MATURITY

224 – Wednesday, August 12, 2009

As my computer tech, Chuck, sat at the Labradorite granite highbar countertop telling us of his son, who is 18, I rose from the kitchen table to refill his emptying iced tea glass – everything from my waist down creaked, cracked or in some other way disobeyed a direct order in the chain of command from the brain. Chuck’s eyes widened as I asked him if HE would not like to be eighteen again – he did not hesitate a single nano-second (he is a computer guy, you know – that’s how they measure time) when he replied, “Only if I could go back knowing what I know now!” Think about his answer! All the time we spend bemoaning the defection of our physical image and prowess to the enemy camp, we clamp down on the life lessons we have learned with the tenacity and gusto of a hungry hound dog wrestling over a piece of prime rib! That is usually because so dear a price was extracted from us in order to attain the invaluable wisdom through some heinous trial or tribulation, often brought about by our former lack of maturity. We pray that our offspring will listen when we share the pain we suffered in gleaning our insights so they do not have to collect their own personal battle scars, but unfortunately, they usually have to earn the sheepskin from the University of Hard-Knocks for themselves. Given the opportunity, your response would likely follow the same pattern as Chuck’s! We would all love to revisit our youth and the rejuvenation that turning back the clock might offer, but it is not worth the risk of potentially making even worse decisions the next go around without the wisdom we now have. I find it both interesting and amusing, given all the emphasis that our culture places on retaining youthfulness and physical beauty, that the commodity we personally treasure most as we age is our maturity – especially considering it arrived on the coattails of such extraordinary ordeal.

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ONE DROP

223 – Tuesday, August 11, 2009

It was precisely 4:09 am when the flickering light penetrated my eyelids as I slept. At first, I thought it was the flashing beacon on the trash hauler as it passed my window as it often does at that hour, however, a distant reoccurring rumble revealed still another source. At 4:13 the sounds of a thousand acorns being released from majestic oaks onto my rooftop affirmed that it was not an idle threat of showers but an increasing outpouring of the heavens in much needed relief of an ongoing drought. I have long known that, when I am awakened in the middle of the night by whatever stirs me, it is for His purpose – to talk to me or to have me pray, so I moved to the den to be ready for whatever was next. Through the bay window, in the reflective blue light of the insect light hung at the entry, I could see a stream pouring from the roof valley, formed where two gables intersect, and, right then, a tear came to my eye. I realized that, just like the rain had formed, a single droplet at a time, when directed by the planned architecture and co-mingled, a stream is formed – from merging streams come rivers powerful enough to carve through solid rock to form something as awe inspiring as a Grand Canyon – all originated from a single guided droplet – a droplet of living, moving water – like the tear that had entered my eye – and a prayer welled up within my soul, initiated and inspired by the revelation from this single tear. My prayer this morning was for you! I know you needed it! You know you needed it! Perhaps a single prayer will mean very little in itself, but when mixed with other prayers and directed by the mighty hand of the Architect and enlarged by faith, and merged with other prayers, the solid rock appearance of your obstacles will be cut away and living waters will be delivered to your valley and there you will experience new life!! I love and pray for you!!

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CHOICES

222 – Monday, August 10, 2009

On a news brief today, I was shocked to hear two reports in a two-minute span, one of a mother who piled her kids into an SUV and drove the wrong way on a highway while having a blood-alcohol level twice the legal limit and also high on drugs. Seven people were killed, many of then innocent children, in a totally unnecessary tragedy. The other was of two men who got into a fight at a Mexican food establishment and both died of gunshot wounds incurred in the fracas – over what? – someone cutting in line!! I should be past this shock by now, for it seems that nearly every day my sensibility is challenged to wrap itself around some heinous atrocity that begs the question, “What were they thinking?” The obvious answer is, “They could not have been (thinking), otherwise they would have chosen a different pathway!” When life becomes so stressful that people breach propriety and allow internalized rage and frustration to abandon self-control and threaten or destroy the lives of innocent children or bystanders it is past time to take action. It is more than just simplistic advice to “chill out”, rather, hear the word of God say,

1 Peter 5:6-8 (New Living Translation)

⁶ So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor. ⁷ Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.

⁸ Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.

We have choices to make every day – we can choose to believe or not that there even is a God – we can choose to believe or not that there is a devil - we can choose to believe or not that the Bible really delivers God’s words – your choice. My choice delivers answers to the questions posed to me by what I observe in daily life. From where do your answers come?

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MERCY AND GRACE

221 – Sunday, August 09, 2009

Technology, the internet and cyberspace have all been around for several years now, bringing with them a constant flourishing of advancements creating perpetual evolution. Still, I find it most intriguing that there seems to be a drawing in of many, especially noticeable to me, the body of believers. Cynthia and I have been following the Lord’s leading for the past thirty-plus years, still, all the while feeling that we were drifting farther and farther away from those with whom we had once drawn so close. Now, just in this past year or so, we find ourselves compelled to sign in, log on, and enlist the features of one site then another – the result has been phenomenal – reconnecting with long-lost friends, high school and college classmates, and our spiritual brothers and sisters. I sense an ever-increasing drawing together within our realm declaring a new wave of fellowship and an interweaving of souls – could this be a precursor preparing believers to draw us closer together so that we may collectively serve to bolster one another in order to withstand the ‘great falling away’ that ushers in the coming of the Lord? I know that the international climate is ripe and the man of lawlessness is hovering in the wings just waiting for his opening. I know the woman of folly of Proverbs 9 is seducing the weak to believe the lie that stolen water (freebies) is ‘sweet’ (a popular word even in our present vernacular) and that bread eaten in secret (ill-gotten gain) is tasty. The fantastic part of all this is that where sin is in abundance (where could that be talking about?) grace is in overabundance! I love the part in Hebrews where it contrasts mercy and grace – mercy in that He withholds from us the punishment which we really deserve and grace in that He endows us with blessed rewards we really don’t. Praise His Name!

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BUSCH WITH ISAAC

220 – Saturday, August 08, 2009

When our day started, we had no expectations other than to enjoy the time allowed us with our grandson. Isaac was with his Grannie and Poppie while Mommy ‘went with the girls’, her mother and brother’s girlfriend, to shop and take in a movie while Daddy was working. There cannot be too much ‘grandson time’ in these formative days of adventure and new sights. We did not know when we arose that we would be blessed to keep him another full day. I took only moments, once we received the call to ask us if we would mind keeping Isaac one more day, (that is kind of like asking a pauper if he would object to winning the lottery) to decide that we were all packing up in the car and heading for Tampa to take in the jungles of Busch Gardens!!! What a blast! He walked and walked until his short little legs could not take another step, all the while grasping the downwardly stretched index fingers of Grannie on one side and Poppie on the other – how incredibly cute he was!! We devoured the daylight exploring the lions and tigers and hyenas and giraffe (he is adorable when he makes his effort to say giraffe – I could not even attempt a phonetic reproduction, but you can tell it is supposed to be ‘giraffe’ for sure!!!). He loved stroking the soft-curried fur of the massively imposing Clydesdale named ‘Duke’. Throughout the day, Isaac ate like a ravenous timber wolf, drank like a Bedouin camel preparing for a trans-Al-Dahna caravan (it was in the mid-90’s) and laughed like the hyena we had visited earlier in its habitat. Everything was perfect until we readied to exit and the rains came – I don’t mean showers, I mean the crackling thunderous kind that made the grandparents jump at the level of decibel disbursement and the blinding flashes of light – yet he remained fearless. We were on the tram back to the parking lot where we both got soaked to the skin in our efforts to preserve his dryness. It grew worse as we attempted to remain under the pavilion waiting for a break in the deluge. Poppie finally made a mad dash (more like a 3.5 mph brisk walk) through the pounding droplets to retrieve the car as a martyr to the cause so that he could keep the lad dry – it worked – he remained completely waterless while his Grannie and I paid the ultimate price. I have actually remained less wet while in the swimming pool!! Truth!! It all worked out, however, and his first safari through Jungala was an awesome time – he even has the T-shirt that bears the slogan, ‘My First Busch Garden T-Shirt’ – now how cute is that?

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THE AGE OF INNOCENCE

219 – Friday, August 07, 2009

Innocence is such a great thing to observe in the life of a child. It is no wonder that we are admonished in the Scriptures: Matthew 18:2-4 (King James Version) ²And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, ³And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. ⁴Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. My grandson constantly reminds me of this verse as I observe him – his eyes are often wide when his Poppie is talking to him – he loves to bring a book to me, turn his miniature frame and back into my lap where he extends his arms upwardly indicating he wants me to pick him up and read to him. He hangs on every word with his tiny fingers tracing the shapes and pictures elucidated within. He looks up at me with a huge smile beaming from his petal-soft face and there is never a doubt in his gaze that suggests anything other than total and complete acceptance – but it does not end there, that is only the beginning!! He is down in a minute and his mind is racing from shapes to colors to sounds and every other stimulus in his miniature universe – prodding, folding, inspecting, dissecting, turning, twisting, tossing, twirling, tasting, picking up a sphere and rotating his hands about its surface as he says the word, “Baaahh” and returning again to look at me with his quizzical “uhh” to find answers to his queries. When Poppie holds the orb and says the word “Ball”, the whole image becomes much clearer and a smile of peace and comfort wash over his precious face. If we could but lower ourselves to such a level of acceptance with our own existence, admit to ourselves that we long for answers we do not have, but know who does hold them – if we could feel as safe and secure in the presence of our Heavenly Father as my grandson feels with his Poppie, I know there would be more peace within us and that our security would be so assured that we could rejoice in all that we know and feel reassured in all that we do not! Trust is a pretty amazing thing!! Humility is the catalyst! Greatness is simple – chose to become less – just like a little child!! When I was in my youth, my mother used to admonish me to “Grow up!” I am pretty sure she would be the first to join with me today in my challenge to us all to be ‘converted’ and return to an inquisitive smallness!!!

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