Dear Rose Park,

This coming weekend our country celebrates its’ freedom. July 4 marks the date of the Declaration of Independence signifying freedom from tyranny and oppression. We celebrate this holiday with fireworks, hot-dogs on grills, and sitting by the pool. Why we celebrate our independence in this way, I’m not exactly sure. Nevertheless we celebrate our freedoms and we give thanks to those who have continuously fought for those freedoms. Unfortunately, not all of us are free.

Dear Rose Park,

As many of you know, my dad’s funeral was on Tuesday in Lamoni, Iowa. On Monday morning Sam and I drove the nine hours to Lamoni. On Tuesday afternoon, we drove the nine hours back. Needless to say, that’s a long time spent on I-80.

Dear Rose Park,

One of my favorite books is entitled, “Searching for Sunday: Loving, Leaving, & Finding the Church” by Rachel Held Evans. Evans’ writing style has a bit of Garrison Keillor, Barbara Brown Taylor, & the Gospel of John all wrapped together. She’s witty, clever, thought provoking, and sincere. In one particular chapter she describes a conversation with a young man named Andrew who is excited about his upcoming baptism. She writes, “‘I honestly never thought I’d get baptized,’ Andrew confessed as he studied his half of the brownie. ‘I didn’t think I’d ever be good enough.’

Dear Rose Park,

Lately, Simon has been asking the question ‘why?’ As in, “why do I have to take a nap?” or “why do I have to take a bath?” or even “why do I have to drink milk?” In the beginning Sam and I tried to offer a highly educational and reasonable answer. Very quickly we realized this was useless because our thoughtful response was simply met with another “why?” Sam and I have now begun to respond with a simple, “because I said so.” This isn’t said with any sort of meanness or even an aggressive tone. At this point “because I said so” is the easiest and simplest explanation.

Dear Rose Park,

I’d imagine many of you have been watching the news lately. If you’re anything like me, this typically happens in the morning while drinking a cup of coffee and munching on a piece of toast. Like clockwork, the Waterstone children are awake at 6:30am almost every day. Winnie has her morning bottle and Simon will snack on cheerios as the news cycles on our television. A few days ago, Simon saw someone getting hurt on the news while a fire was burning in the background and the sounds of sirens filled the air. He looked at me with curiosity in his eyes and said, “what’s happening Daddy?” I stood there and simply said, “I don’t know.”

Dear Rose Park,

Six days ago I spread top-soil all over my backyard. Five days ago I tossed grass seed all over the top-soil. Every day since then I’ve been watering the soil just as the bag of seed instructed me. After checking every single day since I spread the seed, I saw the tips of new grass coming through the soil yesterday morning. It’s the simple things in life that bring such great pleasure.

Dear Rose Park,

I can remember one of my most favorite parts about going to the mall or the airport as a kid was getting to ride on the escalator. Don’t get me wrong, walking up stairs or hopping into the elevator is just as useful, but there was something so fun about watching the steps move as you held onto the handrail and ascended to the next floor. We don’t typically use the word ‘ascend’ in today’s language, but the concept of ascension is very important to the Christian faith; in fact, this coming Sunday is Ascension Sunday.

Dear Rose Park,

I grew up at Calvary Reformed Church on 8th Street in Holland Heights. Calvary served as the fertile soil for my faith to grow. I went to the Wednesday night ministry called “Kid’s Club”, I was a part of the middle school and then high school youth group, I participated in multiple mission trips over the years, and I was even ordained in Calvary’s sanctuary just after graduating from seminary. Calvary will always have a special place in my heart, but it also has a special place on my wrist.

Dear Rose Park,

A few days ago I heard an interesting conversation on the radio. It essentially boiled down to this: we’ve all heard of helicopter parents (a parent who hovers over their children making sure nothing bad could ever happen), but the host of this radio show was talking to a family therapist who introduced a new-term called the snowplow parent. Have you heard of this? It refers to when a parent pushes every struggle out of the way (like a snowplow) in order to make the road for their children stress-free, pain-free, and challenge-free.