Life Lessons at the Crack of Dawn

My kids have the strangest sense of a new day dawning.  When I have to get up early, they sleep until 10:00.  When I get a chance to sleep in, they’re up with the chickens.  And when they’re up, they are full-throtle.

This morning, I was roused from a deep sleep by the sound of tiny feet bounding up the stairs (which I was vaguely aware of) followed by a slap on my back (which I was very much aware of) and the exclamation, “Dad!  The basil is growing!  The basil is growing!”

Huh? Oh, yeah…they basil.  As in the tiny seedlings we planted a few weeks ago which are beginning to sprout.  They are fascinated with the incremental changes in these little green wonders.  So I couldn’t be mad.  I just smiled and said “that’s what they do, kiddo.”  Or something to that effect…it probably was more like “blllaaaahhhh  meeedddd  huhhhh?”  But hey, I was tired.

But after I got out of bed and began my day, the excitement and joy in my kids really blessed me.  As I took a shower, it was like God said, “And why aren’t you that excited to talk to me each day?” Ouch.

Jesus said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.”  Matt. 18:3

I’ve heard it a thousand times, but today, it struck me anew.

• My kids have no sense of when it is or is not appropriate to tell me anything.  No matter what is going on, they are going to come and talk to me, and they know they can.  If I can’t talk that second, I’ll ask them to hold on, but they know they can come to me anytime, anywhere.  Do we feel that way with God?  Isn’t that why the veil was torn in two?
• My kids will share anything with me, from the toy they want for Christmas to the picture they’re drawing, to their wonder at the tiny sprout of a seedling.  Do we rejoice in all we’ve been given, all we get to experience everyday?  The sheer wonder of life?  Jesus said to cast all our cares on Him, but is that all we take to Him?
• My kids are joyful about pretty much everything they tell me.  There is an excitement in their eyes about the simplest things, be it a new shirt to wear, a new thing they’ve learned, or, again, a new bud on a plant.  Are you joyful?  Do you realize how much you have to be joyful about?  Are you breathing?  Can you see?  Open your eyes and be thankful!
• My kids just want to spend time with their dad and share life with me.  Last night, my girls curled up on the couch with me (I must leave room on each side for them) to watch “How It’s Made.”  And that simple half hour, marveling at the making of something goofy, was awesome.  Why? We were together.  Do you long to spend time with the Lord?  To just be with Him?  Do you want to?

So, for what it’s worth, those are some lessons my kids taught me this morning as the sun came up.

Are You an Exception?

We are a society that loves to make exceptions.  We all do it, and we all expect to be allowed to do it.  We play by the rules, we do the things we’re supposed to do, but there comes a time when we all expect those rules and expectations to be bent, just for us.

It’s one thing to have exceptions in everyday life…it’s quite another to have them in your relationship with God.  Yet again, be honest with yourself…do you have them?  If so, you’re not alone.

“And Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of his father David, except that he sacrificed and burned incense at the high places.”  (1 Kings 3:3)

Solomon was the king God would chose to build a house for His Name.  He was the man who would throw a massive celebration at the dedication of that house, the man who’s wisdom would cause people to come from far and wide to hear him.

And, as we read, he was the man who walked in the statutes of his father David, the king by which every other king would be measured.  Don’t think much of that?  Read through the rest of 1 and 2 Kings, and see just how rare those qualities were in other kings.  Trust me…it’s not a characteristic that was going to be found very often. 

Yet Solomon had an exception: he worshipped at the high places, or in layman’s terms, he worshipped like the world.

The high places were acceptable to everyone, but God.  The high places were where the nations that surrounded Israel worshipped.  The people of Israel, not having a temple yet, would go up to the high places to worship.

It reminds me that, just as they wanted a king like the nations around them, they would worship just like the nations around them.  The world was dictating their relationship with God.

Is the world dictating your relationship with God, or is He?  Is His Word your guide and source of wisdom, or is popular opinion?  Are you like Solomon and Israel, following the Lord in many ways, yet having “exceptions.”  Maybe there are things that make you uncomfortable between what the world says and what the Word says?  Which side will you fall on?

Are you going to be an exception?  Or are you going to make exceptions?

 

A Monday Visitor and Child-Like Faith

Mondays are my day off, which simply means that my kids have a built-in alarm clock that says “Dad’s home today!” and subsequently wakes them  (and me) up about 6:00 a.m.  Tomorrow?  They’ll be out until 9:00, but that’s another story.

Anyway, today, we were hanging out together, laughing at my eldest making her siblings “disappear” through the wonders of blankets and piano benches (also another story), when the doorbell rang.  As soon as I opened it, I knew what I was faced with.

Several years ago, I lamented that I was never home when the door-to-door religious groups would come by (my wife also lamented this fact).  Finally, the group from out West popped by, and I was on them like white on rice.  I threw out verse after verse, pretty much called them heretics, and basically assured I was off their visitation list for life.

Christ-like response?  Not quite.  Immediate conviction by the Holy Spirit?  You bet.  (The comment from my wife of “well, that was loving” also helped).  I was humbled.  Was what I said wrong? No.  Was how I said it?  Yes.

God made me understand that day that He sent His Son to die for those guys too; that when He said He gave His Son for the whole world, He meant it.  The sad thing was that the two dudes that believed the lie that day came off more loving than the pastor.  Ouch. And the saddest thing for me?  My oldest daughter was at my hip the whole time, hearing every word I said.

Flash-forward to today.  I opened the door with my daughter at my side, and came face to face with a nice young man with a big smile, who immediately told me he was there to share “words of encouragement in these hard times” and he grabbed a pamphlet to hand me.

So here I faced the same situation as before, so how was I going to respond?

Well, without boring you, I just talked to the guy for a few moments about the state of the world, how Jesus called these things “birth pangs” that would come before His return, and how Jesus is the only hope for this world.  (On a side note, God gave me a fresh reminder of this from my pastor yesterday…He’s good that way!)  The man was not confrontational at all, even after I told him I was a pastor.

We talked for a bit, and while I got excited (because I do when I start talking about Jesus), I don’t think I was belligerent (unlike with the boys from Salt Lake).  At least, I don’t think I was.  Finally, my boy finally broke up our theological discussion by throwing a fit, and I bid our visitor goodbye.

As I came back in the house, my wife informed me that my oldest had been listening, as she was the last time.  She wanted to know what that was all about, and I could tell she was a little confused why I was getting so excited.   So I started to share with her about it, about how that guy didn’t think Jesus was God, and how it was so important that we know the truth.

She just looked at me and said “But Jesus IS God!  They’re the same!”

Yes they are honey.   From the mouths of babes.  So we prayed for our visitor, that he would see the Truth, and the Truth would set him free.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.” John 1:1

Dogs, Turtles, and the Last Enemy

That’s my baby girl, my middle child.  She is quite possibly the sweetest thing on the planet.  To say that she lights up my life would be an understatement.  She has one of the most tender hearts I’ve ever known (and I know her mom).

Yesterday, I was fixing breakfast for my girls and we were carrying on our usual banter.   Somehow, my oldest and I started discussing Rusty, my old nemesis…errrr…dog (see here) and how, ahhh…old he is.  Caroline is the polar opposite of Hannah, and she’s asking about when he’ll die and all that.  I don’t think anything of it, until I come back to the table and find Hannah, head bowed, tears on her cheeks.  When I asked her what was wrong, through tears I hear “I don’t want Rusty to die!”

Uhhhhh…great job there dad.  Way to start the day!

Fast-forward to tonight.  I took advantage of beautiful evening to get the kids out of the house and take a walk around the neighborhood.  Along the way, we came across a tiny turtle in the middle of the street who had…well, lets just say lost a battle with a tire.  This time, there were no tears, but it still affected Hannah.  She let out an “Awwwwww!!!”  And then she looks at me and says, “I bet his mommy is worried about where he is!”

This is my daughter, 4 years old, and these are her thoughts on death.  Honestly, I think we can all relate.  We rebel against even the thought of it.  We empathize with the sense of loss that accompanies it.  We understand, even from a young age, that it’s a separation that we can’t do anything about; it’s completely beyond our control.

Thank God, I know that this is not all there is.

“If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” (1 Cor. 15:19-20)

As Easter approaches, as the empty tomb yawns, I was reminded in my little girl’s tears that death has been defeated.  After paying the price to redeem us, to save us from our sins, that awful and awesome sacrifice, Christ then conquered the last enemy, death, upon His resurrection.  Because He lives, as the old song goes, I can face tomorrow.  Because He lives, because Christ rose from the grave, I don’t have to fear death.

As my pastor likes to say, Christians don’t die, they just move. Amen.  Celebrate it this Easter, and everyday.

What Remains?

I don’t like throwing things away.  I’m not a hoarder, but I’m not Mr. Clean either.  And although I’m not as bad as my father-in-law (oh, the stories I could tell), but I’m pretty bad, as my wife can attest.

I don’t like deleting old emails.  I feel like I’m letting something go, and I can’t get it back!  Or pictures…oh the pictures…Amanda can’t stand it when I take pictures!  10 of every shot of the kids.  It’s like looking at one of those old flip books when you roll through them!

When I do (or is it “did?”) woodworking, I’ll hold on to some of the tiniest scraps.  ”Hey, you never know when I might need that!” I tell Amanda, but eventually, I throw most of them away, because that need never arises.

Judging by the amount of publicity that hoarding gets, and with the incredible amount of storage units that are popping up all over the place, I’m not alone in this.  We don’t like letting go of things.  For many, it’s literally a compulsion to hold onto something.  Better to pay $100 a month to store it (whoever came up with that idea was a genius).

And as true as this is for our physical lives, I think it’s even more so for our spiritual lives.  We have a tendency to try and hold onto the old life, the “old man” as it were, to keep that “security”, false as it may be, the tangible, the seen.

Israel had the same problem.  In Deuteronomy, Moses warned them over and over about not falling into the idol worship that permeated the promised land.  They were told “take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them (false gods), after they are destroyed from before you” (Deut. 12:30).

Israel always struggled (as do we) with trading the seen for the unseen.  Remember, at Mt. Sinai, when Moses was up on the mountain, hidden in the smoke and speaking with God Himself, the people talked Aaron into making them a golden calf, a seen thing to take the place of the Unseen.  We, like them, struggle with giving up the seen for the unseen, don’t we?

In Deuteronomy 13:17, after describing how the people were to destroy any idol-worshipping town among them, Moses told the people that “none of the accursed things shall remain in your hand.”  They weren’t to hold onto them at all.

So my question for you, and me, today is:  what are we holding onto?  What are we refusing to let go of from our old lives, our past?  Or perhaps this is not something old to you.  Perhaps you’ve seen “the gods of this land” and are being tempted to worship them, to cling to them.  Can we not see that the things in our hands are lies (Isaiah 44)?

What do you need to let go of?  What remains in your hand?

Go Back? To What?

On my drive home today, I heard a commercial for a “men’s health” product that promised to  ”make you the man you used to be!”  It claimed it could return me back to my youth.

Yeah….uhhh…no thanks.

Beyond looking like a schmuck, when I look at that picture, when I think back to what lay inside that guy, I’m reminded of just how far the Lord has brought me.  If I could go back, the only reason I’d want to is to smack myself upside the head, get a hair-cut, and sit down and explain how all my stupid mistakes and sins would cost me.  It’d probably be in vain (because “that guy” knew it all back then), but it’d be worth a try.

Obviously, this commercial plays on our eternal search for the fountain of youth, right?  I know the sales pitch is designed to make my thirty-something self long for the “good ol’ days” of no aches and pains, no creaky joints, no perpetual tired-ness…I get that.   But I couldn’t help but laugh at it, because when I think back to “that guy”, the guy I used to be, the last thing I want is to go back!

Go back?  Not a chance.  I’m reminded of what Paul told the Corinthian church:

“When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.”  1 Cor. 13:11

When I look back, when I think of who I was before Jesus set me free from slavery to sin, I truly was a child.  Like my kids, I thought I knew better than every adult, the epitome of my childish thoughts.  I was consumed with “me” and what I could get for me, even if it would destroy me.  Hey…I knew better, right?

Praise God, He didn’t leave me to wallow in that mire.  He opened my eyes to see the foolishness of that way of life, He allowed me to get to the end of “me”, and He began to raise me up, and clean me off.

And that process still goes on today.

No, I’m not that guy anymore, and I don’t want to be that guy any more.  I’m not who I’m going to be, one day…but I’m not who I was, either.  And the last thing I want to do is to go back.  Go back?  To what? That guy? Lost and desperately seeking to find his way?   No thanks.

I think of where the Lord has brought me from, I think of all that He has blessed me with (and the picture below tells a great deal of that story!).  Why in the world would I want to go back?  Why do you want to go back?

Plus, I’ve already been told by the beautiful lady in the picture below, if she’d have met “that guy”, she wouldn’t have given him the time of day!  That’s enough reason by itself!

Take It From Him

Last night, my little man was sick.  Pitiful sick.  Throwing up all over everybody sick.

It was a rough night.  For him, and for us.

After one final bout with this mess around 2:00 a.m., I sat in the bathroom, holding my son in my arms.  He was pitiful.  Feverish, hardly able to hold his eyes open from exhaustion…it’s hard to see your 1 year old (or any year old) in that state.

As I held him, I found myself praying a prayer I’ve prayed over my girls many times.  ”Lord, if someone has to get this junk, let it be me.  Take it from him, give it to me.  Protect and heal him.”

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m no masochist.  I don’t want to drive the porcelain train anymore than you!  But when it comes to seeing my kids suffer or suffering for them, well, that’s really no choice at all. Parents, I know you know what I’m talking about.

And folks, that’s how the Father feels about us.  He looked down from heaven on the state of man, the state of sin that we were all in.  Suffering, sickness, death, pain, sorrow, slavery to sin…we were all, each of us, bound up in it.  And the Father sent His Son, His only Son, to take it for us.

2 Corinthians 5:21 says “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” 

That’s the Father’s love for us.  That’s how much God loves you, and me.  We sing a song at our church with the following line:  ”You would lay down Your life that I would be set free.”  Yep.  That’s God’s love for us.

Do you know it?  Do you believe it?  Have you experienced it?  If you haven’t, why wait?  Ask Him to show you His love today…right now…this moment.

For if He wouldn’t spare His own Son, but gave Him up for your sake, how would He not pour out His love on you?