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A few weeks ago I received a pamphlet advertising Christian Youth Camps and Events across North America. This particular organization puts on various camps with various emphases, such as a missions camp or an urban camp. But one of the options really got stuck in my craw sideways and has been lodged there ever since.

Time is a funny thing. It moves all the time. It moves quietly so you're not even aware of it leaving. Life happens and things are busy and it just keeps moving while its busy. Today my daughter, my youngest daughter Rebecca, got engaged. What a joyful lovely day for Becca and all those who love her! And while I sit here on my couch (that my precious beautiful friends bought me) I think about all the time I've had to love Becca. I can see her so clearly down through the years. I see her running around with a basketball in her shirt because she thought it was funny. I see her hiding from her sisters behind the tree while she was yelling I'm here I'm here. I see her crying because she lost Jewel Parkhill whom she loved so dearly .....asking all kinds of questions about God and death and why. I see her face lit up when daddy comes in the door... so excited to see him. I see her wrestling with her sisters in the living room floor laughing hysterically because she could finally take them. But the thing I'm thinking most right now is the ending of this season. Did I treasure it enough? Did I love it? Sometimes when our kids are little we think things like ....its always going to be this way ...what good am i doing? It's because we can't see the long-term picture. It's because we get caught up in the small everyday things and we forget we are raising adults who someday will leave. I thank God today that I treasured every minute. I think God that even the hard days were treasures to me and her dad. While I sit and remember I pray this... I pray that I will love this new season. I pray that I will love this new joy. I pray that I will only mourn for a short time and then I will rejoice in what God is doing with her.. to her.. through her ...and for her. Seasons come and go. Time does not stop. You can choose how to spend your time. You can choose how to enjoy your seasons. You can gripe about the snow... you can gripe about the cold.. you can gripe about the heat...but you cannot change the seasons of your life. They will pass and they cannot be retrieved. I beg you live them with screaming joy....live them with passion...live them unto the glory of God who made them. Live them with tears and laughter. Live them in real genuine truth. Live them so that you wont regret when they are gone.

I remember the very first Pinewood Derby I ever saw.

My wife, Michele and I were talking some years back about just how long we have known each other (since she was 9 and I was 7), and how I was one of the only boys in her hometown that she could have married that had any interactions with her mother, Linda. Coincidence? Phooey!

One of my greatest excuses for not praying more for my husband, for my kids, my church, my pastor is time. I don't have the time. I am doing all I can in a day. I am covered up already. Really! Really? I challenge you to challenge that thinking. Keep a journal of a couple of different things for the next two weeks. Journal your Facebook time, phone time talking and texting, and TV time. It may shock you to realize how much time we waste in a day. Spend just one fourth of that time praying. Pray about the things you are facebooking and texting. Pray about the news you see on the TV. Pray and talk to God about your husband instead of that person on the other end of the phone. Pray pray pray...it is so life changing. How do I know?

There once was a lady named Lori who loved her husband more than the water in the ocean. He is Captain America....The Hulk...and Faithful from Pilgrims Progess all rolled into one. He has steadfastly loved and protected his family with great joy. Lori has counted on his strength and faithfulness for 28 years....he has never failed her.....but tonight Captain America has become human. Cliff has an infection that is doing all it can to weaken his giant body and destroy his strength. I have found myself shaking on the inside this weekend and really really angry...how in my world could my rock...my strong....fully capable husband be this sick? I spent some time raging at God...then doing some bargaining....then feeling great despair and then finally acknowledging God's full authority to do what he wishes...when he wishes...to who he wishes...and by faith believing his plan is good and perfect. So...we have 72 hours to wait...we can choose to spend that 72 hours wondering or worrying...or We can choose to wait in worship....to wait in humble service to others....to wait in expectation of God's amazing plan. I am reminded of Matthew 6....do not worry about tomorrow....his grace is sufficient for today. So..We choose to wait in worship..in service and in expectation of God's perfect plan. So....Lori is enjoying an evening of peace with her husband...and looking forward to many more adventures with her very own Hulk.

25 years ago today....the heavens shook....the wind swirled...and Amy Elizabeth Beard was born. She was awesome cute....fat cheeks...her cheeks were so fat they caused her eyes to squish all up. She was happy all the time...and she was the most mischievious child I had ever met. I am sure this is because I did not know her dad as a child. Amy was the middle of three girls...Ashley first...Amy...and then my Becca. We have lived more life since the entrance of our daughters than I can post in a blog...we have laughed our heads off at their antics..cried with them over hurts...and waited at bedsides for doctors reports. We have played...worked and worshipped together...we have crashed...burned and shared amazing victory together. Together has been our motto...if we had a family crest it would contain 4 Beard women grinning and 1 Beard man looking harrassed as he keeps watch..always together. But recently that has changed. My beautiful Amy will hear her first happy birthday this year in her own home from her new husband. She married in July...wonderful man who loves Jesus and is crazy bout my Amy...all good. Well I have just recently decided that I am going to survive this great betrayal of my sweet daughter...leaving her momma after years of devotion..my word...where would she get a notion like that. She has insisted on leaving and cleaving too..what in tarnation? But with a kick in the seat from my precious Savior and some very pointed looks from my husband...I have graciously allowed my new son to live...and to love my daughter with minimal interference from me....whew...survived that...checking my armor...all in place...still believing...still receiving from Jesus... What a great giver of daughters I am...moving on...then just recently here comes my Becca....Becca is our baby...not yet 21...she is amazing...stubborn...fiercely loyal (in fact she is fierce period) ...a sold out radical Jesus freak....and she is fairly certain that her daddy wears a super hero costume under his clothes. So...here she comes to me...her devoted momma of 20 years and she is talking about the possibility of overseas missions. We spoke with a missionary tonight and her dad about her experience. As I hung the phone up...I heard my head screaming in eight different directions...joy...pride...sorrow...grief...fear...how to process it all...so I called her daddy...he can fix it...after all he's been fixing her broken stuff for years...I waited for him to say she is not going ...it is not safe...she is not ready...what he said was..."momma...we have to trust God...he will get her through and us too." What good advice...very Biblical...ARE YOU KIDDING ME CLIFF....THIS IS MY DAUGHTER AND I WILL NOT GIVE HER UP! Well, I have been reminded again tonight that they are not mine....Amy has followed God's path...it led her from us...Becca is praying about a direction that will lead her from us.

*Let me introduce Lori Beard. I have invited her to be a guest blogger on this site from time to time. Lori serves the church I pastor as a Biblical Counselor and Women's Ministry Leader. I know God will bless and challenge you through her blog entries. So, enjoy this first "entry" from my Sister in Christ.

This is a continuation of the previous post. Let's briefly look at the final 5 big issues facing families today per the Lifeway Research article http://www.lifeway.com/article/164120.

We at Corydon Baptist Church have just finished a two month sermon series aimed at the family. While in my mind "Family Ministry" is never-ending and all-encompassing (because the church itself is a family regardless of our various life situations), I have been pondering how to use this blog to wrap up the last two months of sermons and emphases. While digging through some files this week, I came across a study done by Lifeway Research titled "The Top 10 Issues Facing Today's Family." (You can view the article here: http://www.lifeway.com/article/164120/ ) Here are the Top 5 (with some brief comments by me) per this particular study: