The Family You Know

“Spend some time with the family you know” said a commerial I saw tonight advertising for The Sopranos, an HBO grammy award-winning drama. Maybe you saw the commercial as you watched football tonight. In an outright blatant slam against the traditional family, this commercial claims that you, the viewer, know the Soprano family better than your own and encourages you to continue in that endeavor. Sadly, that may be the case for the average viewer. I’m thankful to say that it’s not for me.

You know, I’m still trying to figure out this whole blog thing. Because I think that most bloggers (and I can’t say that I’m not guilty of this from time to time) feel that they finally have a platform for spewing incoherent verbage and waxing philosophical in a forum that just may get read. But as I sat in the living room tonight watching football with my wife and kids and eating week old popcorn with Areyna (she takes awhile to finish a bag), and thanking God for a beautiful day of worship, I couldn’t help but think to myself that this is what really matters in my life. Enjoying my family as a priceless gift from God. And that’s when I realized that that’s what I want to write about. Those are the stories that matter to me.

And who cares if no one reads. I’ll enjoy writing about and basking in the victories of my kids as they say new words and learn about life and God. As Zeke learns to blow bubbles with his saliva and Rainy learns to square dance with her bear. And I’ll enjoy dating my wife and spending time together, even if that means a free date between Sunday services at Starbucks (thanks for the Frappachino’s Tom). And I’ll always spend time with the family that I know. And that’s not the Soprano family. And I’ll let this tragic situation with Ted Haggard be a sobering reminder to me about what really matters in my life, and that’s purity. I’ll let it bring me to my knees daily knowing that I’m no less susceptible to moral failure than he was; save for the grace of God.