Every now and then I think about what it was like being a child. Maybe I do that more than I use to. The consequences of watching a child, my child, grow up in front of me. I watch him play, and run, and use his imagination to make worlds where before there were none. As I watch him memories fill my mind. These memories have faded and yellowed as if they were photographs of a long ago time, but they are mine, and they are of me as I once was.
I watch my boy play. He runs in the grass with his eyes closed and his head lifted toward the sun. Running without any care for what is in front of him. A gentle smile accompanies what to me is an angelic glow.
He goes into his bed proclaiming to all who will listen that it is not a bed, but a “choo choo train.” Guests come into the house and they have to go see his train. I don’t quite understand how he came to believe it is a train, because I can’t see it. Maybe I’m too old, too set in my ways, or whatever else.
But again my memories remind me that once I could create worlds out of nothing. Universes that existed only in my mind, or maybe in my soul, or some other place within us that we do not know. I remember couches that became submarines and exploring the ocean floor. The memories are a little dated, but if I sit with them for a moment I can still recall seeing the most incredible animals from those couches.
I recall being a bit older, at that age when we begin to tell children that their imaginations cannot run wild. “There is a real world out there, and you can’t be lost in your day-dreams.” I remember running through a field in the playground at my elementary school. I ran alone, but in my mind I was running with a full army into some battle of huge proportions. Some older kid laughed at me. Like any child I tried to stop pretending, because no one wants to be ridiculed. After trying for a while eventually I succeeded. I stifled my imagination, if not all the way, at least enough of the way to keep the laughter at bay.
Then soon we are all in the real world, whatever that is, and we accept it. This is what is and it must be. Yet there is my son and he reminds me that there is more, he can see and I cannot.
I recall working in the hospital and meeting an older man. “His mind isn’t all there,” I was told. He enjoyed having conversations, but since his mind wasn’t all there they were interesting. He lived in a place outside the real world, but still within it. Once I walked in to say hello and his head was facing the window. The sun’s light was streaming in. His eyes were closed and there was a certain smile on his face I couldn’t understand. In hindsight it seems similar to my son’s smile as he runs across the grass with his eyes closed and facing the sun.
I said hello and he opened his eyes. While I do not recall the details of our conversation, most of it dealt with things that may not have been real, but were nevertheless real to him. He spoke of dreams, and more than once mentioned sailing across the world.
Once long ago the prophet Joel wrote, “Your old men will dream dreams, and your young men will see visions.” While that means something particular in its context, as I think of my son and that older gentleman I cannot help wondering if those who are neither old nor young are left out of dreams and visions because for us the world is only real. We do not see choo choo trains where there are none, nor dream of sailing around the world when we know we won’t.
Neither do we dare to look at all that is wrong and evil and believe that there is something more to be had. The world is what it is, but it seems the young and old know better. They know there are always reasons to look toward the sun with eyes closed and smile. They know this because if a better world can still exist in our dreams and visions, by God’s grace maybe one day they exist for real too.
Riding the Wave of the Holy Spirit,
Garrett
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Builders or Destroyers
What should be done then, my friends? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up. – 1 Corinthians 14:26 (NRSV)
Paul is talking about worship here, but might he be talking about life too? What do you have to offer? How can you make a difference? Who has built you up? Who have you built up? What should be done then, my friends?
This was sent to me via e-mail:
I watched them tearing a building down, a gang of men in a busy town. With a ho-heave-ho and lusty yell, they swung a beam and a sidewall fell. I asked the foreman, “Are these men skilled, as the men you’d hire if you had to build?” He gave me a laugh and said, “No indeed! Just common labor is all I need. I can easily wreck in a day or two what builders have taken a year to do.” And I thought to myself as I went my way, which of these two roles have I tried to play? Am I a builder who works with care, Measuring life by the rule and square? Am I shaping my deeds by a well-made plan, patiently doing the best I can? Or am I a wrecker who walks the town, Content with the labor of tearing down?
It is a question each one of us should ask; are we builders or destroyers? When we tear others down that is easy and quick. Recent studies say that children need to hear ten positive things about themselves to combat the negative psychological effects of every one bad thing they hear. We know this is true. A compliment runs off our backs like water, and a hurtful remark will stick with us for a long time. Therefore we must be in the business of building others up. It is what scripture commands us to do, and God knows it is what the world needs. It might take work, and we might have to put a fight, but it is the good fight!
With hope and joy,
Garrett
Paul is talking about worship here, but might he be talking about life too? What do you have to offer? How can you make a difference? Who has built you up? Who have you built up? What should be done then, my friends?
This was sent to me via e-mail:
I watched them tearing a building down, a gang of men in a busy town. With a ho-heave-ho and lusty yell, they swung a beam and a sidewall fell. I asked the foreman, “Are these men skilled, as the men you’d hire if you had to build?” He gave me a laugh and said, “No indeed! Just common labor is all I need. I can easily wreck in a day or two what builders have taken a year to do.” And I thought to myself as I went my way, which of these two roles have I tried to play? Am I a builder who works with care, Measuring life by the rule and square? Am I shaping my deeds by a well-made plan, patiently doing the best I can? Or am I a wrecker who walks the town, Content with the labor of tearing down?
It is a question each one of us should ask; are we builders or destroyers? When we tear others down that is easy and quick. Recent studies say that children need to hear ten positive things about themselves to combat the negative psychological effects of every one bad thing they hear. We know this is true. A compliment runs off our backs like water, and a hurtful remark will stick with us for a long time. Therefore we must be in the business of building others up. It is what scripture commands us to do, and God knows it is what the world needs. It might take work, and we might have to put a fight, but it is the good fight!
With hope and joy,
Garrett
Monday, May 16, 2011
The One Who Won't Give Up
“‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’” – Luke 15:31-32 (NIV)
What is the father doing now in this parable? Is it strange that Jesus ends the story without resolution? What does it mean that it is not finished? What does it mean for the older brother?
I was reading “Who Can Be Saved?” by Will Willimon, and he shared a story that went something like this:
They hadn’t seen their son in four months. They hadn’t even heard from him. Not a call, not a letter, not an email, nothing.
Then one night as they are eating dinner, he busts right through the front door of the house and comes right up to them. Cursing at them, demanding money, refusing to sit down and eat dinner with them, cursing at them some more, and finally going down the hall and slamming the door shut to his room.
Her husband gets up from the table and pours himself a drink and sits down on the couch looking pathetic.
She gets up and goes to the bedroom her son is in. “Son, come on out let’s talk about things.” More cursing greets her pleads for him to talk. She tries to open the door but he has locked it.
She goes into the garage and finds a hammer. Going back into the house she approaches the locked door. With hammer in hand she lifts her arm back and throws the hammer down upon the doorknob. It comes off with pieces of the door and she pushes it open.
There her son sits looking stunned. He is about to open his mouth again when she goes up to him and grabs his face and says, “Enough of this! I don’t know what is wrong with you, but I’m not giving up on you damn it! We’re going to talk whether you want to or not.”
In the parable the younger son’s return is being celebrated, and the older one decides he is done with it all. Notice the father. He goes outside to plead with his older son. The father never gives up on either of his children. Like that mother who would break down a door to talk to her hate-filled son, God follows us and pleads with us. The parable ends with the father and the older son outside. I wish I knew what happened next. Perhaps it doesn’t end because what happens next is up to us. Will we talk to the God who follows us? Will we go into parties that others don’t deserve? Will we? What I do know however is that God won’t stop reaching out.
With hope and joy,
Garrett
What is the father doing now in this parable? Is it strange that Jesus ends the story without resolution? What does it mean that it is not finished? What does it mean for the older brother?
I was reading “Who Can Be Saved?” by Will Willimon, and he shared a story that went something like this:
They hadn’t seen their son in four months. They hadn’t even heard from him. Not a call, not a letter, not an email, nothing.
Then one night as they are eating dinner, he busts right through the front door of the house and comes right up to them. Cursing at them, demanding money, refusing to sit down and eat dinner with them, cursing at them some more, and finally going down the hall and slamming the door shut to his room.
Her husband gets up from the table and pours himself a drink and sits down on the couch looking pathetic.
She gets up and goes to the bedroom her son is in. “Son, come on out let’s talk about things.” More cursing greets her pleads for him to talk. She tries to open the door but he has locked it.
She goes into the garage and finds a hammer. Going back into the house she approaches the locked door. With hammer in hand she lifts her arm back and throws the hammer down upon the doorknob. It comes off with pieces of the door and she pushes it open.
There her son sits looking stunned. He is about to open his mouth again when she goes up to him and grabs his face and says, “Enough of this! I don’t know what is wrong with you, but I’m not giving up on you damn it! We’re going to talk whether you want to or not.”
In the parable the younger son’s return is being celebrated, and the older one decides he is done with it all. Notice the father. He goes outside to plead with his older son. The father never gives up on either of his children. Like that mother who would break down a door to talk to her hate-filled son, God follows us and pleads with us. The parable ends with the father and the older son outside. I wish I knew what happened next. Perhaps it doesn’t end because what happens next is up to us. Will we talk to the God who follows us? Will we go into parties that others don’t deserve? Will we? What I do know however is that God won’t stop reaching out.
With hope and joy,
Garrett
Friday, May 6, 2011
A Big Celebration
"Or imagine a woman who has ten coins and loses one. Won't she light a lamp and scour the house, looking in every nook and cranny until she finds it? And when she finds it you can be sure she'll call her friends and neighbors: 'Celebrate with me! I found my lost coin!' Count on it—that's the kind of party God's angels throw every time one lost soul turns to God." – Luke 15:8-10 (The Message)
Do you think God looks for you this way? Has God thrown a party for you yet? How hard is God looking for that person you think is no good? What does that mean about how you should treat that person?
A couple of days ago I was vacationing. It is always nice to vacation, but the last morning we were there suddenly I couldn’t find the key to the place we were staying, so I started looking.
Now perhaps you have also lost a key. You know that when it is found in the first five minutes you don’t think much about it. If you look for ten minutes before you find it, then you start to get a little excited about it. If you spend twenty minutes looking, by the time you find it perhaps you even shout out and have to tell someone.
I looked everywhere for this key. I went through every drawer, every piece of luggage, under beds, between cushions, under rugs, I moved the fridge, looked through bushes of every place I had walked the night before. It was nowhere! After two hours I was about to give up, but I couldn’t, I had to find it, so I pressed on. Finally I found it! And you what? I called people to tell them, I shouted out, I was ridiculously full of joy. I had no idea finding a key could give me so much joy.
How much more joy is in heaven when finally someone turns to God, when God finally finds someone who was lost? I can’t imagine. I was ready to have a party for a key. That person that bothers me, that rubs me the wrong way, that I can’t stand being around, that person is someone God would throw one epic party for, so maybe we should join God in the search. Or at the very least, enjoy the party.
With hope and joy,
Garrett
Do you think God looks for you this way? Has God thrown a party for you yet? How hard is God looking for that person you think is no good? What does that mean about how you should treat that person?
A couple of days ago I was vacationing. It is always nice to vacation, but the last morning we were there suddenly I couldn’t find the key to the place we were staying, so I started looking.
Now perhaps you have also lost a key. You know that when it is found in the first five minutes you don’t think much about it. If you look for ten minutes before you find it, then you start to get a little excited about it. If you spend twenty minutes looking, by the time you find it perhaps you even shout out and have to tell someone.
I looked everywhere for this key. I went through every drawer, every piece of luggage, under beds, between cushions, under rugs, I moved the fridge, looked through bushes of every place I had walked the night before. It was nowhere! After two hours I was about to give up, but I couldn’t, I had to find it, so I pressed on. Finally I found it! And you what? I called people to tell them, I shouted out, I was ridiculously full of joy. I had no idea finding a key could give me so much joy.
How much more joy is in heaven when finally someone turns to God, when God finally finds someone who was lost? I can’t imagine. I was ready to have a party for a key. That person that bothers me, that rubs me the wrong way, that I can’t stand being around, that person is someone God would throw one epic party for, so maybe we should join God in the search. Or at the very least, enjoy the party.
With hope and joy,
Garrett
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