Posted on February 23, 2009 at 2:37pm.
One of the highlights of my week is a ten minute conversation that takes place driving back after an uptown lunch appointment - Mondays with Richard. My dad is 85, and as active as I am. It’s tough to find him at home, but a year or so ago I discovered this window on Monday afternoons when it’s rare not to find him right next to the phone. He lives in a retirement community two blocks off the boardwalk in Ocean City, New Jersey, and most days walks the full length of the boards and back - 5 miles. His life is pretty full. He is the self appointed wheel pusher ensuring that everyone gets to services and back, he drives his neighbors to their doctors appointments, golfs, rides his bike several times a week, and has quite the active social calendar. Keeping those desperate widows at bay is a whole lot of work itself, cause he is quite the catch. I wondered, even worried what life would look like for him once my mom passed. She was literally everything to him. They were high school sweethearts, and when he lost her, he lost the love of his life. Though he misses her terribly, he finds joy every day. I am proud of this man, proud of the man he is, and proud of the man he is still becoming. At 85 he is still growing, maturing, deepening. And at 85 he is still teaching this boy what it means to be a man.
Posted on February 18, 2009 at 3:52pm.
I watch “24” and there are terms on there that seem to occur frequently, like “schematics” and “going dark” - I don’t know why I search for, and then smile, when I hear those terms, and others, but I do. Anyway, I feel like I have “gone dark” on this blog deal. This month has been one of the fullest months that I have had in a while. Good, but jam packed. It has also been a real tough one as God is making me look at stuff in me that He still wants to redeem. I have been praying for a new work in me, and I should have known that after all of these years of walking with God, that it would come at a cost. It is real interesting that you can mature, and experience deep movements of the Spirit in your life in some areas, and in others feel like a child taking baby steps. I am learning to trust in new ways, I am discovering waters that I have avoided intentionally, but am compelled to enter. I am in the shallow end, but I’m in. Scared, hopeful, unsure, and dependent.
Posted on February 11, 2009 at 7:55am.
The last couple of days have been discouraging. No matter how much I trust God, somehow the weight I see people carry - especially in my own family, just weighs me down too. Realizing once again that there is often very little I can actually do, but trust and pray. Which I eventually get to, after all sorts of mental gymnastics, and brainstorming, and strategies. Trust and pray. Somehow, in ways I still do not understand, the Spirit has allowed joy to come in the morning. Not much is different, but I am today - thanks to God. Now to remain. That seems to be a work that I am dependent on God for, too!
Posted on February 10, 2009 at 12:44pm.
There are some foods that I never get tired of! And there are foods that are a bore from the get go. Like soup. Soup is not a meal, no matter how much meat you throw into it. Soup is an appetizer. Chinese food however never seems to get old, tired, or boring. The food has additional good vibes for me as I have had lunch with a friend at a Chinese restaurant every week for close to twenty years. That is literally a ton of sesame chicken and rice. I am grateful today for those lunches. Today my friend sat and listened, spoke truth, laughed “at” me, and I left believing that someone was in this thing with me. I am blessed man. A good meal, and a good friend. It’s a good day!
Posted on February 5, 2009 at 10:56am.
Time may not heal, but God does. January and February have held a somber sub plot over the last decade or so for me. I just got an email today from a friend who is no longer living in the area, but who lost their first child 9 years ago - Zach was only 14 months old. They have had three children since, and yet still miss him, and feel that pain that his loss creates as they wonder what their lives would look like. what he would be like if he had lived. Today, is also a big day in the life of another Church at Charlotte family, as it marks 11 years since their beautiful 19 year old daughter passed away after a routine surgery. I do not know the pain of losing a child, and I hope I never do - but having kids of my own, I know firsthand, with every year having them in my life they capture more and more of my heart. I cannot fathom what that pain must be like to live with. I am asking the Counselor, the Holy Spirit to speak peace, continued healing, comfort, and His unmistakeable presence into the lives of my dear friends. If you read this today - would you pray for them too?
