My favorite part of 2020 was all the extra time with family. Changing schedules at work and a closed office for a while gave me a chance to be more involved in reading with them, watching them learn and do school with Stacy Fowler, reworking our date night routine for better interactions with Stacy, and having the kids work alongside me on some projects for home. With every year they get more capable, and it’s fun to anticipate what 2021 holds!

I also loved the way the kids were able to engage in activities this year:

Eli started soccer and had a great season with a team of kids he really enjoyed playing with. I think his coach, Danie, did a great job of encouraging them, and they learned the way you can accomplish things with hard work personally and with good coordination as a team. 

Lizzy participated in gymnastics and really found a sense of accomplishment learning in a realm that was entirely hers, without competing with her older brother, and under the coaching of someone other than her parents. 

Due to ear infections for all 3 kids, a fractured leg (Lizzy), an ear injury, and some non-Covid sickness, we took six trips to the Urgent Care/ER this year…that’s on the top of my list of things I hope we don’t repeat, but I do expect it to become somewhat normal as the kids continue to age, and become more and more ambitious with their adventures. 

I got serious about learning some of the tricks of the trade in stocks this year, investing a small amount in the market after some extensive reading, so that I can work harder to ensure our investments really get the long term gains that we want over the next few years. Jim Cramer and the Motley Fool have been unique resources for my education this year. 

I’ve been out of touch with everything going on in politics for several years, but with a need to better navigate Covid, racism protests, and the election, I’ve been reading, listening, and surfing the news a lot this year. While the Democratic viewpoints have been easy to find, getting a conservative opinion has really helped me gather perspective. I really enjoy the coverage of the Daily Wire, Ben Shapiro’s podcast, and the book, Blackout by Candance Owens. I wish Glen Beck would make his networks’ coverage partially free, because he always seems to be the most detailed and data driven. I really wish the major networks would be more fair in their coverage, but the amount of stuff they omit, the lack of good data in their articles, and the disrespect for leaders has left me very disappointed in them. 

Family Matters has been a great addition to our kids’ TV lineup this year, along with Superbook, Sid the Science Kid, Wallykazam, and Tumble Leaf. It’s really amazing how well it has illustrated some key teaching points for their behavior this year. I wish more shows today would embrace such a short format and regularly teach issues. In terms of movies, they absolutely fell in love with Mulan (the animated movie), Trolls World Tour, and the Land before Time movies–I’m still waiting for them to embrace watching the Muppets and Shrek. 

Eli began to grasp football this year, and despite our omission of NFL (because of it’s over the top political stance) it’s been quite entertaining to see him follow the games with a passion, and jump up during each commercial break to act out fictional team plays with equal vigor. This kid can truly talk for hours on end!

Eli and I also branched out from science and nature programming, like Fierce and Planet Earth, to watching history. Our favorite show of the year is America, the Story of Us. 

Stacy drug me into a new TV routine as well–but an active one. She found several 15 and 30 day Yoga programs on Amazon prime with Julia Marie, and we’ve been doing them nightly after the kids go to bed. Paired with the twice a week, 20 minute, intense workout that Pastor Craig recommended earlier this year, I would say that I’m in better shape and closer to a six pack than I’ve ever been in my life! 

Most of our TV programming comes from Amazon Prime, and despite the number of shows I’ve mentioned, we really watch very little TV–one or two programs for kids a day (20 minutes long) and 1 yoga video is about all that we have time for. Stacy and I only have one miniseries we like. We’ve appreciated how simple and free from drama or sexuality the Mandalorian has been.

I do love movies, and I have missed seeing shows at the theater this year! 

The one thing we expected to do, but didn’t get into, is buying or building a house. We have rented for the three years we have been in Tulsa, and while we have a great home, we hope one day to have a space of our own to customize. I would also love space to park our vehicles inside. I’ve waited to purchase a nicer family vehicle the past year or so, because I don’t want to invest in one if it’s subjected to the weather all the time. Alas, real estate, including land, is crazy expensive, and great homes that meet our criteria have been in short supply or too expensive. So despite our desire to have our dream home, we are content to save money and enjoy the great relationships we have with our neighbors and family. 

Finally, the greatest blessing of our year in 2020 has been the people. 

One reason why Stacy and I are so picky when it comes to buying a home, is because we want to stay close to family and friends. This year we grew tomatoes, cucumbers, blackberries, cherries, strawberries, cantaloupe, watermelons, squash, peppers, and weeds…but we could not have done that without the teamwork we have with Stacy’s parents and the Knutsons. That’s on top of great time together working on projects and sharing the burden of keeping 40 acres in manageable shape. Maintaining chickens, catching critters, and even re-homing a dog who got dropped off nearby. 

Stacy and I are blessed with great people next door, and great people at church. I have a close-knit, hard-working, caring team of pastors to work alongside, making ministry at Life.Church possible. They make every day fun, and make the ministry we get to do in our community amazing! Stacy has been blessed to serve on a great ministry team too this year, helping BSF transition from in person meetings to online for 2020. Her Bible study has deepened our kids love of Scripture beyond what they learn on the weekend and allowed us to form some great friendships too. 

Random thoughts: 

This year I bought and repaired a tractor, to ensure I was able to get a great cut on the grass.

We trapped a record # of skunks in our area this year–one of which got loose and nearly sprayed both me and Eli. 

Eli and I enjoyed several boat rides on our pond this year, and I hope to find a non-inflatable alternative for the pond in 2021. 

Abby’s ambition to talk has added another chatterbox to the family this fall, which is challenging, since we often can’t understand her very well. 

Loosing Charlie Daniels this year was quite sad. I really respected and will miss his legacy. 

As I read through the book of Numbers during this turbulent time in our own nation due to Covid-19, I see the severity of the burden that Moses must have felt in his last 40 years as a leader.

Having led the nation of Israel out of Egypt after the miraculous plagues, through the Red Sea, to the mountain where God gave them the Ten Commandments and Law, and then through the wilderness, he is faced with a group of people who continue to complain and rebel.

Moses’ scouts return from the Promised Land, turn the people against Moses, and try to return to Egypt. Then, condemned to the wilderness, they mount a campaign to enter the land against his guidance. Then, the Levites rebel, wishing to have the priestly privileges that Aaron and his sons alone are entrusted with, resulting in the earth opening up to swallow the rebels and their families.

Moses leads despite the criticism and difficulty of the task. He does not abandon them, and we don’t see him lash out at them. They don’t appreciate his leadership or God’s intervention, and yet he sticks his neck out and pleads for God’s mercy upon them several times. It’s no wonder he writes these accounts of the people…by all accounts, any other writer would have written Moses in as a terrible leader.

And what about these times: God was doing amazing things, the people needed only to trust God, trust Moses, and be willing to focus on the blessings they had been given, rather than the hardships their current situation included.

I wonder if our leaders feel this same disdain for their hard work? Unappreciated and untrusted, they feel like every small decision is contested and debated. We should not blindly trust our leaders, and they certainly will make mistakes, but I hope we show respect and courtesy, even in our times of confusion and differing opinions. They have a hard job, and I hope we don’t make it harder, and that they are willing to put their lives on the line for us, just as Moses did.

I wonder how much focusing on negatives has made our current struggle worse than it really is! We are surrounded by blessings, but if we are not careful, we will continue to take them for granted. How amazing is it that we have assistance all around us, offering food, making medical masks, and offering jobs to those who find themselves unemployed during this time?

I wonder how much of this situation we can change more radically if we really pull together as a nation, put our own agenda’s aside for a time, and really work to support those who need it most: truly distancing ourselves, contributing time, money, and work to supply needs, and getting businesses reoriented to prepare buildings and equipment for patients who need it most.

And I wonder, how will our nation respond, if we face a longer crisis than this immediate one ahead of us? The nation of Israel faced 40 years in the wilderness during this time. Their crisis didn’t have a light at the end of a short tunnel they could see. Hope was far off, and they had to settle into a lifestyle in hardship. They had to respond to their leader and work hard to help each other out for the long term. Right now, Americans are operating in a way that expects normal to return soon. I pray that when normal turns out to be a long way off, or another issue keeps us in turbulent times longer, they don’t abandon their goodwill and expressions of faith.

God leads us through the dark times, short and prolonged. I trust Him to do it, and I urge you to do so too!

I got to see what must have been one of the best funerals you can have: a whole family sharing faith was there to celebrate their father. A man who had been a pastor in the community for 27 years was so well known and respected that the school was let out the day of the funeral and the church was so crowded that a projector and live stream was setup to accommodate the extra guests. It’s rare, I think, that one has a family so close, that you die young enough for your peers to celebrate you as a child and youth, not just as an old man. It’s rare to do ministry in one place for so long and see the multipied fruit of that ministry. It’s rare to have a town so respectful of the ministry that you’ve done.

I appreciate the authenticity that a town saw in a man who they knew so well.

I appreciate the sons respect for their father.

I appreciate the words of the oldest son, quoting Spurgeon, “it’s our priviledge to burn ourselves out in the masters’ service and die young”

A life well lived. And appropriately celebrated.

J and S – Missionaries in Middle East
Read about their work at http://www.christar.com/about.htm and contact us if you want to follow their work or give to their cause. We can’t share the details in print.

E & E – Reaching People w/no gospel
Please read check out the site http://lifeonthemountain.com/ and contact us if you want to know how to support them- we’ll have to share this info verbally to protect their work.

Mike and Kris York
Missionaries in Romania we met in 2006 that continue to coordinate the efforts of a national college ministry throughout the country. Read about their ministry on their blog: http://yorklink.blogspot.com

A & M – Missionaries in East Asia
This couple started working in China last year, and they are diligently learning the language and serving their neighbors.

The International Mission Board
One of the largest organizations dedicated to the task of sending missionaries and reaching people across the world. http://public.imb.org/globalresearch/Pages/default.aspx

Marriage Mentors
Dedicated to helping hurting marriages www.marriagementors.com

Answers in Genesis
Reaching People through Biblical Science www.answersingenesis.org

Dallas Theological Seminary
Training geeks like Patrick to teach and preach the Bible.
www.dts.edu

Saw this picture, and had to share it. It’s not entirely true, but it reminded me how the news tends to skew our perspective too much…

Steve Jobs died, and his life did contribute a lot to our society. But how should God’s perspective challenge our reception of his death vs. our reception of the deaths of millions who never had a chance to contribute?