Daddy Time

It has been a very busy five days let me tell you. Well my past five days was pretty busy, I was blessed very much, I got to spend a of time with my family this week. Katie's job shuts down for a week, and she was able to stay home with the boys and just enjoy life. I on the other hand still had to go to work, but the weekend was nice. We spent Saturday at Kennywood and today we went to the county fair, had a wonderful time as a family. 
I would like to talk about the saying "Daddy Time" begin a dad to two boys, I do not hear that term a lot, I'm sure I will later when they can both talk. This weekend begin going to Kennywood and the fair, I over heard a lot of young children asking their dad's to put them on their back, or race them down the walk way, or just push me in the stroller, or hold me in line. A lot of those lines came from my son as well, but he was not the only child saying those things, It made me think of "Daddy Time." Which then made me think, well what is "Daddy Time"? So through out the weekend I was thinking of the times that my son ask's just for me, or when he wants me to do some thing with him. A very big habit of my sons is to watch the movie cars and play with his toys "Cars" on my chair. Instead of watching the movie, he listens to it and has his toys live out the movie. He loves playing on my chair so much, it's hard some times to be able to sit down, but I found that instead of taking his playing area away, if I played with him, he was much happier. Just sitting there having him play on my lap, makes his day some times, it almost makes me feel like I am not around enough, but I realized thats not the case at all, he just loves begin able to play with me when ever, it's not that I am not there enough. This weekend also opened my eyes to other things that are small, but mean a lot to him. While troy and I were standing in line for the "Lil Phantom" ride in kiddie land there were acorns on the ground and like most three year olds, he got the bright idea to throw them at the kids on the ride as it past him. Of course, he got yelled at, but what I learned was, He was doing that out of boredom while waiting in line, and it's not like I was talking with anyone, I was just standing there, so instead of yelling at him countless times like other parents, I pick a few up and starting rolling them like dice on the ground in a small area, he had so much fun, not because of the rolling of acorns, but because I was playing with him. I wish more parents would of caught on, but maybe in time they will, I was able to go through the 40 min line, with only having to tell my child once to stop throwing acorns, not because he is better behaved than any other kid, but because I took the time and sat down next to him and played with him. Today as we were leaving the fair, Troy was pretty tired and in turn starting to cry, along with him baby brother. He wanted to race me to the car, but I was pretty tired and so was Katie and we really didn't feel like running all the way to the car, but whenever we got about 5 cars away I said go and we raced, he had so much fun racing to the car, until he didnt win, but all it took was Katie and I to take a few seconds to be a kid again. Everything is a game to Troy, if I ease up and relax I think begin a dad will be a lot more fun than it already is.
If you have kids I want you to try some thing for me, instead of trying to correct them on everything, try playing with them just for a few seconds while your trying to have that conversation with some one you ran into at the fair, or in the car ride home when it's dark try singing along with the radio, even if you don't know the words, maybe "dance" a little in your seat, as Troy likes to say. Just have fun, family outings are stressful, everyone knows that, between meeting up times and waiting in line times, and potty breaks, and so on and so on, you know what I am talking about. Take the time to play and enjoy your family. Nothing needs to be done, (except for potty breaks), just enjoy the time you have, ask them how their day is going while your in line, try talking to them more, you would be surprised what they talk to you about. In closing, I pray that all of you get the time this year to spend time with your family, and enjoy it all, as stress free as possible.


May God bless you in all that you do today,
Eric 

Marriage

I have not posted anything for a few days, and with good reason. I have been praying for God to lead me in the right direction, I found that posting every day is not what he wants, He wants my full heart into every post. Today I will be talking about marriage, about what it means to be married, and what it means to God to be married. If you are able I ask that you get your bible, I will be giving some verses to backup what I am speaking about. 

When it all started, God made the earth, animals, birds, and man. In Genesis 2:21 Moses writes; "But for Adam no suitable helper was found. The Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh (22) Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and h brought her to the man. (23) The man said, ""This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman for she was taken out of man" (24) For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will be one flesh."

I would like to point out a few things from this passage. First off, man and woman were made for each other, Not man for man, and not woman for woman. Now I do not want to start a debate on the subject, but that is how God started the world, moving on. I noticed when reading this that God made a point to take a rib from man to create woman. Why did God do things this way? I asked myself that, the same God that made the earth, the sky, the animals, the birds, why didn't he just make a woman, why did he take the rib of the man he had already created and create woman. I mean it's not like he did not know how to create a human, he had just done it. Well I think I understand why, As you can see it was the first marriage, of the first humans of the earth. Pretty big deal, they started the fad of marriage, Gods way. Not to say I do not like Gods way of marriage, but I liked my wedding cake much more than I would of liked getting a rib pulled from my body. God thinks so far ahead it's some times hard to keep up, moving on. We see that God intended for man and woman to be ONE, to be married to be one flesh. We have gotten away from that, We have moved onto many different things than what God started. We live with our girlfriends before we are married, we start families before a marriage has taken place, we do not ever get married for what ever reason, we are doing this differently that what he had planned and I think that is why we see a lo of divorces and relationships without marriage. 

I chose a old testament verse to show how God intended everything to be, but as we known, God sent Jesus to save our sins, meaning the end of the old and start of the new. Turn with me please to the new testament, the book of Matthew, chapter 19. 

(3)Pharisees came to him (Jesus) to test him. They asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?" (What they are asking him were the current laws, those laws are listed through Deuteronomy) (4)Haven't you read, "he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator made them male and female, and said, For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh? They are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate"

I have be reading about marriage and praying about marriage, not because my wife and I have had problems, but because I feel, that what I have done in my life God has plans for. The sins that I have done, God is going to use for good.  One of the things that God has laid on my heart for me to share is the love that I have for my wife. We have been married for 3 years 5 months and 6 days, and I love that I am married to her I would not change it for anything. I feel that I need to share that marriage is not a old testament thing, or law that we do not believe in anymore. Marriage is more than saying your vows in front of your family and having cake and going on a honeymoon, it is a commitment to the one you love that you will be with her, and love her, and care and provide for her. Without a commitment of marriage it is nothing more than some thing that works and is easy, living together and sleeping together and doing everything you would do like you were married, is not O.K. unless you are married. It is hard for anyone in this day, the way the world has turned away from God, to continue to live the way he wants us to. It is not easy to obey his laws and do what is good and right. It is so much easier to go through the motions of good and right, than to actually do them. I love that I am married, and yes at times it is hard, but 90% of the time it is not. I know many young couples just like Katie and I that are not married, that live together and act as if they were, but you can always see the difference. The Lord is involved in our life's, our marriage, when God is not involved, who do you think is? Who do you think is telling you that marriage is a old testament believe and that no one does that kind of thing anymore, and that it is O.K. to go and sleep our of wedlock with your girlfriend, not God, and trust me I have heard both voices, I have been where you are. I have been standing there thinking is this right and hearing two voices tell me different answers and I have felt that push to go in the wrong direction, but I need to tell you, that one of those voices is not on your side, one of those voices is trying to send you the wrong direction. I want you to take the time to listen to both sides and hear both sides. I can tell you how many times I have fought with my wife, I can count them, there are that few of times, and that is not because of us but it is because of the Lord. I ask you to think about marriage, think about the commitment, think about the one you love and if you love her enough to go through the motions, then go for the real thing, it is so much better. It's like having making a Toyota Prius look like it has a 400 big block, instead of really having one, it makes a world of difference. I want to show you that marriage is an awesome thing and if your having fights, or not getting along, or feel that some thing is not right, that God can take care of you, and he loves you, but you have to follow for him to show you the way..... 

Pray about marriage, Pray about love, Pray for the right direction,

Eric

Thursday

Well as most of you known, today is Thursday. Well Thursdays are my day off from my job, and usually these days are spent helping Katie by cleaning up the house since we have both been at work all week, and spending the day with Troy, my oldest. Needless to say I look forward to Thursdays very much, in my line of work having a Saturday off is pretty much impossible, so Thursdays become my Saturday. Well today I did not get to spend the day with Troy, I did clean up the house a little bit which Katie is thankful for, but today I was helping my mother by working on her van so it can pass inspection this month. I went to a friends garage to work on the van and thankfully, he was able to share his garage bay, tools, and workers with me to help me out. It made me think about friendship and how important it is. Matt and I have been friends for a long time, and I have helped him, and he has helped me. It is hard for me to think about my life without having a good friend to help me through so many different things in life. 
Our friendship reminds me of my friendship with God, I go to God when I need help with different issues in my life, just like I go to Matt when I need help with a car, or advice on begin a dad, or just when I need someone to talk to about anything. Matt and God, to me, are very much the same. I need God to help me and show me the right direction to take, but many times God has spoken through Matt directly to me. Matt has been a direct line to God for me before, even though I do not think he knows it, he has been. 
In my line of work, many guys seen me day after day working on their cars, seeking me for advice, or just working with me. But I only have one true friend that I feel is a close friend. I hope that you have that one true friend, but the great news is that I have one humanly close friend, and one heavenly one. Jesus is my Lord, my savor, my forgiver, and my best friend. I pray that you feel that same way, It is not hard, just like making friends in grade school. 


I pray that the Lord God is with you all tonight, 
God Bless you and your friends,
Eric

Purpose

I wrote yesterday about how I was not waiting on the Lord for his help, about how I would pray and then just jump into the right direction that I thought would be right. From time to time we do that, we think everything through and go with what we think the best direction is. Well it took me a long time to figure out that, our "best direction" is not always the right direction. I have always had a hard time waiting for some thing, weather it be Christmas morning, or waiting for Katie to finish getting ready to go some where. God does not run on our time clock, he knows how everything is planned out and how it is going to go down. When we asked Jesus for help, we do not know how he is going to help us. We do not know if he is getting a person that we care about or love to call us, or meet us for lunch to help us. We tend to think that when we ask, He, Himself is going to wave his hand and BOOM, it is done, it is fixed, it is taken care of. I mean yeah, he can do that, he said let there be light and BOOM it was light, but that is not how he solves our problems. I have learned that some times, when we ask him for help, he says o.k., I'll help, and he sends a co-worker over just to ask, "hey hows your day going?" or "hey, lets go have lunch, you seem like you want to talk about some thing." Thats God working through people, working through Christians, friends, co-workers. I have learned to open my eyes and my heart, wait for his answer and be prepared for anything. 
A while back I was working in a factory, and I hated my job so bad. There was not a thing that I did right, not a single thing person talked to me. On top of it all, I was brand new to fatherhood, and I was working swing shift and we were told to move out of our apartment, that we had just got done painting, and moving into and I needed to find a new house, so on and so on. The stress was just so much, on top of hating my job, I was at the end of my rope. One night I was working midnight shift, and a huge order had come in, I had already been there my eight hours, had already worked well over 40 hours that week. My boss came to me and said "Eric, I need you to stay, John is going home because he did not want to stay. so your staying" I had to no choice, I needed to stay or I knew they would fire me, and I could not lose my job. But I was tired, and God knows Katie was, she was taking care of Troy by her self, but I had to stay. The small piece of rope that was holding me together broke right then and there, and I told myself, thats it I cant do this anymore, I can't work here, I can't handle the stress of finding a new place, or moving, and not having enough money, and not having a life.....you get the idea. On my way home that night, I could not clam down and I decided to take my truck off a bridge on my way home. Now I was about 2 miles away from that bridge, when I came up with that idea, and for those of you that know how I drive, that means God had about a one minute and ten seconds before I came to that bridge. When I was about 500 feet from the bridge I down shifted into third gear and aimed for the guard rail and put my foot to the floor. In that second, my truck went for 80 mph to dead stop. I had not touched the brake pedal, actually my foot was still on the gas, the truck did not shut off, nothing happened. It just stopped. At the same time, I heard a voice, and everything went dark, I thought I was dreaming that the truck stopped and I had already hit the bottom of the river, but I wasn't. The voice spoke to me and said "I have a plan for you, a purpose, I will care for you, and your family. I will provide" The light had come back, and I was sitting safely on the side of the road crying. That was a very dark day for me, even after the light came back, I went home that morning to find Katie and Troy sleeping in my bed waiting for me to come home to wake them like I always did, and that night Katie had left me a note saying, "we had a good night daddy, we missed you, wake us when you come home, Love Katie" I broke down right then and there, I could not believe I almost was not there, never to be there again. The Lord saved my life, end of story.
I have never told anyone about that night except Katie, and I am not proud of the fact that I felt that was the only way to fix my problems, and how selfish I was, to leave Katie by herself. But the Lord had been pushing the issue, for me to share this part of my life, even though I did not want to, I have learned that he is right and I am not always right. I pray that whom ever needed to read that understands that leaving this world on your own directions is not the right way. Jesus has laid down a map for us to follow, and he has given us better directions than a map quest. Jesus has a plan for you, and he will guide your better than a tom tom, if you let him. I know it, it sounds corny, the weekend warrior in me tells me, that it is not true, but believe me, It is. I would not be here if it was not for Jesus, and his plan. Even a weekend warrior can be a part in God's plan. I ask you to talk to him, pray to him, seek his map, seek his direction. You will never wish you had not. 


I pray that the Lord blesses you this day,
Eric

Listening

Earlier I left off without completely finishing my story, but do not worry over time you will catch on. The Lord is amazing, the things he can do for you, the things you can do through him. Completely amazing. I have had many hard times in my life, not as hard and others but if me it was hard and unknown terrain. After Troy was born, I was still no stronger of a Christian, I was just a young weekend warrior. My wife actually was the strong one, and how she did things and still does there is no way that God is not working in her life. From a non Christian point of view, you would think she was wonder woman. I have always felt like I was stronger than normal, but it was until I got a taste of "the real world" till I understood that it was not me, it was Jesus. After I finished college I figured that everyone would hire me because I went to this great tech school and that is all I would need. Well turns out, the world does not work that way. I went to many interviews trying to find a job that would be able to support my new family without having to move away from our families. Well it did not work that way, and I was crushed. I could not understand why I was not getting the dream 9 to 5, white collar, drive a BMW job. I looked to God and asked him "why!?!?!?" Why Lord, why am I not getting what I want. But before he could of even answered I would jump onto the next train and not even wait for him to answer. Weekend warrior, yep that means I had no idea on how to wait before I jumped, and it made me fall pretty far, and hit bottom even harder. I jumped from factory to factory working 12-15 hour days trying to make it work. Katie was home with Troy and everything was ok. I rushed us into this loft apartment so we would be out of section 8, I did not seek God, I did not ask, I should have. Right after we unpacked the last box, We were told that we had to move, The apartment was no longer going to be rented out. I was so mad, at everyone, the bank, myself, I was even mad at Katie and she has nothing to do with it. I was just mad at everything that had a pulse, including God. But I did not break down and run to him, nope I was bull headed, and I knew inside that I could do this on my own without God, without help from anyone. 

Boy was I wrong.....

May God Bless you today,

Eric

In the Beginning

Hello and welcome to my Blog. I am completely new to this, so to start things off I am going to tell you about myself, and my life. Not a complete run down, but a highlight reel of. 
I am 23 years old, I have been married since 2007 and I have two little boys, Troy he is three, and Braiden he is 7months. My life completely changed when I was in college in Nov. of 2006. Before I was married to my wife, We were both in college and she was home for Thanksgiving break, thats when I was       informed that my life was going to change forever. Katie was going to be having our first son, Troy. I was completely scared and did not know what to do. Now here is a little about me, that most do not know. At that point in my life, I was not a strong Christian, I was what I like to call a weekend warrior. I went to Church on the Sunday, and by Monday I had completely forget everything I heard. To continue on, Katie had Troy and he was a beautiful little boy. Katie dropped out of college, and I finished up the few months I had left, I went to a tech school. I was working for a pizza shop while I was in college and we were living in a section 8 housing. For those of you who do not know what that is, section 8 housing is a  housing complex that the government pays for some or all of your rent based upon you income status. Well to make it a shorter story I'll just say that I hated it, it hurt me inside, my pride, everything I did not want to raise my son in a government housing. I worked as hard as I could to get out of there, and I did. We are now living in a nice house renting, and actually looking to buy a house here very soon. BUT I did not do this. It was not me, I may of gone to work, and I may of worked 18 hour days some days. But I did not put my family here, and it took me a long time to figure that out. Well that is your high light reel of my life, One last thing I want to say is that I am not doing this for myself, actually I am trying to figure out when I'll have the time for this, but God has told me that this is some thing he wants me to do. I have learned now, that I need to listen. 


May God Bless you today in all that you do,
Eric