Kind Affirmations

I've felt the Holy Spirit stirring some fresh winds and directions in my soul for some time now. At times they've left me a little confused and, frankly, nervous about what He's doing in me and what He wants to do through our family.

In the last week He has graciously allowed me to receive some affirmations. Affirmation is always good for the soul, but they are also dangerous. I've watched far too many people receive affirmation and suddenly they are making decisions and heading in directions due to an inflated ego that they should not go. I've watched people hear someone say about them, "I think you could be ____________ someday (you fill in the blank" and then, due to that affirmation, they began to subtly offer suggestions and manipulations to worm their way to that position.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that work hard and promoting oneself is a bad thing if it's done with humility and grace. But, I think sometimes that we are too full of ourselves and not full enough of faith in a God who has a future in mind for us. I wonder how often we miss that mark when we're looking to fulfill man's prophecies instead of God's purposes.

As I've received and heard these kind words about my service on the DBMD, teaching with the Spiritual Formation Department, teaching in our local church, and some people's "hints" for what they think might be a possible future for me, for the first time in my life, I can honestly say that these kinds of statements scare me more than they encourage me. Do they make me feel good? Yes, and they should. But, I don't know what the Holy Spirit has in store for me. What I DO know is that my future is His job and not mine. 

My job is to be faithful in the here and now. 

My job is to listen for His voice and act on it.

My job is to fulfill the purposes and calling currently on my life.

My job is to guard my heart from influences apart from Him.

Who knows what He's forming in me?

Who know if the kind words people have said are true? People are fickle.

But I do know, that He is a faithful God who loves to do things with His kids that they can't ask or imagine.

Field Trip

Ian went on his first field trip this week with his kindergarten class. He was pretty excited about it for a few days before and has been since.

They went to the "B" Street Theater downtown Sacramento. My description of the place is that it's "live PBS." Not sure how they make any money. They're probably government supported with an arts grant or something. It's off in a little corner of downtown in kind of a warehouse.

They did a production for the kids called "Go Dog Go!" based on the popular kids' book by that title. It was cute and they did a very good job.

I took the morning off of work and Kiley and I met the bus at the theater (they only allow three parents to ride the bus at a time and there is such a clamor for parents to ride that they do a kind of lottery). 

As we sat in the theater during the intermission with Ian, I asked him what his favorite part of the field trip was. I expected to have him talk about the play. Instead, as usual, he surprised me.

"Dad, we rode on a big bus! There were three of us in a seat and we bounced and we had our own window, but only the top of it goes up and down...and it was SO much fun."

Guess we know what the fun parts of a field trip are now...

A new Season

As fall begins this week, I've been reflecting on the fact that the Skor family has entered a new season of life. I think it's taken Kiley and I a few weeks for this to begin to seep into our consciousness, but we're beginning to realize that we need to make some adjustments in our thinking and family habits to fully "lean in" to this new season of life and grace for our family.

Here are some of the things that are new to us as fall begins:

• For the first time, both boys are in school all day long. This affects Kiley's schedule as well as my Fridays off of work.
• Kiley has accepted the volunteer job as vocal coach for our worship team. She's more than prepared for this, but it takes dozens of hours and energy which was poured into the family.
• We've both realized that we're no longer part of the "young" crowd anymore. Maybe we haven't been for a while and were in denial, but now, we're among those who have experienced life and people look to us as such.
• Our Pastoral staff has expanded. It takes more time and interaction each day to keep on top of everything.
• Our extended family is changing, both with age and with their seasons of life.