We went to a high school homecoming football game last fall. At halftime the homecoming court was presented. I was saddened to see that over half the girls were escorted by someone other than their father. Taking into account the divorce rate, it is likely that some of those fathers who were actually there were divorced and therefore partially absent.
We are raising a generation of kids who don't know what it means to have their two natural parents together in the same home. While there is often blame to be shared when parents split up, it is usually the father who is no longer in the home on a regular basis and is therefore the absent parent, either completely or partially. This absence has a profound effect on the kids as they grow up and leads to a host of problems, both for the kids and for society at large.
More to come later on this topic.
Rhinos
Walking with Rhinos
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Cancer
I have developed a deep hatred for cancer. Since we know that sickness in any form is the result of original sin and its corrupting effect on all of creation, this most vicious form of sickness produces in me a profound disdain for the disease. Although I know that God can and does use sickness ultimately for the good of those who love God and are the called according to His purpose (see Romans 8:28), I still hate the disease.
(NOTE: I am NOT saying that a particular illness is due to that person's sin. The rain falls on the just and the unjust, and that includes cancer.)
44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
The Holy Bible : English Standard Version. Wheaton : Standard Bible Society, 2001, S. Mt 5:44-45
I think of all the people I have known with cancer over the years:
○ A childhood friend with leukemia.
○ College friend with Hodgkin's lymphoma, deceased.
○ The father of one of my good friends - a godly man, living for Christ, impacting those around him - brain tumor, deceased.
○ Various current and former patients - lymphomas and leukemias mostly.
○ A friend who is a mother of several young children - leukemia.
○ My grandfather, my PaPa, a truly great man with tremendous humility, recently died of lung cancer. He had smoked when he was younger, but not in the past 25-30 years. He was the closest person to me who has had to go through this. How awful it is to see the suffering firsthand.
Despite the suffering that occurs, it is still possible to see the love of God come through these terrible times and prove again the truth of the word of God. Romans 8:38-39 says "For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our lord."
When my grandfather was in the last 24 hours of his life and having a very hard time, a sweet nurse at the nursing home came in and began to sing the song "In the Garden" (that's the one that goes "and He walks with me and He talks with me and He tells me I am His own. And the joy we share as we tarry there none other has ever known."). He began to relax as she sang and he tried to reach out and hug her.
The next day, a gospel quartet came to the nursing home and went from room to room singing. When they came into PaPa's room, they began singing "In the Garden". As they song went on, his breathing became easier, then slowed, and then he breathed his last as the song concluded. What an expression to us of God's love at such a time of grief. God is faithful to His word.
(NOTE: I am NOT saying that a particular illness is due to that person's sin. The rain falls on the just and the unjust, and that includes cancer.)
44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
The Holy Bible : English Standard Version. Wheaton : Standard Bible Society, 2001, S. Mt 5:44-45
I think of all the people I have known with cancer over the years:
○ A childhood friend with leukemia.
○ College friend with Hodgkin's lymphoma, deceased.
○ The father of one of my good friends - a godly man, living for Christ, impacting those around him - brain tumor, deceased.
○ Various current and former patients - lymphomas and leukemias mostly.
○ A friend who is a mother of several young children - leukemia.
○ My grandfather, my PaPa, a truly great man with tremendous humility, recently died of lung cancer. He had smoked when he was younger, but not in the past 25-30 years. He was the closest person to me who has had to go through this. How awful it is to see the suffering firsthand.
Despite the suffering that occurs, it is still possible to see the love of God come through these terrible times and prove again the truth of the word of God. Romans 8:38-39 says "For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our lord."
When my grandfather was in the last 24 hours of his life and having a very hard time, a sweet nurse at the nursing home came in and began to sing the song "In the Garden" (that's the one that goes "and He walks with me and He talks with me and He tells me I am His own. And the joy we share as we tarry there none other has ever known."). He began to relax as she sang and he tried to reach out and hug her.
The next day, a gospel quartet came to the nursing home and went from room to room singing. When they came into PaPa's room, they began singing "In the Garden". As they song went on, his breathing became easier, then slowed, and then he breathed his last as the song concluded. What an expression to us of God's love at such a time of grief. God is faithful to His word.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
The Masters - 2010
Well, it was good to see one of the good guys, Phil Mickelson, win the Masters again. I have watched the tournament for each of the last 30 years, at least, and I think I have enjoyed seeing Mickelson win this year more than I have enjoyed anyone else winning the famed green jacket.
I have witnessed many great performances over the years. Nicklaus's fifth win in 1986 and his run at a sixth in 1998 come immediately to mind. Tiger's first victory in 1997, a symbolic victory against prejudice in the golf world, ranks among the great tournaments I have watched. Phil's first title at the National in 2004, forever removing the stigma of being the best golfer never to win a major, was also one of the most memorable performances in Masters' history. For an Augusta native, seeing Larry Mize win the playoff in 1987 with a miraculous chip-in is one of the great highlights, as well.
To add to the drama of an already enthralling 2010 tournament, Mickelson's wife and mother have been battling breast cancer (I will come back to my hatred for cancer at a later date). His wife, who was sick most of the week, was unable to attend any of the tournament until Sunday afternoon, a day on which Phil started one stroke down and finished with a 67 and a three stroke victory. Although the slow-motion tear coverage by CBS was a little much, Phil is a guy who clearly loves his wife, and that was a good thing to see, given that the focus of much of the week was on a guy who had been unfaithful to his own wife.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Opening Day
Yesterday was opening day for Major League Baseball. The start of the baseball season always brings a little longing in me for the long summer days of my childhood. I used to fall asleep with my little AM radio under my pillow, listening to Skip Caray, Pete Van Wieren, and Ernie Johnson narrating the events of the night. I can't tell you how many hours I spent as a child at baseball practice, baseball games, and pickup wiffle ball games when there was no baseball available. The smell of the fresh cut grass in the outfield and the incredible oiled leather smell of my trusty glove are powerful, almost visceral, memories of years gone by. Other memories flood back to me when baseball season returns: the crack of the bat, the dive for the ball and the throw to first; the blur of a fastball followed by the expectant swing of the bat; the dive into second when you know the ball might beat you there.
I played a number of other sports as I grew up and I have had a number of other things about which I was passionate, but very little evokes such a deep yearning in me. I loved playing basketball more than baseball, and I miss it, but I don't have the same longing for it. I think this is one of the things that makes baseball the national pastime. Baseball, as Kevin Costner would likely attest in any of his baseball movies, can be a spiritual experience for those who play, especially if you have played for any length of time.
To quote Shoeless Joe Jackson from "Field of Dreams": Getting thrown out of baseball was like having part of me amputated. I've heard that old men wake up and scratch itchy legs that been dust for over fifty years. That was me. I'd wake up at night with the smell of the ball park in my nose, the cool of the grass on my feet... The thrill of the grass.
To further quote Shoeless Joe (from the movie): Man, I did love this game. I'd have played for food money. It was the game... The sounds, the smells. Did you ever hold a ball or a glove to your face?
This longing for something perfect in the past is a whisper to us that life is not what it should be. Something is missing. There is something better out there which we have yet to fully take hold of and this yearning is a way of reminding us of this.
Romans 8:18-25 speaks of this yearning that is an inherent characteristic of this earth and of those of us who inhabit it:
May each baseball season remind us that we who are believers have something better ahead of us which we can eagerly await.
I played a number of other sports as I grew up and I have had a number of other things about which I was passionate, but very little evokes such a deep yearning in me. I loved playing basketball more than baseball, and I miss it, but I don't have the same longing for it. I think this is one of the things that makes baseball the national pastime. Baseball, as Kevin Costner would likely attest in any of his baseball movies, can be a spiritual experience for those who play, especially if you have played for any length of time.
To quote Shoeless Joe Jackson from "Field of Dreams": Getting thrown out of baseball was like having part of me amputated. I've heard that old men wake up and scratch itchy legs that been dust for over fifty years. That was me. I'd wake up at night with the smell of the ball park in my nose, the cool of the grass on my feet... The thrill of the grass.
To further quote Shoeless Joe (from the movie): Man, I did love this game. I'd have played for food money. It was the game... The sounds, the smells. Did you ever hold a ball or a glove to your face?
This longing for something perfect in the past is a whisper to us that life is not what it should be. Something is missing. There is something better out there which we have yet to fully take hold of and this yearning is a way of reminding us of this.
Romans 8:18-25 speaks of this yearning that is an inherent characteristic of this earth and of those of us who inhabit it:
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time aare not worthy to be compared with the bglory that is to be revealed to us.
19 For the aanxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for bthe revealing of the csons of God.
20 For the creation awas subjected to bfutility, not willingly, but cbecause of Him who subjected it, 1in hope
21 that athe creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
22 For we know that the whole creation agroans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.
23 aAnd not only this, but also we ourselves, having bthe first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves cgroan within ourselves, dwaiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, ethe redemption of our body.
24 For ain hope we have been saved, but bhope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees?
May each baseball season remind us that we who are believers have something better ahead of us which we can eagerly await.
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