parenting

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I’ve been thinking

Lately I’ve been feeling totally consumed in raising our son Brooks. He’s hit that 16 month mark now and is into all kinds of things, completely responsive to interactions, saying a number of words and laughing a ton. It is more of a work out chasing the lil’ man around the house, but I’ll definitely take it.

In the midst of this fun Erin & I have talked up what are the hopes & dreams we have for him and some of the aspirations we seek to instill in him. Some big questions to ponder

So then I travel back in time to 1990 to a scene of Julia Roberts & Richard Gere in Pretty Woman, maybe you remember it.

Roberts: You don’t actually have a billion dollars, huh?
Gere: No. I get some of it from banks, investors… it’s not an easy thing to do.
Roberts: And you don’t make anything…
Gere: No.
Roberts: … and you don’t build anything.
Gere: No.
Roberts: So whadda ya do with the companies once you buy ’em?
Gere: I sell them.

So this wasn’t one of the talks surrounding sex in the movie.. It’s about business, but more importantly, about the creating and there is a grand soul to creating.

If you remember the scene, or go watch it again, Roberts character puts on this innocent face that looks at Gere’s character with a puzzled, “but why?” Why doesn’t he make something? To her, in her childish innocence to business, creating something is the ultimate goal & endeavor.

I love the creation story found in the book of Genesis. Many folks read it & take some literal reading to and move on. But how cool to think about this being ‘the beginning’ of a story of people in a relationship with God. But in “Pretty Woman” ideas, God spends a lot of time imagining and creating. Really like to that we were created in his image, an image that can imagine & create. We are like that, we can do it.

I hope to raise a son that is not afraid to imagine and to create. So many of us give up our creative selves to critics or forms that define what good art or a good idea is. My hope for Brooks is that whether it is music, art, design, community building, faith, mission, management, whatever it is he does he is confident in self to creatively make and approach all situations. Hope I am able to un-build myself to live that way as well & maybe that will help.

Gere’s character, in his transformation during Pretty Woman, makes his big step when he breaks from his business model to state with the old business ower, ‘We are going to make something.’ Does not matter what it is, but he knows it saves him to re-associate with his creative soul.

How do we get there?

I really do not know. But I’m trying some things out and getting inspired by a few people. Some of you might have seen Sir Ken Robinson give his TED Talk, it has gotten its share of views. He challenges the killing machine that is the education system. His talk is 20 minutes that has change my approach to ministry and teaching. There is a new endeavor that he’s a part of that has some great videos with a like minded message.

shalom
-gavin

many of you have been with me for a number of years on this blog and you know quite a bit about me. you might know that i like trips to crazy monasteries, make fun of my celebrity look alike status, used some of the worship resources i've put online, shared in some deep conversations, and some not so deep.

one thing i have not shared openly is my care i have for children & youth within the foster & adoption process. as a child, looong ago in my birmingham years (those i call my impressionable south years), our family was a foster family. we hosted many kids of various ages that were needing a new home. some were abused children, some were given up for adoption for whatever reason and young and older ages. the older kids would generally stay in the same room as my brother & i (sporting some massive double bunk beds). the younger ones would stay closer by to my parents.

i vaguely remember names and as the years have gone by the faces get blurry, but the impression of having so many kids coming through our home hopeful for a permanent home placed in me a heart for them. tho, at the time, admittedly i wasn't always the nicest of boys to them.

fast forward some 20 plus years i have adopted Miriam's Promise as one of my causes that i champion. they are a methodist affiliated program (which means they get support from our church in name and personal devotion alone, they are not funded by the umc) and that partnership has allowed me to get to know them very well. they have a wonderful staff and board of directors made up of people i respect tremendously. i have a number a few youth from our youth community who have been adopted through Miriam's Promise which is neat to connect with. and who knows, even though we have Brooks now, erin & i have talked a number of times of adopting into our family because we know the need is out there.

they are having their annual golf tournament fundraiser on October 12th and i am trying to raise $4,000 dollars for our teams totals.

as i see some numbers, if everyone in my readership of blogs, twitter, facebook, and newsletters "chipped in" $10 then we could easily achieve this goal. $10 dollars is not ordering 1.5 starbucks drinks, 1/2 of a meal on the town (for one person). that isn't much. if you can give $20 or more, that'd be amazing too. you can set your giving, but please give. just use the "ChipIn" little meter above, it is secure, i've used it many times in giving to other causes.

help me help children find a new home, give to Miriam's Promise

shalom, -gav