Dear Father...

Across the Old and New Testaments, the word 'father' appears 1,103 times; to trace the genealogy of Israel and Judah, advise the reader through proverbs, and address God in several capacities. Reading over a few of these passages with the help of Bible Gateway, I encompassed myself with the word... in honor of Father's Day!

At the mention of the word 'father', many kids- age being no object- probably go to the geekier examples of your father's character. The embarrassing moments are often the most memorable, leaving us offspring to shrink in our seats, a hand covering our faces to avoid recognition from anyone we've ever met. Or we imagine the goofy guy that knew where to tickle us when we were kids, gave us shoulder and piggy back rides upon request; and forked over his money whenever we had that extra craving for a candy bar or ice cream! Whatever it may be, the image that many first draw of their father can be pretty light-hearted. However, we shouldn't forget all of the important roles that the father fills.

Who cleans the clogged gutters at the first sign of spring? Who shovels through the months of winter to clear the driveway, and mows through the remaining months? Where do you go when faced with the problem of a leaky roof, an impromptu speeding ticket, your impossible math questions, or a loose mouse in the living room? The answer to that, eight times out of ten, is the father, whom God has declared as head of the household.

Anything pertaining to the definition of father includes the words 'authority', 'originate', 'create', 'lead', or something else along those lines. They do well to follow the draft that God has set for the father and husband as head of the home. We've heard this label many times, yet do we realize the spectrum of its meaning? 

When we call someone 'father', we're talking about the man who looks after the house, its utilities and appliances should something go wrong or stop working. The person who checks the insurance on the cars, the retirement funds for when he and his wife get older. The man who is called to be the strong one when bad news hits his family; the attentive one to his wife, the wise one to his kids, and the brave one if there's ever any danger.

I know that there's a lot more examples to be given of the duties a father faces on a daily basis, but I know that even these few honorable mentions are enough to realize that fathers carry a lot of hats, having to change them in an instant... maybe even a hundred times a day! And on this day, it's our calling to thank them for every single one! 

'Listen my sons, to a father's instruction; 

pay attention and gain understanding.'

~Proverbs 4:1~

So, to my father figure, THANK YOU! 

(And, can I borrow ten bucks?)

The Burden of the Bible?

The world is growing more and more in its use of technology and the church has jumped on this train of gigabytes and power points. That's no big thing, as I'm able to follow along in my notes on the sermon, see the lyrics for our worship songs, etc.

But lately, when I glance around, I find most people with their heads bent over their smart phones. No, the sixty-year-old piano teacher isn't texting her girlfriends during church- and neither is her husband planning a hunting getaway with his buddies! Rather, they were all scrolling over their Bible app, reading the verses off their screens.

These actions seem consistent with the pace that the rest of the world is running right now. Everything- EVERYTHING- is wrenched into one's phone. There's the Dictionary app, MapQuest, Facebook, Youtube, Candy Crush, the list goes on. It only makes sense that a Bible app is exists too. Yet... there is something that doesn't sit right with me about it.

When you go to church, what runs through your mind? The things you got done before heading out, the things you need to get done afterwards? Church, as I've come to see it, is that time where you drop all of those worries and rushes at the door and enter in for some time that's about you and becoming heavily-soaked in God's word. I've also come to believe that God knows we need to take time out of our schedules (even on a Sunday) to come to church.

He wants church to be a conscious effort to put down our busy lives and focus solely on Him for a time. A time that sticks out in our minds, following us around throughout the rest of the week. I wonder if carrying the weight of an actual Bible into church isn't part of that. Yes, it's bulky, it's falling apart, it can be lengthy to leaf through...

But IT IS God's Word!

We shouldn't think about God's Word as something that's convenient or easy to use. It's something separate from the way the world works; that's the gist of our Christian witness. Your Bible is a key that helps to open our hearts to God's message. It's both essential and uniquely fitted to guide and comfort us in our otherwise nonsensical weeks.

Technology gets the praise that it makes things easier, handier, smaller... a lot of '-ers'. I tend to cringe away from these words, as it's been my experience that these traits don't always equal something better (and NO, this opinion is in no way influenced by the number of times I've watched Terminator!). I can't say that it's a bad thing to have the Bible app on your phone, making God's word more accessible across the globe. Yet it remains something that tickles my brain, makes me think of the way that I live out my faith.

Even in something as simple as carrying a four-pound, duct-taped Bible into church.

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

'Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.'
~Joshua 1:8~

Tick... Tick... Tick

I’ll give you the time

But I won’t give you mine

Just keep moving,

Just keep moving,

Just keep moving, moving, moving

I’ll kiss the baby later

Say I love you another day

When mine’s not so busy

I’ll stop another

From throwing their life away

There’s money to be made

Important people to acquaint

Must keep up the pace

The only one that can matter

A later date Mother

One more hour, dear heart

You can’t burst on me now

Not when there’s a status to earn

I’m sorry to say

But not really

'But let your 'yes' be 'yes' and your 'no', 'no'.'

~Matthew 5:37~

This includes your time... how you spend those seconds that will never come back, and who you'll share them with. Business is an easy thing to fall into, when you live in a world that claims things and activities are the edification of a meaningful life. God calls for us to live out a meaningful life, but in pursuit of the right things. 

As Paul describes it, 'whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable- if ANYTHING is excellent of praiseworthy-' (Philippians 4:8). Not sure what those things are? Read the Bible, meditate on what it says, then look back on the world with your Christ-crafted lens on. You'll be surprised at the magnificent change in perception.

The Thing About Writing

          

“For your born writer, nothing is so healing as the realization that he has come upon the right word.”

—Catherine Drinker Bowen    

          

My posts have ceased to exist for a loooonnnnnnggggg while and the reason is simple. I'm struggling with a good plot twist to my next book, PLUS prepping my promo materials for a book fair I'm participating in at the end of the month. Many of you would refer to this as Writer's Block, but if you only knew what those two words actually mean. Scratch under the surface of their syllables, just once, and you'll wield a new respect for the writer that can't deliver on time.

         

          Imagine that it's spring cleaning day in your household. Also the day before the evening in which you're having forty guests over for dinner, to be followed by light and airy drinks on the veranda. (Such a better word then porch!) Y'all know what that means? You tap into that ounce of Southern hospitality and you clean house. Literally, you scrub, spit, and shine on everything until not an atom of dirt remains.

         

          All except... that one smudge. One smudge, disrupting the otherwise seamless gloss of your dining room table. The table mustn't be covered in a cloth, it doesn't go with your spring-themed decor. You've gone through two spray cans of lemon Pledge, trying, willing it to disappear through the rigorous strain of your triceps. But it doesn't. It remains.

         

          Now, take that annoyance, that hovering obsession for perfection, that temple-pounding frustration, hurling forth in a lethal growl. Up through the throat, vibrating from your eyes as well as your mouth as you glare at the smudge. The kind of growl that has your friends and family maintaining a twenty-foot radius to ensure their safety. Take all this... and then you might have an idea of what writer's block is.

         

          Writer's block can be a cement wall anywhere between four inches to four miles thick. Writers break through it eventually; there's just never any telling how long that might be or how many times he or she will have to thwack their heads into the wall to get it to come crumbling down. But us writers are known for our thick heads. We may be sensitive, but we're also thick and stubborn. We use our writings to convey the many ways in which life can be seen. Writers bravely uncork the wine of their imagination and pour it into any glass they can find. And our fatal flaw is that we want perfection in that vision, so that people don't mess up what we're trying to say. So that we don't mess up what we're trying to say.

         

          There's something of the size and weight of a writer's block. At least mine anyway. No worries, though. I'll come sailing over this hump eventually and be back to posting regularly. As for that book fair I mentioned:

SUMMER LOCAL AUTHOR EXHIBITION

Barnes & Noble Booksellers

4015 Medina Rd, Akron OH 44333

Saturday, June 30th (1-3pm)

Don't miss it! My book, 'Final Truth' will be on the shelves for purchase, if you don't already have your own fabulous copy. Stop by my booth, ask me questions, and learn about any upcoming projects!

Well... back to NOT writing.

“We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.”

—Ernest Hemingway