Tag: Father

I Don’t Remember….

I don’t remember my grandfather ever talking to me. Ever.

At 60, he died of a heart attack. He was in the hospital for a while (week?) before he died. I was 13.

I never went to see him. I sort of felt guilty about that.

All these years later, it dawned on me that there’s a chance I didn’t go because I may have thought:

  • He’ll be coming home as soon as he’s well enough
  • What would we talk about?

Or maybe I just didn’t understand love enough to know how this may have been very important to him.

Or maybe, just maybe, I was following his lead.

I Don’t Know How to Start

A lifetime of learned behaviors. Life is hard. And mostly difficult. And busy. And distracting.

Some days, maybe while watching a movie or TV show, we see a Family that seems to have it all together and wonder why we can’t live like that.

It’s a movie, okay? It’s not real. Yet perhaps there’s some compromise between what’s portrayed in books and movies, and what is our current reality.

Maybe. maybe not.

I’d like to find out.

Carpe diem, jeff đŸ™‚

Failing?

Failing? Probably. It weighs heavy on my soul and heart. I’d really like to be a better:

  • Son
  • Brother
  • Nephew
  • Uncle

Yet after decades of learned behavior, there’s a struggle deep down inside that seems overwhelming.

Overwhelming, yes. Impossible, no.

The people involved in this are going to have to want this too. It takes two. This is not a one-sided challenge, nor a one-sided opportunity. Is it me, or is that ticking sound the clock?

Stuck?

Stuck? Sort of. A lot has happened this past week. Some incredibly awesome stuff. Some horrific stuff.

I work hard to focus on the positive side, without sacrificing what the horrible stuff is telling me.

Love and hate. Heaven and hell. God and the devil. Faith and unbelief. Mysteries and facts.

So what is surfacing as I type this (and I trusted something would), is that we all have a choice to make.

In fact we have lots of choices. Each day. All day. Everyday.

It takes practice and discipline to increase our “batting average”.

Make today a great day. Go in there swinging and keep your eye on the ball.

I Hate Hearing From My Friends

What I mean is I hate hearing when tragedy happens. Two days ago an email shared the news that one of our college buddies had a tragedy. His teenage son died of a drug overdose.

Can you even fathom this? I can not.

For our friend, this probably makes 9/11 look like a picnic.

May I simply ask anyone reading this to try to absorb some of his pain?

Tragedy strikes us all. None of is immune from this. Perhaps this is the time when we are tempted to believe God doesn’t exist.

God never said life would be easy, He simply promises we will not walk alone. Our big challenge is to actually believe this when horrific tragedy is our shadow.