baby

Fetal Development This Week
Week 38 of Pregnancy: Preparing for Birth
Your little one isn't so little anymore — weighing in at close to seven pounds and hitting the height charts at the 21-inch mark (or less). Your baby's lungs and fetal digestive system continue to mature, too. All systems, almost go!
Only two more weeks (or plus two more, max) before your baby makes his or her appearance. And what an adorable appearance that will be! Your little one isn't so little anymore — weighing in at close to seven pounds and hitting the height charts at the 21-inch mark (or less).

As you prepare (best you can) for baby's ETA, he or she is also getting ready, big time. Vernix and lanugo continue to shed from your baby's body into the amniotic fluid. Your baby swallows that amniotic fluid (yum yum?) and some of it winds up in his or her intestines where it — along with other shed cells, bile, and other waste products (triple yum) — will turn into your baby's first bowel movement (meconium) and perhaps your first diaper change.

Your baby's lungs continue to mature as more and more surfactant is secreted (remember — it helps prevent the lungs from sticking to each other when your baby begins to breathe…definitely a good thing). At 38 weeks pregnant, all systems, almost go!

(There's a lot of gross stuff going on in the little creature. I am really excited though. Cannot believe that we are about to embark on this incredible journey of parenting. God help us. haha)

Prayers Requested

Shaina had a check up today and her blood pressure is still not where we want it. They are doing another set of tests to make sure her liver and kidneys are functioning the way they should be. There is a possibility that we will be looking at inducing labor as early as next week if this blood pressure deal doesn't improve.

Shaina is in good spirits and still feels good. I just ask for prayers of clarity and wisdom for both of us, our midwife Sue and any doctors who may be in the consultation process.

Not stressed, as we have concluded that God is gifting us with even the joy of the journey of pregnancy, so we just want to be present to that gift as fully as we can and not be consumed with what could happen.

Ask boldly for Christ to be made much of in our lives.

Life

Life Update since I've been blogless for a bit.

Shaina and I are in a couples small group reading through "Making Love Last a Lifetime". I think that couples who are serious about their marriage should be consistently going back to the drawing board to enrich their relationship. Doing this with other couples is a fantastic strategy. Our group is a neat one in that one couple has a toddler. One has an infant. One has one on the way. One are newlyweds. One is engaged. And one is in a serious dating relationship.

One of the assignments in this book for this week was to take the lady out for a date. It wasn't much, but Shaina and I went sort've spontaneously to Bob Evans and then to see Super 8 last night. First movie we've seen in months in the theater. It reminded me of a cross between E.T. and Goonies.

The Cavs draft grade was a C. I would have liked to see them take Shelvin Mack at 32 rather than trading it away. Irving has Chris Paul like potential. Don't know much about Thompson other than a pretty fantastic last name.

While in Chi-Town we had deep dish pizza and went to a Chicago area Hot Dog place. I like food.

Shaina is now 37 weeks pregnant. It may be time to look in to installing the carseat.

I won free golf for the rest of the year. Just in time for this baby to come and for an intense season of ministry...Temptation?

I am in love with Shaina.

I am in love with Jesus.

And I may sleep all day today.

Rory!

Well, I am in Chi-town for the week. More business than pleasure. In fact, this is a pretty grueling week for Shaina and I as we go through a gauntlet of evaluation, assessment and testing to see how God has shaped us and how He is calling us.

We need prayers.

Its one thing to do this as a couple. Its another to do it with a little creature nearing her first public appearance of all time. 36 weeks and Shaina is an absolute trooper.

On the lighter side, I play in a fantasy golf league at through Chippewa Golf Club. It's free. Pick 10 golfers each week. Spend 20 million fake dollars. And Chippewa gives away cool prizes to the winners. Some weeks it might be a free round of golf or a new club. This past week, being a Major Tournament. The grand prize winner receives free golf for the rest of 2011.

I had Rory McIlroy (1st) Jason Day (2nd) Lee Westwood (4th) Robert Garrigus (4th) Sergio Garcia 5th and a couple others down the leaderboard.

I won! And of course, free golf out the wazoo comes at the exact most inopportune time, with a baby on the way and church responsibilities that are pretty urgent.

But free golf is free golf. And that is pretty stinkin' sweet.

Another Quote

Not sure if I'm out of insights and thoughts this week, or if what I am reading is just resonating so thoroughly with my heart that I can't help but center on it.

Right now I'm reading two books for two different groups. Reading Radical for our Young Adult Sunday School class and Reading "Making Love Last a Lifetime" for our young couples small group on Sunday evenings.

This quote is from David Platt's book "Radical"

"Yet in the American Dream, where self reigns as king (or queen), we have a dangerous tendency to misunderstand, minimize, and even manipulate the gospel in order to accomodate our assumptions and our desires. As a result, we desperately need to explore how much of our understanding of the gospel is American and how much is biblical."

Mark Batterson says it well, "God made us in His image and we've been returning the favor ever since."

The M words Platt uses are convicting because they say a lot about my heart and yours. If I misunderstand the gospel it is because I'm not seeking it (and Him) enough. If I minimize the Gospel, I forsake the cross. If I manipulate the Gospel, I become god and idolatry isn't really something that is found under God's Facebook 'Likes' Page.

So, which of these is where you're struggling the most? For me, its pure minimization. I know what the Gospel demands and generally I don't seek to make it fit my lifestyle (at least that I'm aware of!) But often times I don't make it the sole passion of my life...I saw on my sister-in-law's facebook something that is not true of my life right now:

Jesus + Nothing = Everything.

What does it mean to be free?

Studying 1 Peter 2 for REAL Men of Genius tonight and got rocked by the following:

Freedom is not release from bondage to a state of autonomy, but release from bondage to become a slave of God. Only in God's joyful slavery is there true freedom.--Peter H. Davids


The counter-intuitiveness of the Gospel is striking. In this country in particular, we understand our freedom as our rights, our independence, our autonomy.

The Gospel tells us that this is indeed the palest form of freedom. For true freedom is found in bondage to Christ.

Galatians 5:1

How the Indians will turn it around

I'm going up with the young adults of the church this Friday. We will eat dollar dogs. We will watch 80s fireworks. I will root for mustard to win the between inning sprint.

And our presence (and the fact that they are playing the lowly Pirates), will be the start of a huge turnaround.

You can thank me later.

All aboard the steward ship!

I've lived and breathed ministry for long enough to know that the Steward Ship is cruising off the coast of all of our churches.

We tell people to be good stewards of their money...their time...their resources...their talents.

This is good stuff.

Where we need to be wise is in how we define the word.

I remember a church in Alliance that had portable music equipment. Amps, Monitors, speakers, the whole nine yards. It was 10 grand easy to get all of that. The heart was to use it for a new worship venue and allow new people to connect with their church in a different environment. One of the unpaid servants of the church offered up the materials for our college ministry to use at a retreat. As he was helping us load it up, he said that a while back some of the leadership in the church advised that policies should be in place on how the music equipment could be used and there was actually opposition to letting us use it. The opposition said that under the guise of 'good stewardship' of what they had purchased, it would not be a wise thing to let us use it because it could get damaged.

The leader quipped in a remark that has really changed my view of stewardship..."Stewardship isn't about protecting what's been given to us...its about using and wearing out what's been given to us for the Kingdom."

His whole thing was that the church had made an investment in something to reach people for Christ and now it was their duty and responsibility to wear that equipment out for the kingdom.

Yes, you can wear your resources, money and gifts out in wise or unwise ways. But stewarding anything that God has entrusted to you means using the bejeepers out of it in ways that leverage the grace of God to the world.

So if you're hopping on board the Steward Ship and you find that it is staying too close to the shore for safety and protection...you might find its time to repent and push out to deep waters. Chances are, God will meet you in the depths.

So, what have you been given that needs to be leveraged more for God?

Make sure you've got clean underpants on

I don't know where this originated...maybe Bill Cosby or someone like that.

But my mom advised us kids on this repeatedly growing up.

In general...this is really good advice. It first says: "You better be wearin' freakin' underpants." Then it says: "And they better be clean."

I think mom had concerns that having dirty underpants on in the case of a car accident or something would reflect poorly on her work as a mother. The irony is that if you're about ready to get in a car wreck, chances are, clean underpants probably aren't clean anymore.

Nonetheless, it was perhaps part two of the golden rule growing up. Do unto others...and while doing, you better have clean freakin' underpants on!

It's no surprise then, that six years ago today, my mom came and got me out of bed saying something was wrong. I came downstairs thinking my dog Shadow was sick or something. But far worse, it was my dad. He was having a massive heart attack. My mom was on the phone with the EMT. She gave me the phone and began compressions. I cleared a path from the front door to the bed room for the bed/stretcher. Then mom took the phone back and gave me the responsibility of CPR. So as I'm beating on my dad's chest to get a heart beat and breathing into his mouth, I remember like it was yesterday, in the midst of the chaos and adrenaline, I look to see my mom taking a second to change my dad's underpants. It was so brief (pun intended) and the moment was so urgent that I think it may have been a day or two later as we were grieving that I recalled the moment and asked my mom if I was remembering right. "Do I remember correctly, did you change dad's underwear?"

Sure enough.

Its one thing to say wise things. Its another to live them out.

Here's to my dad, who selflessly worked his butt off for his family and never missed a game. And here's to clean underpants. :-)

Monday Meanderings on Church and Leadership XIII

My young adult group at church has just kicked off a study for the summer on David Platt's book, "Radical".

There is certainly a tension between Jesus' version of discipleship and our American version of discipleship. This book is about that.

The phrase that is sticking with me from this first chapter is 'the cost of non-discipleship'.

Time and time again in the Gospels, Jesus refers to the cost of discipleship.

It's high. Read Luke 14:25-33. It causes you to

hate your family.
hate your own life.
carry a cross.
count the cost.

For many in our churches, the cost of discipleship is that it makes you spend an hour or two on your precious Sunday morning at a building, paying God His dues. For some, the cost of discipleship is when the church is behind financially, we put in a few extra bucks.

The cost of discipleship is more than that. It demands my very life. My affections, my relationships, my time, my money, my ambitions, dreams, hopes, everything.

But if Jesus is who he says he is and rejecting Him does what He says it does, then the Cost of Non-discipleship is even higher.

If you don't lose your life in small consistent ways now. You will lose your life in drastic, irreversible ways later.

He must increase, but I must decrease. John 3:30.


What has to die in you today?

Kill your Mattress

"Jesus didn’t call us to take up our mattress…He commanded us to take up our cross. This is hard…and many times it will mean putting our personal preferences aside in order to see God’s precepts carried out. We always have to be serious about putting pride aside and embracing whatever it is the Lord wants for us."

-Perry Noble


So where does the cross need to replace a mattress in your life this week

34 Weeks!

34 Weeks in on this crazy adventure of parenting. Shaina is doing well. Yesterday at the appointment we learned the baby is head down which is good. I actually got to put my hand around the head through Shaina's stomach which was pretty nifty.

We also found out the baby is back to back with Shaina...which is not good. So we were directed here to try and get the little one to turn. Good times.

Shaina's blood pressure is a bit high too, which has led to Shaina getting this nifty toy



24 hour urine jug, which we get to keep in the refrigerator. That's not all! It comes with a bonus pee catching sombrero.



Goal Number One: Make sure everything is ok with Shaina.

Goal Number Two: Make sure I don't try to drink any orange juice this week.

Never a dull moment in the Thompson household. :-)

Monday Meanderings on Church and Leadership XII

The Tension is Good.

Believe it or not, it is true. A body that is at rest tends to stay at rest.

So sometimes the tension is not only good, but neccessary in order for your organization, company or church to grow.

The difficult job of the leader is figuring out what tension is healthy and unresolvable and what tension needs irradicated.

Good tension leads to creativity, collaboration and momentum. The leaders around you will embrace and engage the tension and work together to break through to new growth and new possibilities.

Bad tension leads to staleness, independence and stagnancy. Generally this tension thrives on high negativity. If leaders shy away from addressing and resolving this type of tension it will become the parasite that debilitates or destroys your organization.

So, for some, this truth is liberating...you don't have to resolve every tension you encounter in leadership.

For others, it is a call to accountability...you're leading your organization toward irrelevance and you need to own up and act now before it is too late.

Are you being liberated or held accountable right now?

The Buckeye Fiasco

As parenting gets closer and closer for Shaina and I, I've thought about a phrase that my parents and I think all parents have to combat at some point..."But, Mom and Dad, Everybody's doing it."

The words are silly...but sometimes they win the day...You don't want to be the only uncool parent making your kid simultaneously uncool by not giving them a cell phone when they are in first grade right?

But the rebuttal I always heard growing up, was "If everyone else jumped off a bridge would you?"

The reality is that everyone is not doing it, whatever it is. And so using such a phrase doesn't hold water and giving in to things for such a reasoning as this is wrong.

So, OSU Football fans, the argument that every other program in the nation is doing it, and that Jim Tressel is more victim than perpetrator doesn't work.

What is frustrating is that a guy who has worn his faith on his sweater vest has apparently consistently acted in defiance of everything that Jesus calls us to.

This isn't an indictment on Tressel or OSU Fans. It's a call for Christians to do away with duplicitous living and authentically live to honor Christ.

David got caught in sin and attempted cover ups and it made him a better man because of God's conviction and grace. May it be with each of us as well.

Leadership In the Church

"The Immune System is to the Body as Leadership is to the Church."

Heard this quote at a seminar by Doug Anderson and I love it.

Viruses are constantly seeking a host and when the immune system is weak, the body is more susceptible to illness and harm.

The viruses in your church are much the same. The virus of Negativity. The virus of Distrust. The virus of control. The virus of gossip. The list is a mile long and if the Leaders of your faith community are not prayed up and sold out to the Mission of Christ, they will latch on and begin draining the life out of your organism. It starts with pastors and paid servants in the center circle as they are called and employed to hone in on the mission, but if unpaid servant leaders allow the virus to grab hold of them, the staff becomes more and more vulnerable.

If the unpaid servants wear down the unpaid servant leaders, the unpaid servant leaders can wear down the paid servant leaders who can wear down the pastors which will wear down the Mission.

You're either causing the Mission to thrive or to die. I am too. And the daily, necessary decision to die to ourselves for the sake of the mission will either be made or rejected...

And everyone can tell what I've decided.