Home and Hurricanes

Home is where my family gathers. We laugh. We play. We cry. Home is where we settle our lives and work through our difficulties. Home calls us away from strife and beckons us into its’ safety. It’s where we find true rest. It’s where we find peace. Home is where we’re fed and filled and find satisfaction. Home is where we are meant to be. I love home.

My house is not my home. As we evacuated our house and our town this week, these things became much more clear to me. I looked in the rearview mirror and watched all of our earthly possessions grow small and smaller, shrinking as we distanced ourselves from the path of the hurricane. It was very surreal. This week, I have struggled between the fear of losing everything and the knowledge that we already have all that we need in Jesus. We have our family and yet, my faith is intermingled with unbelief.

“Lord I believe. Help my unbelief.” – Mark 9:24

When we drove away, I made some decisions. I decided that I was willing to lose everything that we left behind. I “let go” of our house. I now understand, that I was able to make that decision with confidence because I knew that we would always have a home. Jesus is our home and He has promised to never leave us. He is with us even in the midst of the hurricane. Would I miss certain things? Of course. Mostly things with sentimental value…. Items that are “more” than they actually are. However, in the end, even those things fall short of what Jesus Himself can provide.

Read my first paragraph again:

Jesus is where my family gathers. We laugh. We play. We cry. Jesus is where we settle our lives and work through our difficulties. Jesus calls us away from strife and beckons us into His safety. He is where we find true rest. He is where we find peace. Jesus is where we’re fed and filled and find satisfaction. Jesus is where we are meant to be. I love Him. 

 


PS – We have returned from our evacuation and our house has remained dry. Everything has remained the same. However, I have not remained the same. I have been changed. As a community, we have much work to do. I plan to help my neighbors. I’m praying that together we will experience this true “home” as we work side by side. Pray for us.

 

Pelicans and Leadership

Recently, I had the privilege to join some friends (Thanks Shelby’s!) at their bay house. It’s a beautiful place and a perfect place to “get away” a bit.

I don’t think I’ve ever really sat and watched pelicans diving for fish before. They fly up high to get a good wide perspective and scan for prey. When they see something they circle to get a good angle and then dive with abandon. Recklessly even. They aren’t very graceful – just effective. In order to survive, they must do this regularly – every day even.

I wonder what leaders can learn from pelicans? Do we escape our normal routines and seek out “high places” where we can get good perspectives? Do we continually scan for new opportunities? Do we work to get a good angle and then dive recklessly? Are we so afraid of being ungraceful that we just continue to circle without ever diving? Do we get comfortable enough that we stop working this process or do we do it daily?

True Fear

KasenMiranda asked a simple question. “Where is Kasen?” I didn’t know. We had been home for a few hours from our vacation and were relaxing on the floor of the living room. Kasen had been right there with us just minutes before. We yelled for him. . . No answer or any noises from other parts of the house. We got up and started looking. There are only a couple of places he could be – the living room, the kitchen, his room, our room. (He can’t open doors yet and we keep the rest of them closed.) In a matter of seconds we had searched the whole house – panic was quick to follow. Miranda and I both were yelling his name. I checked behind the closed doors. And then the closets. Fear escalated. I remembered a story of a friend who had climbed in a trunk (Caylin Brashear) and I checked our trunk – then Kasen’s toybox. Miranda was screaming with a voice I had never heard. Shrieks. Her breathing had an unnerving “ohhh. . .” sound. She met me in the hall and screamed, “the pool.” Kasen loves the “poo” – maybe he could be there?.?. but logically, he couldn’t get the back door open. Could someone have come in the house and taken him? Could he have somehow gotten a door open? My mind raced. I was desperate. . .I ran outside slamming my face into the patio door. No. . .he wasn’t in the pool. . . Heart racing, I ran back inside.

Miranda was holding him and yelling to me that she found him. Evidently, he had been laying in his bed the whole time with his covers over his head. We had each been in his room multiple time during those moments. He likes to take Kesleigh’s binky and then run and hide getting his little oral fix ’cause he knows he’s not allowed to have one. Evidently, that’s what he had done and probably fallen asleep. Or maybe he didn’t answer our calls ’cause he was hiding.

Either way, it couldn’t have been more than 3 minutes total. But it was enough. Enough to realize how quickly things can go downhill. Enough to realize how great our love for our children is and how quickly it can turn into fear. This kind of experience changes a man.

As I look back on it I wonder, “Where was my faith during these moments? What happened to trusting in the Lord? Why did I panic so quickly?” I am a weak man. Sinful. Even at my best, I am still very frail. I need God.

Prayer: Lord, take care of my children. You have given them to me for a few years and I truly want to be a good steward. I want to be a great father and a good example. I want to protect them. I want to represent You to them. All of these things are noble thoughts, but the bottom line is that I can’t do any of these things near as well as You. Lord, cover them with Yourself. Protect them when I fail them. Hold them close and keep them safe. Lord, in the same moment that I pray for their protection, I also pray that You will ultimately use them in mighty ways. May they be arrows (Psalm 127) that break into enemy territory taking ground for Your kingdom. May they understand You and the strength they have in You so well that they are willing to follow You into situations that may even seem dangerous to others. May they be in Your hands at all times, with or without me, in every situation – that’s the safest place to be. AMEN.

Kasen Discovers: The Bounce House

This is one of those obligatory father posts – some of you won’t care, but I’m a proud father who has to share ’cause he loves his boy so much!

We went to the church-wide BBQ today in honor of the first responders of Lake Jackson. We had a great lunch and when the rain stopped (for about 15 minutes) they took a towel to the bounce house and gave the kids (who weren’t wet) a chance to play. Kasen is 17 months old and this was his first bounce house experience. We’re glad he had the chance ’cause next weekend he’ll be at his cousin Reid’s b-day party where there will be lots of them!!

I’m not sure if it’s really jumping or galloping, but he had fun! My favorite part is the way he looks up at me at the end of the clip.


Kasen Discovers the Bounce House from Steve Corn on Vimeo.

The Hangout House

Recently, Miranda and I watched a TV show (Still Standing) where parents were competing to have the house where all the kids hung out. It became a contest to see who could buy the bigger and better toys. Pretty funny.

Miranda and I have always said that we wanted our house to be the “Hangout House.” We pray that our home will be a place where kids feel comfortable. A place where they want to be. We pray that they feel welcome and a sense of the peace and joy that we take in each other.

Growing up, our house was that way. Mom and dad made sure that we had lots of fun toys (pool table, trampoline, motorcycle, above ground swimming pool, etc.) so our friends wanted to come to our house, but ultimately, it was the way they were treated by my parents that brought them back. It was the love in our home that made them continue to show up. As a matter of fact, there’s a part of me that thinks they our house would’ve been the Hangout House even if we hadn’t had any of those big toys. My parents worked to create a home where we could express ourselves and play freely. My parents wouldn’t have encouraged all of our activities, but they did let us push the envelope a bit.

By the way, boys need adventure and risk as a part of their play. They don’t day dream and imagine secure safe homes with dolls like girls do, but instead they dream of fighting epic battles and winning the beauty against the greatest of odds. Risk and adventure should be not only allowed but even encouraged in their play so they can become the men of God our world so desperately needs.

Nov_86_still_at_play_boys_will_be_b
Anyway, in our house growing up, we laughed a lot and we played hard. We pulled sleds with four-wheelers, and built skate ramps and stereo boxes. We jumped from the roof of the house to the trampoline and from the trampoline to the pool. (One time our friend Paul ended up with his head in the pool, his feet between the trampoline springs, and his chest imprint on the metal wall of the pool.) We also used to put soap on the trampoline and throw balls at the people jumping. Our driveway became a basketball court almost every Sunday afternoon. We made strange videos and built jumps for our bikes. We had an annual epic water balloon war on Halloween. Now, I wouldn’t say that all of these things were safe, but they were all really fun! The way we played was an expression of who we were.

As a parent, I want to know my kid’s friends. I want them to know me too. I hope we’re able to spend time together so we can begin to influence each other and the best way for that to happen is for my house to be full of love and joy and laughter and playfulness.

Since I’m just a big kid myself. I’m excited about the years ahead. Maybe daddy will get some toys too.

Check out these Scriptures too: Deut 6:6-9; Prov 17:1; 21:9; 24:3; 1 Tim 1:6; 2 Cor 2:14-16

Hmm…

houseHmm. . .

Miranda and I just moved into our new house this month. It’s kind of a mixed bag of emotions that I have. First, I’m excited to have a house and a place share my life with my wife. Our dogs love having a back yard too. Hopefully, one day we’ll have a family to share it all with too.

But there is a downside – we haven’t been there long, and already I’ve got a list of stuff I gotta do. Home is supposed to be a place to come home from work to rest – right?? I just finished building a kitchen table and now we gotta paint it, then I gotta build some end tables, and a shelving unit. I also gotta make sure the yard is kept up, figure out how to get our DSL line working at home, and_____, and _____. It just seems like the list goes on and on.

Anyway, I guess I’m pretty proud of the kitchen table I built and I’d say even after all the headaches, that it was worth it. As I imagine all the friends who will eventually sit at that table and the conversations which will surround it. We’ll probably play cards and laugh with friends there. Who knows maybe, we’ll even eat on it every once in a while? As I built the table, I probably should have prayed for some of those things, but I must admit I was too busy thinking about measurements and where did I put the screwdriver. (I’ll try to do that next time I build something.)

Maybe I just need to turn my thinking around a bit – instead of feeling the pressure to get it all done – it should be an excitement to have more opportunities to serve my Jesus. I can pray at any time – even when I’m doing what I hate the most.