Room to Grow

My grandson will be born today. They will induce early so he has room to grow.

As my little girl gives birth it is like she was just born yesterday instead of twenty plus years ago. My grandson is coming early because he is not growing enough. I pray for my daughter as she goes through this first pain. This will not be the last time she has to let go of something so he has room to grow.

I have another grandson in South Carolina. He is three and growing so fast and learning so much. I am in Germany, he and my son seem so far away.

When the baby is born I will be a couple of rooms from my daughter and she will still be far away.

I would love to hold both of my grandsons and keep them safe, to have them sitting beside me where I could tell them stories but they both will both need room to grow.

I look at both of my children and see so many mistakes I made as a father and a parent. Sometimes I held too tight, sometimes I did not hold tight enough. When you hold too tight they don’t grow but if you don’t hold tight enough they tend to have to learn lessons the hard way.

My children spent most of their lives in Germany. They saw so many things and I prayed they learned from the good and from the bad. They saw great art and bad art, they touched history, and they saw people who dedicated their lives to their country both military and civilians. They saw a home that was opened to those who needed a place for a night, a week, a month or a year. They learned to share their possesions both material and time.

They saw Church not from the pew but from the inside. That means they saw the good and the bad. They saw great celebrations and great pain both from the same place. There were times when the church was put first and they had to keep their opinions to themselves. Even the times when they were right, just to keep the peace.

On my desk is a picture of a nineteen year old girl from Pickens, South Carolina. That same girl sits on the couch with me every night and I see what amazing things can happen when a person has room to grow. She is strong and smart, she sees the little things, and has made me a better man. She also aged really well, too.

So on the occasion of my second grandson’s birth I have this for both of my children.

You will make mistakes along the way. Prayer does not always fix them. Love is one thing you cannot give enough of but be careful not to smother those you love because you love them. Stay close enough that they know you are there but... you will have to let go of the bike so they can learn. When they see you did let go they will probably crash. Pick them up, dust them off, and make them do it again. They may someday forgive you for letting go.

Love them for who they are not who you want them to be.

When you give them room to grow there will be pain and it will be mostly yours because it is hard.

Learning from Beau

One of my first blogs was about learning “grace” from my bloodhound puppy”Beau”. He is now nearly three.

Saturday on our walk he was teaching me again, this time about trust and faith.
 
It is spring in Germany and the fields we normally walk in have some sort of high grass growing in them. I love to watch Beau hop in this grass. He looks like he has a big dumb dog smile on his face. Saturday I thought I would give him a special treat and take him through new grass. This grass was about the height my chest. Yeah I’m five six so it is not that high. To me it is not high but to Beau it is. The only thing he can see is the grass in front of him. I can see where we are going but he has to totally trust me. Beau is a bloodhound and bloodhounds do not normally follow people because they follow their nose. In this case Beau has to follow me, to follow my lead, to trust me, and not follow his own normal instincts. Beau has to have faith in me…


I think about how many times I need to follow God’s lead, totally trust him even though I cannot see where I am going. I know He knows the proper path we should take but it is not easy to want to do it my way.

It was not easy for Beau to follow me even though he knows I love him and will get us where we need to go.

Beau could have missed a new adventure if he had fought and wanted to go home but he submitted and was able to jump and play and have a good time. I enjoyed watching him and his big dumb dog smile.

If I trust God, I can have an adventure, get to have fun in the tall grass God leads me through, let God take me where I need to go, have a big dumb Buddy smile and maybe even give God a smile.

I hope I can be as obedient Beau.

Truth

I constantly read and study to prepare to teach my Sunday School class and to dig deeper into my own Christian faith. I very much want to present the scriptures in proper context. What the scriptures are saying to the people who they were written to, when they were written to them and what (if anything) are they saying to us today? I also study to be up on current issues that are going on within the church today.

Here is the rub… You have to find a source that you trust, a student/scholar of theology to help bring perspective. Any good college student knows you need more than one source so you need at least couple of student/scholars that you can trust but if they are basically cut from the same cloth then you pretty much defeat the whole purpose of getting perspective. If they are on opposite ends of the spectrum then you have much to weigh to make decisions. What if they both have good arguments and there is truth in both of their positions and we all know there is no gray area in the Bible it is all black and white and this is the point where your pull your hair and scream!!! WHAT IS THE TRUTH!?!?

Coming from a good conservative Baptist background I am constantly flashing to that judgment seat where you are standing alone answering for, how you treated others, how you used your talents, what you taught others, how you lived your life and what you believed. I cannot stand before God and say, “Well so and so said that this scripture in the original Greek… Aramaic… Hebrew… said…” One, I don’t speak or read any of these languages and two, even if I did where do I find the original texts?

Sometimes when you study to get the true meaning of the scriptures you find many of the things you were sure of before you started you are not so sure of anymore. The reason you studied was increase you knowledge to be more prepared to teach.

Funny thing is when Jesus was teaching great truths He took a child to His disciples and said, “Unless you become as this child you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.”

So here is my starting point “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so…”

I can build from there!