Trusting Daddy

Dad, with his three daughters, a.k.a. "fencing helpers."

I grew up on a dairy farm, and as a kid, we often had to go out and fix the fence that held the cows in. We used barbed wire - four strands attached to fence posts every few feet.

It wasn't uncommon for Dad to ask us kids, "want to go fencing?" We were expected to say "yes," and we always did.

Dad had an old manure spreader that he used strictly for fencing. It was a rusty old contraption that he pulled behind an old "Model A John Deere" tractor. The spreader contained rolls of wire, a wire stretcher, fencing staples, clips, posts, post-hole digger, and post maul.

Dad drove the tractor and us kids perched on the sides of the manure spreader, our bony little backsides bumping along as Dad drove over the rough ground.

When we got to a place that needed repair, Dad would pull over and us kids would pile out of the spreader to help. Sometimes we were replacing staples that had fallen out. Sometimes we had to splice wire or fix gates. Other times, we had to replace a post - one of my most vivid fencing memories.

Usually when Dad replaced a post, he used a metal one. Quite often, the metal was replacing a wood post that had rotted. My job was to hold the post while Dad pounded it in.

The posts were pretty tall and my Dad was pretty short, so he would stand in the spreader, one foot down in the spreader, and the other one up on the side. I would stand down on the ground, holding the post in position. The post maul was 20 pounds. Dad would swing it in a big arc, down, around, up over his head and then striking the post with a metallic ring. He would swing, and he would swing, and he would swing, the post inching down a little further into the ground with each strike.

I stood, a puny little kid, with a 20-pound hammer swinging right over my head. The post maul would hit that post and the reverberations traveled up my bony arms as I held on, keeping the post straight.

Was I scared? Well, maybe a little. If he missed, that 20 pound hammer would have come down on my puny little girl arms, probably shattering them. But he never missed. Never.

I could trust him. And trust him, I did.

It's that same kind of child-like trust that God looks for in us - His children. "Jesus called a little child to him and put the child among them. Then he said, “I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. So anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven." [Matthew 18:2-4 NLT]

He craves that same kind of closeness and blind trust with us that a child has for his or her Daddy.

Now, as an adult, I don't know if I could bear to watch a grown man swinging a 20-pound hammer over his kid's head. I'd probably do some kind of intervention. But that kind of trust - the trust I had in my Dad when I was a child - is what our heavenly Father (Heavenly Daddy)
wants from us.

Can we trust our Heavenly Father? Absolutely. Even when it feels like life is pounding us down, He's right beside us, giving us strength, giving us peace, giving us hope.

Trusting Daddy is a good place to be.

Living Proof

Religious leaders admitted that the body of Christ had gone missing.

"Without Jesus, I don't think any of us would be here." 

So said one of my Adventure Rangers, the class of fifth and sixth grade kids I teach on Wednesday nights at church. 

That's a powerful statement. We are all - individually, and collectively - living proof of a risen Savior.

I have the opportunity to teach the Adventure Rangers group every Wednesday night at my church. This year, we studied Lee Strobel's "Case for Christ for Kids." It was a great study that really grabbed the minds and hearts of the kids.

When Jesus walked this earth during the three years of his ministry leading up to his death on the cross, he used many names for himself - Son of God, Son of Man, the Way, the Truth, the Life, the Bread of Life, and many others.

We asked the question - how do you know Jesus is who He says He is? 

Or, to put it another way, how do you know Jesus is the Son of God, and not just a great man?

That's a really good question and one that my Ranger group grappled with over the weeks.

When I posed the question, there was a huge outcry in the room - it says it in the Bible!

I countered - how do you know the Bible is true?

A hard question for fifth and sixth graders, as well as for adults! It is a question that every Christian should be able to answer with conviction. It is not enough to say that we believe because our parents believed. Each of us must believe for ourselves and be fully convinced in our hearts.

We talked it through and came to a resounding, unshakable conclusion: the Bible is definitely true and Jesus is THE SON OF GOD. 

How did my class reach that conclusion? Well, here are a few of the many powerful supporting facts that are indisputable and which they, and every Christian, can stand upon:

• There were about 60 important prophecies about Jesus in the Old Testament. Jesus fulfilled all of them!
• Jesus performed miracles in front of thousands of people. At the time the gospels were written, many of these eyewitnesses were still living and could have disputed the gospel accounts if they were not true. (And let's not forget that Jesus still performs miracles today!)
• If Jesus was not the Son of God and was lying about himself, he was willing to die for that lie. This simply makes no sense - who would die for a lie? 
• Although his tomb was guarded by professional Roman soldiers, his body was missing. The Jewish leaders admitted the body was missing.
• More than 500 people saw Jesus after he had risen from the dead, including all his disciples.
• The men who were his disciples were radically changed by being with him. They were not educated men - just common people who made an enormous impact on the world.
• All of the disciples, with the exception of Judas (who killed himself) and John (who was exiled to Patmos) were killed for their belief in Jesus. Again - who would die for a lie?

Around the globe this Easter Sunday, millions of Christians will gather: 

• in churches large 
• in churches small
• in churches adorned with stained glass windows 
• in churches adorned with a plain, rugged cross
• in churches that meet outdoors
• in crystal cathedrals
• in country churches with plain old wooden pews 
• in city churches that meet in schools and use folding chairs
• in main street churches or secret underground gatherings
• praising the risen Savior in thousands of languages

All around the globe - all worshiping Jesus - the Son of Man, the Son of God, sent into the world to save us from our sin.

"Without Jesus, I don't think any of us would be here."

Perspective is Everything

My Dad, the man with the HUGE shoulders.

Perspective is everything. Those of you reading this blog who know my family know that my father would never be described as a physically large or imposing man. At only five feet, four inches tall, he would easily be described as a short man by most any standards.

But even a short man may be perceived as large in stature, depending on the perspective of the person considering him. When I was in first grade, I idolized my father. (I still do.) I vividly remember describing him to my classmates.

"My dad is really strong," I said. Reaching my arms out as far as I could, I exclaimed, "his shoulders are HUGE." I tended to be rather dramatic in those days, and my words created quite an impression within my circle of friends. I had given them the idea that my dad was some sort of Super Hero, beyond the bounds of the average mortal man.

Imagine my surprise when one of my friends saw me with my dad in town. "Your dad isn't big!" she said. "He's short. I thought you said he had HUGE shoulders!"

Of course, I was only about three feet high myself at the time, and when I looked at my dad, I had to look up to see his impressive five foot, four inch frame. My perspective had a lot to do with my perception.

There is an old cliche that says, "You can't see the forest for the trees." When we are in the middle of the woods, all we can see is one tree after another. It is hard to grasp the breadth and depth of the entire forest. It is only when we place some distance between ourselves and the trees that we can actually see the forest. We are missing perspective.

As the current of life sweeps us along, lack of perspective can lead us to questions and uncertainty, but the simple truth is that we are not seeing the big picture. All we see are the many small events and the multitude of pieces that comprise the whole.

God does not have that problem. In speaking of Himself, he says; "For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts." (Isaiah 55:9 NLT)

His ways are higher. His thoughts are higher. To say that His perspective is higher is not really accurate, because He does not see things from a singular angle or vantage point; what He sees is nothing less than the absolute truth.

Paul said "we see through a glass, darkly." (1 Corinthians 13:12) The New Living Translation reads like this:  "Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely."

Hold on for a minute. God knows me completely?

Do you ever think about the fact that God sees through all the extraneous stuff of your life? He sees through the facade, the pretense, and the attitudes, to the very heart of you -- what makes you tick, what drives you, what makes you cringe, what you want to hide. He sees the burden you are carrying, the hurt that is ravaging your heart.

He also knows the ending. We do not.

Do you trust Him? I mean REALLY trust Him, even in the middle of life's challenges?

It is only by looking up that you will see His HUGE shoulders -- the only way you will see His arms reaching down in love.

Open our eyes, Lord. Help us to see -- to see You, and to see the things of life as You see them.

Get Ready to Fly

The little caterpillar was cute and fuzzy, but more
importantly, he persisted; he had a purpose.

He Wouldn't Give Up

As I walked down to our mailbox a few days ago, I noticed a small caterpillar crawling along over the rocks. The wind was gusting up to about 30 miles an hour that day, but the little caterpillar kept crawling along.

At times, the wind actually picked the lightweight, fuzzy little guy up and he skittered several feet across the road. Every time the wind lifted him up, when he hit the ground, he just kept crawling in the same direction. Nothing seemed to bother him. He just kept going.

If the little caterpillar stopped crawling because it was too windy, he certainly would have died there on that barren road, which was utterly devoid of food or shelter. Instead, he kept crawling, moving toward some unseen, and likely unknown, destination. 

Like the caterpillar, we often don't know what's up ahead for us. But unlike the caterpillar, we tend to fret and worry, sometimes to the point that we stop moving at all.

But the simple truth of the matter is that if we stop, we are being disobedient. We are also circumventing God's good plan for us.

God has a plan and a purpose for me and for you! Jeremiah 29:11 says: "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

We must remember that in addition to having a purpose for us, Christ is behind us, beside us, and before us. He surrounds us with his love - even in the wind - no, especially, in the wind. We must remind ourselves of the great destiny that is ours, in a Kingdom that cannot be shaken (Hebrews 12).

I don't know about you, but knowing Christ, knowing that He is with me to the end of the age, knowing that His word is true and unchanging, and knowing that somehow, He can make all things work together for good, gives me calm assurance - even when the wind blows so hard that it picks me up and sets me down in a place that I wasn't expecting. (Matthew 28:20, Matthew 24:35, Romans 8:28 )

On Our Way to Something Beautiful

We may be bucking the wind now, but we must remind ourselves that we are on a path of purpose.
You see, like the caterpillar on its way to becoming a butterfly - we are on our way to something beautiful.
Keep crawling and get ready to fly.