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For some reason, Bethany, the boys and I all ended up in Parker’s room tonight. I helped Parker put his toy train tracks together, Bethany watched, and Kent was helping us take it apart…even though we didn’t want to do that.

Everything was going fine until Kent got in the way of Parker’s train and derailed it. Parker, having just a bit more patience than his father, instantly grabbed the train in Kent’s hand and flung it across the room.

This did not make Kent happy.

Kent retaliated by grabbing Parker’s train and throwing it to the opposite side of the room.

This did not make Parker happy.

What happened next did not make Bethany and I happy.

It all unfolded for me in slow motion. Parker turned his head and followed the arc of his beloved train as it sailed through the air. His face turned from surprise (probably at the skill with which it was thrown) to horror (when he realized that the perfect throw involved his train) to anger.

The anger stage came just as Parker turned his head back toward his brother. I remember a short, very brief pause. If my son were a cartoon, there would have been a little angel on one shoulder and a little demon on the other. Hilarious banter would occur between the two of them until one of them won over Parker’s will.

This time the pitch fork guy prevailed.

Parker swung back and forcefully brought his hand forward, fully opened, onto Kent’s bare back (Kent is a drooling machine now, and with the weather, we just left him in his diaper).

The smack from his hand hitting his little brother’s back left a red mark and it echoed through the room until it was shattered by Kent’s cry of pain.

Parker was disciplined.

Parker apologized.

1 Corinthians 10:13 says this, “The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.” (NLV)

Even though he’s little, I think in that instant before he slapped his brother, Parker made a choice. Sure, it wasn’t a long time and he certainly didn’t think through the consequences, but he made a decision to do wrong. Each of us find ourselves in similar situations every day. It may not be hitting someone, but we all face decisions about how to act. The last sentence of this passage gives us hope and a way out. When we are tempted (notice it doesn’t say “if”), we will have an opportunity to say no. The temptation will NOT be more than we can stand. In other words, there is ALWAYS a way out–we don’t have to “hit our brother”.

I’m going to be receiving my mom’s old Honda Accord soon. It’s a couple of years newer and it’s got about 20,000 miles less then my current car. The catch is that it will need a new timing belt in about a year or two. It’s fairly large expense.

However, my brother went to high school with a mechanic who fixes cars on the weekend. He offered to replace the belt for under $300 (which is $150 less than we were quoted by another place).

I think he’s going to start next weekend.

I can’t wait: the car is old, but it has a sunroof.

Today was my first day back in the office from vacation. I got in at 8:30 am.

Tonight we had the first open gym of the school year. It started at 7pm.

I live a half hour from home, so I stayed in the office until the event.

I left the building at 10:30pm.

I arrived at home at just before 11pm.

Bethany had a sleepover with the girls from our youth group.

They were loud.

I was tired.

Tomorrow I need to be at church by 7:30am to prepare songs for our prayer meeting.

I need a vacation.

I just spent a half hour looking for my bluetooth earpiece and I still haven’t found it. I saw it the other day and it’s disappeared since then. Usually I blame Bethany for stuff like this. If anything is out of place, she’ll clean it up or stuff it away somewhere. But this time, I don’t think she’s the culprit. Something tells me that one of the boys snagged it and played with it for a while. Kent has the aggravating desire to throw everything in the trash.

Yes, I looked there too.

Yes, it was nasty.

On another note, I went to see the Bourne Ultimatum tonight with Drew. It’s a great third part to an excellent series of movies.

Speaking of Drew, he leaves tomorrow for Dallas Master’s Commission. I am deeply appreciative of all of his hard work at Stone. His behind the scenes work has probably gone unnoticed to many, but he’s been one of the main reasons why I’ve been able to juggle both youth and children’s ministries now. I would have lost my mind a long time ago if it hadn’t been for his steady and reliable service. I don’t know if you’ll ever read this, but Drew thanks for your dedication. Enjoy Dallas MC, we’ll miss having you around.

I thought I’d make Thursdays my day to rant/inform/complain about technology and security issues. There’s too many people that use technology and have no idea how to protect themselves online or why they should worry about it. So, in an effort to inform, I’ll start adding tips and info about how to be an informed internet user.

First, let’s discuss your web browser. “Browser” refers to the program you use to view the internet. There are currently 4 main browsers that people use. According to my Google Analytics tool, people who view this blog break down into the following:

1. 74.66% use Internet Explorer (66.51% of them still haven’t updated to version 7!)
2. 14.04% use Firefox
3. 5.82% use Opera
4. 5.48% use Safari

Internet Explorer is built in to Windows, the operating system nearly all PC owners use. Because it comes with your computer, most of you use this browser.

Firefox and Opera are free browsers. They are separate from your operating system and offer more secure web browsing than Internet Explorer.

Safari is the browser made by Apple and is included on all Apple computers. There is a Windows version that was recently release, but I haven’t used it.

Without getting too nerdy, I recommend Firefox (I’ve tried Opera and I just can’t get used to it). The main problem with Internet Explorer is in the way it handles ActiveX content. This allows a someone with malicious code to “hack” your computer by installing a trojan program or collecting personal information without your knowledge. Firefox doesn’t allow ActiveX and therefore avoids this problem. Firefox isn’t unhackable, but it does provide a more secure web browsing experience.

If you are part of the 74% using Internet Explorer, do yourself a favor and download Firefox now. (It’s free, what are you waiting for?)

Firefox can be downloaded here.