For those of you who haven’t heard, the iPhone is now out. I’m sure most of us probably want one, but can’t afford the steep $499-599 price tag. I’ve gotten a lot of free things in the past (including an iPod) and have actually helped some of you get free items. Now, there is a legitimate site that is giving away free iPhones for completing an offer and referring some friends. If you want to try and get a free iPhone for yourself, click the link below and give it a shot, or not. It’s up to you…
Mary Beth and I have been praying about and discussing the issue of birth control a lot lately. I’m ashamed to admit that we’ve been married for five years and this is the first time that we’ve really spent much time on this issue. I don’t know why we didn’t have these conversations before we got married except that birth control has really become a non-issue in our fellowship. In fact, neither of us can remember ever hearing anyone talk about the biblical arguments for or against birth control and we both went to a Christian college. But, over the last few years, we have been reading Touchstone Magazine, which we highly recommend by the way, and this is a subject that they write about frequently.
The article “Children of the Reformation” appeared in a recent issue of the magazine and has really given us more to think about. I didn’t realize that Protestant churches only began accepting birth control within the last 75 years or so. After reading the article, we are beginning to fear that pro-abortion arguments are not a far jump from pro-birth control arguments.
Mary Beth and I are serious about seeking the heart of God on this issue. We are desperate for input from any and all followers of Christ. If you are single or married, if you’ve commented before or if this is your first time, please read the linked article and share your thoughts on this issue with us. We are seeking biblical arguments for or against birth control. Here are some questions we are seeking to answer:
Why do we not discuss this issue in our churches?
Are Christians using birth control because we are seeking to control this huge part of our lives and we are afraid to allow God full reign?
Does the story of Onan in Genesis 38 apply or not? We’ve heard arguments that Onan’s story is really about his heart, but how are our hearts different when we use birth control?
How has the use of birth control changed our lives, besides reducing the number of children we have?
Are we really pro-life in all areas of our life? Are children a reward from God always, or only when they are convenient to us?
Again, we are still seeking answers to this issue, it is not our wish to offend or judge anyone. Please share with us your views. We realize that reading this article could be slightly time consuming, but we feel that this issue is worth the time. Thanks.
UPDATE
Mary Beth and I have found these radio broadcasts by Family Life very helpful in gaining a deeper understanding of this issue…
On Saturday, we celebrated Caleb’s 1st birthday with a party at a nearby park. We had about 30 of our close friends and family come to wish him a Happy Birthday.
My dad cooked lots of hamburgers and hot dogs for everyone to enjoy, and Mary Beth made an amazing Lion birthday cake that Caleb loved digging into.
It was really funny watching him eat cake for the first time. He didn’t immediately dig into it like I thought he would, but instead he delicately picked some icing off the top with his fingers before grabbing bigger and bigger handfuls.
The party was a lot of fun, and it was great to spend some time with friends and family at the park. It’s still hard for me to believe that my little boy is already one year old. It seems like just the other day that I was holding him for the first time in the delivery room. Time really does fly…
My prayer for Caleb is that he will become a man who seeks after God with all of his heart. I want him to know God intimately and personally. I hope that he will someday grasp how “wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.”
On Friday evening, we all went over to my in-laws’ house to celebrate Caleb’s birthday, or so I thought. We had a big shrimp dinner followed by dessert and then we moved into the living room to open Caleb’s birthday presents, or so I thought. I noticed that there was a single chair beside the fireplace and a speaking podium next to it. Even after seeing this, I was still clueless as to what was going on.
After seeing this, I was told to have a seat and then my father-in-law, brothers-in-law, Mary Beth’s grandfather, and my dad proceeded to bless me and affirm me as a man. For those who aren’t familiar with what a Manhood Ceremony is, it’s a tradition that our family started in order to affirm and bless the young men in our family as they are coming into manhood.
I was blessed to hear what everyone had to say about me, especially the words that were spoken by my dad. Towards the end of the ceremony, my father had me kneel and knighted me and then presented me with a sword. This was a very special moment for me, and one that I will remember for the rest of my life. The sword had the following inscription on it: Read More | Comments
A few weekends ago we went with some of our friends to a nearby field that blooms with daffodils every spring. It was great fun getting to see Caleb’s reaction to all of the blooming flowers. We also had the opportunity to take some pictures of the kids, as well as some family photos.
Yesterday was the first official day of spring and all of the plants are now beginning to come back to life. Mary Beth and I were talking about how much we love springtime and how awesome God is for creating it. Spring and fall are my favorite times of year because they are the “in between” seasons. Growing up in southeast Texas didn’t allow me to fully experience all four seasons, so my experience was pretty much confined to summer and winter. Now I live in a place where all four seasons are on full display and I love it!
There are so many metaphors for how we go through different seasons in our spiritual walk with the Lord. Sometimes we can’t avoid the harsh, bleak winters of our life, but praise God that He always brings new life in the Springtime!
My father-in-law and I woke up early this morning to go run the half marathon. It was about 32 degrees as we waited by the starting line to begin the race and Mary Beth, Lindsay, and Allan even braved the cold weather to come cheer us on. Our goal was to finish all 13.1 miles in under two hours, which would be about an average of 9 minutes per mile.
Everything was going great for me until about mile 9. My stomach started acting up and I had to slow down the pace. I told dad to keep going so he could reach his goal. He finished in under two hours with a time of 1:58 and I came in behind him at 2:08.
I didn’t meet the goal that I had set for myself, but I’m still proud of what I accomplished. I averaged less than 10 minutes a mile and despite feeling nauseous, I didn’t quit. For me, that’s nothing to be ashamed of.
I think I’ll probably take the next couple of weeks off from running, but I plan on running consistently for a long time. We’ll see, I might even want to run another half marathon next year!
I bought Matt Redman’s new CD, Beautiful News, last night. I really like his other CDs, but I bought this one because of one of the songs I heard: Thank You for Healing Me.
When I first heard this song, I was shocked by how much it related to my journey with the Lord. I know this sounds crazy, but it was almost as if the song had been written about me. I was raised in the church and I’ve always known about God and believed in Him, but I always held Him at arms length. I never allowed Him to take control of my life and heal all of the junk that was in my soul.
Listening to this song and reflecting on the ways that God is healing me reminded me of this verse:
“ Isaiah 53:5: But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.”
In a lot of ways, I always thought that God called me to live a perfect life, but over the past few months I’ve come to realize that He calls me to live a perfectly transparent life that is submissive to the changes He wants to make in me.
I pray that more and more people in the Church will come to the realization that we don’t have to “have it all together” to be a Christian. As a matter fact, realizing that you don’t have it all together is a basic requirement…
The disease of my soul was spreading,
Eating me up on the inside,
Keeping my heart from your new life.
And I see now where I was headed
For there is no cure that can save us,
Outside of Your mercy Lord Jesus.
Yes, You stepped in with Your power to save,
Let forgiveness reign,
Worked a miracle within.
Thank you for healing me;
I was dying beneath my shame
But You brought me to life again, and I will sing:
Thank you for freeing me
I was dead to the truth of You,
But my healing was in Your wounds, and now I sing:
Thank you for healing me.
Though outwardly I may waste away,
On the inside I’ll be more alive every day.
As I walk through times of pain and grief
There’s a deeper truth inside of me…
You have placed Your life inside of me.
I’m alive, I’m alive.
I’m alive, I’m alive in You.
Thank you for healing me.
I’m not usually one for soliciting awards and praise, but I thought this would be a good chance for others to be exposed to some of Mary Beth’s wonderful thoughts on motherhood.
I would appreciate it if all of you would take the time to go vote for her posts. Please visit this link to see voting instructions. The Voting closes at 11:59pm central standard time on February 16, 2007, so don’t wait too long! Thanks!
Well, I’m sure some of you have noticed that the blog has changed a little bit. Mary Beth and I have decided to convert the blog into a family blog, where we can both write posts.
I think it will be great for both of us to share our thoughts and perspectives in one place. As a result of this, I’ve shut down the old Shook Foil blog and brought all of Mary Beth’s old posts over to the new blog. So, you can still see some of the great things she has written.
As a result of this, we sat down yesterday and went over the design together in order to “soften” it up a little bit. Let us know what you think of the new design. We need all of the feedback we can get!
This morning I ran the farthest distance I’ve ever run in my life: 10 miles. For some of you that might not seem very far, but this was a pretty big milestone for me. For the last five months, I’ve been training for a half-marathon that I will be running in March.
I’ve been a casual runner on and off for most of my adult life and I’ve even run in a few 10k races, but for some reason this seems so much more difficult. 13.1 miles is a long way! I’m hoping to be able to finish in under two hours.
Wish me luck as I continue to train over the next few weeks!
For those of you who haven’t heard, the iPhone is now out. I’m sure most of us probably want one, but can’t afford the steep $499-599 price tag. I’ve gotten a lot of free things in the past (including an iPod) and have actually helped some of you get free items. Now, there is a legitimate site that is giving away free iPhones for completing an offer and referring some friends. If you want to try and get a free iPhone for yourself, click the link below and give it a shot, or not. It’s up to you… 
