My girl

The assignment was to use the letters to in the box to write whatever you wanted. This is what my daughter produced.

(Her teacher thought it was so cute she secretly took this picture)

I have decided to join with Savita and nevr folo satin.

Blog Guilt & the NFL Draft

The last 9 days have been pure chaos. The good kind of chaos...where life is full and dynamic and completely out of control....

Why am I sharing this with you? Because I am currently experiencing blog guilt. Its been almost 10 days since my last post......that seems kind of lame.

I feel the urge to think of something profound just to have some meaningful content.

Unfortunately, yesterday was not my most profound of days....

See yesterday I decided that I needed to relax. Low stress. I slept in a little (thank you Heather!), took my boys out for lunch, played outside with baby Meghan. Then I decided that I was going to watch the NFL draft.

Yeah, the NFL draft, they actually televise it. So at 3pm I laid down on my couch, grabbed the remote, and watched ESPN. My boys came in..."Hey dad, what are we doing?"....."We watching the NFL draft boys! It'll be great.....Sammy, can you get daddy a Diet Coke?....Isaac have a seat, we're going to bond!" They got excited. This was new, maybe this is going to be a memorable afternoon with dad after all. We started watching...

Unfamiliar with the NFL draft? Think of it as a televised, commentated, grown-up version of picking up teams in grade school recess.

There are 4 guys sitting a row (kind of like a panel discussion) They talk about who the next team is going to pick...

"I think they should pick this guy" "I think they should pick that guy" (brief video clip) "Look at who they picked last year" "He stinks" "I hope they do better" "We're funny....HA HA HA" Etc...etc...

A guy called Mel Kiper is always there, and he's the 'expert'. His hair is unbelievable, but that's another rant I guess....

Then after 10 minutes, some guy comes up and says, "The Lions pick....(insert the name of an overrated wide receiver here) " Then the panel of guys say..."That was great!" or "Just as we thought"...or "That's why the Lions stink!"

This repeats over and over again in mind-numbing fashion. (which explains the need for the Diet Coke)

As my mind numbs I flash back to Falk school in Pittsburgh......."Oh my, Jon only has 4 children left to choose from to round out his dodgeball team! We have Billy who has had 6 bloody noses this week. He has a decent arm, but does he want to take the risk of having to help clean up a potential mess? Then there's Hope, who hasn't hit someone in dodgeball in her 2 year career. Could she turn it around this afternoon? What about Lilly? She has such potential, but unfortunately will not throw at people based on her religious convictions. Maybe he'll choose Susan, who just flat out throws like a girl. Honestly, there are no good picks here..."

Meanwhile, my wife took my daughter Savita for tea. Real tea. They put on dresses, wore jewelry, and went to someplace where they have formal tea time....they left right when pick #4 in the draft was being announced. The Raiders picked running back Darren McFadden who despite having 'character concerns' has a tremendous 'upside'. Funny that's kind of how I feel about myself...

"Is this sports dad?" "Well...no...not really son" "What are they doing?" "They're picking which players they want on their teams." "Are they going to actually play today?" "Well, no...."

"Why are they talking so much?"

Meanwhile, Savita and Heather were getting a brief lesson in tea manners. The ladies at the "Tea Room" showed Savita how to fold her napkin, hold a tea cup and ask for sugar. Savita practiced her manners..."Mother, would you please pass me the sugar?"...."Thank you very much". Savita had never seen sugar cubes before. She used the tongs and asked, "Would you like one lump or two?"

Isaac brought over Connect Four. He sat on the floor next to the couch and I rolled over. He had to hand me my checkers because I couldn't reach and apparently lacked the strength to sit up. I connected seven, but he got upset when I claimed victory. He said he didn't want to play anymore. That was fine, he was blocking the TV and I missed who the Bengals picked in the ninth spot.

Heather and Savita got their tea. Savita had a light raspberry tea. Then they brought a selection of fruit, scones and other pastries. They were on one of those three-tiered serving plates. Savita had never seen one before. Nice. She sampled the ones she thought looked pretty.

"I'm hungry dad". I got a box of Cheezits and put in on the floor. Dig in, but don't get any crumbs on the floor. I quickly realize that I have NO idea who any of these players are....apparently I am not watching enough college football. I better address that next fall while we're doing this church plant.

Savita asked Heather about her adoption. "Why aren't you from India?" "Because God made us from other places, and then brought us all together" Heather recounted for Savita how God led us to adopt her....and how He picked her out, and gave her to us. She had heard the story before, but was enthralled by it again. "We're so happy that you are our daughter!"

"Dad, why are we watching this?" (sammy) "Dad, this is horrible! just horrible!" (Isaac with a dramatic flair) "Can we go outside?" The Lions pick Gosder Cherilus. What on earth is a Gosder Cherilus? He must be a foreign player. Oh wait, they don't play this sport anywhere else. I drift off into a semi-conscious state....I dream of the Lions coaching staff...

"Look guys, we haven't drafted anyone good since the 1980's, let's just try not to embarass ourselves! What do you think we should do?" (football executive)

"Well, I was watching ESPN2 the other night and they had this show with large men who could lift REALLY heavy stuff. It was called "World's Strongest Man"....this is a little outside the box, but what if we got some of THOSE guys. I saw one guy...he was from Croatia....Gosder something?" (Matt Millen - Destroyer of the Lions)

"Yeah, we could change our ad campaign...forget "Restore the Roar"...its "The WORLD'S STRONGEST FOOTBALL TEAM!" (PR guy)

"DAD!!! WE WANT TO GO OUTSIDE!!!" "Oh yeah, ok, but don't hurt each other and don't yell" I get up and open the blinds to make sure I can see them without moving from the couch.....always going the extra mile....

As Savita and Heather travel home, Savita is on cloud nine. She twirls in the parking lot. They chat in the car. As they arrive home she turns to Heather and says, "Mom, sometimes I forget what we do during girl time, but I'm never going to forget today"

Minutes later and Savita rushes in...."Guess what WE did"....apparently that was a rhetorical question......after about 5 minutes of hearing about tea, Heather turned to Sammy..."How was your time buddy?"

"Well mom, it wasn't the best day. It was ok, but there were a lot of fun things that we didn't do. Tomorrow maybe will be better...."

I was online last week and took one of those how long are you going to live tests. It said that I should live until the age of 78. I just turned 37, so I have 41 years left (Lord willing) That's only 14,965 days left.

I just burned one.

At least 7 people read this blog...

Or so I thought, since there were 7 votes in my recent poll. However, I have discovered that there was some ballot stuffing by certain voters.....so I guess the real number is actually less than that : (

Anyway, after months of deliberation and prayer.....after months of honing our skills at dismantling and ridiculing potential names.....the time has finally come.

It is time to pick a name for our church plant.

In a final attempt at finding some semblance of consensus, I had one last meeting with the staff to get their opinions....of the four staff in attendance I got 4 separate names.

Useless.

So I prayed this week and considered all the factors....I then bounced it off our board of elders and we decided. Our new church plant at Columbus is going to be called...

H2O (or h2o if that's cooler)

Why you may ask?.....let me explain.....no, let me sum up....

In John 4, Jesus meets a woman. A Samaritan woman....with a broken life. Struggling through her days....hurting...lonely....and looking for real answers. At a well, in the midst of her everyday life, she encounters the Savior of the universe. She is looking for water. Something to get her through another day. Jesus offers something infinitely deeper. Infinitely more. "Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life"

He extends an offer to her to...

Thirst No More.

Our dream is to be a church where students discover that living water that will satisfy their thirst. A generation of lost students, who are broken, lonely and hurting. Who have been lied to by the world. Who are pursuing water that will not truly quench their thirst. Jesus Christ has something more for them.

Eternal Life.

Life as it was meant to be.

Now and Forever.

So that's the main reason....a secondary reason is that H2O at Bowling Green University has invited us to join with them on a vision that they have for Ohio. That through church planting on campuses all throughout the state, there would be a mini-movement of God that emerges. By having the same name and partnering together, high school students throughout the state would think about getting involved in H2O wherever they attend college, and we could share resources as sister churches whenever possible..... (like that tagline, "Thirst No More"that I just stole : )

I can't believe that picking a name took this long.....maybe I'm not cut out for this....

Thank God they have a Heavenly Father

So the other day, while we were enjoying the nice weather, Savita brought out a bike and started riding it. Kind of. She kept tipping over and falling. She'd go for a little while and then fall over.

After awhile she called out..."Hey Dad, will you help me?"

"I can't right now. Isaac needs help. ["Help"....as in he was hitting the car with a golf club] What's the problem, you know how to do this honey, just keep trying"

More tipping over. I walked over and gave her a push. I was mildly irritated. "come on Savita, stop messing around, you know how to ride a bike"

The next day I was talking to Heather. She was excited....

"Hey Jon...Savita learned how to ride her bike!!"

"What? She already knew how to, didn't she?"

"Nope, apparently she just learned yesterday...all on her own"

Oops.

(feel free to add your own moral to this story....)

Here's a few ideas to get you started...

Optimists : "With God's help we can overcome even the worst parenting"

Pessimists: "No matter how hard you try, when all is said and done your child is still going to need intense counseling"

My blog is mistitled...

Ok, so my original blog title was based on the idea that this blog would be my insane rantings about everything that annoys me.

But frankly, I'm just too happy a guy these days. I have nothing to rant about. Ok...maybe I have a couple things....I'l give it a shot...

Someone give me a topic...

Pick-up Basketball? Ok. Fine.

Hey you, the mediocre player, who always covers the 60 year old with bi-focal rec-specs...yeah you...STOP telling me to play better defense. If you going to make me cover the ex-college athlete the least you could do is get off my back when he lights us up. Why is he always open?? Why is he always open? Its because HE'S FASTER THAN ME. I'm a broken down 36 year old half-Indian who played on my freshman tennis team. And unlike your guy, my guy never wanders off because he's forgotten where he is.


Hey you, the guy who prides himself on being "such a great rebounder", why don't you try to set me a pick or something? We're not counting by rebounds. Eventually someone is going to have to actually score, or we're going to play for eternity.


Hey you...yeah you, pull your pants up. You are at the NCRB playing with middle age non-athletes...you don't need to represent.

Hey you, stop slapping me. Yes, the hand is part of the ball, but that was my elbow. No, we're not going to "shoot for it" And cut your fingernails you're drawing blood.

Hey you...the guy who always messes up the score....yeah you...NO, we are NOT going to stop the game again and try to remember all the made baskets so you can verify your completely random assertion that you are winning. And stop trying to include baskets you made 3 games ago. The score is 12-10. Everyone on the court but you knows it. Stop. Just stop.

Hey you...the guy who passes on the locker room and changes his clothes in the middle of the gym just so he can reserve your spot in the next game...yeah you, is it really that important? really?


Hey you...I don't care what the high school rule book says, any ball that hits your foot is a kick.


Hey you...my beloved teammate...how about letting me know when your 300 lb opponent decides to set a pick on me? No, I won't just "fight through it", are you crazy? And if you're going to just leave me to get a chiropractic adjustment, will you at least go ahead and cover my guy for me? I can't yell "switch" when I'm unconscious.


Hey you...I know that we don't technically call 3 seconds, but how about moving every now and then just so we can make sure you aren't dead?


Hey you....yeah you, Vlade Divac....there are no charges in pick-up basketball. There are NO CHARGES. Stop flinging yourself on the ground, you're going to hurt yourself and someone's going to trip on you.


Hey you, take off the baseball cap. No jeans. No skin-tight shorts. No headbands. No socks pulled up to the knee. Ridiculous.


Hey you...yeah you....just take your shirt off. Really, no one cares about your gut, we're all family here. "Shirts vs Skins" only works when we have total buy-in, get it?


Hey you...yeah you....your high school glory days are long gone....you are talking trash to a middle aged pastor....


Its time to calm down, we're not getting paid for this....


Wow. That was kind of fun : )

One happy family...

To answer your questions....

Yes, that is a RIDICULOUSLY good looking family.

Yes, that is a lavender shirt.

For a glimpse at everyday life at the Shahs...check out our latest youtube video at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgVGQlCsJ7I

Cory told me that having a large head is good for actors, so we thought we'd see how

Meghan "100th percentile" Shah would do on camera....

Function follows Form

I was at a men's breakfast when the speaker said something I found interesting...(this of course, is the rough Shah paraphase)
In architecture you have always heard the phrase, "Form Follows Function". This means that you figure out how a building is going to be used and then you design it accordingly. Well, with people, the opposite is true...."Function Follows Form". Find out how you were made and then you'll know what you're supposed to do.

That may not be the most profound thought to you, but it struck me in a fresh way. Its got me thinking a lot about how I was made, and what that means for my life and the church. To be honest, I struggle to think about this area, because I often get confused and frustrated.

What am I good at?.....Who knows? My daughter Savita would say everything...my daughter Meghan would say nothing....

What am I passionate about?....Does sleep count?

I read a book about leadership once and it said something to the effect that if you're a leader and you don't know your gifts, then you're a complete loser (ok, maybe they didn't say "complete loser", but they said it was bad)

I know in God's strength we can do anything....but I long to be inching myself towards what I was made to do...my sweet spot.

Its got me thinking about the implications for my wife....how can I help her discover her form? What about my kids? It seems like one of the most important things for me to learn is how God made them and help them embrace it.......(only 1 thing I know for sure....savita looks good in a headband!)

So much to think about.

(You may have noticed that this is officially my first blog entry that did not end in some nicely wrapped up resolution....it makes me slightly uncomfortable : )

Our Great Works

So I have been spending a lot of time bonding with baby Meghan these days, and she is getting more interactive every single day. Sometimes we wrestle, sometimes we read, and sometimes we argue about boys. One of the cutest things she does is crawl into my office while I'm working, and topple over my trash can. She rumages through the starburst wrappers, the old paper and junk mail. Then, when she finds a particularly special piece of garbage, she looks up at me, with a look of pure satisfaction on her face, and presents it to me.

She's so cute.

I take the paper, and say "this is great! its what I always wanted! thank you" She seems so pleased, smiles, and then dives back into the garbage to do some more great work.

I have an eerie feeling that God is trying to tell me something about my great works.....

BIG NEWS!!!

Back in the days of our youth, when our marriage was beginning, and our love was just blossoming, Heather and I used to dream about the children God would give to us. What would they be like? How would they be special?

It was difficult to imagine what was in store for us, but one thing we were sure of...

The Shah children would be unique. They would be different. They would stand out in the crowd.

We had no idea. Let me introduce you to my youngest daughter, Meghan Elizabeth Shah

Yep, she's a beauty. But we also recently discovered something amazing. For those of you unfamiliar with children, it is a common practice for doctors to regularly measure a child to determine if they are growing properly. Height and weight are common attributes, but some would say the most critical is the all important HEAD CIRCUMFERENCE. Over Meghan's first year, she has always excelled in this area. Regularly scoring in the 95th percentile. However, last month, she took it to a whole new level and placed in the 99th percentile. 99th. Pretty amazing huh? Destined for greatness? To be sure. Little did we know....

Last week we took her in for her 13 month check-up. They did the regular tests...

Height - 95th %....weight - 75th %.....then the all important HC....

100%.

That's right, I said 100%. Now its been a long time since I took any math classes, but if my memory serves me correctly that means that my daughter Meghan has the LARGEST SKULL OF ANY CHILD HER AGE!

You can't teach that people...its God given.

(FYI - I am currently trying to determine if she's number 1 in the whole world or just in America...the paperwork doesn't really indicate....I'll keep you posted)

Security

So the day we brought Savita home from India we gave her a blanket. To be honest, I don't know where we got it, from a relative or friend, but every night of her American life, it has been by her side. It is a strange shade of yellow & after almost 5 years it has a giant hole in the middle. Everyday it rips just a little more. Through the years we have offered her other blankets...newer, softer, bigger....no thanks, she says, I'm sticking with what I know.

(Or as a wise man once said...."You gotta dance with who brung ya"...but I digress)

Well, one day last week, Savita announced to Heather..."I'm 6 years old now. I'm going to put my blankie in my closet and be brave. Maybe I don't need it anymore" She walked over to her closet and gently placed her blanket on top of her assorted animals. Then she went back to bed, closed her eyes, and went to sleep.

The next night, as I tucked her into bed, I noticed that she had her blanket back. I asked her, "Savita, I thought you didn't need your blanket anymore. What happened?"

"Well dad, let me tell the story of what happened. Yesterday I decided that I was going to be brave and not use my blanket anymore. I put it in my closet. I slept without it. But then later, I got kind of lonely, like I was missing it. So I decided that I wasn't ready to be brave yet. I went and got it back. I've decided that I'm going to have to wait until I'm older, maybe 10 years old, or nine years old, and then maybe I'll try again."

"And dad, its ok. Its ok that I'm not ready yet."

I smiled, kissed my little girl on the forehead, and assured her that it most certainly was ok. Then I watched her curl up with her blanket and fall into a blissful sleep.

Ironically, earlier that day, I had realized I had made a couple mistakes in life. Because of those mistakes, I tried something and it had failed. Somewhat miserably.

I was distraught. I felt vulnerable. weak. guilty. "You are 36 years old and you still have trouble doing that??....I thought you were mature.....You're a pastor!" (Just to clarify, no one actually said that to me...it was just the little evil voice in my head)

It was decidedly NOT ok.

So you know what I did? I analyzed what happened. What were the mistakes I made? Why did I make them? Are there deep underlying issues that drove me to these mistakes? What approach could I have taken that would have been better? I need to know WHY this happened so I can begin to piece together a strategy to have this never happen again. As I thought about it over and over again in my mind I began to worry...what if I never grow? what if I am destined to fail at this forever?....there is no hope. There's just something wrong with me....I wonder what people think....I am letting people down....God cannot be pleased.....

You get the idea.

I thought about my daughter going through that process...

Why did I go back for the blanket? What exactly am I scared of? It is not rational. What deep needs is the blanket covering up? What could I have done differently...hid the blanket? I'm SIX YEARS OLD! What is wrong with me? My 5 year old friend doesn't sleep with anything! I'm going to be stuck with this blanket forever! Someday when a boy proposes to me I'll have to tell him about my blanket, it will be so awkward....

But she didn't do that.

My daughter tried something and it didn't work.

She's thinks its ok, and she'll try again later. Now she's asleep.

I have got to learn that.

Choose Your Own Adventure

So my boy is pretty deep. (see, don't we look deep in this picture?)

He knows how to read. He reads 'chapter' books now, and likes to read them before he goes to bed. Well, the other day Heather decided to look in her old boxes and find some books from when she was a kid.

As she rummaged around she found what she was looking for....a choose your own adventure book!

So Sammy gets ahold of this book and starts tearing into it. As he's reading I get a little worried. See, he doesn't really like surprises. So I warn him. "Look buddy", there will be times in this book where it ends. Sometimes it will end badly and sometimes it will be good. Either way, then you go back to the beginning and you can start a whole new adventure!! Yes, I used my best envisioning pastor voice. He seemed troubled. "I don't want it to end. I don't want to start over again" "Ok, don't worry about it, just read and choose your path and have fun!"

10 minutes later I return and he's flipping through the book page by page. He is reciting numbers to himself....43, 74, 40, 51....."what are you doing bud?" "Dad, these are the numbers of the pages where the book ends. If I never pick these numbers then I'll be happy"

"What about the adventure buddy?" "Dad, adventure can make me dead."

True that.

Later I asked Heather, isn't that crazy, all he wanted was to make sure that he avoided all the bad choices. He was neurotic about it. She looked at me with those sweet Dutch eyes, chuckled and said..."I wonder where he got that from"

Ok, maybe from me. Sometimes I wonder if I've spent so much time mastering the numbers to avoid that I've lost the adventure. I love control. Its probably not very spiritual to say so, but deep down I think I like control better than adventure. Adventure can make me dead. Or at least severely injured.

I'm not a good skier. I know what you're thinking....But Jon, you are SUCH a natural athlete, how could you not be a good skier? Well, I've only gone a couple times and each time I do the same thing. I get going, I go fast, I get nervous and I make myself fall. A nice non-violent controlled fall. How lame is that?

Sometimes I think I've missed the whole point.

And now I'm going on a church plant.

Let's face it. I have no idea what I'm doing, but I do know one thing....I am committed to NOT memorizing any page numbers for this one.