Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter. Tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther… And one fine morning… So we beat on, Boats against the current, Borne back ceaselessly into the past.

The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby is my muse for today’s post. Do you have to read that book to understand it? I’ve read it 5x at the time of this writing. Give it a shot!

The Great Gatsby has resonated with me so deeply, I hardly know just why as yet.

When my Mum passed away, a few short years after my father, a Hope that had been there died. It was an idea hidden there inside me in open sight.

Paint me a picture, of a raging seaside shore line, rocks holding back the tide, and take away one of them, let it leave a vacant space, vacuous shining, blinding white light and I’ll see and know it’s gone.

My childhood had hung on all that time… “I’ve just gotta get this done and then I’ll get to that…” and that, what was that?

“When I have the money, then I’ll make it happen, only money stands in the way.” There’s The Great Gatsby!

My Mum, she’d been safely tucked away, waiting in the nursing home, until she could move into my mansion with green gardens and her own private room, and that oh so comfortable chair. But then she died.

My Green Light shattered!

But my Mum? Her hope had already been realized!

I’d been sent a message that I hadn’t quite needed yet a couple of years before. It lay dormant, that message from God, through my Mum, a message to me when she sweetly sang that song “shrimp boats” on the way home from our night out… it was a clear summer night, and as we drove along she was quiet. Soon I’d be going back to my home 2400 miles away, and she’d be buried in the silence of the miles once again. “Mum” I said, “I want to hear your voice” her reply, so sweet, “what? Singing?” Eagerly I encouraged her, “sure, Mum” She immediately started to sing a song I’d never in my life heard before. It was a song before my time.

“The Shrimp Boats are a coming…”

We had taken her out to eat, at a cheap restaurant, and one of us had brought back some shrimp from the buffet cart, perhaps this had pushed her mind back, past her present moment, past my childhood, back past when she and my Dad wrestled in the back seat of that car in order to conceive my oldest brother, a weight she would bare for the rest of her days, back past to when she sat with her father, mother, brother and sister, as the phonograph played, “Shrimp Boats” by Jo Stanford

Look at the lyrics, When those shrimp boats left homeport they rode high, because there were no shrimp in their holds. But when they returned they rode low, full of the catch…

As I meditated on that song… I mean I put it on back to back repeat and let it permeate my brain, I saw it in my mind’s eye, o felt it in my Spirit, my Mum was ready to go home! Ready to go back to Port, she was satisfied; another name for peace.

…happy, content, satisfied, fulfilled, she walked to the station and waited for the train to take her home, at last.

That’s the poetic image… the stark reality of what some may have seen, a frail old lady in the nursing home. Cold linoleum, white washed, generic walls, her room’s only autonomy was the cork board photo collection.

Those of us here who cling to life‘s hopes wanted her to be a part of it…

… If only money, but if only in that moment of time, then we’d go out to see, we’d go out to sea,

But soon we’d know that life has other storms, other unexpecteds

All the while he appears on the shore and calls out to us, “try the other side…” And if we do! The fish are there!

The obedience that comes from Faith can look so much like the random movements of the rest of my life, but it’s only difference is it’s God’s coaching on the sidelines,

“Now, do it now…”

The drawings and diagrams of the chalkboard are there in our minds eye, and we follow the pattern he taught us, and it’s for the win!

Just then and there we fully realize that he’s prepared us! supplied us! according to the eternal purpose of his will, and our satisfaction is his happy dance there just in front of the bleachers.

We certainly understand what he meant when he said, “ask whatever in my name, and you’ll have it”, we finally know what we tried once upon a time to understand.

I remember how foolishly naïve I felt. How pixelated I thought I might be, following the fairy down that path.

“Seek ye first… “ The fairy said,

And I had to find out, so I followed, just to know, just to see for myself what he meant.

Apart from faith it’s impossible to see him do that happy dance, and Faith comes by hearing, and hearing comes from the word about Christ.

We heard him in the garden, “where are you?” And we stepped out into the light of our shame, into the glory of his presence, into the confession of our fall, into the grace of his ever loving plan.

They were handing out green lights, those preachers, and we innocent fish, BIT!!! And the hook was set!

So what saved me from false hope? Hebrews 12 is a clue. My father in heaven, is that guiding hand in my life. Jesus Christ, the light of the world shone there before me through his word. If you seek him, he will let you find him. Hebrews 11:6

“Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”

John 16:7-15

Jesus himself! Look at those first words!

Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you.

John 16:7

I put so much pressure? Or is it merely a temptation to do so? I am constantly tempted to believe that it’s all up to me! I feel like I’m shirking my duty to refer a needy soul to God!

The helping hand is to be sure his hand extended, but so also is the direction for that same person to yield to, and accept Christ as their saviour.

Parker Palmer is an author, and I’ve read 2-3 books of his. One such is “A Hidden Wholeness” it is in that book that he describes “third things”. It’s well worth reading that book! But the idea conveyed is that our thoughts on a piece of writing reveal our hearts to ourselves. It’s a way of unveiling what we ourselves have become blind to in ourselves, or at least forgotten what we know. So here are a couple of things to read, and for you to make notes on. I myself would love to talk these things over with you, to be sure! But it’s most important that YOU talk them over with you.

Did you know one quite famous character of the Bible had a wife, and as far as I could see, her name wasn’t given? The fellow I’m talking about is Samson. Here is the story I want you to read. CLICK HERE Take notes…

Don’t read mine until you’ve made your notes 😬 but here’s mine… click here

Another is a short story by Jack London. CLICK HERE

And another here CLICK HERE

The first time I can remember it happening is late one night driving a Burnaby route, the one that went past one of the Casinos near New Westminster skytrain Stn. I cleared the hill and a couple of blocks ahead, there he was. I’d never seen him before that moment, but I knew, and since I was bored… I pulled in, opened the door and said, outloud for him to hear me, “I haven’t heard a good story in a long time! I can hardly wait” he says, “wha???” To which I cheerily replied, “oh, never mind, how are you tonight?” And without missing a beat he begins, “my friend, borrowed my wallet, and he never gave it back to me, and so that need a free ride, is that ok?” I immediately granted his request and bade him to have a seat.

Yes

A few years later I was driving a Richmond coach, on the 406 line, I can’t recall what time it was exactly, but a fellow that boarded my bus on Springmont Drive liked how I said hello to him, I guess, and asked if he could sit up front and keep me company, the back of the bus seeming so dark and lonely? “Sure!” I says, “we can play me favourite game!” Well, he bit, “the what game’s that?” He asked, “guess the fare!” Of course he is as curious for details so I continued in my bating style, and each time he bit. “Well, each stop we come to we try to guess if they have cash, a bus pass, or a story!” Yup, he bit again, “a story?!?”

“Yes, you see sometimes they get on and they have a story instead of their bus fare.” Well, that settled, he sat down near the front and we played the game.

About 1/2 an hour later, as we rounded the corner from No. 3 Road onto Cambie eastbound, I saw the crowd waiting at the bus stop about 80 feet ahead of me, “there he is”, I said to my new buddy!

And as our much anticipated young man boarded the bus, and went past fast with an expired pass, I called him back up to the front, “hey there, fella, come up here, we’ve been waiting for you!” And after asking to see his pass again, he immediately launched the story… about his friend, and etc I then went a little further, I told him he’s heading to a dance at the Cambie School (located at Cambie and Jacombs)… his eyes widened… and then I said, “and you’ve already gotten drunk with either zambucha or southern comfort” his eyes grew larger still, and he replied, “southern comfort, how did you…” I think even I was amazed that time 😂

Another time, while driving a number 8 Trolley bus 🚌 n the middle of the day, a big, well built, strong looking man boarded the bus on Fraser at around 19th I think, carrying something heavy that he’d wrapped in a blanket. He had it cradled across his fore arms. Randomly I said, “it’s a cam shaft!” Eyes wide in shock, the man replied, “yeah, it is!”

I’m not making these up, these things really happened.

A young couple boarded my 130 bus, along East Hastings, and said they wanted the Nanaimo stop, it was a little ways down the road, and so we just so happened to have a chat about this and that. As we neared their stop, the conversation allowed for me to tell them that they lived in a room of a house of rented rooms, on Pandora, just east of Nanaimo. They looked genuinely afraid of me at that point.

Carl Jung defined intuition as, “the complex integration of large amounts of information”

In Bible school my experience was a little bit similar. I knew at the beginning of the year that our Evangelism professor was having a nervous breakdown. Later in the year when it came to light, I was not surprised.

Challenge: To write a short story with the climactic phrase:

“She’s on that 601!!!”

The true story: click here

The more exciting, not so true story: CLICK HERE

Hyperlinks are underlined, I’m not sure how obvious they are. I like to use hyperlinks to direct my readers to further info if they need it. For example on this post the exchange between Eve and the serpent is in the garden I have added a link, can you find it? 😬

When Eve was tempted in the garden, she was alone, and she got played. The serpent reasons with her, she believes the snake, and takes a bite. Then she goes over and does the devil’s work, and Adam listens to her, and the rest is History.

Fast forward to where, Satan tempted Jesus with reasoning. He was also alone. Look at each and every answer Jesus gave, what would you say characterized each of them?

I marvel at his answers each and every time I read or hear them. He quoted the scripture. His actions were determined by obedience to God’s word. That means he knew God’s word! His expectations were then, as always, to please his father through his obedience.

When the Bible tells us to be like Christ, it’s this that we are to follow. His obedience. Luke 11:27-28 comes to mind once again. Jesus’ rebuttal of the unnamed woman’s declaration included himself as well as his mother.

Hear and obey.

We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand.

Hebrews 5:11

The righteous shall live by faith, from faith to faith. One act of hearing, followed by obedience leads to another. Faith is listening obedience. Apart from faith it is impossible to please God.

My experience is that this interaction is where a humble walk with God is possible. No gimmicks, no agendas, just His Holy Spirit guiding me all day long, moment by moment, listening obedience.

Quarrelsome wife. We the church are his Bride. We are the wife. Submit to the husband, the husband is Christ. Amoung other things quarrels are arguments. My wife and I argue, to be sure. But the more we seek to listen and agree with one another, the more we hear from God in a timely manner.

The best example of this is when my son, Ashton was 18 months old. He was uncharacteristically inconsolable, crying and in obvious pain. About two hours earlier he’d had a fairly minor fall in our back yard. Thank God we did not argue about what to do. My wife said to me, “I’m so glad you know what to do.”

Maybe she was referring to the fact that while this was her first child, Ashton was in fact my 5th child. Or maybe it was in reference to the fact that I once taught First Aid? Regardless, as soon as she said it, as soon as I heard her say it, my insides crumpled! “I have no idea! Oh, God help me!”

I immediately thought of a book we’d recently received from the local health authority. It was a First Aid guide. I turned to head injuries, and read the signs and symptoms…

We took him to the local emergency ward, where he was placed first in line ahead of those who had already been waiting in the crowded waiting room.

Long story short, he came within seconds of death.

Sobering, isn’t it?

In his book, The Cost of Discipleship, Bonhoeffer takes the case of the Rich young ruler, and the lawyer, and points out how they wanted to quibble with Jesus. Bonhoeffer boldly points out that of any of us are confused, it’s because we are simply in a state of disobedience.

Pray, right now and ask God what it is you’ve been refusing to hear?

Micah 6:8 there’s a great story from my life about this verse! I knew what God wanted from me, every alter call he’d bring it to me, and I’d refuse, then one day while looking at some Christian albums at a local Christian book store, I saw that reference, Micah 6:8… I said, “ok God! This is my answer!!!” I went home and looked it up! “He has shown you, oh man, what is good and what the Lord requires of you…” 😂

So what about Feck?!?

My brother Andrew and I used to laugh at people who said crap instead of… swearing. It’s as though a guy about to be thrown into Hell could shout out:

“I said F E C K !”

I am having a hard time watching the Chosen series, because my heart grows so full of tears, longing for Jesus, to be here in the flesh with us, dwelling amongst us… and it’s moving me to prayer, or rather a longing to pray. He sent the Holy Spirit, he gave us the command to love one another, and to love this world as He loves it still.

We are, “together in unity” the risen Christ!

Hear me! when we dwell in unity, and love… then we are the church, the dwelling place of God!

“Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.”

Ephesians 2:19-22

Is He Worthy

Do you feel the world is broken?

(We do)

Do you feel the shadows deepen?

(We do)

But do you know that all the dark won’t Stop the light from getting through?

(We do)

Do you wish that you could see it all made new?

We do)

Is all creation groaning?

(It is)

Is a new creation coming?

(It is)

Is the glory of the Lord to be the light within our midst?

(It is)

Is it good that we remind ourselves of this?

(It is)

Is anyone worthy? Is anyone whole?

Is anyone able to break the seal and open the scroll?

The Lion of Judah who conquered the grave

He was David’s root and the Lamb who died to ransom the slave

Is He worthy? Is He worthy?

Of all blessing and honor and glory

Is He worthy of this?

He is

Does the Father truly love us?

(He does)

Does the Spirit move among us?

(He does)

And does Jesus, our Messiah hold forever those He loves?

(He does)

Does our God intend to dwell again with us?

(He does)

Is anyone worthy?

Is anyone whole?

Is anyone able to break the seal and open the scroll?

The Lion of Judah who conquered the grave

He is David’s root and the Lamb who died to ransom the slave

From every people and tribe

Every nation and tongue

He has made us a kingdom and priests to God

To reign with the Son

Is He worthy? Is He worthy?

Of all blessing and honor and glory

Is He worthy? Is He worthy?

Is He worthy of this?

He is!

Is He worthy? Is He worthy?

He is!

He is!

The line “Does our God intend to dwell again with us? (He Does) got tears flowing so heavily in me, the longing that he would dwell again with us!

I never agree with anyone in order to be complicit, I don’t believe in collusion, but I do believe in agreement… agreement is when the spirit in me and the spirit in you agree, truly.

It’s the elephant surrounded by blind men analogy… each one declares

* it’s a snake

* it’s a tree

* it’s a sewer

* it’s a leather leaf tree

At our vantage point we know where each is standing…

If they sought agreement instead of each insisting “I’m right you’re wrong” if they believed in each other they’d see that each of them is right.

My neighbour went back to work, she’s a nurse, at a local hospital.

Her admin meetings scared her so much… the thought to run came to mind, but God gave her courage instead, to do what he gifted her to do. The medical community is screaming that we do all we can to get things under control.

I don’t know the answer…

I do know that I feel bewildered and overcome by it all, and longing for the clarity that would come if Jesus came walking in, sat down and gave me clarity… therefore I am driven to prayer!

It was his idea to leave us! Part of his plan to send us his Holy Spirit! And our unity, our love, our striving to love one another is the key!

The eye is the lamp of the body…

““Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

Matthew 6:19-24

Here are three quotes from the book, “Life Together” by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. The first is an excerpt from the other two. I want to discuss this idea of “no immediate access to one another”. That Bonhoeffer presented.

I have enormous respect and veneration for Bonhoeffer. Mostly because his writings have confirmed for me, indeed put into words things that God has been teaching me throughout my life. But my foundation is not upon my own experience, nor the word of man, but rather, upon the word of God.

One such question is “Why be obedient?”

Read through the following quotes and then I shall see if I have any thoughts to share, and will enter them afterwards (below)

Then, if you would, please email me your thoughts to walkingdownvimy@gmail.com

Within the spiritual community there is never, nor in any way, any “immediate” relationship of one to another, whereas human community expresses a profound, elemental, human desire for community, for immediate contact with other human souls

Life Together, Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Perhaps the contrast between spiritual and human reality can be made most clear in the following observation: Within the spiritual community there is never, nor in any way, any “immediate” relationship of one to another, whereas human community expresses a profound, elemental, human desire for community, for immediate contact with other human souls, just as in the flesh there is the urge for physical merger with other flesh. Such desire of the human soul seeks a complete fusion of I and Thou, whether this occur in the union of love or, what is after all the same thing, in the forcing of another person into one’s sphere of power and influence. Here is where the humanly strong person is in his element, securing for himself the admiration, the love, or the fear of the weak. Here human ties, suggestions, and bonds are everything, and in the immediate community of souls we have reflected the distorted image of everything that is originally and solely peculiar to community mediated through Christ.

Life Together, Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Thus there is such a thing as human absorption. It appears in all the forms of conversion wherever the superior power of one person is consciously or unconsciously misused to influence profoundly and draw into his spell another individual or a whole community. Here one soul operates directly upon another soul. The weak have been overcome by the strong, the resistance of the weak has broken down under the influence of another person. He has been overpowered, but not won over by the thing itself. This becomes evident as soon as the demand is made that he throw himself into the cause itself, independently of the person to whom he is bound, or possibly in opposition to this person. Here is where the humanly converted person breaks down and thus makes it evident that his conversion was effected, not by the Holy Spirit, but by a man, and therefore has no stability.

Life Together, Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Here are my comments so far.

Lately I’ve been wrestling with something, and have scripture to consider along with it. Our response to God’s word is faith. And that faith leads us into relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 11:6

It is not an intellectual assent as A.W. Tozer referred to it. It is obedience to his call to lay our life down and to follow him.

The only guarantee is salvation

1 Peter 1: the goal of our faith…

What I mean is… salvation is not a means to an end. Our salvation is the END. Are use the word “and” as we hear it in the term “end justifies the means”. This is a term which I became quite familiar with when reading such authors as Abraham Maslow, Carl Jung, etc. so rather than me trying to come up with the definition of it I will Google it stay here don’t go away I’ll be right back LOL!

“the end justifies the means” definition: 1. said about a situation in which the final aim is so important that any way of achieving it is acceptable

Cambridge

Our relationship with God is primary. Our relationship with one another, is through him. His love for each of us is equal.

The one thing I wonder at uttering is the idea that God has limited himself… by making certain things up to us! Such as loving one another, and loving this world as He loves it.

But GOD knows what he’s doing!

“The Great Gatsby” has come to my mind this morning. I was in absolute awe as I read that book. And let me always add, by “read” I mean “listened to an audiobook of” 🤨 I want you to read it!!! I don’t want to ROB you if it’s impact by my trivializing summary! It’s pure prose! With an absolutely incredible impact!

Those verses in Ephesians come to mind..

“His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Ephesians 3:10-11

Do I know you? Who does?

Let’s suppose we’ve met, you and I. And my contention is that I know you.

“You don’t know me.”

“You thought you knew me.”

But what about those songs that make the claim… “I know you” or to be more emphatic, “I know you better than you know yourself” ?

I’ve found myself praying for a particular person the last few weeks maybe, I can’t place a time that it began. And as I use that person for my muse this morning…

Oh, my, isn’t that telling?

To treat another person so abstractly.

But I’m aware of this… I didn’t choose her for my muse. From the history of me, I know it’s about my being an intercessor. And that part of that is that it’s the Holy Spirit’s work in me, as much as in her. I have two daughters. This one is a daughter of someone else. Precious and preserved.

She made comment the other day about herself… when I said I had nothing specific to say to her but only encouragement… she said that’s probably a good thing, because she doesn’t like advice, although even there, I feel afraid to suppose I could quote her.

I would like to talk with her sometime soon… and they’d all be questions.

I’ve read so much these last few years. At times I feel that I have few to talk to about it all. One topic in particular interests me:

Shoulds
Oughts

There’s a start…

But also, “Specific advice”. Who likes that? I’m not being rhetorical when I ask. Think about who likes advice, and who seeks advice.

A book I read very early on in my life was “Daring To Draw Near” a book by John White. He used the prayers of the bible as his text(s)

And the one thing of many I retain from that is that God initiates with us… and our response is prayer… he engages us… most often I find that I have felt guilt and accused myself of rebelliousness… when it actually might be God challenging me to prayer, intercessory prayer… is God pissed off with the church? I am… which church? The false one… the one that crowds out Christ and the Holy Spirit

The other part of the claim “to know” is to OWN a person. We’ve heard this term used ultra negative in its meaning. “I own you!” And “He got owned!”

I was fascinated when I read in “Towards a Psychology of Being” Abraham Maslow, about what he called a scoptophiliac

That “knowing” can unconsciously mean domination, mastery, control, and perhaps even contempt, can be seen also from the scoptophiliac, who can feel some sense of power over the naked women he peeps at, as if his eyes were an instrument of domination that he could use for raping. In this sense, most men are peeping Toms and stare boldly at women, undressing them with their eyes. The biblical use of the word “knowing” as identical with sexual “knowing” is another use of the metaphor.

“Towards a Psychology of Being”

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” ‭‭John‬ ‭1:5‬ ‭ESV

John 1:5

That word “overcome” is the English word that the ESV translators chose

Outline of Biblical Usage:

καταλαμβάνω

Transliteration: katalambano

1. to lay hold of
   1. to lay hold of so as to make one’s own, to obtain, attain to, to make one’s own, to take into one’s self, appropriate
   2. to seize upon, take possession of
      1. of evils overtaking one, of the last day overtaking the wicked with destruction, of a demon about to torment one
      2. in a good sense, of Christ by his holy power and influence laying hold of the human mind and will, in order to prompt and govern it
   3. to detect, catch
   4. to lay hold of with the mind
      1. to understand, perceive, learn, comprehend

“But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people”‬‬

John 2:24

What does that mean, “to entrust himself” to them?

Another question comes to mind as I muse along… Who owned who? Abraham and Isaac.

Isaac was the fulfilment of the promise God made to Abraham… and God asked Abraham to sacrifice him… up on that mountain, who owned who? And when they came down again, who owned who?

IDK when but… what I saw in that story is that God loved Abraham, jealously, there is a rotten connotation of the word “use”, it’s a terrible thing to find you ears realizing, “I got used” a means to an end…

My own story contains something about what I see today about the Abraham, Isaac, and mountain sacrifice story. When I was growing up or rather during my first marriage, LOL, I worked my way through different jobs. One of those jobs was working in a research unit of the health sciences centre in Winnipeg Manitoba. It was a “Day treatment” program of the child psychiatric ward. They were researching interventions with pervasive developmental disorder, which is what now a days is known as ASD – Autistic Spectrum Disorder. Years later, in my second marriage we came to have a child who would eventually be diagnosed with a exactly that same disorder. My 5th born son, Ashton. Incidentally, I told him the other day that I did not think of him as Autistic, I thought of him as Ashton, God’s unique creation with many things in common with Autism. He knew what I meant. And he thanked me. A label is a De-humanizing thing to put upon a person. Abraham Maslow is where I first read about the idea of regarding someone abstractly. you only see up to a certain point about a person, decide that you know them, categorize them rank them whether on a piece of paper or simply in your mind, and you cease to see them for who they truly are. As I pondered and mused about Ashton over the years I wondered at, in awe of God’s fore knowledge. He knew by his grace, and had me trained for the job I would do.

I couldn’t understand it until I realized that God had prepared Ashton’s FATHER for Ashton’s sake!

But God had a plan for me, also! And a plan for my son! They are intertwined and yet quite separate.

These are crucial questions for us as parents. We need to make our daughters aware of those boyz who would like to conquer them… and have them for a trophy on their wall, like a stuffed sheep’s head on the plate, with an apple in its mouth. We need to train our sons for equal treachery from girls who would “use” them… oh, do we? Isn’t that teaching them to FEAR? Why not model a good man for your daughters so that they recognize a snake, because he’s not like her Dad! Why not model a good Daddy to your sons so that know what footsteps to follow?

The Apostle Paul wrote, “Imitate me as I imitate Christ.” Model Christ himself and they will long for Christ! And recognize him in others! We are eternal beings! Bought with a price!

“Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.”

1 Corinthians 11:1

I saw sometime else just now… a discarded, crushed, extra large McDonalds coffee cup… stripped of its sticker, at the side of the road

I once upon a time saw a neat little pile of cigarette butts and shredded paper… no tobacco… just the husks

I saw the pile of corn husks, the hungry Red Ants, the twitching dog laying at their feet, and the rosey cheeked child on the old man’s lap, beside his shanty composed of discarded or stolen aluminum culverts… I was in Guatemala at the time, and this baby and her grandfather were on the NoMan’s land of the railway right-of-way, their home made out of bits and pieces of other things that he’d repurposed… but the thing that brought tears to my eyes is this. That child wasn’t paying the price for where they lived. She was warm, safe, clean and healthy, on God’s lap!

Women of the Bible to look into:

Hagar: she got “used” and the as discarded. But God went to her, after she’d left him a little ways off… left him to die. God went to her and what did HE say? Take a look at what God’s word to Abraham about it!

The daughters of Korah

Abigale

Estger

Ruth

Mary

Elizabeth

Sarah

Then there’s Bonhoeffer’s “we have no immediate access to one another, only in and through Christ” ponder that!