Friends,

Despite what many may suspect, I like routine. The boys get me up between 6:10 and 6:30 am. Andy gets himself dressed while I help Theo. While I take care of the dogs and lunches, they are allowed to have screen time. Andy defaults to Minecraft and Theo loves to watch videos of trains. Not like Thomas the Tank Engine, just amateur videos of real trains going by. After I am down with my chores, we watch two episodes of Bluey. About every other morning at least one episode makes me teary. After Bluey is breakfast time. Andy is on a frosted flakes kick, while Theo likes toast with chocolate spread and scrambled eggs. Generally, by then, it is my turn to get ready, and we leave as soon as I come down.

Yesterday morning the internet pooped out on us. It’s never happened before, except in power outages, and it’s supposed to get fixed today, so not a big deal. We have horrible cell reception at our house, so for just over 24 hours we will not have any internet at our home. Last night wasn’t bad. We read lots of Harry Potter to Andy, which was a popular idea, but this morning was a whole different story. It turns out they like routine as well and took it as a personal attack when I told them they couldn’t do their normal activities in the morning. To convince them that this was not just me being mean by showing them failed loading screens did little to assuage their rage. Where reason failed, time succeeded. After a few minutes of freaking out, everyone calmed down over breakfast. They had to entertain themselves while I took care of the dogs, and then we went to the basement to find our new way of doing mornings.

I love Bluey and have no regrets watching this amazing show with my kids most mornings, but what we did instead was nice too. Andy has a little work bench in my work room, and he worked on a Lego set he got for his birthday months ago. Theo found a Magnatile train, which to my knowledge was completely neglected up to this point. Every ten seconds I was called over to “help”, and between these summonses, I cleaned up a storage closet we’ve been stuffing things into for a few months. For about an hour we went about our business until it was time to get ready to go. We chatted and offered feedback on each other’s labors. It was wholesome and relaxing in a productive sort of way.

I earnestly hope our internet is restored today, but I think we are going to start screenless Tuesdays just to shake things up on a more regular basis. Regardless of whether the internet going out was part of a divine plan or just coincidence, I have a couple of important takeaways.

The first is to be skeptical of the things that you think you cannot live without. Routine is great, but you don’t need it. When the wealthy young man came to Jesus seeking righteousness, Jesus ultimately told him to give up everything he had and follow him, and he departs the narrative grieving because of how much he owned. It was his attachment to his wealth that prevented him from following our savior. Wealth is often a culprit when it comes to idolatry, but we put all sorts of things above loving God and loving our neighbor. Shake things up. Turn off that phone. Avoid gossiping. Make amends.

My second takeaway is a suspicion that I’ve had for a while, the Amish have it right when it comes to labor. They shun technology partially because it drives a wedge between individuals and their community. You need a community to raise a barn, not just heavy equipment. The boys and I weren’t even working on the same thing but just being together turned the whole thing into a bonding experience. This Saturday, you have a chance you bond with other members of the Church by helping us clean up the grounds and parish hall from 9:00 am to noon. I hope we get things done, but more importantly I hope you chat with the person who is helping you weed the garden. I like nice things, but they are all for nought if they don’t bring us together.

I hope to see you this weekend and thank you for being the Church!

Blessings,

Nick