Generally, the best way to “find time” for what is important is to “set aside a time” to make it happen. The former is incidental, while the latter is intentional. Thus, when we claim that we can’t seem to “find the time” for something, I would submit that we are unwittingly making a statement about our motivations.
Posted in Thought for the Day / Quotes | Tagged finding the time, making the time | Leave a Comment »
This morning, the thermometer outside my window said that it was – 7 degrees F (that’s without wind-chill). By Midwest standards, that’s cold. Of course, I was standing inside my kitchen at the time, which was a balmy 68 degrees F. As economic times have gotten tougher in the last several years it has been easy to succumb to the notion that things are “bad”, but days like today remind me of how blessed we still are. Yeah, I live in a 54 year old, non-descript house, that I’ll likely never have fully paid for. But it’s a well insulated, brick house, with a high efficiency gas furnace. Yeah, I drive a 16 year old car with almost 200,000.00 miles on it. But this morning it kicked right over when I turned the key. Yeah, the cost of food is putting a big time strain on my budget, but no one in my house went to bed hungry last night, and there’s plenty of provision in the cupboards for today as well. It’s not lost on me that within just a few blocks of our home there are people who couldn’t make those claims and that around the world, there are many people who will never experience such prosperity. When the kids were young, I used to lay down with them, and on cold nights I’d pray, “Father, thank you for a warm house on a cold night, and we pray for everyone who is seeking shelter tonight. Father, thank you for the abundance of food on our table, and we pray for everyone who is hungry tonight. And Father, thank you for the wonderful family that you’ve given us, and we pray for everyone who is alone tonight.” Today, as I walked toward my office, and the frigid air burned in my nostrils, I once again found that prayer on the tip of my tongue.
Posted in Prayers, Thought for the Day / Quotes | Tagged gratitude, hard times, warm house | Leave a Comment »
When a musician plays an instrument, it isn’t really the musician that we hear. It is actually the instrument’s response to the promptings of the musician. With the brass and the woodwinds it is the player’s breath moving through the inner parts of the instrument, or with the stringed instruments it is the sound of the strings resonating in response to the musician’s touch. The unique construction of each instrument conveys the breath and/or touch in a different way, thereby creating a completely distinct sound. And so it is with God and all that He has created. The Father is the Master Craftsman who handcrafts each instrument, winnowing out the inner chambers of every heart and fastening every heartstring. The Spirit is the Master Musician, whose deft touch and subtle breath creates the music that reaches the heavens. Each life has the potential to become a beautiful melody, a completely original composition and ultimately a song of praise to the Creator. Just like the ripples in a pond, the sounds that emanate from one life spread out and touch all of those around them.
excerpted from the foreword to “The Ballad of Billy Turner”.
Posted in Heart of "The Father", Word Pictures | Tagged breath of heaven, God's instrument, song of heaven, spiritual song | Leave a Comment »
The best way to compel someone toward a love of apples is not to preach against oranges, or to engage in some endless dialogue as to the virtues of the Red Delicious versus the Granny Smith. Nor is it to author the definitive work on how to grow a tree. In truth, it is far more effective to be a lover of apples, who cultivates their own orchard and who allows their neighbors to freely partake of their fruit. And so it is with the man, Jesus Christ.
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Anyone who’s dealt with drug addicts knows that the communication is not very reliable. After Friday’s good report from Carleen, we spent the rest of the weekend trying to get ahold of her, with no success. Today we received a text letting us know that she’s made it to day 7. Please keep those prayers coming!
Posted in Heart of "The Father", Personal | 1 Comment »
This has been a week filled with momentous occasions. On Tuesday, our daughter Katelyn turned 21 years old (her first baby is due next month). On Wednesday our son Patrick turned 15 years old (he’ll be driving this summer), and on Thursday, both my Father-in-law, and his mother, celebrated birthdays as well (Grandma is in her nineties and still lives in her own home). To be sure, each one of those events was significant in its own right. But despite their importance, it may have been a phone call this morning (i.e. Friday) that provided the most profound moment of the week; and it came from a little heroin addict named Carleen.
Carleen isn’t just an “anybody” to us; she is a “somebody”. We first encountered her many years ago, at a church service. She was weeping at an altar, when my wife’s strong mothering instinct was stirred to help her. We’d not seen her before, but the dark circles around her eyes and the tattoos on her body gave us a clue that her journey hadn’t been easy. Turns out that Carleen had been born into a hellish situation, where she’d been ravaged by her own father (and the men he’d bring home) from the time she was a little girl. She was 13 years old and pregnant (by a man who eventually went to prison for attempted murder), when her father threw her out and branded her a “whore”. By the time we met her, she was in her twenties and raising two kids by herself.
The years since have been a roller coaster of triumph and tragedy. We were there as she reconciled with her daughter’s father, Noah and for the birth of her third child. We were there when Noah received the miraculous news that he’d get a kidney transplant; and when she graduated from nursing school. But then we also stood with her in court, as she testified to the abuse that precipitated the end of that marriage, and rushed to the hospital when her baby lost most of her arm in a lawnmower accident. We’ve watched her son get arrested repeatedly and battle drug addiction, and we got the call when Noah died in her living room during a visit with the girls. As she spiraled back into heroin addiction it has been excruciating to watch her life unravel, including the loss of the nurse’s license she worked so hard to get.
At Christmas, she felt as though God reached out to her and sent some wonderful strangers to bless her family. And she resolved, once again, to try to get clean in the New Year. In recent weeks, she’s been trying to kick the heroin cold turkey, because going to rehab could cost her custody of her kids. She didn’t make it the first time, but she called us this morning to say that she was on day 4 without a fix.
I’ll admit that it’s not easy to battle the cynical thoughts about how likely she is to beat this thing. We’ve come too far and seen too much to be naive. To make matters worse, as I prayed this morning I had a vision of me preaching her funeral. It’s hard to say whether that is a picture of the future or just God’s way of reminding me what’s at stake. But either way, it’s tough. It’s tempting to try to protect your heart in these moments, but to do that would rob Carleen of the love she needs from us right now.
4 days may not seem like much, but it’s an eternity for an addict. I’m proud of my girl and we’re going to keep fighting for her as best as we know how. Tomorrow, I hope that we’ll get another call and be celebrating day 5. Please pray for our precious Carleen.
Posted in Heart of "The Father", Parenting / Family, Personal | Tagged cold turkey, heroin addiction | 10 Comments »
It seems that those who pride themselves in their ability to read between the lines often neglect the understanding of what is written on them.
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The difference between the possible and the impossible is I (A)m.
Posted in Thought for the Day / Quotes | Tagged I Am, impossible | 1 Comment »
Just wanted to let everyone know that my book, “The Ballad of Billy Turner” is now available on Amazon.com ($9.95 + shipping)and Kindle ($2.50). I’ve attached the synopsis below. Happy New Year!
After just a few years of teaching, Bob Davis felt fortunate to move into the school counselor position at the elementary school where he worked. Though he enjoyed the kids, he found the daily grind of the classroom to be somewhat oppressive, and was more than happy to transition into a new role. Things seemed to be going well until the day the school’s principal asked him to look into a playground incident involving two young boys, Billy Turner and Jared Lowe. Though Bob assumed that this was just a typical skirmish between a couple of 8 year olds, he quickly discovered that he was wrong. At the time, he had no way of knowing that the repercussions of this incident would ultimately change the trajectory of his life. In fact, it is not until he encounters Billy, twenty-five years later, that he comes to fully appreciate the scope of what was set in motion on that day. This story of how one little boy’s life touches the lives of those around him is “The Ballad of Billy Turner”.
Posted in Personal | Tagged The Ballad of Billy Turner | 2 Comments »
Today is the first day of my fiftieth year, and it’s hard to wrap my head around the fact that I’ve been on the planet for half a century. For most of my life I wouldn’t have guessed that I’d make it this far. To say that I struggled in the early years would be an understatement, but I was blessed to be born to parents who persevered with me, and a couple of big brothers who saved my life a time or two. Though there were many days that I thought might be my last, I eventually learned to just keep going, and now I’m glad I did. Along the way there have been many mistakes, and lots of good friends, and great struggles, and moments of incredible beauty. I have been loved, and ridiculed, and ignored, and loved again. There have been times when I’ve glided on top of the waves and times that I got water up my nose. But tonight, as I sit here in the quiet, I know that I am incredibly blessed. Thank you Jesus for your amazing patience and mercy. Thank you for loving me, even when I was ignoring you. Thank you for the wonderful family you brought me from, and thank you for the beautiful family that you’ve given to me. Thank you for using the foolish things to confound the wise, and thank you for allowing me to share the journey with people who’ve truly loved me. I pray that in the days that I have left there will be something about my life that blesses your heart and fulfills your plan. Thank you for 50 years and every year beyond that.
Posted in Personal, Thought for the Day / Quotes | Tagged Turning 50 | 9 Comments »
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