The Rieslands » life

Dancing In The Minefields

Zack — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 17:14:33 +0000

You probably noticed that we didn’t spent as much time posting to “TheRieslands” in 2011.

There are lots of reasons for that -- most notably the ones who run around our house in Disney movie-themed pajamas every night.

We also spent a good amount of time working on Stephanie’s photography business.

But the new year is always a fun time to reflect on what a year has taught me, and share that with you, for whatever it’s worth. So, you might actually see a few posts from me over the next few days. They are likely to be hyper-introspective and even soppy, so… consider yourself warned.

Today, I’m sharing one of my favorite songs of 2011.

It wasn’t new in 2011, and it may or may not be familiar to you.

The song is Dancing In The Minefields by Andrew Peterson.

I’ve actually been enjoying this song, along with most of Andrew Peterson’s, for years now.

But this year, for whatever reason, it seemed especially profound and inspiring to me.

The lyrics are pretty straightforward and probably not too much of a stretch for most folks (hear the song and read the lyrics below): life is full of landmines.

Fundamentally, the landmines are all the effects of the Fall of man: pain, suffering, illness, disappointment, discouragement…

That imagery takes a different shape for each person from day to day. But at the end of the day, we’re ALL living in a minefield, and we never know when the next one is going to blow up in our face.

The song pretty much assumes that we don’t need to be convinced of this.

But what I love about it is the picture he paints of marriage being about DANCING in the minefields.

That picture implies so much to me.

It’s not about trying to avoid the landmines.

It’s not about mourning how hopeless the situation appears.

It’s about holding hands and dancing through the ridiculous situation -- taking every little excuse to celebrate and not getting stuck for too long when there’s an explosion.

I also love how the song pretty much just assumes that we all know that marriage is hard:

It was harder than we dreamed but I believe that’s what the promise is for.

What promise?

And how is this possible?

Where is the motivation to keep going when there are so dang many setbacks every day/week/month/year?

The last verse explains it:

‘Cause we bear the light of the Son of Man
So there’s nothing left to fear
So I’ll walk with you in the shadowlands
Till the shadows disappear

‘Cause He promised not to leave us
And His promises are true
So in the face of all this chaos, baby,
I can dance with you

There it is: we can hold hands and dance through the minefields because we have hope in the sovereign, good God who we’re trusting to hold it all together.

And in that way, marriage is celebration of the Gospel.

I’m not sure I can come up with the right words to explain how special that picture is to me.

But hopefully the song speaks for itself.

Enjoy!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtTa81LyuQM

(if you are reading this on the blog home page, lyrics are after the jump)

I was nineteen, you were twenty-one
The year we got engaged
Everyone said we were much too young
But we did it anyway

We bought our rings for forty each
From a pawn shop down the road
We made our vows and took the leap
Now fifteen years ago

We went dancing in the minefields
We went sailing in the storm
And it was harder than we dreamed
But I believe that’s what the promise is for

“I do” are the two most famous last words
The beginning of the end
But to lose your life for another I’ve heard
Is a good place to begin
‘Cause the only way to find your life
Is to lay your own life down
And I believe it’s an easy price
For the life that we have found

And we’re dancing in the minefields
We’re sailing in the storm
This is harder than we dreamed
But I believe that’s what the promise is for

So when I lose my way, find me
When I loose love’s chains, bind me
At the end of all my faith, till the end of all my days
When I forget my name, remind me

‘Cause we bear the light of the Son of Man
So there’s nothing left to fear
So I’ll walk with you in the shadowlands
Till the shadows disappear

‘Cause he promised not to leave us
And his promises are true
So in the face of all this chaos, baby,
I can dance with you

These Two…

Zack — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 19:45:00 +0000

These two are on track to put me in an empty grave.

But man… what a life it will have been!

Happy Birthday, Josiah!

Zack — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 17:43:17 +0000

Josiah turned 3 this weekend.

Last year, I attempted to write some thoughts to capture how I feel about my son, but I realized it’s just about impossible.

So this year, you get 7 minutes of Josiah telling you all about his favorite songs, shows, toys, sports…. oh, and the biggie: does he plan to get married.

This video is PURE Josiah.

Enjoy!

All Together Now: “Aaaaaaaaah!”

Zack — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 11:37:58 +0000

Photo by Kharis’ “Grandma Tinkerbell”.

Gorgeous good looks courtesy of her momma.

The Lord Is A Warrior

Zack — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 10:57:23 +0000

I once heard Mark Driscoll explain something that was somewhat eye-opening to me.

He said something along the lines of, “Growing up, somewhere between the picture books and flannel graphs, I got the impression that Jesus was a feminine hippie with a lot of hair product. One day, I realized: I don’t have respect for this guy because I could beat him up.”

He went on to point out that, even during Jesus’ first visit to Earth, he had many ‘manly’ characteristics. He was a carpenter, so likely strong and rough. He spent most of his time camping with His disciples, and the pharisees made Him so angry that he consistently mocked them to their face.

But, more to the point, when He comes again, there will be nothing soft or ‘hippie-ish’ about Him. He’s coming to start (and finish) a war.

Revelation 19:

Then I saw^(W) heaven opened, and behold,^(X) a white horse! The one sitting on it is called^(Y) Faithful and True, and^(Z) in righteousness he judges and makes war. ¹²^(AA) His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are^(AB) many diadems, and he has^(AC) a name written that no one knows but himself. ¹³He is clothed in^(AD) a robe dipped in^[d] blood, and the name by which he is called is^(AE) The Word of God. ¹⁴And the armies of heaven,^(AF) arrayed in fine linen, white and pure,^(AG) were following him on white horses. ¹⁵^(AH) From his mouth comes a sharp sword^(AI) with which to strike down the nations, and^(AJ) he will rule them with a rod of iron.^(AK) He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. ¹⁶On his robe and on his thigh^(AL) he has a name written,^(AM) King of kings and Lord of lords.

So, just a quick recap: A warrior on a horse with a sword coming out of His mouth, with a robe dipped in blood, a name tattooed on His leg, and itching for a fight with everything evil.

Add an announcer and you have a scene from WWF smack-down.

Put that on a flannelboard….

I’m writing this because I’ve been reminded of it lately as Josiah has grown up a little bit.

The other night, at the dinner table, Josiah looked up and said, “Dad, I love good people. But I don’t love bad people. I will KILL them!”

Now, clearly, we have some serious work to do. I need to teach him that there is no such thing as a good person, and that Jesus already died FOR the bad people.

But he explained himself. I asked him, “What kind of bad people?“. And he said, “Like Goliath“.

What my son was saying that day was, “Dad, I want to be brave and I want to stand up against the bad guys! I’m not afraid. I’m a warrior!”

It’s in his DNA as a little boy.

Just like Kharis gets all of her shoes out and tries them on even though nobody taught her to, Josiah beats up imaginary bad guys with invisible swords.

There’s some part of my parenting instinct that winces every time he does. I can see him at the playground getting carried away with “playing swords” with some kid who doesn’t understand the game and then trying to explain it to their parents.

But the last thing I want to do is try and suppress that natural desire that God gave him to be brave, strong, and to fight against “the bad guys”.

Fast-forward a couple of weeks…

Josiah and I were driving to the store and we were rocking my new favorite windows-down-and-radio-up song, The Lord Is A Warrior by Matt Papa.

In it, he simply celebrates how God is the ultimate warrior and the ultimate Savior – both by dying for our sins and then by promising to destroy all evil that rejects His reign. It’s basically the resurrection plus Revelation 19 put to music.

You can listen to it here:

(And once you realize that it’s awesome, you should go buy it.)

Anyways, back to the story:

Josiah asked me, “What’s he singing about?”

I said, “He is singing about how the Lord is a Warrior. Do you know what a warrior is?”

“No.”

“A warrior is like a strong fighter.”

“Jesus is a fighter?!!?!?!?”

“Yeah buddy. Jesus is the strongest fighter. He is the best hero ever.”

“YEAH! The best HERO! And whenever the bad guys want to hurt you, He will KILL THEM!”

We came home and Josiah ran in and told his mom, “Mom! Jesus is a fighter and he gets ALL the bad guys and He ALWAYS wins!”

Theologically, my son is learning (and very excited about) God’s sovereignty and justice.

Now we just have to figure out how to communicate about grace, sacrifice, and love….

But I think most of us could use a little more of that perspective.

When is the last time you went up against something scary (illness, difficult relationship, financial hardship, etc) and pictured Jesus the warrior riding in front of you to fight your battle?

Kind of makes me want to break out my action figures….

Aaaaaaand She’s Walking

Zack — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 12:18:33 +0000

As of this past weekend, Kharis is officially toddling around every chance she gets.

Apparently taking queues from Jack Sparrow and the T-Rex, she looks a bit drunk, but it’s the most adorable thing you’ve ever seen.

Daddy is quite smitten.

I Love This Kid

Zack — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 11:44:19 +0000

LOVE this kid.

That is all….

Can I Brag For A Minute?

Zack — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 12:08:44 +0000

Don’t worry.

I’m not interested in boasting about myself or comparing my life with yours.

I just have to point out how awesome our friends and family have been this week.

First of all, I need to brag on my wife:

Kharis turned 1 last week, and Steph pulled out ALL the stops for her birthday party. I watched her spend hours doing research, shopping for ideas, cutting out Mini Mouse ears and bows, trying to find the right fonts and colors, making gift bags, ceiling decorations, cupcake holders, party food…

She poured herself into making sure that Kharis had a birthday to remember.

And here’s what it looked like in the end:

Steph: you rock.

But I also need to brag on Steph’s sister, “Aunt Addy”, who took a break from law school and her summer internship and flew all the way from Oklahoma just to spend 2 days helping us celebrate.

Oh, and did you see the cake she made? That was some cake mix, vanilla icing, vanilla fondant, and food coloring before she got ahold of it!

“Aunt Addy”: you rock too.

When “Aunt Katie” and “Uncle Anthony” (and honorary “Aunt ‘Lisha”) pulled into the driveway, Josiah was hiding in his room with the door shut, because he was freaked out by all the people in our living room. But they walked right through the crowd, found him, gave him a new bat and ball and hat, and brightened his day right on up…

And then there’s Steph’s parents and grandparents who drove down from Virginia…. in her mom’s case, that was after working all night.

Or our friends who postponed a trip to the beach for a couple of hours to celebrate with us.

Or our friends who found time between raising twin babies, selling their home, and getting a graduate degree to come spend a few hours with us.

Or our friends who manage to pull off a 4-jobs, 2-kids lifestyle but still made time to come celebrate with us.

Or my mom who brought enough vegetables to feed a soccer team and a big carton of home-made salsa.

I was overwhelmed by all the grace our friends showed us this weekend.

To everyone who made time to come help us celebrate our daughter (and the end of a year with a toddler AND a baby under one roof):

Thank you so much.

You rock.

The Wind-up…

Zack — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 19:23:58 +0000

If you find yourself “playing baseball” with Josiah these days, he’ll likely insist that you wear a hat, and you will probably want to make sure it’s your “patient hat”.

This wasn’t always the case.

There was a good year there where you could have a pretty good time playing baseball with Josiah, considering his age.

You would pitch it.

He would hit it and “run the bases” (run down the hall).

Then you would switch sides and repeat over and over until you gave up (because there was zero chance that he would).

But not so these days.

I don’t know whether it was The Sandlot, Everybody’s Hero, or something else, but Josiah has recently discovered “the wind-up”.

This is where the pitcher rocks back on the mound, kicks up his leg, swings around, and prepares to deliver the pitch.

In competitive baseball, this is more than just ceremony.

The wind-up is designed to help the pitcher get the maximum force behind his pitch, forcing correct mechanics and utilizing body weight.

But my 2-year-old son doesn’t understand any of that. To him, it’s just a fancy dance “real pitchers” do before throwing the ball.

And, apparently, he has decided that the longer and more complicated the dance, the more official the pitch will be.

And this is why you will need your patient hat.

When it’s his turn to bat, you will pitch and he will hit and run and you’ll laugh and have fun.

But when it’s his turn to pitch, you will stand over “home plate” (sometimes known as a “pillow”) and wait…

and wait…

while he does a “wind-up” that would probably impress most interpretive dancers.

He’ll move his arms around, pull his legs up, spin around, kick the ground, turn his head, spit on the ball, speak in tongues…

And just a few seconds after you give up on the possibility that the ball will ever get to you, it will come flying at your head.

Well, maybe.

Ironically, the more complicated and involved his wind-up, the less likely that the ball is going to end up anywhere near you.

And that means that you’ll have to chase it down, throw it back to him, and then, guess what comes next:

yep, another wind-up.

Now, I’m being somewhat sarcastic in the sense that, while everything I wrote here is true, it’s at least as adorable as frustrating to see this unfold.

But over the past several weeks of analysing this phenomenon, I’ve been wondering how much you and I do this in our day-to-day lives.

Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like we often go for the low-hanging fruit of the fancy wind-up over the hard-work of learning to throw a decent pitch.

A bride spends years being “engaged” and planning the big wedding, because that’s easier and more exciting than being a good wife.

A young man spends years in seminary and devotes himself to planning his “future in ministry” because that’s easier than serving the people around him.

A young woman who decides she wants to “get in shape” and spends weeks getting the “right” clothes and shoes and equipment and workout music because that’s easier than actually exercising.

Even the business man who spends most of his life working himself ragged so he can save up enough money to retire and then spend some time with is family…
And there’s nothing wrong with being a bride or a student or any of the above…

At the end of the day, the wind-up has its place.

Pitchers do it for a reason, and it can be a good thing in general.

In fact: no wind-up often signals rushing into something.

But the wind-up isn’t the pitch.

And a wind-up with no pitch is worthless.

It’s all show.

It only matters if you eventually throw the ball over the plate.

Just a thought…

A Few More Vacation Photos

Zack — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 11:03:55 +0000

We’re walking out of the “Burro Loco” in Myrtle Beach.

I see a rustic decoration.

Steph sees a photo opp.

30 seconds later, we have a few more photos that we need to find some room on the walls for:

Just For Fun

Zack — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 15:53:18 +0000

It’s been a few weeks since we posted anything.

There are lots of reasons for that, and I suppose I’ll eventually make the time to catch the world up on what’s been going on in our lives.

But in the meantime, here’s the first photo from the 2011 Riesland Summer Vacation.

Oh, and here’s the shameless plug: If you want photos like this all over your walls, you should hire my wife!

Josiah: Spring, 2011

Zack — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 13:53:02 +0000

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABDEpUOpsrQ

1 of 3 Reasons I Hurry Home Every Day

Zack — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 12:17:12 +0000

A Day In The Life…

Zack — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 10:35:57 +0000

My son is BEYOND awesome.

Every day he makes me smile.

Most days, he makes me laugh out loud.

When my dad gave a speech at my wedding, he said “I feel like I won the lottery.”

I think I will probably say the same thing every chance I get when it comes to both of my babies.

But Josiah recently entered a new stage…

I suppose we could call it the “I just realized that I can learn more about the world by asking questions” phase.

Or maybe IJRTICLMATWBAQ for short.

Here is the conversation we had over breakfast Saturday:

J: What’s that?!!?

Me: I don’t know. What is it?

J: It’s peanut butter!

Me: That’s right!

J: What kind?

Me: What kind of peanut butter?

J: Yeah! What kind?!?

Me: I don’t know. You tell me.

J: I don’t know either!

Me: It’s creamy peanut butter.

J: What kind?

Me: Um… it’s just creamy.

J: What kind?

Me: CREAMY! Creamy peanut butter. Made from peanuts.

J: Peanut butter is made from peanuts!

Me: Yep.

J: What kind….

If Stephanie or look totally exhausted next time you see us, it’s because we have 100 conversations like that every day.

It’s amazing to watch Josiah grow up right before our eyes and to see those little wheels in his head spinning as he pieces together his understanding of the universe.

But man…. the kid has a LOT of questions.

Brian Regan On Little League

Zack — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 19:11:45 +0000

Brian Regan is, without a doubt, my favorite comedian.

For our anniversary this year, Steph took me to see him perform live last week. My jaws and my stomach were seriously hurting by the end of the night.

I was very impressed (and excited) that his WHOLE routine was brand new material that I had never heard before, but I was also excited that he came out and did an encore, taking requests from the audience.

He did about 20 minutes from his first ‘big’ CD, which is how I was introduced to him — so of course I’ve been watching his older stuff on youtube all week.

This is one of my favorites. The cartoon drawings are kind of silly, but this is the only video I could find with this skit in it.

Brian Regan on little league: