Just Scratching My Head

I think I will just quit! I’m really not that good at some things. I know, I know, you’ve known it for a long time but were afraid to tell me. Kidding aside, I really am not that good on knowing some things. I’ll give you an idea of what I am talking about. Most mornings I sort of listen to a tv program where they talk about whose birthday it is today. Unfortunately, almost every time, I have no idea who they are talking about let alone how old they are. Hey, I don’t know the difference between Jessica Simpson and that other girl from the hotel chain. Oh, yah, something Hilton, Paris Hilton! That’s her! Now don’t get me wrong, but I do try. I try to know who they are talking about and match a face to a name. Sometimes I cheat by looking the birthdays up in the paper before they ask. That still doesn’t help much. I have even humored myself and tried to guess their ages but . . . but I don’t know who they are talking about! Who is that guy who plays, . . . never mind? Doesn’t matter anyway because I will forget again by lunch time. You might be the same as me and then again, you might be like my wife who knows most if not all of them. She reads the People magazine and knows most of them and I look at the celebrity page every day in the paper to no avail. I just read it an hour ago and I have no idea who was talked about other then Whitney Houston and the girl in American Idol 2004 who, I CAN’T REMEMBER HER NAME!!! Hang on. It’ll come to me. NO IT WON’T! But you know who I am talking. She played in the movie about Diana Warwick. HA, there’s two people I can remember. Two out of three isn’t bad, is it? Ask me my bank card number is? Got that. All the telephone numbers that I have ever had? Got them to. I can even remember my Sears card number from 35 years ago. But names to faces, that’s hard. I have been like this all my life so I am not expecting to get any better any time soon. But you know some wonderful news. Jesus knows my name, and your name and your name and everyone’s name. He knew us before we were born when He “knit us together in our mother’s womb.” Isn’t that wonderful? Aren’t you glad? Won’t it be wonderful when we get to the pearly gates and Jesus is there and he calls us by name and says, “Come into your rest my good and faithful child . . .” And, I know His name! Do you? Something to think about. Rob

Put The Paper Down!

I’ve done it all. It was a long time ago but the memory still comes to the front of my mind now and again. It is the memories of things that I did that were not great. Right now I remember my daily routine when I came home from work. It was not that I was tired but I thought I deserved a few moments to gather my thought and read the paper.
Oh I said hello to the three other people in the home but they all knew, this was dad’s time. With those initial greetings over, I would settle down in my ‘grandfather’s’ chair, still have it by the way, and read the paper. Everyone knew, not to bother me. Just leave me alone until the last page was turned and it was folded back into the shape it was when I first picked it up.
Now as I think back, two things come to mind. They knew that is was my time and I knew they would respect that.
Much later I realized that something was walking by me and I didn’t even know it. My family was walking by me into their future and I was missing out on those days. You know the song, Cats in the cradle . . .
Lucky for me, life changed all that. Life changed on a dime and God woke me up to what He was doing with me and my life.
Today, as I think of that family sitting waiting for me to put the paper down, so God was waiting for me as well. He was there, watching me, waiting for me to call His name. Patiently knowing there would be times that I would cry to Him and also knowing there would be times when I would come excitedly jumping and singing, (he didn’t say singing well, He said, make a joyful noise. I can do that). At those moments in my spiritual journey He would join in the celebration with me.
With my children I learned that it was more important to hear their hearts then to read my paper, or clean my car or cut grass or go to work and make money or or or, you fill in your own activities. Life goes by and when you get to my age you realize that you learned late or as Emerson said, “Too soon old, too late smart.”
I believe we need to be the reflection of God to our children. Don’t waste time on things that really don’t count. And we also need to be like our children when we look up into His face and realize He has been there all along, waiting and listening to all the things that are on our hearts.
Something to think about
Rob