Dayton is so fun to watch and listen to. As a three year-old he probably has a bigger vocabulary than some kids 2 years older than he is. And how do you suppose he has acquired that vocabulary? If you said from his family, anywhere from 3-6 older siblings around him at a time, you’ve guessed right. The other day, we were driving home from picking up Dylan from school when Dylan randomly says to Dayton, “Hi, I’m Bob.” To which Dayton answers without hesitation, “Hi, I’m Joe.” Thinking it was an anomaly, Dylan then says, “Hi, I’m Joe.” To which Dayton answers again without batting an eye, “Hi, I’m Albert Pujols.” Everyone in the car erupts in laughter. Where did this kid get this? Probably from countless hours of watching the St. Louis Cardinals play baseball and everyone cheering on the slugger.

I was reading some posts from different pastors and leaders yesterday and came across a really good entry by Brian Kruckenberg, lifechurch.tv Phoenix campus pastor. It was entitled Garbage in, Garbage out (you should go read it). Brian talks about how children are imitators of their parents. Essentially, if you, as a parent, live like the world, how can you expect your children to not act like the world?

I’m still going through Ephesians and I ran across this in chapter 5,

1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; 2 and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.     -Ephesians 5:1-2 NASB

So, this more expounds on Brian’s thoughts of children as imitators. As children we are to be imitators of God, our Father. In verse 2 Paul tells us how that can be done, “walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us…” So if we want to be people worth imitating, we should first begin to imitate the One we claim to worship, Jesus Christ.

Ig-no-rance: The condition of being uneducated, unaware, or uninformed.

Lately I’ve been journeying through Ephesians, primarily just to continue the habit of getting into the word on a daily basis. It has been great so far. I ran across these verses in Ephesians 4 a couple of days ago.

17 So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind,18 being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart;     – Ephesians 4:17-18

As I read these verses I was taken back to my first learning the difference between the words ignorant and stupid. I think a lot of people are still ignorant to the fact that there actually is a difference. Verse 18 hits me especially square when it says that they are, “excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their hearts.” Could the same not be said of us, of those around us every day? Our exclusion from the life of God is something that can be remedied but instead we choose to be ignorant. It’s not that we can’t fix the problem, but because of the hardness of our hearts, we are choosing to leave the life that God has for us…That’s tough to swallow. So are you choosing to be ignorant, or choosing the abundant life that God wants for you?

The title seems to sum today up for me. We geared up for an exciting and fun day at Chase Field with the dbacks. Dylan got a reward for good work in the classroom and a much needed day off. So we headed to the ballpark early to catch some BP. We got there in the middle and ended up with a practice ball to show for it. Woohoo! The game was a bit of a letdown, but Dayton didn’t seem to mind too much since he took a nap in the 3rd.
We made it home in one piece and left as soon as we came for Switch, the youth program for lifechurch. I don’t think that in our day of that we would meet with God like we did tonight. It was a more reflective atmosphere for the experience. Softer than usual. Man how I needed it. I’ve missed intimate moments with God like I had tonight. Seeing youth react to the presence of the living God. Could not have chosen a better way to end a great day! Here are some pics of Dayton taking some hacks in the Sandlot.