Noah's First Birthday!

It has been a year since the Lord blessed us with the birth of our third child, Noah John Rector. He has been such a joy to our family with his constant smile, easy going attitude, and sweet disposition! I love being his mommy and learning more about him and who he is everyday. It is our prayer he will be a man of God with integrity, valor, and honor. I'm enjoying everyday with him and look forward to all the days the Lord has ordained for him! I thank God for giving us the gift of our son, Noah.

Who is Antonio Gramsci?

In my previous post, I included a link to an article by Nouriel Roubini, in which he alluded to the U.S. trend toward a socialist economy. This is a follow up to that post. Just a few minutes of research on Antonio Gramsci and his theory of hegemony was both informative and frightening. Here is just a small tid-bit from Wikipedia:


"The analysis of hegemony (or "rule") was formulated by Antonio Gramsci to explain why predicted communist revelations had not occurred where they were most expected, in industrialized Europe. Marx and his followers had advanced the theory that the rise of industrial capitalism would create a huge working class and cyclical economic recessions. These recessions and other contradictions of capitalism would lead the overwhelming masses of people, the workers, to develop organizations for self-defense, including labor unions and political parties. Further recessions and contradictions would then spark the working class to overthrow capitalism in a revolution, restructure the economic, political, and social institutions on rational socialist models, and begin the transition towards an eventual communist society.



In Marxian terms, the dialectically changing economic base of society would determine the cultural and political superstructure. Although Marx and Engels had famously predicted this eschatological scenario in 1848, many decades later the workers of the industrialized core still had not carried out the mission.



Gramsci argued that the failure of the workers to make an anti-capitalist revolution was due to the successful capture of the workers' ideology, self-understanding, and organizations by the hegemonic (ruling) culture. In other words, the perspective of the ruling class had been absorbed by the masses of workers. In advanced capitalist societies, hegemonic cultural innovations such as compulsory schooling, mass media, and popular culture had indoctrinated workers to a false consciousness. Instead of working towards a revolution that would truly serve their collective needs, workers in "advanced" societies were listening to the rhetoric of nationalist leaders, seeking consumer opportunties and middle-class status, embracing an individualist ethos of success through competition and/or accepting the guidance of bourgeois religious leaders. "



Does anyone else see a striking similarity to America here?

Do we know what true conversion is?

As a teenager, I attended many youth camps, conferences, and retreats. Unfortunately, the footage in this video is all too familiar. Though it is not concerning Christianity, it is disturbing to see how closely it resembles what happens so often in our own church culture. I pray that God would motivate us to understand and teach true, Biblical conversion. 

Fannie and Freddie, not quite private, not quite government...

Interesting video about the bailout of Fannie and Freddie that some of you may have heard about. This gives a bit of a different twist on the story than what you'd hear from the mainstream media. 

Welcome Noah John Rector!!!

"Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow...!" 

I am filled with gratitude to my Lord and Savior for the blessing of another child. In the short time he has been with us, Noah has already brought so much joy to the Rector household. His recent entrance into our family, as well as the manner in which he arrived, are both testaments of God's faithfulness to us. 

As I think about the day we found out Laura was pregnant with our third child, I reflect on where we were a relatively short time ago. Just a little over four years back, Laura and I had our life planned out rather well, or so we thought. To make a long story short, our rant was "Get married, finish college, get jobs, buy house, buy nice cars, put $$$ in the bank, then have a boy for me, girl for you, praise the Lord, cause then we're through." Well, a few months into our marriage, our hearts changed. We realized, by God's grace, that He, being the Sovereign, Almighty, Creator of the Universe, had something to say about how we should order our lives, and what our priorities should be. We then had to confront the fact that many of our plans, though not inherently sinful in and of themselves, were based on cultural dictates, rather than a careful, prayerful examination of God's Will for our family, as clearly expressed in His Word (See the first several chapters of Genesis, Duet. 5, Psalm 137, 139 - these were all particularly helpful). So, we decided to make different plans, striving, though imperfectly, to center those plans around God's Word. 

The point is this: if you told us back on March 12, 2004, that in little more than four years of marriage, we would have three children, we would not have thought this to be good news. "Sure, children were a blessing," we thought. "But only if planned, and only in certain quantities." The fact that our hearts have been changed in such a way that we now rejoice at the birth of another child is, in itself, a testament to God's faithfulness. Praise God that he changed our hearts. Praise God for Ethan, Emma, and Noah, our arrows in the hands of a warrior.   

The story of Noah's birth also gives us reason to be grateful. After a long, difficult labor with Emma, Laura was certainly hoping for a shorter one with Noah, and shorter it was... 

Around 7:00am, Laura woke me up (it was my day to go to work late) and said she felt some sort of pressure, with some minor contractions. She mentioned that it was off and on throughout the night, particularly between 3:00-4:00am, but that she was able to sleep through it for the most part. So, just in case, around 7:30am, we started timing the contractions. They were very irregular, and led us to believe nothing was going on - until around 8:15, when a much more intense contraction sent her to the floor. I then called the midwife, but Laura still wasn't convinced it was the real deal. We actually told the midwife to take her time - get a shower, grab a bite, and just come on over whenever...

Nonetheless, since Laura was experiencing a bit of discomfort, we thought we'd better go ahead and prepare in case this was the real thing. So we called her Mother, Vivian to come pick up the kids. I packed their bag, and began unpacking the birthing pool Laura was planning on laboring in. Yeah - didn't quite get that done. Around 8:30am the contractions became so intense that Laura was begging to get in the water - NOW! Of course, I still had to blow up the thing (electric pump, but still), so Laura got in the tub in our bathroom. In the meantime, I called my Dad to let him know what was going on, and told him I'd stay in touch. They were on their way back from a Youth Camp in Missouri when all this was going on. I believe I said, "I'll talk to you around lunch time to give you an update..."

So then Paula comes in, around 9:15-9:20 - calm as can be, because, as we told her, "it was probably nothing." She hears Laura breathing heavily through a contraction, and goes to check on her. At this point, I'm getting the kids settled in their room while they wait on "Gram-Gram" to pick them up. Then Paula storms out, saying Laura will likely be pushing within the hour. So we go from, "Hey Paula, how are you? Sorry to make you come all this way, I hope it's at least something," to "Get back here NOW! Where is your Mother-in-law??? I need your help!!" 

Laura's Mom gets there around 9:45, and I get the kids loaded in the van and ready to go. I get back into the tub with Laura, using my entire body weight to apply counter-pressure on her back, and was in no longer than 15-20 minutes when she started pushing. Vivian and the kids didn't leave, but instead, huddled up in the play room on the other side of the house. She just couldn't leave knowing Laura would likely be pushing soon. Noah was born at 10:08! I called my Dad, less than a hour after saying, "We'll talk at lunch time," and shared the news with him. 

So, wake up at 7:00am, follow my normal early morning routine, get the kids ready, eat breakfast, do a little scrambling, then meet my new Son, Noah John, at just after 10 am. Well, not quite the 16-hour labor we were expecting, but I don't think Laura minded that too much! 

Noah: Hebrew Origin, "peaceful" 

John: Hebrew Origin, "the LORD is gracious" 

Thanks be to God, He has been gracious toward us - in blessing us with a peaceful labor and delivery, a peaceful child, and hearts that are being changed...

  

 

Click here for Noah's new website!

Enjoy!

Film Review: Return of the Daughters

This was a deeply moving, convicting, and challenging documentary. I marvel at God's grace in opening my eyes to things I actually used to consider heresy.

The idea of a daughter having to remain under the authority of her Father until she gets married, only to once again submit to her Husband 'till death do them part, used to be highly offensive to me. I was a classic example of one who confused equality with egalitarianism. 

In this documentary, I was first and foremost convicted of my own laziness and apathy as it relates to leading my family. Not that I don't lead my family. As Geoff Botkin, Father of the Botkin Sisters, so aptly pointed out, every man is leading in some way - every man has a theology. The true questions ultimately are, where am I leading my family? What is my vision, and on what theology is that vision based? Every man has a vision, a theology, and is, consequently, leading his family somewhere...

Ok, so maybe all of that wasn't the main point of the film, but as a Father, I'd have to say that is what stuck out to me the most. 

Now I will demonstrate my Biblical illiteracy - I have never read Numbers chapter 30. Well, most likely, I have. But if I did, I certainly never let it sink in. Every Father or Father-to-be needs to read that chapter. What an excellent demonstration of how seriously God takes his created order within the home. What I found interesting is that if a man's wife or daughter makes a vow, and if in the day he hears of it, the Father or husband does not object, he is, in effect, ratifying that vow. Furthermore, God never asks men to be the head of their home, he indicates that they are the head! This is not imperative, it is indicative! There is simply no debating whether or not we as men are the leaders of our homes, because God ordained that fact from the beginning of time. We have no choice. This was an incredible challenge to make sure I'm steering the ship in the right direction. Regardless of whether or not I'm actively steering it, its going somewhere! And if it goes the wrong way, I, as the Captain of that ship, am ultimately responsible. 

The majority of the film consisted of interviews with several daughters who had, in their own way, deliberately chosen to reject the feminism of our culture, and give their hearts to their Fathers, rather than the values of our culture. Their hearts are remaining their Father's until they are united in marriage to their husband. As Doug Phillips later pointed out, there is nothing oppressive, or, hindering about this. It is simply God's created order. Every Christian would agree that true peace and contentment is found only when we do things God's way. But we so often differ on what God's way really is, especially as it relates to the family. The key is to gain a true understanding of God's Word, and how its truth applies to every area of our life. 

So then there is the all-famous objection of paying too much attention to doctrine, rather than the gospel. Again, Botkin and Phillips eloquently point out that God is not just concerned with our telling others about him, he is very concerned about how we live and what we believe. My wife and I were discussing Matthew 28 just last night. One thing we both observed is that most people quoting the passage on the Great Commission stop short. They talk about going into all the world and preaching the gospel, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son , and Holy Spirit. But they often stop there! That passage continues by saying, ..."teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you." Doctrine is simply a set of beliefs or tenets about a particular subject. God's commandments to us teach us who God is, who we are, and what he requires of us. If we have gospel without doctrine, we are, in fact, falling short of fulfilling the Great Commission. 

There is so much more incredible information contained in this documentary, than this ranting can't even begin to do it justice. If you haven't already seen it, watch it yourself! I can assure you, it will not be a waste of time - it will leave you convicted, challenged, and with a renewed drive to be a Godly man who raises Godly daughters.