Old Buildings...new hope...

         So, I get to drive around a lot and I love to look at old buildings, particularly out in the country. As I drive by I think about who might have built it. I wonder what it was like when it was new. I imagine a young family, excited to begin a life together in their new house. I envision the proud owner of the new hotel opening up for business near the thriving train station. And then I look at the old worn out building and wonder what happened. What happened to the hopes and dreams, what happened to the people?

         I have started thinking about people the same way lately. When I see an old man sitting under a bridge in the cold, or a young woman walking down the street at night, or a child looking through the garbage for a meal, or just a guy, worn out by life, I wonder about them. Certainly they are some mother’s son, some father’s daughter. Could they be someone’s brother or sister? Do they have their own sons or daughters, or grandchildren?

         What happened to their hopes and dreams?

         Unlike buildings, people cannot be boarded up or torn down. People are made in the image of God. People in the most horrible circumstances still have hopes and dreams. People in desperate circumstances desperately need to be restored to life through infinite grace, love, and mercy.  And I am pretty sure that is one of the reasons we are here….

Little Mirrors

   So, I am pretty much convinced God gives us children to be little mirrors. 

  I bought my youngest son a little RC helicopter to replace the one I had broken on the inaugural flight...two years ago. We had had a couple of rough days an I figured this would help make a good peace offering. My ulterior motive was that I was going to let him do it all on his own and only help him if he asked for it, nicely. I hoped he would see that he does need help occasionally and his pride was keeping him from enjoying life. I could probably stop at this point and you could fill in the rest.

   Off he went, very happy and excited, to try out his new toy. I encouraged him to make sure he read the directions. Five minutes later he is back, the helicopter is on the roof. (Sweet, here comes teaching time!) I showed him how to climb out his window and onto the roof and the world was right again. I once again reminded him to make sure he read the directions. 

  This time it went on the roof again but he was able to get it down without help. I guess he learned something, not the lesson I had hoped for but the day was young. I asked him if he had read the directions and he had not, yet. 

  Five minutes later he was back inside and the helicopter would not fly. The battery was dead. "I thought it would go for 5 or 6 hours, not 5 minutes!" His expectations ran smack into reality and physics, his expectations lost, and he was very, very, very, very disappointed. 

   And the helicopter would not charge. A double whammy. Not only were his dreams of flying his toy helicopter up high enough to "almost run into another real helicopter" crushed, but the reliability of the little toy was suspect since it was clearly broken.  

  It was teaching time again. "Did you read the directions?"

 "No."

   "If you had read them you would have seen this warning against flying your helicopter outside. You would have also seen where the flight time was 5-6 minutes, and you would have seen how to fly it the first time so it doesn't crash and break.  Just read the directions. They will save you a ton of pain and heartache and disappointment. They will help you have realistic expectations. They will help you make good decisions. They will help you if you would just take the time to read them."

  And this is where the tiny mirror comes in...the child who is a little reflection of me. 

To our Dad:

My father passed away today, it was peaceful and calm. My mother and sisters were with him. I thought I would repost this to remind myself of how much he has influenced my life. He is my hero. 

"My brothers, sisters, and I wrote this living tribute for our Father a couple of years ago. I thought I would post it for Father's Day. 

"When we are asked where we learned to do multiply fractions we could point to our school days and maybe even a teacher who taught us. But when someone asks where we learned how to be a parent, or a citizen, or a person, we would all point to you and the life you live daily as our Hero.

You show us that family matters, always, and that we will be safe with you, always. When others were casting off their families and responsibilities, you put an ad in the local paper stating that you WOULD be responsible for your family. When others have cast us away, you have always had a safe place for us to stay, to hide, to get our feet back under us, to start again. When we see the handprints in the cement, we know that this place, wherever it is, is a safe place to land. It is a place where unconditional love can be found. It is a place where you will stand between us and the world, defending us, protecting us, keeping us safe and secure.

You spent countless hours coaching, driving, cheering, and supporting us in our sporting endeavors. You taught us to hang our hands when we shoot (but never hang our heads); to block out for a rebound; to use a fore arm shiver on a lineman; to establish position, plant our feet, and stand our ground; to play hard, finish strong, to not give up; and most importantly that playing with character and integrity matters so much more that winning or losing.

You always seem to be coming up with something better, it is as though the whole world is your workshop. We have seen you build timers and trailers, taking what someone else threw out as scrap and turning it into something useful and to us, something wonderful. Your sparks of imagination flow through each of us and out into our children, students, and co-workers. Through your “tinkering” in the shop you have helped put lasers in airplanes, helped fix problems that seemed unfixable, helped ships sail, and helped an uncountable number of children learn and succeed.

You taught us that people matter, that people are valuable, and that there is always time to make a difference in someone’s life. Although you may have never uttered those words, we see it acted out daily. We have seen you take in strays from all over, people who seem to have lost their way or just need a hand. You somehow see the hidden potential in people that others have written off. You work to help others see that same potential. Whether it is helping a single mother trying to get back on her feet or a couple of kids who seem to have everything stacked against them, you manage to bring out what others have overlooked. And in doing so you not only help them but show us what it means to be human, to care about others when they can offer nothing in return; to give to people, expecting nothing in return. You have shown us what it really means to sacrifice everything in order to help even just one person who needs it. Which really is what a hero does isn’t it?"

If asked "How did you learn to..."

 ...treat your wife with respect? 

...teach your kids to be honest and upstanding citizens? 

...teach your kids to stand among their peers with self-confidence and self-respect? 

...participate appropriately in your church and community? 

...manage relationships with people that you have authority over? 

...manage relationships with people that you do not have authority over? 

...understand the right role to play in your children's lives when others are in authority? 

...take the right amount of responsibility for both positive and negative actions? 

We would say, “I learned it from watching my Dad.”