Posts Tagged ‘family’

I hope you enjoy the new minimalist design of subversiveREFORMATION.com. Please remember to check the tabs at the top of the page and utilize the links in the sidebars to connect online or check out some quality links to the right. Please comment suggesting any pages that you think should be recommended. Buttons will include links to sites about theology, church, family, parenting, history, philosophy, environmental sustainability, emergent. I’m also hoping to include organizations and ministries that seek to bring peace in our world. Sarcastic comments are welcome, too – but hopefully I’ll also get some quality recommendations.

I have had many people comment on Facebook, via e-mail and in conversation about how much they like the posts from the “Teaching Little Kyla” series. I’ll be posting more of those even though I’ve debated renaming the series, “Learning from Little Kyla.” I’m also going to add some posts on family dynamics and parenting for those of you who are young parents like us or for those who may be parents soon. Sarah and I hope our experience can be useful.

You can also expect some upcoming posts on environmental sustainability. My thought pattern for adding posts on family/parenting and creation care centers on the idea of stewardship. We have many things that have been given. A few of those include our family members, our bodies, and the earth. Those things which we have been given must be cared for and nurtured as an active response of gratitude (worship) toward God.

I sent an update through Twitter yesterdag evening that said, “how to get your kid to eat like this: http://twitgoo.com/px6cg coming soon to http://www.subversiveREFORMATION.com The picture below was attached. Here’s what worked for us:

1) No fast food.

Sarah and I disagree here a little bit. I’m for absolutely no fast food while Sarah suggests that moderation is the key (i.e. your kid won’t die by having a small order of fries once every two weeks).

2) Model healthy eating.

Don’t expect your kid to be healthy if you are not. A frequent late night snack of mine is steamed broccoli.

3) Plant a garden.

We turned around and Kyla was chomping on a whole tomato. Tomatoes are her favorite food and she is now very excited about planting a garden and growing her own food again this year.

4) Start with Veggies.

When Kyla was progressing through the toothless stages of baby food, we made sure that before we introduced any fruits that she was eating every kind of vegetable that we could sell or make.

5) Take your kid grocery shopping.

Let your little one pick out some things in the fresh fruit and vegetable section rather than the cookie aisle.

6) Stick to Cheerios.

Think of all the ways that sugar is introduced. One of those is by cereals. None of us really cereal other than whole grains. I love me some Lucky Charms and Frosted Flakes but I’ve been resisting the urge and doing Cheerios with Kyla.

7) Zero soda pop, no chocolate milk, and limit the juice.

Kyla is perfectly content with water, skim milk, and an occasional fruit juice (hopefully without high fructose corn syrup as the number 2 ingredient.

And… throw in a little flax seed and some lentils.

Give it a try. Your kids will love you for it — their lives will be better. It’s stewardship. It’s Christian.

“Teaching Little Kyla…”
A series on Travis and Sarah’s journey of parental flubs, flaws, failures and accidental^ fortune.

When Kyla begins to pray she now touches her forehead, then her chest, then crosses her shoulders while saying, “In the name of the Fahver, in the name of the Son, and the Holwy Spiwint.” She proceeds to give thanks for the most simple things in life. Her genuine gratitude really shows and I’ll tell you more about that in my next post.

After seeing and hearing Kyla do the sign of the cross, someone asked her, “Are you catholic?” To which I replied, “Of course she’s catholic.” The word catholic means “one, universal.” The people of God are one church. There may be some organizational nomenclature that distinguishes one gathering of the church from another gathering of the church but ultimately there is only one church, the people of God.

Scott Peterson, University Chaplain at MVNU, asked last night if I have read the book “Who Will be Saved?” by William H. Willimon. I have yet to read it but am putting that as a priority on my reading list. Scott disclosed that the essential theme of the text recognizes the tension between “the narrow way” of Jesus and a universalist perspective that suggests all paths of religion or the unlimited grace of God allow all people access to God (I am not attempting fully or accurately describe universalism; that is a conversation for another day). If I recall the conversation with Scott correctly, he said that Willimon (in the previously mentioned text or another) suggests that those who will be saved must be a part of the church.

What does it mean to be a part of the church?

What does it mean to be identified by the sign of the cross?

Please comment.

^ There is someone(s) greater than me/us (a divine being and a community of people) that intercede with grace and giving.

“Teaching Little Kyla…”
A series on Travis and Sarah’s journey of parental flubs, flaws, failures and accidental^ fortune.

A couple of nights ago I was praying with Kyla and we prayed for all the children in Haiti – that God would protect them and be present with them. The next day while we were sitting at the table sharing a meal Kyla closed her eyes and said, “Dear God, thank you for the Haitis.”

“The Haitis” – or, the Haitians. Are we truly and genuinely thankful for all people in the world the make up all of humanity?

I am challenged by my 2-year old daughter every day.

Humility.

^ There is someone(s) greater than me/us (a divine being and a community of people) that intercede with grace and giving.

“What do you think about Obama’s Afghanistan plan?” That was the question posed by RELEVANT magazine. “Tonight, President Obama is giving a speech detailing his new Afghanistan strategy, which includes a surge of 30,000 troops. What do you think of his plan?”

Response of Travis Keller:

“Peace is love. Violence is not. Militarization brings death… either physically or by fear. What if Afghanistan sent 30,000 troops to the U.S.?”

To contextualize my comment I will disclose that I am neither anti- or pro-Obama. I did vote for him. I would also qualify RELEVANT’s question by noting that the plan is not “his” plan but rather a plan that was developed by a team of people which includes military strategists and advisors. Additionally, I have a brother-in-law who is in the United States Air Force. My wife and I love him. He has been to Afghanistan and currently is stationed in the U.S. where he controls mechanisms on the Predator Drone planes that fly in Afghanistan.

What is your response to my response (or the original question)?

“Teaching Little Kyla…”
A series on Travis and Sarah’s journey of parental flubs, flaws, failures and accidental^ fortune.

The Invisible Children and Remember Nhu Clubs at MVNU are hosting an Art and Poetry awareness and fundraising event tonight (Wednesday) in the student union. Kyla will be presenting her piece of art that she and I composed this weekend. Her piece is called “Red and Yellow, Black and White” in reference to the song, “Jesus Loves the Little Children.” As we talked about “all the children of the world” and our need to show and express love to all, Kyla used her hands and fingers to paint red, yellow, and black around a cut-out of Africa that I drew, cut out, and taped to the canvas board making a white silhouette of the country where the dehumanization of children continues through militarization and exploitation. Though I cannot talk with Kyla yet about child soldiers and sexual trafficking, she can begin to understand that love and kindness for all of humanity. Eventually, she’ll hear their stories.

We are incapable to loving absent from relationship. We are incapable of relationship absent from the context of story. We have to learn about each other. We have to be aware of the formative life experiences that make us who we are both individually and as a collective group of people in a global community.

The world is our canvas. May we cover it with strokes of love.

^ There is someone(s) greater than me/us (a divine being and a community of people) that intercede with grace and giving.

“Teaching Little Kyla…”
A series on Travis and Sarah’s journey of parental flubs, flaws, failures and accidental^ fortune.

Kyla now begins all her prayers by saying, “God, thank you.” That’s it. “God, thank you.” When is the last time that has been your prayer? Are your prayers prayed out of worry? Selfishness? How about gratitude? Thankfulness for the activity of God amongst his people.

When Sarah and I purchased Kyla’s bed to transition her from crib to awesome Malm from Ikea, I finished putting it together and Kyla looked up at me from a little less than a meter high and said, “Sank you, daddy.” She had a bed. And she was thankful.

Since then there have been a number of times that Kyla has surprised me in her simple statements of “thank you.” For what are you thankful? To whom are you thankful? Are you satisfied with what has been provided for you or do you normally feel ripped off? Like you drew the short straw. Like things never go your way. Or… like you deserve more? What gives us that sense of entitlement? What makes us so centered on having more? What keeps us from being grateful?

Is Kyla’s gratitude actually something that exists due to what she receives or possesses? How has she learned to be grateful? How do you exemplify gratitude and for what are you grateful?

^ There is someone(s) greater than me/us (a divine being and a community of people) that intercede with grace and giving.

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I am not at Poets, Prophets, and Preachers (PPP) so I thought I would have a lot to say about it. My friend Matt Rawlings actually offered me a free ticket to the “conference”^ but I was unable to attend for several reasons (in no certain order):

>> I am on an interview committee here at MVNU that is meeting with a Resident Director candidate on Monday morning. >> I have a very busy academic year with more time off in the summer and wanted to set aside more time with my family. >> We are hoping to adopt and possibly purchase a home so I’m crunching down on the spending. Gas, hotel, and food would have been a few dollars.

From the middle of Ohio I have been keeping up with PPP. I’ve been reading all the tweets tagged with the #ppp09 hashtag and checking out a few blogs. I’ve noticed so far that at the first gathering, those commenting publicly all support that which is being discussed at PPP. Nothing that I have read has challenged the intitial teaching by Rob Bell entitled, The Original Guerilla Theatre. The positive perspectives may be fueled by the expectation of those attending. Many hours before the first session many were tweeting about anticipating their arrival in Grand Rapids. Others noted their excitement as they sat in the theater waiting to hear from Rob, who has obviously created a dedicated community of people who value his teaching.

In the Original Guerilla Theatre, Rob discussed the lost primal art form of the religious discourse. Those in attendance all tweeted the same few lines that apparently remained lodged in numerous cerebral cortexes. None of those lines seemed to be earth-shattering to me but centered on the theme that those giving sermons need to be more daring. It is not necessary for a spoken message to be safe and even resolved. Rather, those with ears to hear should be asking questions and talking more with each other in order to continue wrestling with the content. I would suggest additionally that those attending church gatherings seeking answers should alter their perspective. Knowing that the journey of following Jesus is a process of wonder and discovery, couldn’t it be more valuable to expect to leave with more questions? It is only our systems of modernization that make us think otherwise.

^I’m not sure that PPP is actually a conference. Well… I guess technically it is but probably not the typical churchy conference where the Youth Specialties tent is giving away free workbooks entitled something like, “How To Keep Teens Hooked: Staying Relevant for GenY.” JUST FOR THE RECORD: I just made up that title it may be the worst title for a book ever. I’m not sure which word is the worst, “How to,” “Teens,” “Hooked,” “Relevant,” or “GenY.”

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