Year: 2015

A Disciple is not a career choice, it is a calling

http://bible.com/59/luk.9.57-62.ESV
As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”  To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”  Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Three men. Three situations. The responses.

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Love you, Father. Love you, Dad.

My dad and I had a wonderful talk the other night.  Sometimes there just isn’t anyone else better than dad to give you that perfect mix of pep talk where it’s,  “I’m proud of you” and “You need to stick it out and see it to the end because you are a man” all bundled up perfectly in the conversation you need to push you to keep climbing the stairs of life.

You know, it’s a blessing to be at that point in life where we can talk and listen to each other,  both as grown men,  and to respect each other and genuinely listen to each other. Lord knows it hasn’t always been that way. And don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t him – it was me and my immaturity that got in the way for so so long.

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My 4 Year Old, “You don’t fly to heaven, you walk.”

As we were sitting down at dinner tonight, we were explaining to our 4 year old daughter that everyone has a mommy and a daddy. She replied that her Daddy Jim doesn’t have a daddy. You see, my dad’s dad,  my grandfather was diagnosed with lung cancer shortly before Mia was born and was headed into hospice as we were bringing Mia home from the hospital. Their lives overlapped for exactly two weeks. Mia just understands that he is missing from the table at our family gatherings. We explained that granddad is in heaven.

To which my daughter boldly replied,

“You don’t fly to heaven,  you walk.”

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Who Am I?

Who Am I?
by Deitrich Bonhoeffer

Who am I? They often tell me
I stepped from my cell’s confinement
Calmly, cheerfully, firmly,
Like a Squire from his country house.

Who am I? They often tell me
I used to speak to my warders
Freely and friendly and clearly,
As thought it were mine to command.

Who am I? They also tell me
I bore the days of misfortune
Equably, smilingly, proudly,
like one accustomed to win.

Am I then really that which other men tell of?
Or am I only what I myself know of myself?
Restless and longing and sick, like a bird in a cage,
Struggling for breath, as though hands were compressing my throat,
Yearning for colors, for flowers, for the voices of birds,
Thirsting for words of kindness, for neighborliness,
Tossing in expectations of great events,
Powerlessly trembling for friends at an infinite distance,
Weary and empty at praying, at thinking, at making,
Faint, and ready to say farewell to it all.

This or the Other?
Am I one person today and tomorrow another?
Am I both at once? A hypocrite before others,
And before myself a contemptible woebegone weakling?
Or is something within me still like a beaten army
Fleeing in disorder from victory already achieved?

Who am I? They mock me, these lonely questions of mine.
Whoever I am, Thou knowest, O God, I am thine!

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