HONORING OUR FATHER

God revealed Himself to us as our father.  Jesus said to pray "Our Father, which art in heaven...".

But when a child does not know his heavenly father (or even his earthly father), his belief system may easily be swayed.  That is true on an individual level as well as on the national level.  If we do not know what our founding fathers set out for us, we can drift from those moorings.

In a day of divergent cultural thought, one sweet spot of agreement is that fathers are key to healthy child development.  Both secular and faith-based leaders link arms in their high regard for fatherhood.

That is why it is curious that fathers are held up to ridicule in the media.  We used to have an electric friend to fathering when the television showed Andy Taylor mentoring Opie...or when Cliff Huxtable steered his crew.  Now the sitcoms characterize fathers as bumbling schlubs.

Today I was listening to Dr. Michael Youssef salute fathers.  He used the first chapter of Job to explain a father's high calling as "family priest".  Dr. Youssef says that of all the roles a father assumes, this one as family priest is the most important.

Imagine the societal salve if all men were aware of this potential!  If you have 25 minutes, click on this  LINK  to hear Dr. Youssef's great exortation.  

The three things I took away from his talk illustrate how Job understood his role as family priest:

COMMITMENT
Scripture says Job was a righteous man.  He had a holy fear of the Lord which was lived out in front of his family by a DAILY sacrifice offering for EACH of his ten children.  Job reasoned "perhaps my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts".

As the offering was consumed and the smoke rose to heaven, Job's hope was the burning sacrifice would assuage God's burning anger over sin.  Of course, Job was not "covering" his sons' sin, but showing his understanding of the human heart and calling his boys to examine themselves and seek forgiveness.  


Assuming the burnt offering cost Job ten of his flock each day, those kids waked each morning to observe their Dad's first activity of the day was to give up for them of his riches (flocks) because he trusted God to provide.  .Job was an intentional shepherd in his family's spiritual life.  

CARING
Scripture says Job was highly regarded in his family and his community.  Caring for others must have sifted down into the kids' lives because they demonstrated brotherly love.  Job 1:4 says that Job's sons used to go and hold a feast in each other's homes, and they included their sisters as well.

Their dad was a family priest who was a leader... generous, hospitable and engaged in his family.  The children followed his footsteps.

CONSISTENCY
Scripture says Job was steadfast.  He was not one way with others and different at home.

Who could doubt Job's consistency?  When God gave Satan permission to buffet Job, this dear man held fast.  In the face of alarming calamity, we can read his response in Job 1:20,21.  It says when the unspeakable happened, he WORSHIPPED, saying "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." Surely that response was made possible by the Holy Spirit.   Job had a consistent walk with the Lord.


I'm just guessing that Job's report card must have had all "A's" in commitment and caring and consistency.  Does that seen unreachable?  Consistency is not perfection.  We know Jesus to be the only perfect One; the rest of us move forward as His enabling allows.  It is slack-cutting to realize that God equips and enables whatever He calls us to do.  


Today we no longer sacrifice animals, but we sacrifice time to model godly character...including "how to repent",  "how to put God first", and "how to give to the Lord".  AND we sacrifice in prayer.  Just as Job sacrificed an animal for each child, we pray daily for each child's individual needs.   


Women think they have a hard row to hoe because God calls them to submit.  But it's also hard work to achieve excellence as a family priest.  If your home has one, give thanks today.

LAUGHING OUT LOUD

The Doubletree B&B welcomed friends last week.  Our missionary friend Anna was on her way to a wedding and she brought a friend named Susan with her.  Susan is an intern who doesn't speak any English.  That set the stage for some serious serotonin downloads.

All four of us had terrific belly laughs because it took three of us and some charades to explain things that Susan saw in our house.  She went from one game head to another, pointing and clicking her camera and then excitedly speaking a stream of unknown words.

We loved hearing Anna's Chinese response!  She has gotten effortless as she gave the translation while Susan nodded and replied "ahh...ahh".  We were clueless.






  At one point Anna had to go get her iPhone to check the Chinese-English dictionary for "antelope".  Most of our animals are not found in China and that is why Susan was so fascinated with them; she stood and gazed a long time at the three species of mountain sheep.  Anna tried to explain that they lived in the mountain range that came down from Alaska through Canada, the U.S., and down into Mexico.  We looked up "Alaska" in Chinese and had another good laugh.  Susan was fascinated that the sheep had glass eyes.

When we got to the sunroom, Susan was delighted because she finally saw something familiar.  The Chinese ring-necked pheasant was imported to this country from Asia in 1857.  Mike was showing Susan the pheasant's origin on the computer.

Both women had many turkey questions and Mike had a lot of fun describing the habits of the wild turkey.  He demonstrated the mouth call and the box call and explained his goal was to sound seductive like a girl turkey.  Mr. Turkey responds by fanning his tail and "displaying" for his prospective love interest.  In the process, good sense is tossed to the wind and the hunter gets a chance to bag him.  Anna gave a giggle-translation for that story.  The hand motions were priceless.

Mike took down a piece of driftwood that held a pair of wood ducks.  They touched them and we talked about how the feathers were real, but the insides of the duck were gone.  Taxidermy must not be big in China.

Anna explained to Susan that in the old days, wooden ducks were carved and put in the water to attract ducks flying over.  Mike blew his duck call and then let Susan try.  Chinese people do not have the intonation that says "quack" through the nose.  Susan tried blowing the call and had a ball trying to get any sound out at all.  She has a great sense of humor and readily laughed at herself.

Mike's lanyard was interesting to Susan and she asked lots of questions about the duck bands.  Mike had Anna explain to Susan that the ducks are banded before leaving Canada.   Then they fly south for the winter, some stopping in our neighborhood and others going on down to South America before returning in the spring to their original area.  Susan wanted to know why one of the bands was worn smooth.  That was because the particular duck had worn it for 13 years.  She asked why there were several small bands and Mike said they were from a quail and dove.  That sent us back to the dictionary, which Anna found to be not particularly helpful.  The Chinese word for "dove" referred to the chocolate Dove candy.

As we headed upstairs, I heard Susan behind us asking Anna about another item.  Anna said..."she likes your picture of the American president, George Washington".

Anna must have been exhausted last night, but we thoroughly enjoyed our visitors.  We laughed a lot with two precious women that are our friends for life.  The night caused us think about how another culture perceives things that we never give a second thought.

We got new eyes from their visit...not glass ones, but new ones all the same.

UPRISING

When Katrina's waters rose, we were glued to the news and our collective compassion was rubbed raw because there seemed no way to help the trapped New Orleanians on rooftops.

Now it is Syria who has no help in sight.  Desperate Syrians are being bombed daily by their own government.  Their "uprising" began in March of 2011 and has resulted in thousands of deaths.

Diplomats and ambassadors have been kicked out of the country.  The UN sent Kofi Annan to broker a peace plan, but that got nowhere.  Our government sounds like a drippy faucet as we continue to repeat "you better not do that", speaking to ears who could care less.

Today Russia has sent attack copters to "aid" the government effort.  That will not be good news in Homs, where each day brings escalation and death.

So who is fighting who(m)...and why?

Bashar al-Assad is the President of Syria.  He is a member of a small Shi'ite sect called Alawites which make up 15% of Syria's population.

The 75% Sunni majority are the people demanding freedom and being terrorized.  So the conflict is within Islam (Alawite Shia vs. Sunni).

Syrian intelligence and elite military units follow President Assad, but it is his shadowy "shabiha" (literally in Arabic, "ghosts") who are feared most.

These men in black t-shirts roam freely at night and are credited for the mass atrocities.  After the government shells an area, they go house to house, pulling out survivors to execute them.  Today's press reports say these ghosts of Syria are torturing children and using them as human shields.

The ghosts of Syria support the president, but no one seems to have any direct oversight over them.  What a lethal mix...currish thugs with no accountability.

The writing on this wall says "Assad or we will burn Syria".

America finds this killing repugnant, but what can we do? How do you give people an appreciation for the value of life?  Shall we kill more people to stop the killing?

Is it our responsibility to stand between Muslims who have no regard for the life of a brother?

Syrians are calling for freedom, but we know from other Arab springs that freedom is not the end product.
Christians in Syria have historically been free from harassment under the present government.  Would that change under new management?

What is America to do about this humanitarian disaster?

Reasonable people can meet in the intersection of several irrefutable truths:

LIFE IS A GIFT OF GOD 

AND HIS ALONE TO GIVE OR TAKE AWAY.

THOSE WHO MURDER WILL STAND BEFORE THE ALMIGHTY 

TO GIVE A DEFENSE.

OUR ENEMY COMES TO STEAL AND KILL.  

HE IS A MURDERER AND THE FATHER OF ALL LIES.

IT IS A PRIVILEGE/BLESSING TO LIVE UNDER THE RULE OF LAW.

BASE MEN PREY ON WOMEN AND CHILDREN.

King Solomon was reported to be the wisest man who ever lived.  Here's what he had to say about the coming day of accountability...  "Eventually God will bring everything that we do out into the open and judge it according to its hidden intent, whether good or evil."  Ecclesiastes 12.14


The ghosts of Syria will not be the only ones looking for a rock to crawl under in that day.

FRUITFUL

Yes, that is all one family.  And they are special folks.

The Mama in the picture had a certain familiar third grade teacher who can remember when other kids wanted to grow up and be a fireman or a nurse...Amy wanted to grow up and be a Mama with lots of kids.

Amy is living her dream.

Meet Josh.  He's the fine man that has made Amy's dreams come true.

Josh gets a big hunka chunka respect.  That respect is not for picking Amy out of the crowd.  That would have been a no-brainer.  He gets respect for putting shoes on all of his crew...and for staying steady at the wheel.

Speaking of wheels, this is how Josh drives their big commercial van to the beach for vacation.  

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Can you just imagine the logistics of going out to eat, much less going to Florida?

Check out the van below.  Pretty orderly, eh?

Josh and Amy's relationship began through the eyegate.  Amy was thirteen and sitting in Sunday school when a new boy walked in.  Amy leaned over to her friend Kendall and whispered "he's CUTE!"  Their relationship grew stronger foundations, and they've been married 17 years this summer.  He's still pretty cute, don't you think?

For the last four years, their children have been homeschooled.  Josh believed they should at least see how that worked for their family.  Amy was overwhelmed with the idea at first.  Then as she says..."the Lord has a way of doing a 180 on your heart.  He impressed on me to listen to the desires of my husband's heart."  They tried home schooling, and it fit them.  Amy says she loves it because it gives them a chance to learn while they do life together and grow closer.  Plus they are first to the beach.

But of course when they go anywhere, people stare.  Some gapers are brassy enough to ask questions. Amy says the two most common queries are:

#FLABBERGASTED  "Are all those kids yours?"

Amy posted this quote to the left on Facebook to address that question.  Moms love the absurdity of the quote.

Once, as she drove through Mickey D's for ice cream, the lady at the window craned her head way out to check the multiple van riders.  Then her comment was "GIRL!  I hope they are paying you a LOT to take care of all those children."

Of course the paycheck comes in doing what Amy is wired to do.  Amy is flourishing as she serves her children.

#UPCLOSEANDPERSONAL  "Are you Catholic?"

Politely Amy explains that they are not Catholic, but just love children.  The skeptic, thinking no one loves children THAT much, wonders if they have an OctoMom need for attention.  Good grief!  There must be a gazillion easier ways to garner attention.

We were in Josh and Amy's church when we lived in Little Rock.  Believe it or not, they volunteer regularly @the Children's Ministry desk, checking in children.  I truly can't imagine how even the five girls get out the door with coordinated bows, much less the girls AND the boys AND the baby-of-the-day.  These are well-behaved kids who help each other.  How else would it work?

One of the sweetest stories I heard Amy tell was when about halfway through the birth order,  Josh announced to the children that Mama was having a baby.  A small voice piped up "didn't we just have one?"

In the olden days, people had multiples because the crops needed harvesting and it took many hands to get all the work done.  These days, many hands are considered work.

Josh and Amy say that of course their family takes intentional effort, but they also know that the Lord showers blessings through His gift of children.  They have been privileged to get to know and care for some brand new human beings.  And these kids will grow up knowing how to nurture others.  All the schools in the world can't teach that.

The bottom line for this couple?  They want to be open to what the Lord has for their family.  Their lives are fruitful as they introduce some of the next generation to the Savior.  What a grand statement they make for life!

P.S.

Have you counted heads in that first picture?  If so, you know that there were an odd number of kiddos (5 girls and 4 boys).  That picture was taken at Seaside, Florida LAST year.  And Amy was... yep... pregnant with the little boy she had six months ago.  You should know that now the boys and girls have evened out.

GREETINGS FROM SEASIDE 2012!