What you’re going to see is Maddox playing with a lizard. But at one point, around the 3:04 mark, you will see Maddox’s facial expression change and he pauses. He tells me that the lizard bit him but as you will see, I didn’t believe him. Oops!

I had to stay home with Maddox recently because he was sick. While sitting there monitoring my email and catching up on NickJr with Maddox, my cell phone rang. When I answered it I quickly realized the guy on the other end called me by mistake so I said “sorry, you’ve got the wrong number“. When I hung up, Maddox asked me who was on the phone and I responded “it was a wrong number“. At that point, the craziness took place.

Maddox looked at me and said “I want to talk to wrong number”, and of course I could not explain on the level of a two year old that wrong number was not someone we knew personally or needed to talk to. So, he grew frustrated and reached a point of anger, screaming, and crying. I, of course, was laughing hysterically, which frustrated him more. After several minutes of us going back and forth I was finally able to capture a few moments on video. This is good stuff…

By the way, isn’t that smile one of the most captivating things you’ve ever seen? Combine it with the laugh and you’ve got two parents who ooze and gush with pride.

We had almost all of the family together. Once we got to the Easter egg hunt Maddox and I put our game faces on. I tried to coach him up and let him know that this was not the time to be nice and let other kids get all of the eggs. This was the time to go all out and show the other kids that he was a force to be reckoned with. It didn’t work.

He did exactly what he did last year. He casually walked from egg to egg (if someone didn’t beat him there), picked up the egg and inspected it, then gently placed it in his basket. He looked good doing it though.

Good times…definitely good times.

What most people may not know is that the parents of a tricycle owner typically get more of a workout than the actual tricycle owner when riding. You see, Maddox’s philosophy is…sit on the tricycle…hold the handlebars…and tell mommy and daddy “…this way…faster…no that way…” Regardless, our little man is the coolest cat on the block and makes the tricycle look even awesomer (no, it’s not a word but it should be).

Mommy is looking pretty good herself!

We bought him a bed, which we like to call the “big boy bed”. After he went to sleep we put it together and placed it by the tree. When he woke up Christmas morning he ran into our living room, paused, saw the bed, then ran and jumped on it…then started saying “my big boy bed…I wuv it”. It’s so amazing how something so simple can mean so much to a child. Being a parent can be a constant reminder of how we take things for granted at times.

Another big moment was getting him to sit in Santa Claus’ lap. He was excited about it until we got in line and saw Santa Claus. We, as any good parent would do, bribed him into following through. Once he sat in his lap he was good to go and even told Santa that he loved him.

Every moment was perfect!

By the way, the “big boy bed” is still practically brand new…but mommy and daddy’s bed has exceeded its’ capacity.

Anyways…so 1 Peter 4:18 jumped off the page…

If I had to summarize 1 Peter 4 I would say this chapter basically reveals that suffering for Christ through persecution is not a bad thing, it’s a beautiful thing. Whether the persecution is physical or verbal, we should not be ashamed or feel defeated because through the persecution God will be glorified. That would be my short summary of the chapter, but when I got to verse 18, I stopped and read it again several times. Here’s what it says in case you haven’t already looked it up…

What stuck out to me the most about this short verse was “barely saved”. For whatever reason I had never thought about salvation in this way. Salvation is salvation, right? Sin is sin, right? Truth is truth, and so on. So I found myself trying to figure out what was Peter saying when he referred to the righteous as being barely saved?

Now, I am no scholar or theologian…I’m just a simple-minded guy who has a perception. I do think we have to be careful about interpreting scripture, especially interpreting a single verse without taking into context what was said before and after the verse, but this one verse changed my day today.

If I am barely saved what will happen to those people in my life that don’t have a relationship with Christ. If my words and actions don’t reveal God and my relationship with Him, how will anyone around me see God in me which would allow God to be glorified? I can be someone who wears the t-shirt occasionally and talks to God on occasion, or I can be branded by God. If I want to make an eternal difference then I have to be someone that does not fit the mold (barely saved) that Peter referred to in verse 18.

That’s my quick take on this verse. I would love to hear yours.

As far as the party went, the plan was to have some of the family over. To my surprise Jennifer thought she would be a little sneaky. While everyone depressed me more with a Happy Birthday song, Jennifer came from behind and ever so gently placed a pie on my face…oh wait, did I say ever so gently? Whatever! The pie reached speeds up to 35 mph when it hit my face…causing discomfort (especially in the nose area) for days after.

Her birthday is right around the corner!