Background: Matthew doesn’t like the taste of crab (we eat them Chinese-style, steaming them while still alive). But we haven’t eaten crab for quite a while — maybe a few weeks.

So last night in the middle of the night I hear these shrieks coming from outside our room. I open the door and hear Matthew coming out of his room sobbing and shrieking. It’s not something that happens often and usually only if he has a very rare bedwetting accident. So I calmed him down as he was blubbering away, “There’s a ??? in my room! There’s a ??? in my room!” I muzzled him a bit so he wouldn’t wake the other kids up and managed to say, “There’s a WHAT in your room?” His response: “A CRAB.”

In case you’re wondering, we don’t live near crab-infested waters. So I was pretty certain he’d had a scary dream, albeit a strange one.

“Okay, let’s go see,” I said, as I led him into his room and turning on the light. He was still very cautious as I carried him and peeked around the now well-lit room. “Nothing, you see? Where was the crab?” Mostly calmed but still a bit afraid, he said, “On the wall…” as he looked around obviously not sure but thinking it had to be somewhere!

So I took him to the spare room and laid him down to sleep and he went back to sleep.

In the morning, I asked him if it was a live crab: “Was the crab dead or alive?” He said, “It was in a box, cooked. Up top (pointing to the shelf near the top of the raised ceiling in his room)! And it fell out onto my bed.”

Okay, a live crab, I can sympathize and comprehend. But who dreams of a cooked crab in a box coming out and landing on your bed?!?!?! What a goofy kid.

Here are some really insightful thoughts from a brother, in response to Carolyn McCulley’s post for single women titled Our Looks and God’s Word. An excerpt:

The problem isn’t the desire to be physically attracted to your wife. The problem and sin area for men is pride. Our culture has defined for us what beautiful is….

I have been praying for several years that God would “custom wire” my eyes for my wife. What is important is that my heart is genuinely attracted to her. But that will be a work of grace! No matter where she stands on the world’s rating system, I want my heart and mind’s affections to be directed towards her.”

I can really related to the thoughts therein. When I first saw Lois, I was most certainly drawn to her looks (even as we’d already been in correspondence before that). And yet in the few years since, how easy it has been for the world’s thinking to encroach upon God’s standard for beauty and for me to “forget” how beautiful I found her at first: both physically and “inside.” May the above prayer be mine and its answer as well.

UPDATE: Also read a follow-up post from the Roof Guys blog.

Funny story. Last night my brother and his wife came back for the holidays and I picked them up from the airport. As I was carrying in their few bags, Matthew volunteered to help. Of course, at three years and eight months old, he has limitations on what he can carry. So I offered him a small bag — about the size of a bowling ball bag. The bag has four small casters on the bottom, which Matthew immediately noticed. Only problem is, it’s up 3 small flights of stairs to get to the guest room.

So what does he do?

He picked up the bag with both arms (like a bag of groceries) and carried them up the first flight.

Then he set it down on top… and rolled the bag all 2 feet to the foot of the next set of stairs.

Then he picked up again and carried up the next leg…. and set it down again! And rolled it another 2 feet.

Finally he carried it up the next 8 steps to top of the last flight and rolled it down the hallway to the guest bedroom (about 12 feet).

Too funny. It would’ve been simpler just to carry the bag the whole way. But he just had to use those wheels every chance he got. That would be reason they’re there, right?

I don’t often read fiction; much less “Christian” fiction (which I find in general to be less than sound theologically and often sentimental rather than substantive). But I found out from Jacob Hantla’s blog about Randy Alcorn’s novel Safely Home and it piqued my interest. Last night, a day after getting it, I read the book through in one sitting (about 4 hours). After doing so, I have to agree with his opinion on the book: “… this book stirred up in us both a passion to share the Gospel, instilled a greater love for God, and humbled us greatly…”

The novel basically sets itself in modern-day China with an emphasis on the state of the church in China. Its emphasis is on the Christian persecution and moral decay of China in the context of a humble Chinese Christian named Li Quan. The other main character, Ben Fielding, is basically a backslidden Christian who has chosen to forsake any ties to his faith (and family, having divorced his wife) for the sake of business success and prosperity. The story tells how he goes to China for business and meets up with his former college roommate Li Quan, in whose life he was actually instrumental for bringing to Christ. Ben discovers, to his surprise, that Li Quan is not the professor or author he assumed him to be, but a lowly assistant locksmith. What’s more — and this is the heart of the story — while Ben has abandoned his faith, Li Quan’s faith has only been strengthened in the face of suffering as a member of the house church movement. The rest of the story follows the two as they both discover why the Lord has brought them together at a pivotal moment in both of their lives.

As a Christian of Chinese heritage, I especially enjoyed this book for its frankness in revealing many of the challenges facing the underground Christian church in China — from persecution by government authorities to heresy and false teaching from within. I also appreciated the bold faith with which Alcorn endows characters, no doubt gleaned from source material of actual Chinese Christians of our day and age. The book, unlike much fiction, was not an escape from real life; but in many ways, a healthy reminder of the genuine suffering and persecution and providence in the lives of many believers in countries outside of the United States. There is also much Scripture, quoted verbatim, that keeps the book very Biblical in its underlying message.

This was a book that I’d recommend not so much because its Christian fiction, but because it presents the history (and present day situation) of the Chinese church as well as solid Christian truth in a fictional setting that allows for engaging presentation. Again, no doubt, the book was in many ways a composite of testimonies and stories that Alcorn gathered in research of the text.

One weakness of the book for the average English-speaking reader is that Alcorn freely uses pinyin (Chinese phonetics) for common Christian terms in Chinese without translation. While these can be deduced from context most of the time, someone who doesn’t speak Mandarin may have trouble keeping up with references to “Zhu Yesu Jidu” (Lord Jesus Christ) and the like. On the other hand, since I am somewhat familiar with “church Chinese” these sprinklings of Chinese actually made me connect with the story just a bit more.

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about teaching my children songs and music. My oldest is 3.5 yrs old and so far he doesn’t know a lot of children’s songs with the exception of the alphabet song and parts of “Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star.” Do I sound like a failure as a parent? Well, then, let me rave a little about songs that my kid does know. So far we’ve been teaching him hymns. Every night when putting Matthew in bed, Evers sings to him and prays with him. As a result, he knows how to sing the following:

• Before the Throne (This seems to be his favorite. Even my younger one who is 1.5 yrs knows how to hum parts of it)
• Rock of Ages (a new version from SGM). This was one of the first songs Evers started to sing to him, so he almost knows the whole thing by heart. He even recognizes when Evers tries to skip a stanza!
• Holy, Holy, Holy
• O Worship The King
• Doxology (”Praise God From Whom…”)

It’s so wonderful and sweet sounding to hear him sing even just parts of a hymn. It’s especially encouraging when I see his eyes and ears perk up when we sing these songs in church. He gets very excited because he knows how to participate in worship.

I don’t know exactly why I don’t teach my kids children’s songs. I don’t have anything against them. I think the reason we teach ours kids hymns is because it’s a reflection of who we are and what we like to sing.

I came across Bob Kauflin’s blog today concerning music. If you want a free CD from him (which you’ll have to blog-review), you should email him ASAP since only the first 50 people who email him will receive it.

In his blog he said:

I’ve noticed for some time that children often sing songs that assume they have a saving relationship with God through Jesus Christ. That’s due partly to the fact that many adult songs are simply adapted for use by children. Also, many songs written today for congregational worship tend to be responsive rather than objective in nature. “Jesus, you mean more than anything, I love you, You’re my best friend, etc.”

It’s so true! Our songs tend to be responsive rather than objective. Perhaps this is why we teach our kids hymns. Hymns are rich in expressing God’s nature, beauty, and love.

Bob also went on to say:

A case can be made for unconverted children singing songs that profess a love for God or an assurance of salvation. They enable children to develop a vocabulary that will have meaning later on in life as they turn to Christ in repentance and faith.

Amen! We can instill wonderful words about God (including the Bible!) in our kids minds right now so when they are called to embrace the saving work of the Lord down the road, they’ll have rich resources from which to draw upon in expressing their own love and worship to the Lord.

I’ve been really exhausted ever since I got up this morning. By lunch time, I was so wishing to go to bed. There was one problem: my oldest (3.5 yo) boy doesn’t get tired until 2 pm. I told Matthew that we were all going to bed after lunch, and he protested saying that he wanted to stay up and play. Normally I would have had him obey me and go to bed whether he was tired or not. However, I decided to strike a deal with him today. I told him that if he could keep quiet and play downstairs, then he could stay up while the rest of us would nap upstairs. He agreed.

After putting the two younger ones down, I reminded Matthew again to be quiet while we sleep. I limited him to only playing with the train and reading on his own. But before I headed up to bed, the following conversation ensued:

Matthew: “Is it okay to play with the puzzle?”
Me: “Yes.” (since it’s downstairs in the playroom)
Matthew: “Is there anything else I can play with?”
Me: “You can play with those toys there.”
Matthew: “Is it ok to play with the fire engine?”
Me: “Yes, but you can’t make any noise with that fire engine.”
Matthew: “I won’t, I’ll be quiet. I’ll go to sleep in a little bit.”
Me: “If you get tired, just go and lie down by yourself.”
Matthew: “Should I go potty again?”
Me: “Only if you need to.”
Matthew: “I’ll go again because I don’t want to pee in my pants.”

I napped and got up to find that Matthew had obeyed. I was so impressed. His bedroom door was closed and when I went downstairs, I found the play room to be fully intact. He didn’t make a mess! He did play with the puzzle, with one fully assembled all by himself.

When he finally woke up from his nap, I told him that I was very proud of him for being quiet and not waking anyone up. He went on to tell me that he went potty by himself and he peed really quietly. However, he admitted that he did talk, but very quietly. I had no idea when he went to bed which meant he was telling the truth. I was so impressed with him that I told him that I was going to give him some M&M candies as a reward. When asked how many he wanted, he said two. After handing him two, he realized the amount was a bit scanty so he asked for two more. I’m thinking, “That’s all??? This kid can ask for any amount and he’s only asking for two and then two more???” So I decided to be generous and gave him ten. He was very happy indeed.

Shortly thereafter, his brother woke up. Of course after seeing Matthew eating M&M’s, he wanted some too. Because this was Matthew’s reward, I didn’t ask him to share with his brother. Yet Matthew, all on his own, gave Andrew one. I was so happy to see that. We’ve been trying to teach our kids to be generous and to share with one another. They don’t often eat M&M’s and it’s a very rare treat. Because the two boys are close in age, Matthew often sees (and treats) Andrew as a threat to his possessions and yummy treats. This incident was extraodinary. I am indeed proud of him.

Matthew is very fond of recounting the day’s events at bedtime.

I recently discovered that when he is speaking of men (as in male adults) he describes them as “daddies” and women as “mommies.” For example, this evening we dropped by the “Bethlehem: Experience the Birth” attraction held by First Baptist Church of Santa Clara. As part of the event, a man in a white robe ascends into the sky (illuminated by a spotlight) from a tower in one of the buildings, and plays the part of an angel announcing the coming of the Savior.

Well, naturally, since Matthew is so young, the Christmas story is not quite familiar — and the appearing of a man in the sky is more interesting. His words in the car on the way home?

• “Daddy, why does the daddy angel have no feets [sic]?” (The feet were obscured by the robe, which also obscured the platform upon which he was standing)
• “That was a daddy angel. It wasn’t a mommy angel. Mommies aren’t angels.

This kid is so funny. Lately, I’ve been reading other people’s blogs and at times feel like our life is so boring. As I said to Lois this evening, “It seems like all we do is make babies.” Her reply? “Well, at least we have good stories.”