Courage For Today

children

Your Story Doesn’t Have to Be Over

Encouragement

Last weekend, we had the opportunity to babysit for our grandchildren which is always a thrill to me.  They are so energetic and so full of life and just a lot of fun to be around.  Theirs is a world of video games and toys and blocks and coloring books—and never a dull moment.  During the time they were visiting, I came across a children’s book that one of them was reading and it caused me to think back when our own children were their ages or even younger.  When our children were very young, my wife and I would read Dr. Seuss and Disney stories to them to the point that they practically memorized the text.  In fact, before they could even read on their own, they could recite the words of the story just perfectly.  Some nights, I would try to “fast forward” through the story and get them to bed sooner, but they were too wise for that.  They knew that I had skipped pages and made me go back and read what I had purposely missed.  Many nights, they wanted me to read the same story over and over.  I would finally get to the “happily ever after” portion and would be coaxed into starting again.  They never got tired of those worn out stories and it was as if they expected a different ending when I read the same story for a second or third time.  Eventually, they would fall asleep or I would decide that this was enough reading for the night and I would close the book signaling that the evening’s stories were over.

As I think back on my journey as a Christian, I am comforted to know that God has never closed His book on me.  I have failed Him and others many times.  I have made bad decisions in my life that have cost me dearly.  At times, I’ve not led the best Christian example I should have.  There have been many years of wasted talent and abilities and times when I wondered what my purpose was or why I was on this Earth.  I remember watching others who seemingly had it all and thinking I could never be like them.  As far as I was concerned, my book was closed and my story was over.

Fortunately, God doesn’t see things the way I (we) do.  My Christian story is never over.  Your Christian story is never over.  Your life might be filled with as many Chapters as the novel, War and Peace, but as long as you put Christ first in all you do and seek His guidance, your story never ends.  If you’re at one of those inevitable deserts in your spiritual life and are struggling with your faith at the moment—never forget that in God’s eyes, your story isn’t over yet.

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Sailing Away in Faith

Encouragement

My wife and I are just returning from a short holiday at the beach.  We decided to get in one last Summer trip during the Labor Day Holiday before the cooler weather sets in.  It was a wonderful trip.  The weather was perfect in the mid-80’s and no rain or clouds to be found.  It was simply breathtaking, even for only a couple of days.

During this trip, I had the pleasure of sitting comfortably on the beach while observing several boats navigating the seas.  They were all gorgeous with a wonderful spectrum of colors from reds and blues and yellows and greens, as well as all sizes from a small one-man boat to a larger multi-person vessel. It was amazing to watch the passengers load the boats into the water, climb aboard, fight the waves, and then out to sea.  Watching all of the sailing made me want to rent a sailboat and try it myself, but I decided my lounge chair was much more comfortable.  I decided to simply watch and I’m glad I did.

There was one particular sailboat that caught my eye.  It was an average sized boat with what looked to be 4 or 5 passengers.  I could tell they weren’t experienced seamen because they all seemed to be fumbling around on the deck and trying to get the sails expanded to catch the wind.  It seemed to be a little more work than they probably imagined.  Eventually, they opened the sails to catch the strong winds and off they went, maybe not in the direction they intended, but off nonetheless.  I followed them through their entire journey until they returned to shore about an hour later.  Once they touched ground, I could see the Mom and Dad and children now that they were much closer.  The parents looked exhausted, but excited that they had conquered the seven seas in their sailboat.  I even heard one of the children say “we didn’t make it as far as we thought, but it sure was fun Daddy.”

As I was laying there, between naps, I was reminded of what an awesome picture of Faith I had just observed.   I’m sure that the family in the sailboat never thought that they would be such a strong example of Faith in our lives:

  1. They believed what they couldn’t see.  Even though they couldn’t see the wind blowing, they felt the mighty power of the wind in the sails once their sails were opened.  I was reminded that just because I can’t see what God may be doing in my life, I can always see the results and power of His Majesty.
  2. The children obeyed even when they didn’t understand.  As I mentioned earlier, it was fairly obvious that the family had not been sailing before.  The children on board had absolutely no clue what to do but they had blind faith in their parents to guide them across every wave.  If only I could obey blindly even when I don’t understand.  How much better off would I be?
  3. They persisted even when they didn’t feel like it.  Even though the family was exhausted once they reached land, the excitement of the finish was stronger than the agony of the journey.
  4. They thanked the parents even when the result wasn’t what they wanted.  I’m sure that when they entered the boat, the children had visions of traveling far off shore to see whales and sharks.  Even though their trip was short, they focused on the positive.

Where are you in your Walk of Faith?   Are you praying and hoping against hope?  Just remember the example of the sailboat and you’ll complete your journey just fine.

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Like the Ocean Waves

Grace

My wife and I love going to the beach.  Not so much to swim, but simply to lay out in the sun and take long walks on the beach.  We’ve been fortunate to see some of the World’s beautiful beaches from Key West to Daytona to Destin to Savannah and even Mexico, the Bahamas, and Grand Cayman all the way to Taiwan.  Its very relaxing and peaceful to lay in the sun and listen to the waves roll in and out.  There’s also always good food to be found somewhere and always time to people watch.  We get a kick out of watching the children on the beach and the unfortunate souls wearing swimsuits a couple of sizes too small.

On one of our more recent beach vacations, we were all cozy and comfortable in our reclining chairs under our beach umbrella.  The breeze was wonderful and the sun was just right.  Our IPOD’s were playing and we were just enjoying the peace and quiet.  Life just couldn’t get any better than this!!

After a few minutes of peace, our solitude was disturbed by a family on the beach near us.  As best as I could tell, the family consisted of a grandmother; an adult daughter who was pregnant; her husband (I assumed); and their 2 small children.  There was something eye-catching (not in a good way) of the daughter who was at least 7 months pregnant wearing a two-piece bathing suit.  Not to be outdone, the grandmother, who also looked at least 7 months pregnant, had her own 2 piece swimsuit.  Not very flattering in my opinion.  The husband was already seemingly drunk and was back for another beer.  I could tell this was going to be interesting to watch, so I had to turn my lounge chair around to watch this family.  My afternoon’s entertainment was now set.

I can’t tell you how funny it was to watch the husband try to show his 2 children how to fly a kite in the ocean winds, while drunk.  He was staggering all over the beach, dodging other people’s coolers and chairs.  How in the world he wasn’t totally tangled up in kite string is beyond me.  I don’t think the Kite ever got off the ground but it wasn’t without his trying.  When all was said and done, the dad asked the child to go get him another cold beer.  Of course, the child was only 7 or 8 years old, but he acted like it was perfectly normal for him to be the beer fetcher for dad.

After a long morning of attempted kite flying, staggering, and beer drinking, it was time for lunch on the beach.  Out of the blue, I heard the grandmother yell to everyone out on the beach, “time for lunch, come and eat!!”  Like ants to an ant bed, the family came rushing to grandma.  I was getting hungry myself.  As fast as everyone ran, I figured it must be something really good.  Just as the kids were all sitting there waiting for food like baby birds in the nest waiting for the mother bird, the grandmother gives them the days meal choices, “boys, do you want Vienna Sausages, or Chocolate Chip Cookies?”  The lunch of champions.  Now, I wasn’t very hungry anymore, but they didn’t seem to mind.  Of course, for the Dad, there had to be a couple of more beers to top off this gourmet meal.

After their “lunch,” the children started doing what most children do on the beach which was digging holes in the sand.  They actually had a pretty good hole dug when dad decided they needed his engineering knowledge.  After all, he had already had at least a 6 pack, by my count, within an hour and who knows how much more that I didn’t count.  It was obvious that he felt he could contribute some much needed guidance to his children’s hole digging enterprise.

They dug and they dug and they dug.  I would guess the hole was knee deep or so before dad got the brilliant idea that they should fill the hole with ocean water.  He didn’t seem daunted by the task, even though they had only a couple of buckets and were at least 200 feet from the water.  I told my wife that this was about to get really interesting.

They ran to the water; filled the buckets; and returned to the hole.  Time after time after time.  First the kids would go until they were tired.  Then the drunk dad would fill his bucket and slosh it all the way back until by the time he got back to the hole, there was nothing left in his bucket.  Needless to say, it didn’t matter how many trips to the water they made, they couldn’t fill up the hole.  The sand in the hold just absorbed the water and they never made any real progress.  After about 30 minutes of extreme effort, they gave up the battle and the dad had another beer.  In his mind, he had earned it this time around.

I started thinking about this wonderful thing called God’s Grace.  It’s one of those terms that sounds goods and we hear it often, but don’t really understand it , or at least I didn’t.  The true definition of Grace centers around God giving us something that we don’t deserve, like Salvation.  We didn’t ask for it.  We can’t buy it. We can’t do anything to earn it.  God’s Grace is available to all of us, even though we don’t deserve it.  The other beautiful thing about God’s Grace is that there is a never ending source.  Like the Ocean Waves that day on the beach, His Grace is ever flowing and never ending.

Our lives are full of sin, whether we admit it or not.  The good news is that no matter what we may have done, God’s forgiveness of those sins and the Grace He shows us is from a never ending source.  There is no sin greater than what Grace can forgive. If we sometimes feel that our sin has sometimes “dug such a deep hole” that we can’t dig our way out, it’s comforting to know that God’s Grace will ALWAYS be sufficient to fill that hole with His Love from the never ending Ocean of God’s Grace.

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In God’s Hands

Strength

I can still remember vividly the days that both of our children were born.  I was a typical young father.  I didn’t really think I knew what I was doing.  I certainly wasn’t prepared.  I would imagine that no new parent is ever really prepared.  We all do the best we can do and with a lot of on-the-job training, we somehow manage.

The day my daughter was born was especially scary since she was our first.  My wife and I showed up at the hospital early in the morning.  Off we went with the admission nurses on to get settled in our new “home” for the next several hours, our birthing room. There was nothing special about the room and I was so nervous that it really wouldn’t have mattered anyway.  We could have been in the nicest Hotel and I would have still been just as nervous and anxious.

The birth was joyous and overwhelming with emotion. Mom and baby did fine. I was a proud, new Father, even though I didn’t have a clue what to do. The nurses would bring our daughter to our room for feedings and show us all the important things we would need to know when we got home.  We would see her a few moments and off she would go back to the nursery.  We spent a couple of uneventful days in the hospital and then it was time to check out and go home.

It was the day that we left the hospital that always has stood out in my mind.

As the Nurse helped my wife into a wheelchair, with our daughter, to roll them out to the emergency room exit of the hospital, I went ahead to the parking lot so I could drive our car to the emergency room entrance to meet them.

We helped my wife into the car and then the nurse handed our daughter to me so that I could place her in the car seat.  As she handed our daughter to me, I’ll never forget that she said “she’s all in your hands now.  Take good care of her.”  It was at that moment that the awesome responsibility of parenthood hit me between the eyes.  There weren’t going to be any nurses to help with feedings and diaper changes, or to simply ask questions when we weren’t sure. It was something about the way she said those words to me that made me realize that a new, young life was totally dependent upon me and my wife.

My daughter is an adult now raising her own family.  I think back on the many, many mistakes I’ve made as a parent, but somehow we survived.  I realize that she was in my hands for many years and now she has her own children that are in her hands.

As a Christian, it has always been a source of security for me to realize that I am always in God’s hands.  I sometimes jokingly wonder if He sometimes thinks that he may have bitten off more than he could chew when I became one of His Children. But, then, I realize that my life is no surprise to him. There is nothing in my life that catches God unprepared.  Our Heavenly Father is a confident Father and I often need to remember to remain confident in Him and that he never fails me, despite how I may have failed Him.

Are you in His Hands?

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