God has provided and will continue to provide for us so I’m not worried or feel like I’m “out” anything when I endure the inequities of life like I used to not so long ago. I’m really trying to just let God surprise me with His love every day – letting Him choose how He would express it instead of me making demands on how I want it to look, i.e., praying for health, wealth, love, respect, reputation, protections, friendship, possessions… I still pray that God shows me His love and continue to offer prayers of thankfulness for all the things He has already given me, but I want to be surprised now. I think God likes setting up and giving surprises to the one’s He loves, like I do. If I had all the time and money in the world, that’s all I’d do all day long is think up great gifts for my loved ones and devise different ways to give those things to them.
Dad, Show Me Your Love Today
A prayer I’ve been praying recently is, “Dad, love me today. Show me your love today.” No other person can guarantee their love to you, even if they have vowed to. C.S. Lewis wrote, “When I have learned to love God better than my earthly dearest, I shall love my earthly dearest better than I do now. In so far as I learn to love my earthly dearest at the expense of God and instead of God, I shall be moving towards that state in which I shall not love my earthly dearest at all. When first things are put first, second things are not suppressed but increased.” It’s a – seek God first and He will put everything into the right perspective in your life – kind of thing.
In, Mere Christianity, Lewis further states, “God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on… God cannot give us happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.”
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I Don’t Think Spanking Does What It’s Intended To Do
I used to believe in spanking my children. But after being a parent of three boys for eight years and growing in the knowledge of God, I don’t think spanking does what it’s intended to do. Children never listen to what you yell at them. (That’s probably why God speaks to us like the gentle whisper of the wind.) How can you teach a child love whilst hitting them? (I’ve never been able to resolve teaching my child not to hit by hitting them in the butt. It’s counter productive.) If the child is too young to understand, remove them from the situation and say, “No!” When they’re a little older, you can start to explain to them, “That’s not how we do things. What you did was not right and we want to teach you the right way.” If you don’t know the right way to teach, get a book and learn. You’re the adult now – the parent – get to work and do it right. Your kids can only benefit if you teach them the right way. And, you’ll be admired for your intelligence and restraint.
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What I Think Is Truly Important ~ 10 (or so) questions with…Drew Jarrod
10 (or so) questions with…Drew Jarrod
By Steve Lange. Drew Jarrod, stay-at-home dad, writer, musician, and songwriter (you can find his songs at www.drewjarrod.com or on iTunes). …
www.rochestermagazine.com/10/or/so/…/story-905.html
January 2012
10 (or so) questions with…Drew Jarrod
By Steve Lange
Drew Jarrod,
stay-at-home dad, writer, musician, and songwriter (you can find his songs at www.drewjarrod.com or on iTunes).
Rochester Magazine: On your email tagline, you list yourself as: “Husband, Dad, Writer, Musician, God-Follower.”
Drew Jarrod: I’ve made a study of my tagline. I’ve changed it numerous times over the last five years. It’s come from a personal search I’ve made for God. Every time I send an email that tagline shows up, and it’s almost more for me than anyone else, because I’ll reread it and see what’s really important in life.
RM: You have ‘Dad’ in your tagline.
DJ: We have three boys. They’re even this year: 8, 6, and 4. My wife, Erin, is a medical transcriptionist, and I’m a stay-at-home dad. I work hard at being a dad. I had a tough childhood. I wanted to be a better dad than my earthly father was. When I had kids it became apparent to me what I needed to work on.
RM: And ‘God-Follower.’
DJ: It’s tough. I’m trying to maintain the house. Yet I want to have time for the wife, have time for the kids. But through it all really it’s God who is number one. In the Bible it says, ‘Seek God first and he will give you the desires of your heart,’ which I’ve experienced.
RM: Do you have an example?
DJ: In 1997, I followed what I believed to be God’s call to move to a different city, and within one week I met my wife. So I see that as putting God first and finding the desire of my heart.
RM: How did you and Erin meet?
DJ: A friend of mine was a pastor at a church in Brownsdale and I lived up in the Cities … I came down and visited. … When I went to this church in Brownsdale I felt alive, like God was calling me here. I had a Harvest Fest concert that I put on for the church. It was a potluck and my wife was actually there; she was in the serving line and she dished up sweet corn, which was my favorite food. I remember seeing her in the line. I decided I needed to come down to this church. I finally moved down there on December 7, 1997. My only motivation was to get closer to this church and get closer to God.
RM: But then you saw Erin again?
DJ: Six days later, there was a live Nativity scene this church was putting on. They had live animals and you got dressed up in the garb and sat outside. … I was Joseph. When they introduced me to the woman who was going to play Mary, it was Erin. So we sat together on a hay bale for three-and-a-half hours in 20-degree weather dressed as Mary and Joseph and looking at the manger with the baby Jesus. I wanted to see her again, so I finally said, ‘I’m new to town, can you show me around?’
RM: That’s pretty good.
RM: You’re an expert at garage sales?
DJ: I’ve been thinking about hiring myself out as a garage sale consultant.
RM: I’m not sure any are in the area.
DJ: Yes. That’s why I’d be popular. I’d be in demand. I can sell anything that’s used.
RM: You’re a Star Wars aficionado?
DJ: I know more about Star Wars than the average person.
RM: We’ll find out. Which planet is Princess Leia from?
DJ: Alderaan.
RM: What are the first 10 words of the “Star Wars” lead-in?
DJ: A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…
RM: Who saves Luke on the planet Hoth?
DJ: Han.
RM: After Luke is carried off by a …
DJ: Wampa.
RM: Who is Darth Maul the apprentice of?
DJ: Darth Sidious.
RM: Where does Luke get shot while rescuing Han in Return of the Jedi?
DJ: Left hand.
RM: No! His right hand!
DJ: Darn it.
RM: OK. I guess you do know Star Wars.
RM: You have a long resume of different jobs, from youth counselor to sales to movie projectionist to videography. It looks like you’ve done a bit of everything in the last 15 or 20 years.
DJ: If you talk to someone who’s hiring for a job, I don’t know how they’d look at that. Would they say ‘Boy, he’s got a lot of experience?’ or ‘Boy, he can’t hold down a job?’
RM: Hard to say.
DJ: There is a variety. They are all connected. The calling God gives us cannot be contained by any one job. Every customer service job I’ve ever had comes from my desire to help people. The projectionist thing comes from my love of movies.
RM: Are you playing in the Eagles Cancer Telethon this year?
DJ: I’m scheduled to perform one song, bright and early Sunday, january 15th at 6:25 a.m.
RM: Do you perform regularly?
DJ: I perform daily in my home. I don’t play out very much. Though maybe I should more, because I think Erin was a groupie when she first met me.
RM: You proposed to Erin with a song you wrote. What’s the last line?
DJ: Oh, boy. Let me think the song through. “If you’ll have me, how sweet it would be … Erin, if you’d marry me.”
RM: Yes. You needed to get that right.
RM: What’s your best Star Wars voice?
DJ: It’s a toss-up between Yoda and Chewbacca.
RM: Can you do one of them for me?
DJ: Let me think of what I should say … [in an excellent Yoda voice]: Your questions they are good, yes? Mmmm.
RM: OK. Now I’ll do mine, although my wife says every impersonation I do sounds like Homer Simpson.
DJ: OK
RM [trying to do Yoda]: Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering.
DJ: It doesn’t sound like Homer Simpson. But I did know who you were trying to be.
RM: I would hope so. Here’s another: “But I was gonna go to the Tachi Station to pick up some power converters!”
DJ: Now that sounds like Luke. You’ve got a good pre-Jedi Luke voice.
RM: That’s not really a compliment.
God Doesn’t Punish Us
The most important thing I’ve learned so far about parenting and I guess dealing with others and myself is not to discipline or punish my children or anyone really. Real friends don’t wound friends – even to help them. They love them instead, as God loves us. God loves others through us and Love always hopes, always encourages, never fails, etc. God never puts us down. So, if someone is thinking they can teach you by hurting you so you will “finally see the light” and correct your “incorrect” ways, it’s not God in them doing that.
I don’t want to punish my kids. I just want to love them. I want to save them from the negative consequences of their actions – like God does with us. God desires all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the Truth, not be punished. That’s why He sent Jesus – to save us from being punished.
It’s also why I don’t believe God punishes us or disciplines us when we disobey. I think He lets the game of life do that. (If He interfered instantly or directly, that would be interfering in the freewill that He has given us.) Instead, I think God created us, gave us the basic rules of the game and now just stands out of our way watching us play. I think God set up life so that when we disobey or live in a way that isn’t right, the consequences of our actions simply come down on our heads and that teaches us more than God specifically stepping in and slapping our hands. If we are supposed to pay taxes here on earth, then we should. Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s. If we can’t pay the tax, we get thrown in jail, so be it. Joseph was wrongly imprisoned for years and he didn’t complain. He bore it and waited patiently on God. If he were to have died in jail instead of eventually being released, then so be that. He would have awoken in eternal life where real life begins anyway.
We get so bogged down in thinking that the things that happen in this life matter. We think they matter more than they really do. Certainly, do good to others – love them, show God’s love to them, but as Solomon said, “It’s all meaningless!” Enjoy what you can. Teach those that want to be taught. Be an example for those that don’t know God by living honestly. Trust in God, your Dad. Don’t worry about anything. Eat healthy, exercise and sleep well. God doesn’t punish us. He loves us. He always loves us. When we play the game well – when we believe and trust in God and obey Him, I believe God’s blessings remain with us. When we leave the path of obedience, His blessings cannot rest on us. We have enemies in this life – the devil, the rest of the world at large and we more often than not even sabotage ourselves all causing negative consequences to rain down on ourselves, but God does not punish us any longer. He sent Jesus to make sure He didn’t have to anymore. “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.” ~Romans 8:1-4
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