spanish for Daddy.

Julia is 10 months now and very close to talking. She is verbal and says vowels and constanants such as mamamamama and papapapa and dadadaadad and bobobobob (Grandpa Bob’s favorite). We all like to think she is saying our name but we’ll see what she does soon. She is a champion crawler and is pulling up, but seems pretty far from walking. Overall she is great and this song describes her well. Here it is, “Julia is so quiet.”

Thanks Dad.

(I’m sure there is applied theology in here somewhere but for now this is just a fun post and a chance for me to share about my family…my first priority in ministry…see Duet. 6:6-9).

My Wife- Ordination Video

This is part two of my ordination speech where I speak directly to Holly. To see part one check out my ministry blog at www.bstoneblog.com.

Ordination Speech

We were ordained by Kingsland Baptist Church Sunday night, Sept. 12, 2010. It was a great blessing and privilege. I had the opportunity to speak to Holly and thought I would post my speech here.

 

I am glad to have an opportunity to thank Kingsland Baptist Church for confirming my call to ministry. I am so glad to being doing this at Kingsland. This is a church we genuinely feel a part of and with staff that are our best friends with the feel of family.

I am also glad to have this opportunity to recognize those who have invested in me toward this moment.

Mom and Dad – there was a time in my life that this moment was nowhere on anybodies radar of possibilities.  So I want to thank you for believing in me and supporting me in numerous ways along this journey.

Guys like Dr. Marshall and Pastor Omar have always been important to me. When I first became a Christian I was visiting my grandparents and I asked my Granddad (Papa Walker) what his favorite book of the Bible was. He told me the book of proverbs. Looking back I now know why had led me to that book. It taught me the difference between foolishness and wisdom and the key is having godly council in your life. In fact, I recently spent two days with my grandparents and spent most of it watching my granddad care for my grandmother. It’s an amazing thing to see. I was convicted by his example and as we talked I came to understand his purpose. Those two days have done as much to change me and impact my marriage than any other two days of my life. I am thankful for his example to our family and hope to carry on his legacy.

1. Through College – Doc G gave me practical advice; he had a way of taking stories from the Bible and making them relevant. I still aspire to handle the scripture in that way.
2. In Seminary – Dr. Constable and Dr. Johnston challenged me to know the scripture and to have a biblically driven theology, and then they encouraged me to teach others. I needed that validation.
3. At Union Gospel Mission – Will Niece was a man of integrity and humility like no one else I have ever seen. He was near the end of his Ph. D. studies when he had a stroke and then served homeless men the rest of his life. He taught me that knowledge should result in humility and integrity and our question is not only what would Jesus do, but where would Jesus be?
4. In Stillwater – I had breakfast and homemade coffee with Jerry Bowman every Monday. He was an elder at our church and a retired professor from OSU. He modeled what it means to memorize scripture but his service to the church was to be a greeter. He taught me that everyone deserves your handshake and everyone deserves your time and conversation. Never forget that ministry is about loving people.
5. Since being here at Kingsland I have learned a ton about loving God and loving people. Pastor Alex and Doyle, Brian and Josh have all invested in me and equipped me to serve people well. Understanding strategy in ministry and leading people to make disciples. I have grown as a pastor and leader while serving under them.
6. I connected with Omar from the beginning. He has been a theological refuge for me. Every time I think I might be crazy he reminds me not to be “tossed to and fro” by some “fine sounding argument” but to search the scriptures and apply the hermeneutic. We discovered that we are likeminded biblically but he has pushed me to think deeply and live wisely.
7. Even recently I have become friends with Royce Curtis. An 85-year-old servant of Christ in our church. He lives with an urgency to make disciples. I first thought it was his age but then I learned it was his theology. He believes in the imminent return of Christ and understands that if we are not making disciples many will be disappointed at His return. He has impacted me to live and make disciples with a renewed urgency.

All of these people make it possible for me to serve in ministry and they all had one thing in common. Just as Paul taught the church in Corinth they emphasized – some plant, others water, but God causes the growth.  Never take you focus off Christ and always give God the glory.

As I think about the people who have impacted my life the one I truly owe thanks to is my wife. When it comes to being confirmed for ministry…

Holly, you are my credibility.

The book of Proverbs chapter 31 describes you well.

Vs. 10-12

An excellent wife, who can find?

For her worth is far above jewels.

The heart of her husband trusts in her,

And he will have no lack of gain.

She does him good and not evil

All the days of her life.

Vs. 23 – It is because of you that I am able to pass through the city gates and have a place to sit amongst the elders and pastors.

You are an excellent wife but also an excellent mom. The two greatest gifts of my life have come through you- the gift of being your husband and the gift of being a dad to our little girl.

As verse 28 states, Julia will rise up and bless you, and I will praise you because many daughters have done nobly, but in my eyes you excel them all. It is amazing to watch you love and care for Julia. But she and I praise you because as verse 30 states, you are a woman who fears the Lord.

You are my credibility, Holly. And I want you to know that I love and admire you. I appreciate the sacrifice you are willing to make for our family to be in ministry. For putting others needs for ministry before our own so God can use us to encourage people toward a closer walk with Christ.

I want you to know that I am committed to being the husband we learned about as we studied the scripture before marriage.

As provider I will diligently look to God for our provision, to His Word for our stewardship, and His Spirit for contentment.

As protector you know that I will not hesitate to lay down my life for you and Julia.

As leader I will seek to follow Christ in all we do and continually wash us in His Word and be in community with His body.

To love you I will live with you in a gentle and understanding manner. And in the words of Christ, “I will never leave you, nor forsake you.” I will never turn my back on you for another.

But beyond those things, Holly, we also learned in Genesis 2 the primary reason God created man and woman was for companionship. Man was alone and God saw that it was not good.

And so I also promise never to leave you lonely. No matter what opportunities come our way I always want you and Julia with me. But if you are not with me in spirit, I will not go. I will not leave you alone.

Pastor Alex has taught me that you and Julia are my greatest and most important ministry. You should get my best energy, my deepest thoughts, and be the priority of my time. I hope to live that out as we partner in marriage and ministry.

I love you and am thankful for you.

To congregation: Thank you for this moment.

Julia at 6 months!

Here are a few of my favorite 6 month pictures of Julia.  My sister Charity took these pictures just after the Fourth of July.  Many of you have already seen these, but here are some of our favorites.  You can see all of the pictures at Charity’s photography blog at http://catphotography.zenfolio.com/p24749136.

Even though Julia started off small she has caught up over the past 6 months.  When we run into strangers they often say, “looks like she doesn’t miss a meal.”    It’s true she doesn’t miss a meal.  We love her rolls!  At her 6 month check up Julia was 26 inches long (50%), weighed 17lb 14 oz (50-75%) and head circumference 41.5 cm (10 %).

Julia Giggles

Here is Julia laughing at a game of “pick-a-boo” (although I’m not sure what I am saying and I call the game hide and seek). It’s really funny to watch her laugh! She is really starting to know her surroundings and interact with what is around her. She is a really sweet girl who loves her mom but also enjoys hanging out and dancing with dad…we danced to praise music for about an hour this morning! But there is nothing like seeing her excitement when she sees mom…its pretty cool to watch them love each other so much.

Here is the video of Julia giggling a pick-a-boo:

Julia at Beach

I took the college students from our church to Galveston for the weekend. A family in our church graciously opened their home to over 20 of us to stay, for free. They had a boat, grilled burgers, etc, it was a lot of fun. On Saturday Holly and Julia visited and Julia had her first day at the beach. It was great to see her respond to the sand, sun, water, waves, etc. She seemed to really like it. After Holly got her all lathered up with appropriate sun block, hat, bathing suit, etc we headed to the water. She got a little scared of the waves but after all she is only 7 months. Here are a few pictures and a video of the college student’s trip.

Julia’s Blowing Lips

These video’s of Julia are pretty funny. We were sitting around as we visited with my mom and Bob on Sunday and all of a sudden we hear this vibrating sound come from Julia. We look over and she is vibrating her lips by blowing air. It was so funny. I tried to capture it on video the first time while she is sitting on my mom’s lap but couldn’t get her to do it again (first video). Then she was laying on her blanket and started to do it and I caught some on video (second video). Here they are!