Me, Myself, and Mine

This is my & Karen's newest Grandson, fourth grandchild, and the newest arrow in Shawna & Jim's quiver, shortly after his birth.

You can discover how he got his name in my July 26, 2005 post below.

"Behold, children are a gift of the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one's youth. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them; They will not be ashamed When they speak with their enemies in the gate." (Psalms 127:3-5)

Now It's Your Turn!: Why do you think grandchildren are important? What is your most important legagcy so far? (My 'Comment Section', in which you can share anonymously, will open to you when you click on "Comments" immediately below this post.)

Until next time, how can I help you? (You can contact me by clicking here. Also, contact me directly to be added to Patton Associates’ S-M-A-R-TBriefing™ Mailing List. Check out recent samples here.)

So little Joshua does not stand alone in your mind's-eye, here (r to l) are his two sisters, (Jade, 6 & Alannah, 2) and brother, (Dustyn, 4) who arrived before him. And will always stand behind him and be there for him!

For me, this is what life is all about ...family, other relationships, and love.

Now It's Your Turn!: What is most important in your life? What does family mean to you? (My 'Comment Section', in which you can share anonymously, will open to you when you click on "Comments" immediately below this post.)

Until next time, how can I help you? (You can contact me by clicking here. Also, contact me directly to be added to Patton Associates’ S-M-A-R-TBriefing™ Mailing List. Check out recent samples here.)

Joshua Caleb Medwedyk, my fourth Grandchild, entered the world noisily and healthily on Friday, July 8, 2005 at about 7:30 a.m.

He was cute at birth as you can see better in my July 27th post. I find this sometimes is abnormal with brand-new babies …whether boys or girls. For example, Shawna, Joshua's mother and our only daughter, had a distinctly yellow, prune-like countenance at birth because she was a little jaundiced.

Joshua is also an even-tempered child and easy to care for. He lies lazily in one's arms or his crib dozing and smacking his lips, contentedly like a little kitten, much of the time. Shawna's breast-feeding ability has a lot to do with this. (A newborn receiving lots of colostrum, early mother's milk, statistically does better than formula-fed babies.) Our family's collective love for him is a big plus also. Joshua's four-year-old brother and two sisters, aged two and six, maul him regularly with hugs and kisses like bear cubs playing with a sibling. The rest of us adults in the family do the same, but, more gently.

Shawna and Jim, the baby's father, had only picked a girl's name, Rebecca, as their child's birth-date approached. This caused them some concern because they were unable to decide on a boy's name and felt one might be needed about half way through Shawna's pregnancy. In a contrary way, Karen and I went to the hospital for Shawna's birth equipped only with that name. In retrospect, we realized we were totally unconcerned and felt secure one was unneeded.

Once while praying for my growing Grandchild, I had the sense that the child was another boy. As I had the gender thought, I also felt impressed by the name 'Joshua'.

I shared my story with my daughter in a very low-key way. She told Jim. And, in due course, Joshua became the name if we had a boy. Caleb was added as his middle name because of the Biblical connection between these two heroes of ancient Israel.

Holy Spirit hid my Grandson's gender to the very end. Shawna had two ultrasounds during her pregnancy. She and Jim intentionally had asked not to be told the gender of any of their earlier children. This time they asked. However, the unborn baby's groin area, was obscured throughout every ultrasound.

Did I hear from God about my Grandson's gender and the name he should be given? Does God even care about such things? I want to believe the former but I cannot know for sure. I can be sure of the latter, however.

We each are precious to our heavenly Father. For His written word to us, the Bible, says:

Shawna also was not surprised. Near the end of her pregnancy, she knew that she knew that Joshua was on the way!

Now It's Your Turn!: Have you ever had a "sixth sense" about something? Do you think we can hear from our heavenly Father? (My 'Comment Section', in which you can share anonymously, will open to you when you click on "Comments" immediately below this post.)

Until next time, how can I help you? (You can contact me by clicking the link in my sidebar on the left.)

This book has the potential to positively change your life by giving you the ability to change another's attitude toward you. How and what we think is more powerful than many of us realize according to Stirr, postmodern science and the ancients.

Miller's Bolt is a fun read and a wonderful parable. It is the fictional story of a top-notch manager who is on the edge of being fired. For, although Jim Manion does his job well, he has unwittingly alienated his co-workers by how and what he has been thinking about them. Given three months notice, Jim seeks help from his friend Peter Miller, a consultant and personal development coach. Together the two of them work to save Jim's career.

The book's thesis helps us to understand how to have more control over our attitudes towards others, including members of the most challenging groups of difficult people ...close family, bosses, and colleagues. We positively can affect the behaviour of others towards us by the way we view them and how we feel about them. We have the power to attract or repel with our thoughts because of their affect on our attitude and feelings.

The concept that changing the way we think about things and people will produce different outcomes seems to have clinical, scientific support. The headline reads: "Sexual Fantasies Relieve Pain". But what Dr. Peter Staats of the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine at Johns Hopkins University actually said was that our perceptions of pain could increase or decrease our tolerance for it. In the study published in the Journal of Pain Symptom Management (1988 Apr, 15:4, 235-43), subjects given favourable messages about the beneficial effects of ice water hand immersion had better pain tolerance than those who were told that ice water exposure had negative consequences. This also seems to prove that how we think about someone can affect our relationships, positively and negatively.

There is support among the ancients for the concept as well. One of the Hebrew Proverbs (23:7) says: "For as [a man] thinks within himself, so he is. ..."

You can buy it in Canada or the U.S..

Now It's Your Turn!: If you already have read the book or choose to do so on my recommendation, let me know what you think and how you feel about it. (My 'Comment Section', in which you can share anonymously, will open to you when you click on "Comments" immediately below this post.)

Until next time, how can I help you? (You can contact me by clicking the link in my sidebar on the left.)

This is a provocative and thought-provoking article. Hopefully you will find it as interesting as I did.

This is a controversial issue.

What do you think and how do you feel? My comment section is open for you. I will respond.

As a Follower of Jesus, an article I read recently has prompted me to prayerfully struggle with this question:

"How would Jesus have me respond to His commands to help the poor (e.g. Matthew 25:31-46) and optimize my giving in the context of the fact that He has told us the poor will always be with us (Matthew 26:11, Mark 14:11 & John 12:8 ...3 of the 4 Gospels) and that my and global aid funds are limited and finite."

The article that prompted this question was "The Live 8 dead end" by Paul Jacob. Jacob contends that much government-sponsored world aid is ineffective because of realities in the Third World and that there is a better way.

After circulating the article, a friend pointed out that many Canadian evangelical churches, through their association, "The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC)" and numerous Christian charities were sponsoring another international aid group, "The Micah Challenge". Micah Challenge, my friend advised, encourages governments to increase their aid to the Third World.

So, I wrote Micah Challenge and EFC asking what they were doing, and were suggesting that governments do, to overcome the challenges pointed out by Jacob. (I got a helpful and informative answer from Randy Easthouse, their Canadain Facilitator. Check it our in the comments section below.)

By copies to the Canadian Bible Society, World Vision, and Opportunity International (a microcredit group), all of which I support, I commended them for their approach of dealing with individuals and by-passing governments while minimizing their administrative expenses.

Then, I was led to an article that further provoked my thinking. It was “Heroes of the Half-Measure: Christian Advocates for Government Charity" by Jordan Ballor. Ballor offers yet another perspective on the challenges of Jesus Followers in giving Biblically and effectively.

Hopefully, you will find some food for thought in these pieces as I did. What do you think about
this issue and how do you feel about what you read above? My comment section is open to you.

Why Patton Associates Blog?

Well, for now, it will be my personal space. I will use it as a place to share ideas, random thoughts, resource URLs, etc., quickly with those who may drop by or use my web feed.

As I become more familiar with the medium, I may evolve it to other purposes.