My Daddy

My daddy passed over into Heaven on April 3, 2013.  His battle with Alzheimer’s disease was a short but steep, taking him from just forgetful to a man who had no idea who he was or who others were in just a matter of 4 years.  Well, let me correct that, he really didn’t get bad until the end, there were times of clarity even last month when I was there.  The last two weeks of his life were really the worst of it all.

He left this world a better place with his presence in it and he will be dearly missed by his wife and children.  Daddy would have been 77 on May 1, I am sure that is going to be a hard day for all of us, but I know our family will celebrate it in a special way.

His passing leaves a hole in our hearts and a I am often catching myself remembering things about him, mourning the loss in my life and yet celebrating his being made whole and healthy, celebrating that he is now in the arms of God, chatting with Jesus, dancing and singing with the angels.  It’s these thoughts that give me peace and joy that passes all understanding.

Daddy was a devoted husband to his wife, my mama, Margie.  He only had eyes for her and was in love after almost 60 years together.  He was an excellent, inventive, provider, protector, helper, and friend.  He loved his children fiercely.  He wanted our best try, not perfection, and he could always be counted on to listen to us and help us out of any situation.  Daddy was a giver.  If someone was in need he would give what he had, even if he had a  need for it himself.  He was a man who loved his family.  He was a mischievous brother, ornery, teasing, but all in love.  He loved being a grandpa.  Not only did he love the ones who were adopted into the family, but he truly believed that each of his granddaughters was the most beautiful ever born.  Daddy always had a twinkle in his eye, a smile on his face, and a laugh just below the surface.  He loved everyone around him.

Daddy showed us the love and justice of God.  He was a good example to us of how God loves us unconditionally and loves us enough to correct us when we had done something wrong.  Always showing us love even when we made some big mistakes.

Everyone who knew him is going to miss him.  My daddy loved nature, simple things, his family, all of creation, but more than that, the Creator Himself.  Even in his state of confusion, he didn’t lose his ability to pray.  Sometimes we were confused about what he was praying about, but he lifted the prayers up to a God who knew his heart.

I will miss you daddy, but I know you are in a better place, healed of infirmity and weakness of body and mind.  You are now where you can praise God is person, worship, and dance!

Related articles

• Memory Care program helps families cope with Alzheimer’s (stltoday.com)
• Bel Marra Health Reports on a New Study: Alzheimer’s Cases are Set to Triple by 2050 (prweb.com)

Tall Tales or Beethoven

Hearing about tall tales in literature and reading them are totally different things.  Watching the Disney cartoons are just great, reading them, not as much greatness.  I love literature, I want Berry to love it too, but this assignment of reading about exaggerated details of real people , not so much our cup of tea.

I think we would both prefer to read the real history and yet I know that I have to teach the literary devices that are included in this unit.  Thankfully it is a very short unit and we will be finished with it before Christmas break, never to revisit it again.

The part of today’s lesson that brought tears to my eyes and great memories of hymns from the past, listening to Beethoven‘s 9th Symphony, and reading the words from the hymn written to accompany it.  Beethoven finished this symphony in 1824 and eighty-three years later, Henry Van Dyke wrote the hymn that I grew up singing.  Traditionally sung around Christmas it is definitely a year round anthem of praise to our Creator.  Van Dyke was encouraging Christians to not lose faith.  Science was questioning creation and many were falling under the spell.  Beethoven wrote this symphony after losing his hearing completely and it is one of his most accomplished works.  Science would indeed declare that this was a near impossibility and yet…

Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee, God of glory, Lord of love;
Hearts unfold like flowers before Thee, opening to the sun above.
Melt the clouds of sin and sadness; drive the dark of doubt away;
Giver of immortal gladness, fill us with the light of day!

All Thy works with joy surround Thee, earth and heaven reflect Thy rays,
Stars and angels sing around Thee, center of unbroken praise.
Field and forest, vale and mountain, flowery meadow, flashing sea,
Singing bird and flowing fountain call us to rejoice in Thee.

Thou art giving and forgiving, ever blessing, ever blessed,
Wellspring of the joy of living, ocean depth of happy rest!
Thou our Father, Christ our brother, all who live in love are Thine;
Teach us how to love each other, lift us to the joy divine.

Mortals, join the happy chorus, which the morning stars began;
Father love is reigning o’er us, brother love binds man to man.
Ever singing, march we onward, victors in the midst of strife,
Joyful music leads us sunward in the triumph song of life.

 

Following the Ten

I’m just going to put this out there and hope that if you have read my blog for a while you know my heart and  can know that I am on a journey just like any of you and this is helping me to become closer to God.

Over our Thanksgiving trip I had great conversations about grace and love.  We can become victims of our religious upbringing, and it can stifle our growth, and then something like this conversation can reveal the heart of the matter and free us of stuff that we have hung on to.

Think about the bible and all the things that it records, then think about what Jesus said it ALL boils down to.  All of the law boils down to this, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and soul and love your neighbor as yourself.”  I know that many things in the bible are dictated by the culture of the time.   I also know that the bible in its entirety was inspired by God.  It was inspired into imperfect men.  The only part of the bible written by God’s finger, the 10 commandments.  Not that we can’t pull the beneficial from the entire bible, because we know that it is ALL a benefit to us, however, I want to focus on the 10 and the one the 10 boil down to.

1. You shall have no other gods before or besides Me.

2. You shall not make yourself any graven image [to worship it] or any likeness of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; You shall not bow down yourself to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me, But showing mercy and steadfast love to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments.

3. You shall not use or repeat the name of the Lord your God in vain[that is, lightly or frivolously, in false affirmations or profanely]; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.

4. [Earnestly] remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy (withdrawn from common employment and dedicated to God). Six days you shall labor and do all your work, But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, your daughter, your manservant, your maidservant, your domestic animals, or the sojourner within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it [set it apart for His purposes].

5. Regard (treat with honor, due obedience, and courtesy) your father and mother, that your days may be long in the land the Lord your God gives you.

6. You shall not commit murder.

7. You shall not commit adultery.

8. You shall not steal.

9. You shall not witness falsely against your neighbor.

10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house, your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant, or his maidservant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.

Now, if you take those ten commandments and follow them earnestly, and then you take Jesus’ command to  “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.” Luke 10:27, you will be doing what you need to do to live the best life that you can live.  The overflow of just that, will be placing God first and loving ALL the people around you.

Here is the analogy that really struck me.  There are many people who don’t eat pork because they are restricted by their religious code to do so.  They have taken that from the old testament and held on to it.  However, I don’t hold to that because the dream that John was given was that all things were permissible.  That is left to interpretation and if I am wrong I am counting on God’s grace, and if those who hold to it are wrong, they should also count on His grace.  We cannot judge one another on those things that we hold to or don’t.   We also cannot say that in Heaven there will be no homosexuals, no murderers, no liars, no, you fill in the blank.  Yes, they will all be in their forgiven, perfected, selves, but in their former earth suits, this is what they were.  Judgement is only going to push the un-saved farther from us and our goal in life should be to bring all men into relationship with God.  How can we do that when we are bickering over all the messiness of each other?    And so, while the entire bible is definitely good for us, beneficial in all ways, we need to change our focus to ourselves, follow the 10, love each other, love God and give grace in abundance.  I think when we do this we will find that it is easier to embrace one another and to embrace ourselves in light of how God sees us.

Indescribable Beauty

This afternoon I saw the type of beauty that the coast of California is famous for.  There are a few spots along my regular drive that deliver on the most spectacular sight that I have ever seen.  I had Casting Crowns album, “Come To The Well” playing loudly from the car stereo.  I came over the hill and then it happened, I was blessed with a sight that made me shiver.  The ocean was sparkling and shimmer with silver light and the bank of clouds that rested over the water was the fluffiest billowing mass I had ever seen.  Usually when I see this billowing mass of clouds it’s a complete covering of the water, however, this afternoon, plenty of the water was showing with it glittering beauty and the clouds.  I could suddenly imagine what the billowing clouds will look like when Jesus returns.  I was awed and then another beautiful thing happened.  The combination of the music, the glorious beauty of God’s creation, and a huge wall came crumbling down.

Awhile back I was hoping to experience things with God in a totally different way, apparently He had different plans, but I couldn’t wrap my mind around the way that He wanted to go and so, like many times before, I built a wall and told Him that He couldn’t get past it.  I continued to pray for my friends and family, I continued to believe that He would do things for me, mostly because my more sanctified friends were asking on my behalf.  I didn’t tell my friends about this, I didn’t tell my husband, I didn’t tell anyone.  I was ashamed more than anything else.  How could I turn my back on a God who has been the most generous and forgiving Father to me, the most loving friend?  I guess it was because I was personifying God and I was in a place of thinking that God was going to disappoint me, just like a lot of people do.

I am my own worst enemy.  Today was the first time to listen to this particular Casting Crowns album and wouldn’t you know, right as I was making the discovering of me being my enemy, what song should start playing?  Yep, that’s right, “My Own Worst Enemy”.  Is that God timing or what?  The combination of the beauty in my vision, the words of songs that I needed to hear, it all held me to the accountability of apologizing to my Papa.

Praise God for His grace, His forgiveness, for His Son being the bridge, the intercessor, the lover of my wayward soul.

Help, Right on Time

I was reminded today that God is my help, and I chuckled at the reminder that came to help me remember the help He’s given this week.  Both instances were financial and both of them came in God’s perfect time.

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.   Isaiah 41:10

I had to giggle when the word, help, leapt off the page at me.

The first instance of help came from a person or persons who won’t ever be known to me.  I know exactly how much I needed to pay on the mission trip for Bean.  We had a balance that was significant to us.  I wanted to make sure that I got it right so I sent an email inquiring about the total.  A week and a half later I got a response that our balance was only $80.  What?  That couldn’t be right.  Well, yes it was.  Someone else had made the generous donation from their excess funds.

Yesterday I was worried.  Expenses are always higher around the beginning of the school year and we had a vacation that cost a little more than intended.  I knew how tight the budget was but the house was empty of real food and I knew that I needed to get it restocked before my kids and hubby rebelled on me.  I was fretting and then checked our checking account balance.  All of the sudden there was a lot more money in the account than the day before and it wasn’t pay-day.  Matthew had received two payments for business trip expenses.  One of those was higher than it should have been but it didn’t matter because the money was there when it needed to be.  As we go into the next few months there won’t be any expenses going out unless necessary.  This will make sure that our buffer balance gets back to where we like to keep it.

God whispered to me that there was no need to worry and that He always knows exactly what is going on and will always provide for our needs.  This verse was also a reminder that I haven’t been doing my study on help.  Life has just been rolling over me lately.  Life and depression.  I have barely been reading blogs, forget about writing one!  But today, that reminder was refreshing like cool water after being in the heat.  It lifted my spirit up and motivated me to give thanks.