A Five Year old Blessing

A little over 5 years ago God blessed Cindy and I with an unbelievbale "late-in-life" surpise - a new baby. Here's the catch; we already had raised 2 grown kids and here we were starting over. But Landon has been the best thing that ever happened to us. His joy and laughter helped carry us through the dark time of Cindy's dad's passing in 2004 and a series of very stressful events that occurred very soon thereafter.

He will be starting kindergarten this next Tuesday and I cannot believe how fast the time has flown by. He is now 5, going on 15. We are pushing 50 trying to act like 25 - wierd dichotomy! Maybe we'll meet somewhere in the middle.

Before he came along we jokingly spoke of how if we had another opportunity to do it again, that there would be some changes. Well, now we have the chance for a do-over.

That little man is the embodiment of life and life to the fullest. He is all boy - all the time! The words that come out of his mouth keep us in stitches and the things he does, we will remember forever.

The biggest change we are implementing is not to take everything so seriously, like we did with our other two. If there are a couple of words of advice I could give to young parents it would be these: life is too short to be so serious and don't say "No" unless you have to. When we were young(er) it seemed that everything the kids did was a major - don't put your hands on the wall, pick up your toys, don't make that noise, get off that couch, etc. Now that we have been down the road and see how fast time flies, those things don't matter so much anymore because we know that in no time at all he will be gone from us and so will these special moments and days together. We have learned to treasure every incident and word or song he speaks or sings.

Last Sunday morning, as I was leaving for church, Cindy was still asleep and I tiptoed into his room, pulled the covers back and picked him up. I carried him into our bedroom where I placed him in my spot on our bed, pulled the covers up around him and turned to leave. I looked back, and when I did I saw him reach out those little arms and in his sleep circle them around Cindy's neck in a tight and unending embrace. As I watched he and his mom snuggle there in peace and safety and in the comfort of each other's love, this thought went through my mind, "THAT, is the most awesome thing on this whole earth - greater than anything else that man could create or any act of nature that God has created." As I left the room and then the house, I thanked God for that little 5 year old blessing, again, as I do every single day, but this time it was just a little more special.

Solomon Was Wise Before He Was Wise

Yesterday morning, while reading 2 Chronicles chapter 1 I ran across a couple of things I had never seen before. First, that Solomon was wise before God gave him even more wisdom, and secondly, he received his extra dose of wisdom from God because he was not like his daddy, King David. Allow me to explain.

In verse 7 of chapter 1 we read where God came and visited Solomon and told him to ask for whatever he wanted. I don't know about you, but that part would have freaked me out on two levels - that God Himself would show up and then that I could ask for whatever I wanted. Solomon went on to praise God for what he had done for his dad and then he asked for wisdom to lead the people God had entrusted to him.

In verse 11 God told him that there was 4 reasons that he was going to give him the wisdom he did ask for as well as everything he didn't ask for - wealth, riches and honor. The interesting part comes in the 4 reasons God gave - (1) wisdom was Solomon's true heart desire, (2) he did not ask for wealth, riches and honor (no pride involved), (3) he did not ask for a long life, and the one that struck me the most, (4) he did not ask for the death of his enemies. This, in direct contrast to his dad, King David, who by the way, was a man after God's own heart. Numerous accounts of David, in the book of Psalms, can be found asking for God to destroy his enemies and wipe them off the face of the earth.

There is no indication that Solomon even hesitated or told God that he would have to go and think about it. He knew immediately how to respond because it was his heart that spoke. Of course, God already knew the answer that Solomon would give, hence the reason for the Divine visit in the first place. God knew Solomon's heart before He said anything to him.

So how did Solomon acquire this attitude of humility and forgiveness? I don't know but there is a lesson here for me, and us - It was only after Solomon had the wisdom and heart to ask for the right thing from God that God blessed him far beyond what he asked for. The fact that he did not ask for vengeance upon those who hated him and were trying to harm him should speak volumes. The contrasting truth to be gained here is that if I harbour ill-will toward anyone, God will not bless me - at least as much as He wants to.

I wonder what the Bible would have recorded about the life of Solomon had he asked for death to his enemies, riches and a long life - all things that would have brought him comfort and peace.

I think Solomon knew that if he had God's wisdom that he would be able to handle his enemies correctly, that money and riches would not be a challenge and that a long life would certainly follow a wise one.

I wonder what my own immediate reaction would be if God were to appear before me and ask me what what it is I wanted most. I fear sometimes that my answer would be self-serving. I think that most people would immediately think about themselves and their own comforts. I pray that God would be able to search my heart and not find it wanting in my true desires.

God keep reminding us that it's not about us but all about You!

Silence is not necessarily golden

It has been strangely quiet in a certain way around our house for the past 2 weeks. No, Cindy and I are still together and Landon has not gone to live with Grandmother. There is still enough noise coming from those two sources but the strange silence has been from me.

The doctor told me on Aug 2 that if I wanted to be able to sing anymore that I would have to basically, SHUT UP for at least the next 3 months! It seems that I have developed nodules on my vocal chords that if left untreated will turn into polyps which will then have to be surgically removed or cause permanent damage. (Permanent Damage - that would be a good name for a rock band - think about it)

Anyway, here's the kicker - not only am I not supposed to talk, but I for sure cannot sing, yell, scream, cough, clear my throat, sneeze and especially whisper. I thought about calling Chick Spina up and asking him to teach me his method of talking with his hands. He's got it down!

It is really comical - I go into a restaurant or place of business and lean in close and tell them in an extremely quiet voice that I am not supposed to be talking but that I need so and so. In virtually every case they start whispering. I even had one guy start yelling. I told him that I couldn't talk but that my hearing was just fine. Sometimes I will pull out my PDA and write them a note on it telling them what I want. It never fails to draw a response - usually laughter. But hey - if it works....

It reminds me of when, several years ago, I broke my leg at SilverWheel Roller Rink. I had to wear a cast on it for about 8 weeks. During that time I used the old standard wooden crutches to get around. Being in radio sales at the time I had to do quite a bit of driving to many businesses. Everywhere I went people saw the crutches and were unbelievably willing to help me by opening doors, making chairs ready, carrying my briefcase and so forth. One day at church an elderly lady who had been experiencing hip problems told me that she had a pair of the type of crutches that hook onto your wrists and that she would loan to me if I wanted to use them. She said her wrist crutches would save me the pain from the under-the-arm type of crutches that I was using at the time. I jumped on that idea and immediately put them to use.

The very next day I began to experience something I was totally NOT expecting. People shunned me! They wouldn't make eye contact, they wouldn't open any door, pull out a chair - nothing. I immediately began to feel isolated. I went to eat at a restaurant in Dallas - same response, until I sat down and hid the wrist type crutches under the table, then everything was fine. I pulled them back out to leave - same type of distancing response - from everyone! It dawned on me what had been occurring. These crutches I was using were the same kind that permanently disabled people use - people with polio and other seriously degenerative diseases. Whenever people saw the wrist crutches they thought that I was disabled - permanently, and evidently didn't know what to do with that or intentionally shunned me. As soon as I hid them from sight - back to normal. I realized that what I was experiencing is what millions of partially and fully disabled people all around us go through every single day of their lives.

I went straight home, put the wrist crutches in the closet, pulled out the old wooden crutches, pain and all, and went back to work the next day. Guess what - here came the open doors again and all the other percs I was getting from having a broken leg. I guess people saw the wooden crutches as a temporary ailment and the other type of crutch as permanent and their responses to me sprang from their perceptions.

That little experience taught me a valuable life lesson - to always treat someone with a disability with the same respect and attention I would give anyone else who is whole and well - not less and not more. You never know how your response and reaction just might make somebody's life - for the good, or for the bad.