Happy Birthday Abraham!

Happy Birthday Abraham!  We love you so much and are proud of you.  The life of a seminary student, pastoral intern, daddy and husband is full of responsibilities and sleepless nights. Abraham works harder than most people realize.  It is not a rare day when he is working by 7:00 am and coming home around 9:00 pm only to get out his books and study until midnight or later.  The small amount of time that he does get "off" is spent loving both his wife and son. (Which takes a lot of work when you are worn out.)

It seems that we have been in "survival" mode since we have been married going from one transition to another.  I trust that the day is coming soon when we will both say we are thriving.  Abraham, I know that you are tired most days, overwhelmed and that you often feel like you are failing at many, if not all, of your responsibilities.  My guess is that other men in the same place in life would say that they feel the same way.  

1 Corinthians 15:58, "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord."  I am so proud to be married to a man that works for the glory of God and the joy of all people.  I love your vision to see college students reached with the gospel of Jesus Christ and raised up in the church as laborers for His glory.  I love your passion to see men learn to be "men" in a world that desperately needs them.  I love that you desire more than anything to see Liam grow into a man after God's own heart that is willing to give his life to Christ and His calling at all costs.  Your humility and steadfastness in your walk with the Lord is so encouraging.  And I am so thankful that you have sacrificed (and God has made a way) for me to stay home with Liam.  

You are not failing.  We might fall some, but God always seems to pick us back up.  I need the example you set of a man that is steadfast and rests in the strength of the Lord.  Liam needs your example.  The family, friends and students that God has put in our lives need your example.  Thank you for working so hard to love God and people.  I love you and am happy to be on this journey with you.  Happy Birthday to the man that I asked God for all those years as a single woman.  God has given me more in you than I could have ever known to pray for.  

Man Day

Wow. It has been a long time since our last post. But students newly arriving and sickness throughout the home will do that.

I (Abraham) recently began a new tradition with Liam. For the past several weeks I've been asking myself, "Are Kari and Liam my primary discipleship ministry, or are students, etc. taking the priority?" This question has often left me convicted that I need to make changes in my schedule to get more on track.

One part of such a change is Man Day. Currently on Friday afternoons I take Liam out for time just between him and I. While we seek to have fun together at a park or other cool establishment, the primary goal is to discuss the Gospel together. Funny. How does one discuss the Gospel with a ten month old? One does not. But Liam hears me speaking of Christ to him. The goal is that by beginning such a pattern now, we will reap the benefits in years to come and it will be a regular practice, that Dad and Liam regularly talk about Christ together. That Christ invades their conversations frequently. The vision, Lord willing, is that as grown adults together Christ will be a regular part of what we talk about in the Cremeens home.

Please pray for us as we attempt such a goal. We recognize that one Friday afternoon a week is not sufficient to accomplish this (and that's why we also practice regular family worship together in the evenings). But we trust that God will use it to help create a pattern in our home.

Even Before He Can Remember

I've (Kari) recently read Noel Piper's book "Treasuring God in our Traditions".  I recommend it to any mother.  She has spurred our family on in a number of ways to think about traditions.  My favorite one recently has been Liam's "tradition" of daily time with God.  I know, he's only 9 months. But he has been spending daily time with God now for a couple of months, and often he is more consistent than I am.  

Noel writes when speaking of her children's daily time with God, "It takes only a few seconds of thought to realize that it is smarter to get a three-year-old started with good lifetime habits than to spring a new regimen on a teenager.  One old saying is, "As the twig is bent, so grows the tree."  Wise Solomon said with the authority of Scripture, "Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it (Proverbs 22:6).  Why would we wait to train up children in this essential discipline?..."

Thank you Noel for speaking such wise words to this young mother.  Our prayer is that Liam will look back on his childhood and say he has spent daily time with God since before he can remember.  Our greater prayer is that he will grow to love and treasure this discipline because it allows for him to know a God he loves.  Above all the desires we have for our son is the desire that he will know the God who made him and died to save him.  

For a 9 month old, this can be challenging.  But that's half the fun.  For now this is what it looks like.  In the morning we sit down and read one or two cardboard books.  Some of my favorite are "But not the Hippopotamus", "Guess How Much I Love You", and "Barnyard Dance".  You get the point, they are baby books.  After finishing I hand the book to Liam and let him play with (and chew on) the book all he wants.  Then, I slip Sally Lloyd-Jones'  "Jesus Storybook Bible" out and read him a story from this.  I tell him one or two things to remember from the story and then we pray.  Noel says in her book that before her kids could read she recorded bible stories for them to listen to during their time.  

I love creating an environment for Liam to spend daily time with God.  This is partly because I love spending any time with Liam; but mostly because I get to introduce to my son, whom I love beyond what I can describe, the God who loves him beyond measure.  I expect that as the years come and go Abraham and I will have to be creative and firm as we foster this discipline into Liam's life.  We would love to hear how you are being creative with your children.  Please comment and lets share ideas as we learn to parent together.  

Intentions

Is this a DTR conversation? No. But it seems appropriate that from the onset we make it clear what we desire to accomplish by starting a blog. The Cremeens Family has not blogged since its inception in April 2009. So, why now?

The goal is twofold. (1) We desire to share how our family is growing as a Gospel-driven family. We want to be transparent about our mistakes and uphill climbs that we might offer some service to others seeking the same. (2) After a decade of ministry in discipleship and training disciple makers we desire to compile our thoughts and resources on those topics as a service to any who might use them. We have made plenty of mistakes along the way and hope that our lessons learned may prove useful to other churches seeking to be disciples who make disciples.

There you have it. The Cremeens Blog will contain a mixture of family information and discipleship resources, both driven by the Gospel.