This last week an esteemed brother minister was telling me that, in speaking to a man who professed to have been converted, he asked him which sin remained as a load upon his mind. “Well,?” said the man, “I have to see after cows, and I have often beaten the cows very badly.” “What do you do now?” “Oh, I coax them instead of beating them.” Now, I have no doubt, that in his peculiar calling, cruelty to animals would be most strikingly laid upon his conscience, but the pastor had to say to him, “Yes, quite so; but the great sin in your fault is, that the cows are God’s creatures, and that he is angry if we treat his creatures unmercifully.?’
Spurgeon (May 16, 1868)
I haven’t wrote many posts on what’s going on inside the Lombardi household, so I could go into details, but I’ll just give an overview.
Jenn and I are coming upon our 7 year anniversary (woohoo!). It’s been an amazing journey so far, and I’ll have to write more about that. Matthew is now 4 years old and Claire is 2 years old. It’s nice to hear Claire talk more and more; she’s such a bundle of joy (and spices). We have been endeavoring to provide a spiritual nurturing home environment. Jenn can probably write more about what she does during the day; during the evening we regularly have family devotion time which involves opening prayers, worship from the hymnal, bible stories, and closing prayers where everyone is required to pray.
We are now attending at two churches; West Hills is our home church, and Veritas is a church plant that we have recently began attending. I’ve also began leading a community group at our home with people who attend at Veritas. I love this group of people and I really do hope to see increased spiritual growth and vitality for everyone in the group~including me.
My parents (a.k.a grandparents), are coming over most Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evenings before dinner and watching the kids for a little over an hour while Jenn and I go to Gold’s Gym and work-out. They seem to enjoy the time, my mother commonly saying, “take your time”, as we head out the door. I know what she means although the Gym is not someplace that you should be taking-your-time.
Jenn and I have been fitting in some additional learning time with DVD’s from Puritan Picks. So far we’ve watched Christian conference videos and seminars; our community group is currently going through the “Battling Unbelief” series; I had chosen it for our group after having rented it from Puritan picks and watched it with Jenn.
I’m also becoming a bit of a self-proclaimed web-designer, pouring over articles online and learning all I can about this world-wide-web and the social conversation that’s going on on-line. I have a lot more respect for web-designers after trying to learn the trade myself; and of course, I’m still just a newbie at this. The reason I’m doing this is to both redesign the Veritas website, but also to redesign my website and also begin a new website focused on spiritual topics and discussions.
And lastly, what’s going on with Rob AND Jenn Lombardi? Well, we don’t share everything, but lets just say that we are greatly in-love with each other and I know I speak for the both of us when I say that it is an amazing grace from God, that the two of us, an engineer from California, and a country girl from Alabama, have come together and are now experiencing all that we are experiencing between each other: love, spiritual-unity, fidelity, integrity, joy, passion, transparency, and children. But of course, it’s all tempered by a fair share of fleshly struggles which we get through by the grace of God with the strength that He provides, which repairs our brokenness and increases our unity.
Will the next generation of children be characterized as undisciplined, selfish, unloving people as they grow into adults? There are many parents out there who have grasped hold of today’s popular methods of parenting which promote themselves as progressive intelligence, and evolutions in parenting. Some of these parents are only a short ways into their parenting journey and are already seeing the warning signs. Instead of a child growing in wisdom and good character qualities, they grow in foolishness and selfishness. The child is quickly learning how to manipulate their parents and become the rulers of their family. The parents are dumbfounded as to how they arrived in such a place, and as a result, they do not enjoy their children as they aught, and some, perhaps openly or secretly, begin to hate having children.
Jenn and I consider the Bible to be divine wisdom, the Words of God, perfect for teaching parents (2 Tim 3:16-17) to deal properly with their children. Consider the qualities of God: good qualities, perfect in every way (Ps 18:30). So it is natural to expect that His instruction for parents is going to be perfect in every way. Now consider the qualities of the average psychologist; they have a finite understanding of the subject and their authority on the subject is not tried and tested—it is common to discover that their methods were completely wrong and disastrous. So, who’s advice would you rather follow? The answer is obvious, trust God, not man. God instructs parents to take discipline seriously (Prov 29:15, Prov 22:15, Prov 23:13-14, Prov 13:24), and it is for the good of the child; but again, the important question is, who’s advice do you have your faith in: God or man?
The results of parenting gone bad seems to have made it’s way into cartoons and books. Parents are depicted as frazzled and with little control over the children; the children rule the household. Daniel Zalewski wrote an article in the New Yorker titled, “The Defiant Ones”, where he makes very astute observations of this very thing. Albert Mohler further discusses it in an article on his blog.
Parents would do well to buck the cultural trends in parenting; trends that tout themselves as evolutionary, advanced, and modern. Rather, parents should embrace methods that go deeper into our spiritual being; methods that are godly, holy, and divine; methods whos source is not from the mind of man, but from the mind of God.
Yes, we finally purchased our first T.V. at the Lombardi household. Our previous television was a hand-me-down from my parents. It was a Mitsubishi 28inch tube television from the 80’s—-that’s over 20 years of use! Occasionally it would show strange colors and then minutes later return to normal. It was about time that T.V. was retired.
Our new T.V. is actually used; a 5-year old Sony tube television. I know what you are thinking—-a tube television! Why would I go out and buy another tube television?! Well, firstly, it was cheap; and secondly, it is one of the best and last tube televisions every made by Sony—-34 inches of HDTV capable of high resolution 1080i with an HDMI input. I found it for $300 through Craigslist from a man who originally paid $2,200; and perhaps we’ll get a good 15 years of use out of it!
The color is incredibly rich and vibrant and unlike LCD’s the viewing angle is a true 180 degrees; you can sit on any side of the room and see the screen clearly without any image wash. The darks are pitch black and the brights seem to be bursting out of the screen; a video of ships on the dark sea, with the stern light seeming to explode with light on the screen—-truly incredible. Come on over and watch some old technology with us!
Since the kids were so well behaved at the torturous motor vehicle show, we treated them to some time at the Children’s Discovery Museum. We now have a family pass that allows us to bring guests, so call my wife if you are interested in a play-date at the Discovery Museum. It is nice to be able to drop-in at the Discovery Museum without having to drop $40 for entrance fees. We can simply stop-in for an hour or two and leave; I think it’s a good deal if you have young kids.
They like this good ol’ fashion firetruck much better than any of the high-tech vehicles at the motor vehicle show; they can climb and touch it to their heart’s content.
The Children’s Discovery Museum features different exhibits; this is the circles exhibit with a circular boat. They provide the hats and scarves and oars so the kids can pretend.
This pretend pizzeria is the last place for most people. Usually you’ll find exhausted adults littering the sides of the room while the kids busily work at creating and serving pizzas. Matthew took a liking to serving this young boy. It’s fun to see them immerse themselves in this pretend-work atmosphere. Some of the kids are very professionally taking orders, preparing food, and serving as if they are are actually working. Click here to see all the photos in the gallery.
