milestogofromhere.com | Jeff Miles's personal blog | Faith, Family, Fitness, and Fun

Month: October 2009

  • 8 Mandates of a Father – Growing Kids God’s Way

    A friend of mine posted this on his facebook account tonight and it reminded me of the great teaching we got as a part of the Growing Kids God’s Way small group Mandy and I were in. I thought I would repost it here for all the other fathers out there who could use a little encouragement.

    (A mandate is something non-negotiable)

    (Wives: please encourage and support your husband in this! Are you supporting these mandates? Helping, honoring, respecting him?)

    It’s not the time I spend, it’s the quality of my RELATIONSHIP with my children. Their TRUST in me.

    1. Cultivate a sense of family identity. A) verbally encourage my children. When I’m excited about the family, the children are excited. “This is a great family!” B) Know where I’m going with my family identity. Beautiful. Tight.

    2. Provide an ongoing demonstration of love for my wife. If I really love my children, I will give them the gift of confidence and security in their parents’ relationship. Give my wife so much love it embarrasses the children!

    3. I need to understand and respect my child’s private world. Stop what you’re doing. Listen. Be there. Give them the confidence that they can share their treasures with you. You never know when you’ll be invited in. Three worlds: A) Public. B) Personal. C) Private.

    4. Give my children the freedom to fail. Failure is the first step to success; it builds wisdom. Children WILL fail; how will you respond? Children don’t fear failing; they fear failing dad.

    5. I need to be the encourager of my family. Write little love notes to my children (lunchbox; backpack). My presence. My smile. Children need to know they have MY trust; give them opportunities to earn it. Create in them an HONEST trust in your leadership.

    6. As a father, I must guard my tongue and my tone and learn to measure my response against the excitement on their faces. The more excited THEY are; the more excited I am!

    7. I need to touch my children. Hold. Hug. Mom’s arms are comforting; dad’s arms are SECURITY. If you don’t touch your children, someone else will. Always hold them; always.

    8. If I am going to build a trusting relationship with my children, it must be built on God’s Truth and not on man’s wisdom. Bible. My children see God through ME. My children will trust GOD based on how they trust me.

    Prov 23:15 “Son, give me your heart”

    Prov 23:26 “(child) if YOUR heart is wise; MY heart will rejoice”

    You’re going to fail them sometimes. Remember to ask their forgiveness.

    My relationship with my child is the precedent for their relationship with God. How am I doing with that?

    Fathers and Mothers: am I doing it this way because that’s how my parents taught me, or because that’s God wants me to do it.

    My prayer is that all of us fathers would take these points to heart.  Thanks for posting this Alex.

  • Movie Review: X-Men Origins: Wolverine – Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Danny Huston, Will i Am, Dominic Monaghan, Taylor Kitsch, Ryan Reynolds

    X-Men Origins: WolverineAs most of the people who know me are aware, I love comic book movies.  I was never really collected comics as a kid, my brother did, but I loved watching the cartoons and always loved the super hero stories.  I remember the day when I went to see the original X-Men in Des Moines with my dad and brother and how stoked I was to see the movie.  I have faithfully watched all three of the previous X-Men movies as well as just about every other comic book movie that has come out.  The fact that Marvel Studios was created is just icing on the cake.  The movies they have put out so far have been great.  Add to that the fact that Disney bought Marvel Studios and now you have the mouse funding great movies.

    Anyway, off my soap box.  X-Men Origins: Wolverine begins with a young boy learning he has bone like claws that come out of his hands which he uses to kill the man he learns is his father.  At this point his brother Victor (Liev Schreiber) and he take of running and they don’t stop until William Stryker (Danny Huston) finds them after they were supposed to have been killed by firing squad.  They join an elite unit that also includes Wade Wilson/Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds, here he is again) and other mutants.  I won’t give too much away, but the movie follows the story that eventually leads to Logan (Hugh Jackman) becoming the metal boned mutant that we know and love.  Including his memory loss.

    One thing to note, if you saw it in the theater you may need to see it again, or at least the scene after the credits.  According to Unrealitymag.com there were multiple alternate scenes after the credits.  I’ve seen 2 different endings, one in the theater and one on DVD.

    To break it down simply, I loved the movie.  I know I can be biased when it comes to comic book movies, but I thought this movie was really well done.  It is at least worth a rental if not a buy.  I’m planning on buying it this weekend.  I thought the special effects were tastefully done and there was actually a story line.  They even paid attention to the small details, like how much Logan would weigh after having his skeleton coated with adamantium (something before the movie I hadn’t even considered).  I thought how he lost his memory was a little shady, but it wasn’t too bad so I’ll let it pass.

    Rating: 5 out of 5

    If you want to buy it, head on over to Amazon.com.

  • Book Review: Green – Ted Dekker

    Ted Dekker - GreenTed Dekker both starts and finishes what he set into motion with Black. In a world where the spiritual is physical Thomas Hunter must keep the Circle from breaking apart as the world careens towards the final showdown between good and evil, between Elyon and Teelah.

    I was extremely excited to begin reading Green because I loved Black, Red, & White. I don’t know if it was because I held unrealistic expectations or if the book wasn’t as good as the previous books but I was disappointed when I finished Green. My disappointment was mainly due to the way Dekker closed the loop, I felt he could have done it in

    a way that was more satisfying. I will say that Dekker’s grasp of the Biblical narrative is amazing, what really threw me though was his shifting back and forth between Biblical allegory and more direct Biblical example. Throughout the series he has had definite Biblical allegory, but in Green he throws in some scenes where they really aren’t allegory, I basically knew how the scene was going to end even as it started. He even names one character Ba’al which immediately paints the character in a certain light for most readers. It was also disappointing that with the current vampire infatuation in our culture that Dekker decided to go there.

    Note: In the material that I have read for Green the book is grouped with Black, Red, & White and left at that. There are parts in Green that refer to the Lost Books Series (Chosen, Infidel, Renegade, Chaos, Lunatic, & Elyon) as well as the Paradise Novels (Saint, Sinner, & Showdown). As I was reading Green, I wished that I hadn’t stopped reading the Lost Books at Chaos because there is are parts within Green that I am assuming a reader who has read the Lost Books and Paradise novels would understand the backstory a little better.

    I’m willing to give Dekker the benefit of the doubt though and give Green a 3 out of 5 rating.

    Related Reading:

    • Black, Red, & White
    • Chosen, Infidel, Renegade, Chaos, Lunatic, & Elyon
    • Saint, Sinner, & Showdown

    Note: due to a quirk in WordPress I am unable to hyperlink all of the books referenced in this post…I sincerely apologize.

  • Carrie Anne & Company Photo Blitz

    I am not a man of many words, plus pictures are worth 1,000, so here you go…remember the images are full size when you click on them so you may have to scroll to the bottom right to see the close button.

    Baby GiftsBro, gift, & sisbig brothersis, bro, & mommyin Carrie's roomgood big broon the way outtakin care of sisin her new bed

  • Caleb & Carrie

    I am too tired to post more pics (I’ve fallen asleep with her in my arms twice today), they will come tomorrow, but for now, check out big brother Caleb and his new little sister.

    I’m posting from my phone so please forgive any typos and the short post.

  • Carrie Anne Miles is here!

    Carrie Anne Miles was born at 12:10 am on 10/2/2009.  She weighed 6 pounds 3 ounces and was 19 inches long.  Mommy and baby are doing great!

    Be warned, the pictures are full size once you click on them so you will have to scroll around to find the close button in the bottom right corner of the popup.

    Carrie Anne MilesCarrie Anne MilesCarrie Anne Miles FootprintDSC01153Carrie Anne MilesMommy & Baby