More Weird Stuff

I woke this morning to the memory of something that happened when I was about six-years-old. It was just after an evening Christmas Eve Program at a little country Church. We kids were busily diving into our treat bags, devouring the candies and leaving the peanuts and Christmas oranges for last. The Church was warm. I’d play the role as a king rather well. We were about to head home to open gifts. Life was good. It was then that Dale Walters came up to me and told me to punch him in the stomach.

By the age of six, I’d compiled a mental list of things that I knew could get me into trouble. Punching someone was near the top. Showing maturity beyond my years I declined.

“C’mon, punch me. As hard as you can.”

“Go away Dale. I want to eat my orange.”

“What’s the matter? You scared? Hit me in the stomach.”

“I don’t want to hit you,” I lied. “Go away.”

I moved to go around him. Dale stepped in front of me.

“C’mon. Hit me just once and I’ll let you go.”

I glanced around. All the adults seemed to have their backs turned to us. My parents were nowhere in sight. Smashing him in the mouth was out of the question. The stomach however - A fortuitous moment was before me. Destiny forced it’s way into my life. Only fear and good judgement were holding me back. I let him have it; right in the gut.

Dale Walters howled. I became aware that I was wearing a tie and he wasn’t. He ran to his mother and pointed in my direction.

I didn’t know the phrase at the time, but something like W.T.F. made its way through my mind.

Dale Walters, face beet red and tears dripping down his cheeks clung to his mother’s leg. She, with her hand on his head, turned back to her conversation. We went home to open our presents.

I wonder how Dale Walters remembers this incident.

The Scandalous Concept of God's Grace

For those who do not know the “Good News,” or the “Gospel” of Jesus Christ, the concept of Grace is beyond their comprehension. Why would God do something like that? What kind of screwed up love would make a father sacrifice his only son?

Here is a true story that might help you to understand what God has done for us. In 1898, there was a man whose job was to operate the raising and lowering of a railroad bridge that spanned a certain river in England. He would raise the bridge so that larger boats could pass underneath. And of course he would keep the bridge lowered so that the regularly scheduled trains could pass as necessary.

As the story goes, one day this man forgot his lunch at home. Thinking that it would be a nice treat for her son to visit his dad, his wife gave the lunch to the young lad and told him to take it down to his father in the Lift Station. As young people often do, the boy got distracted. Apparently, a boat had taken longer than anticipated to pass underneath the bridge. As the man quickly grabbed the leavers to lower the bridge for a train that was about to arrive, he noticed his son, down by the river, playing in the lowering mechanism. What to do? Lowering the bridge would ensure the death of his son. Not lowering the bridge would kill many if not most of the two hundred commuters on the train. There was no time to warn his son. There was no way to warn the engineer. A decision had to be made.

The father lowered the bridge. He sacrificed the life of his one and only son, to save the lives of many. As the train went roaring past, the father, with tears streaming down his face cried out to those whom he saw idly reading their morning papers on the train, “How can you ignore what just happened? Your lives were saved at the cost of my son’s life!”

Of course, this story is not a perfect comparison. As did Jesus, in relation to us, the boy did not die with the desire to save our lives. Nor did the people on the train have to make a decision about the importance of the boy's death as it pertained to their future. In fact, unlike the death of Jesus, those on the train did not even know that a sacrifice has been made. One thing is certain however. If you think that disregarding Jesus’ sacrificial death on your behalf isn’t deeply disturbing to God the Father, you need to think again. Accepting God’s offer of Grace, by placing your faith in Jesus, promises beauty beyond imagination. Ignoring or mocking that sacrifice means horrific consequence beyond description. This is not a threat as some imagine it to be. This time around, the Father has given us a WARNING. He has given us time to move from our place of dangerous complacency. It can only be prudent to heed such a warning.

Good Stuff

Overheard in a restaurant not far away, and not long ago.
My wife Wendy: “Riley, behave. The people in the next booth don’t want you staring at them.
Riley’s little sister Chelsey: Mom. Riley isn’t being have.

Overheard during our trip to Hawaii. Two elderly men - one of whom is explaining to the other his secret to longevity.
“All you have to do is walk 15 minutes a day. That’s it. 15 minutes is all it takes. First you walk 15 minutes that way. And then you walk 15 minutes back.”

Last night I asked the kids to clean up the play room. Without question, without protest, they got up and did it. It was kinda surreal - kinda spooky. Something’s up. I’m sitting with my back to the wall.

Delighting In God's Love

I found this in an old document but I cannot for the life of me find who wrote it. When I transfered it from the original I must have clipped the last part that included the name. Anyhow, I love it.

"One distinguishing mark of the love of God, in the small pristine moments when we become aware, is that it always comes to us as something of a surprise. God’s love is so different from any other love we have known. And it’s certainly different from how we love. His love is the only love in the universe that is not rooted in wanting us to fulfill a need in Him. God has no ego needs - and that means He is free to love in a completely unique way. That’s why Jesus prayed that the love He had known with the Father might be experienced by His friends, His disciples, and us, when we come to know him as Lord and Saviour (John 17:26). The love that exists between the members of the Trinity is better and totally different than anything we have known.

Another surprise is how God’s love steps past our special talents and our hard work and reaches into the broken, messy places of our soul. The children’s book “Awful Abigail and Why She Changed” speaks to this aspect of God’s love. Abigail, an innkeeper’s daughter, earns her name by being the kind of little girl who gets into everyone’s hair. One night she is sent to her room, where she watches from her balcony as Mary and Joseph arrive and inquire about staying in her father’s Inn. Once everyone is in bed, Awful Abigail follows a faint light that leads her to the manger. She opens the door and sees Jesus, and the story ends with this wonderful line: “Somehow she knew a dream had come true, and Someone who loved her had found her.”

All of us know moments - or parts of ourselves - we think of as “awful.” No one would want us if he/she knew of this weakness, this sin, this failure. But God is not put off by the messy, broken, sinful, awful aspects of our lives. He pursues us right into the middle of the mess. He does not leave us alone to sanitize the contents - which we are incapable of doing anyway. The real question to ask ourselves is whether we can let ourselves be loved by Him in the “awful” moments of our lives - because the hesitancy is ours, not His.

In the book of Hosea, God talks of wooing Israel, His adulterous bride, into the wilderness. There He will “speak tenderly to her,” and there He will give her vineyards and “a door of hope.” There she will come to know Him not as her owner but - much more intimately - as her husband (see Hosea 2:14-16). The very nature of the relationship will change. And so it is for each of us. The tender, loving words of Jesus, spoken in the wilderness places of our lives, bring us home and bind us to Him as the great Lover of our souls."

It breaks my heart that so many people are scared of finding this love.

What An Awesome Easter!

“Amazing love, how can it be, That you my King would die for me?”

John 3:17 - For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

Romans 8:1 - Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,

Lesson Learned

Living with a bunch of small children has taught me a lot but nothing as relevant as the following. If your arms are too short to wipe your bum, don’t just pull your pants up. Ask for help.

Old Age is Good

On good thing about being 56 years old is that little by little my peer pressure is dying off.