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Well i actually labored on labor day. Many of you know i work at the Cheesecake Factory part-time. It’s a good gig. They are super flexible, i hardly worked at all this summer and they were cool with it. Admittedly i’m ready to be done with the side gig but for not it’s perfect. I did have to work labor day however! Boooo… i know, know! But the perks were, #1. i met Keith Urban & Nicole Kidman. When i say meet them it was more like this; Nicole, ”Ummm. i was suppose to be getting a salad?” Keith, “Yea, i got my food and she didn’t get hers. We thought it was weir they didn’t come out at the same time.” (is an amazing Australian acsent of course) Me, “Oh, so sorry about that. It would be on it’s way but i will double check for you.” As i was walking away the salad got their and kept us from becoming best buds. But we hung out non-the-less. ;-) #2. the dude from Orange County Chopper was in as well. We didn’t to hang out but it’s cool seeing a non-music semi-superstar. Other than that it was a crappy day to be stuck inside!
The real fun of was had on Sunday afternoon / evening. The fam and i met up with some friend at Arrington. It was amazing. I have posted a photo album of the day on Facebook and Flickr but thought i would share a few of them here as well because they are Aaaaa-mazing!
Here ya go!
All photography credit goes to the one and only Cody Springs (nick name… Well i can’t tell you)
Great day, with some great friends. I need it!
Until next time labor day. PEACE
erik
Tags: family, friends, labor day
I’ve had this blog brewing for a while but just haven’t taken the time to flesh it out. It’s some thoughts from a while back but my first fathers day stirred them up again. So I thought I would finally share.
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I was sitting down with a good friend and another dude (friend / acquaintance), the other dude happened to be a CCM musician guy; trendy, hipster, semi-famous, and of course wise! Somehow we got to talking, I had recently gotten married, he had recently had his second kid. We were talking about family stuff, the joys of being a father and challenges of being a husband, at least a first year husband. At some point the conversation shifted and we began to talk about politics, faith, and then pacifism. And then the trendy Christian rocker stated, quite matter of fact, “Well I used to be a pacifist until I had kids.” Followed by a “you’ll understand someday.”
In case you didn’t know, I’m a pacifist. As I read the scriptures, especially the words of Jesus I think it’s fairly hard not to be. I mean if your going to take the words of Jesus seriously, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” “Don’t resist an evil doer.” The list goes on… just read The Sermon on the Mount. So for me it’s hard not to be a pacifist when i read these words. Now I respect people who have differing opinions than me but for me, I think it’s hard to read these word of Jesus and then pick up a gun and go kill people to protect the things I love; God, country, family, etc. That’s a hard move for me to make.
But like my trendy, wise, Christian rocker friend stated, “You’ll understand when you have kids.”
Well now I have a kid. And to be honest what my friend said has really stuck with me. I understand the difficulty with even the IDEA of being a pacifist, especially in our world. I really do. And when I’m honest and people ask me if i’m a pacifist my response is, “Well, I want to be.” I say that because I know in reality I am bent toward violence and reaction. I understand that about myself. But I also feel like I understand that the most faithful // Faith-Full thing to do is to follow Jesus and that’s isn’t always easy or the way i am naturally bent.
Now I often tell people who roll there eyes at me for even suggesting the idea of pacifism that, “non-violence isn’t necessarily non-action.” I think that is an important caveat to the conversation, but another conversation altogether.
As I reflect on my stance as a pacifist and my now status as a father I’m trying to decide if my wise rocker friend was correct. Does the love I have for my son negate my ideological position as a pacifist?
For the first few months of Jacks existence (Jack is my son) I would take him when he was crying into my office and play a few of his favorite tunes. The 2 songs that seemed to calm him the most were, 1) The Hope That Lies Within 2) Oh How He Loves – both recorded by The Glorious Unseen. (great album, you should get if you don’t have it). But I would blast these songs and sing them into my infant sons ear and he would, miraculously, calm down. And almost every time I would sing these words,
“He is jealous for me (I would sing you)
Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy
When all of the sudden I am unaware of these affliction eclipsed my glory
I realize just how beautiful you are and how great your affection are for me
O, How He love us so
O how he love us
O, How He love us so”
…almost every time I would sing these words I would think about that comment, “You’ll understand once you have kids.” As I would sing those songs into Jacks little ears, telling him how much God loves him, I would realize how much I love him and how I would do anything for him and to protect him. And I would think, “was he right? Do I now understand?”
But in the midst of those thoughts I would realize that my love for my son can’t be stronger than God’s love for my son OR God’s love for his son. And in the mystery of the Trinity God’s love for God’s self which, more often then we are aware of, is turned in our direction and lavished upon us. This infinite and incomprehensible love that’s exists within God’s self and is poured out on humanity with undeserved regularity. This love that I can’t even fathom is directed from the heart of God to my son Jack every second of every moment and in the same way it was directed toward Jesus in every line we read of scripture, every space we ignore, every pause we skim over, and in every possible way we don’t even think of, God was in constant Love for his son. Even when his Son was hanging on a tree, bleeding and hurting, being killed by the enemy, LOVE WAS THERE. I don’t understand that but I pray God would fill me with the faith to embrace that moment of divine love that we witness in the crucificition of Jesus and I pray even harder as a father that God would gift me with even a small portion of the love I witness in that cosmic even of the cross for my son Jack.
And if I can receive that gift, even in part and as feebly as I am capable of, I believe I can continue to be faith-full to the words of Jesus, living the way of a hopeful, aspiring, would-be pacifist father. Which might be the only way any of us are capable of doing it anyway.
So was my friend right?
I don’t think so. Not if I believe in the power of the resurrection and the hope that lies within! I don’t think he was.
Grace and peace
from a would-be pacifist and an awestruck father!
erik
PS :: if you would like a resource to further this conversation here is a REALLY good one!
This little book entitled :: What Would You DO is a great resource to help you think through the challenges and questions of being a pacifist. It’s a great read from a few voices, put together by John Howard Yoder. Who is a stud and somebody you should read! Without a doubt!
:: Politics of Jesus
:: The Original Revolution
:: Body Politics
// TO NAME A FEW…
Tags: fatherhood, God, Jack, Jesus, pacifism
Well today is the official Willits family birthday!
I am (gulp) 31 today.
Jack is 5 months old!
So i thought i might post some pictures and see if you can see the family resemblance.
My life seems to be flying by… And standing still…
All at the same time.
Have you ever been here before?
I look at my son Jack, he will be 4 months old on Wednesday, HOLY CRAP! It seems like yesterday we brought him home from the hospital. Maybe I will say that for the rest of my life but especially right now, it just seems like time is flying by. And I am almost 31, holy crapole!!!
Then there are the million other things I want, hope, and dream to do. And these things don’t seem to be coming my way fast enough. In so many ways life seems to be in a holding pattern. And yea, I get frustrated (really frustrated, just ask my patient and loving wife) about the lack of time I have to do just about anything I am passionate about. It just seems like I’m in a holding pattern when it comes to ministry and projects I dream of doing and churches I dream of planting. But instead of getting these things done I am waiting tables and hold reflectors. Jobs I’m thankful for (or try to be) but I really wish I didn’t have to do them. I just wish I could do what I do and preach the Gospel every chance I got. I’m ready to just do the things i’m passionate about again!
Maybe time will never be abundant again, after all I am now a parent and that isn’t changing anytime soon, EVER! But it just seems like so many things I want that aren’t happening like I want them to and instead I’m just having to wait and inch toward my dreams instead of running toward them. Bla bla bla!
But there are also many things to be thankful for! I do feel like things are finally moving in a really positive direction when it comes to ministry. I have a little son and every time I look at him (when he’s not howling or puking on me) I am filled with gratitude, and even when he is howling and puking I’m pretty thankful!
I am pretty thankful that God blesses the B team and is on the side of those who struggle and don’t have it all together. That’s me for sure. Maybe one of these days I will be more consistent with my blog, or I will wake up at 7 to work on my book, or I will make sure to read for 2 hours everyday. But until then, I will continue to try and follow Jesus, to be filled with His Spirit and be lead into a more fully human life day by day.
“Holiness is moment by moment.” John Wesley
Amen!
I do have some fun things to blog about. I’ll try and get to them soon!
Grace and peace
Erik
Well there he is!
Jack Ellsworth Willits | born @ 2.47pm December 28 | 7.52lbs : 20.5in
I continue to say he’s perfect (cause he is!) but Andrea, my lovely wife doesn’t want us to turn into those crazy “my kid’s better than yours, let me prove it” parents so she always gives me the stink eye when i say that to anybody.
But just so you know… he’s perfect!
Dad’s little dude!
We’re so happy he’s here!
And if you want to see more pics i’ve posted some on my facebook and some on my flickr account. flickr.com/erikwillits
More to come, no doubt!
