Rough waters ahead.

Today, I will tell you about my Dad. He passed away one week after my mom's birthday in 2000. He was 61 at the time. My dad held a strong presence in our home. He was usually more on the serious side, but enjoyed a good laugh when he deemed it appropriate. He liked a good story and liked to tell one too. He took us to church 3 times a week rain or shine. He worked long and hard. He played battleship with me when I was a kid, catch with me when I was a teen, and Othello when I was an adult.

I enjoyed hearing stories of his youth cause they didn't sound like him to me at all. Once when he was little he threw a fit while his mom was on the phone. He wouldn't stop so she put him in the closet so she could finish up. When she retrieved him, he had pulled down every stitch of clothing in that closet. Little ones always win in the end... why do we not know that? He helped his family work a farm and told me, that when he was a teenager, he would lay in the field and dream about a job where he didn't have to do manual labor. He got his wish. Forty years plus as a successful business man. 

Apparently, we all carry some kind of strep around in our bodies... not a big deal. But Dad had bone cancer. He didn't even tell him mom 'cause he was told it would be 15 or 20 more years before he'd have to worry about it. It's a slow moving cancer however it left his immune system weak and on my mom's birthday she rushed him into the E.R. A week after that he went home to meet his Creator. I just can't get over the briefness of life. When we suffer, it's a slug, but when we're just living day to day... it's a cheetah.

The Bible says every man will give an account for the time he has squandered. DID YOU HEAR THAT?! (I am talking to myself now.) I must use every opportunity, no matter how small it may seem... to glorify my God. Not out of fear, or responsibility, or because there is some kind of eternal score card... but because life is a gift and I need to remember that. How many times have you wished you could give that gift back? I have wanted to give up the ship (a few times) when the waves overwhelmed me. But I'm still afloat. Do you know what that means? The storm lost. I won. If I'm still afloat and so are you, then there's a reason we're here. To live out the day to day? For some great endeavor? Or just to fall in love with Jesus... we are His bride. He is coming for us.

I don't know if I'll make it to 61. It doesn't really matter. Every man has an appointed day. I wonder if I will spend my days in rebellion, tearing down clothes in a closet... or following my dreams. My dad sure didn't stay in that field, though it would have been fine if he had. He pursued his dreams, and God blessed him. I wonder if some days, I forget to dream... if my compass is tucked away, and my ship too close to shore. I do like that feeling of security... but the kind of security we want... isn't real. Everything we put our trust in, is but a vapor. Oh God, from where my help comes from... give me goals, give me opportunity, give me strength. I will try not to ask for smooth sailing... but instead ask for peace through the storm.