Back from Vacation and Very Grateful

I am thankful to God and Grace Church for the time to rest with my family over the past two weeks. I enjoyed an emotionally restful vacation while staying at home (staycation). Although it was emotionally restful, it was not always physically restful but that is because we enjoy four kids six and under. :) I have accepted (for the most part) that this is not the season of our lives that we will get a whole lot of sleep.

Thank you for praying for me and my family during this time "away" from the normal routine. We had fun as a family at parks, playgrounds, beaches, pools, walks, cookouts, parades, etc. Spiritually, I had a very refreshing time reading several good books (see future posts) that fed by soul. Maritally, it was a great time to spend with Molly. On Tuesday, July 7th, we celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary. I am so thankful to have such a godly wife and best-friend. I am grateful to Christina Hansen and her girls for watching our kids so we could enjoy a "date-night" on Wednesday.

This week is a transition week as I get back into things. I am spending the time getting caught up as well as studying/reading (for my soul and for the church). Please pray for me that God would continue to refresh me for His work equipping me to be the christian, husband, father and pastor that He has called me to be. I love Christ and His Church (and especially Grace Church) and I am excited to serve and be served for His glory!

Together with you in the Great Cause and for the Greatest King,
Pastor Daniel

Thoughts on My Coming Vacation - 2009

Starting tomorrow, after church, I will start a two week vacation. Last summer I was challenged by C. J. Mahaney to look at the family vacation (as the husband and father) in a different way (see here):

Husbands are called by God to serve and lead. But we are all vulnerable to viewing the family vacation as a well-earned time away from work where we can rest and relax! But this attitude and approach to a vacation normally reveals a self-centeredness that does not please God or serve our families...

And you will know you are serving and leading effectively on your vacation when y

ou fall into bed at night more exhausted than at the end of the most grueling day of work. The father must enter family vacations committed to serve, lead, plan, initiate, and work, and do all this with joy. This isn’t your time to rest. Only your wife deserves to rest on vacation (because no one works harder than she does the rest of the year).

But for the husband, vacations are a unique opportunity to serve and lead and work harder in some ways than he does during the normal work week. But this kind of work is a pure joy like no other work. (Read the entire article here)

The pursuit of this goal last summer, though not perfectly attained, proved fruitful and very encouraging to myself, Molly and the kids. Most importantly, I believe God was glorified.

This summer, during our "stay-cation" (not going anywhere over night but STAYing home) I want to focus on 2 specific goals as I lead my family in this vacation:

• "Skillful Surprises" - Mahaney: "Effective surprises begin with studying each member of your family to discover what a meaningful and memorable surprise would involve. But trust me, each member of your family loves to be surprised."
• "Intentional Togetherness" - At the age my kids are at (6, 5, 3, 1) the best way to be together is by means of a "Stay-Cation". I love going to my parents or in-laws, but less quality time is spent just as a family. Right now (at this age) togetherness is not a thing the kids like to revolt against--they LOVE quality and quantity family time.
  

I guess we'll see how it goes. To God be the glory and from God must come the Help and Blessing...

Barnabas is One Year Old

I praise God for His grace in my life. Today marks the one year birthday of my fourth child and third son - Barnabas John Calvin Patz. He is mostly walking now, he has teeth, he eats everything except baby food, he gets a new bump almost every day, he has adapted to life with three older siblings (ages 6, 5, and 3) and he has potty trained himself (just kidding -- just wanted to see if you are paying attention).

Click here to view album

Barnabas 1 year

Here is what I posted last year at his birth:

Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet. (Acts 4:36-37)

I praise God with amazing wife, Molly, for the healthy birth of our third son (and 4^th child), Barnabas John Calvin Patz, who was born at 8:47 PM on Friday, June 6^th 2008 at the Fairview Hospital in Wyoming.

Barnabas was a hefty 9 lbs and 10 oz and was 21 ½ inches tall. Both the mom and boy are doing great (oh, and dad)!

Here are a few pictures and a video clip:


Molly this morning:

Paul is Five Today

Five years ago my first son was born into this world--Paul Stephan Lewis Patz. I thank God for this gift of His grace and at the same time recognize that this boy is not mine but God's. I pray that God would pour out His Holy Spirit upon him at an early age and give him a life of faithful and dedicated service to the King of kings and the Lord of lords.

Happy Birthday Buddy!

Adopted: New Blog by My Bro-In-Law - Jason Johnson

My brother-in-law and my sister, Jason and Janelle Johnson, adopted four kids (siblings) in March from Minneapolis foster care and are in the process of adopting little Amos - who is in their care. All together, they have six kids ages six and under!

Jason just started a new blog called "Adopted."

Here are his first three posts which are worth reading. The third post gives some startling statistics on foster care in MN and the kids that need to be adopted.

(1,572 kids in MN foster care (22.5%) are waiting to be adopted)

• Patience
• Why we adopted
• Statistics

Memorizing the Bible with Your Kids

I, like many of you, know that I should give myself to the discipline of memorizing Scripture but don't do it very well. If you have kids, I encourage you to start memorizing the Bible with them. Start with the Psalms.

Over the past few months we have memorized Psalm 23 and now we are working through Psalm 34.

Psalms are a great place to start because of the rythmn and verse length. We spend time talking about the content of the verse that we are memorizing and we review, review, review. If we work with the kids daily (I am talking about pre-school kids) we can start a new verse from the Psalms every fourth day (so 3 days on one verse). Here is an example:

Day 1 on Psalm 23: "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want..." I say it five times with the kids. Then I talk about what a shepherd is. I talk about what a good shepherd does. I talk about who our true shepherd really is--Jesus. I talk about how we are like sheep and need a shepherd. I talked about how he takes care of us and provides for us. Then we review it again several times. We say it together with a whisper. We say it very loudly (they usually like to scream). We say it while we are walking in place...etc. I ask them to try to say it and they stumble through it will some help. I try to start incorporating this Psalm into my prayers with them.

Day 2-3: We review it and let each kid say the verse by themselves. I usually have them stand on the hope chest in our living room and if they get it right they get to jump off the chest and into my arms. From there they get tossed unto the couch and tickled by their daddy. Big time reward!

Day 4: We continue to review verse 1 and move on to verse 2 - "He makes me lie down in green pastures." Ok, what does that mean kids?" We say it five times and in all sorts of ways (making believe we are eating, driving, playing, singing, etc.). Then we move to the next phrase - "He leads me beside still waters." We repeat that phrase several times, then put the two phrases together and say it several more times. During this time I lead them by asking questions and teaching them how God leads us into green pastures and besides still waters. Usually with a little help they are ready to say verses 1 and part of verse 2 already. Days 5-6 reinforce these two verses and by that time you are ready for verse three - "He restores my soul. He leads me in paths..." Always keep reviewing the previous verses.

Both Molly and I have found this both edifying to our young children and probably even more to mom and dad.

Here is my three year old (Elijah James Edwards Patz) saying Psalm 23. Currently, he doesn't want to be thrown on the couch.



Sometimes the last word is quite tricky...

The Grace of Adoption

Ephesians 1:5 and 6 says that God "predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of His glorious grace, with which he blessed us in the Beloved."

If we have been saved by God through Jesus, it's because he chose to adopt us to be His children.

Tomorrow my sister and her husband (Jason and Janelle Johnson) are following through on a choice they made to adopt four children from Minneapolis. This is truly a human redemption story. We pray that it will truly result in a spiritual redemption story as well.

Please pray for Jason and Janelle as they are excited about officially bringing in Katie (6), Preston (5), Paul (5) and Anna (3) into their family and make them their own children. The four kids are all biologically brothers and sisters.

Writing Out Testimony

My mom asked me to write out my testimony -- how I came to the Lord and my spiritual journey -- for Christmas.


It has been enjoyable to think about the spiritual influences in my life. God has been so gracious. Here is the first draft of this testimony.

My Testimony, Part 1

"Bad Guys are Good - Right Dad?"

During family devotions tonight, my four year old son (Buddy) brought up the "bad guy" theme again (see "Are Bad Guys Real") when he made the comment after talking about Jesus dying on the cross:

Buddy: "So dad, bad guys, right dad?"

Me: "What do you mean, son?"

Buddy: "Bad guys put Jesus on the cross, right."

Me: "Yes, so why is that good, Buddy?"

Buddy: "Because Jesus' dying on the cross took away our sins."

Me: "You are right, Buddy, that Jesus died on the cross is good news. But the bad guys were still bad for killing Jesus and they need his forgiveness."

Little four year olds are listening and thinking and believing.

My New Family - Personal Blog

I want to welcome to our family website - SON OF HAROLD. Over the past half year I have enjoyed blogging at this church blog and have found myself wanting to put more personal, family, funny or just plain interesting stuff that wouldn't quite fit with the purpose of a church blog. I enjoy posting pictures and stories and like to send them to my friends and family. I plan to do that at the new blog.

The blog is called - "Son of Harold." I hope you like the name. Harold is a great and uncommon name. It also happens to be my dad's. We haven't given one of our sons that name yet but I thought I would highlight it with this blog. My dad is a godly man who takes many things very seriously but when it comes to himself -- he enjoys a good laugh with his kids and grandkids.

I will keep a section on the bottom right with my latest feeds in case you are interested and you sign up to get emails from the new blog whenever there is an update. Click here to sign up for an email subscription.

Watching Joe Mauer

Last night I went with Grace, Paul and my dad to the Twins game (they beat up on the White Sox). Here is a cool picture of Paul watching his favorite Twin bat - Joe Mauer.

Vacation: Day 16 - The End

Monday, July 21. Today was the last day of our vacation being my normal day off. The big event for the day was the Como Zoo and carnival.

As I was reading the information about the tigers to Grace, the sign said that Caspian Tigers are now extinct. Grace replied - "what? They stink?".
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Vacation: Day 15

Sunday, July 20. We are almost done with our vacation and it has been a profitable one. I thank God for His gracious mercy as well as Grace Church for giving me this time "off".

This afternoon we went on another bike ride to the library and got the kids in bed early.

My aunt Mary is still with us and she is a driven person. To give you an example: before Molly and I were up this morning she had scrubbed the kitchen floors, baked a pie, and went to the grocery story. She would be a great nanny -- Mary Poppins.
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Vacation: Day 14

Saturday, July 19. Two years ago today my wonderful and godly grandfather (Clarence Salesky) went to be with Jesus. Please pray for his wife who continues to miss him greatly but looks to the hope of the resurrection in Christ Jesus.

My aunt Mary is with us and we had a fun-filled day of doughnut shop, parks and Culvers.
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Vacation: Day 13

Friday, July 18. Today auntie Mary (my mom's sister) came to visit us until next Tuesday. She is a very special aunt and a big help. The kids are looking forward to time with her. Tonight we had supper and a boat ride with the Callies on Forest Lake.
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Vacation: Day 12

Thursday, July 17. It was the first day that I stayed in bed until 8 in long time. Thank you VanAckers and Williams who have our kids. It was project time in our basement. It felt good to get some things acomplished. I also got to go to Half Price Books.
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Vacation: Day 11

Wednesday, July 16. The exciting plan for the kids today was to go away for a sleep over tonight. Grace and Paul went to Molly's sister and husband's house in St. Paul and Elijah went to the VanAckers.

It was weird to be home together without the kids (Barna doesn't count yet). We cleaned the basement, ate Tasty Asia and watched a movie. What will it be like to not get a wake up call from Elijah? We miss them already.

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Vacation: Day 10

Tuesday, July 15. A hot day in Minnesota; one of the few that have been in the 90s. We spent much of the day at the Callies' beach a block from our house. Sunburn feels great!
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Vacation: Day 9

Monday, July 14. Today we went bowling with the VanAckers which proved both fun and challenging. The floors will never be the same.

After Papa Murphy's pizza tonight we went to our friends house on the lake (the Callies) to go swimming. Afterwards, all the kids took a bath together.
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Vacation: Day 8

Sunday, July 13. It is weird being on vacation on a Sunday as the preaching pastor. It is good to have a break, but I miss being at my own church, worshipping with the local body and preaching from God's word.

We biked to the FL library today. Grace and Buddy are doing great on the bikes (see video if it works).

Tonight we had our last regular season game for our church softball team. Unfortunately we didn't play so well. We had fun at Culvers afterwards.
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