First I have to acknowledge that not all parents are good. I came across some parents when I was a teacher who were cruel and hateful to their children. I’m not talking about them. I’m talking about the regular, reliable, standard issue parents that most of us were given. They are not all good or all bad but dance somewhere back-and-forth between the two, spending most of their time on the good side.

We love them because we were born to them and created to love them, because they took care of us before we realized we needed their care. We love them because they are there for everything. They change diapers, dress us, feed us, discipline us, teach us right from wrong, protect us from harm, and so much more. We learn to trust them with our tragedies and our celebrations because they see it all. We know we need parents because they know more, can do more, and are on our side. They teach us about loving and being loved. They give us value and values.

I feel this is a perfect image of Jesus in our lives. He is the perfect parent without the shortcomings of humanity. He really does love us. He is constantly working to make our lives better. We are children to Jesus no matter how old we get. We need help, guidance, rescue, correction, discipline and all the other things parents provide children. Everyone needs to learn more about loving and being loved.

Honesty would require us to admit that age doesn’t keep us from acting like small children. We tell Jesus what He ought to do and when. We behave poorly when we don’t get our way. We fight over other children’s toys and don’t play well with others. We have adult versions for all the misbehaviors we see in the small ones in our lives.

The Lord knows how to deal with all the spiritual realities of humans, every stage, every season, no matter the age. He has children in every state of mind, emotion, and life, everywhere. He is dealing with them as they are, working to grow them into better lives. I consider how much trouble I would have avoided in my life had I just done what my parents told me to do. Jesus is just like that, but better.

I had an entertaining moment with some re-enactors recently. It started badly. I approached their presentation site, and one of their number called out, “Hey preacher” in a way that told me he had been wounded by someone in the church, and I was going to face the music for it. I didn’t mind. I’ve been hurt by the church as have many. The church is filled with people who are known for their imperfections and humanity in the presence of Jesus who is working to make them better.

Someone in their group used a mildly profane word related to something else and followed it with an apology. I told them that the apology wasn’t necessary. I grew up with all those words and was very familiar with them. As a matter of fact, all it takes is one hammer to a thumb, and all those words come flooding back to my mouth, causing me to fight to choke them back. I prefer an honest conversation with real people instead of making them walk around pretending because I’m trying to learn to be better than I am.

The man had been hurt. People were willing to take, but unwilling to give. The worse part was he needed the friendship and prayers, and that was withheld too. He and I agreed that people are skilled at being bad to each other. He and I needed to agree to keep each other honest so we wouldn’t fall in to that. His complaints about the church were the same that Jesus had with His church. As a matter of fact, God has been facing those failures among His people all the way back to the beginning of the Bible. I guess it shouldn’t be surprised that the problems are still around. The good thing is God isn’t that way. God is far better.

The re-enactor and I had become friends by the end of the conversation with a shared vision of Jesus. I was impressed that the more we spoke about Jesus, the better perspective we both had about ourselves and the people we have to deal with every day. The entire Bible is about relationship, relationship with God. We can work on our relationships with ourself and others in right perspective once the primary relationship with God is established. My formerly antagonistic friend taught me a lot during our short time together. I’m glad Jesus was there to sort things out. Jesus heals broken relationships.

I went sightseeing this past weekend. It was not what I intended, but I’m glad I did. I went to the Dade City Pioneer Museum and Village for a re-enactment of the Battle of Mariannas, Florida. Friday was student day. Lots of students came to wander around the different buildings and the 19 presentation stations manned by volunteers and re-enactors. My station was a presentation on Civil War medicine and surgery with some information about chaplains in the war.

I became aware of life priorities, value systems, sacrificial caring and many of the qualities of Jesus alive in all the people I spoke to. They didn’t have to identify that they were witnessing to show that the values of God had become important in their lives and reasons for why they did the things they did. They were there to love on family. They were there to show or learn about the value of historical people and what they went through to create the future we live in now. Everything was about relationship, people, learning from the past, and making the world a better place. I became a sightseer because I could see and hear Jesus everywhere I looked and in every story I heard. Jesus is very busy loving and helping people right where they are, even when they are not aware of Him or how committed He is to helping them.

Stories about the Marianas battle showed the presence of Jesus in and, sometimes simultaneously to, some of the worst cruelties of man. Union soldiers ran into a building they were burning to the ground to rescue a woman who had given birth the night before. The women of the home had been shooting at the soldiers just before the building was lit on fire. The mother and child lived. A soldier was given the Medal of Honor for threatening his own soldiers for killing prisoners after those very prisoners had shot an officer to death who was begging them to surrender. Jesus was reaching in to the worst we have to offer to pull out and show the best we have to give in times that we have a hard time imagining that He is present.

Jesus is everywhere, all the time, and is working to rescue us from our worst selves. He is doing it even when we deny Him and/or are working our hardest to resist Him. I experienced awe and respect for the compassion of Jesus at the same time I felt humbled by knowing that I often resist His plans for me. He is far more faithful and reliable than I will ever be, and I am grateful.

Recently I had a couple people knock on my door to share their faith with me. My immediate inclination was to close the door and avoid all conversation. I have dealt with people from their religious persuasion before with disagreeable results. Argument evangelism prioritizes winning over facts. Everything you say can and will be used against you in an effort to win. Argument evangelism is not about discovering or even establishing facts. God reveals Himself to whom He wills, when He wills, with or without discussion.

One of the evangelists asked an innocuous question about the plants on my porch before I could, as politely as possible, evade a debate and close the door. This started a conversation. I told them openly that I disagreed with their church, but I was openly willing to talk about Jesus. I determined not to share anything about my church that would conflict with their beliefs. Once religion was put aside, the conversation rolled along nicely.

We did not get lost in church or religious “speak.” We spoke about the beauty of God the creator and Jesus our savior. We spoke about the proofs that show that faith is more reliable than cultural philosophies and how much people truly need Jesus in their lives to teach them, rescue them, and draw them into all the true values that people can’t achieve without help like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These qualities aren’t natural in humanity because they are other oriented instead of self oriented. We spoke about how much Jesus loves each of us and proves it every day no matter the condition of our lives.

The conversation ended with Jesus being praised and all persons in the conversation being encouraged in their faith. Quite frankly I was humbled by the event. I realized, as it went forward and came to an end, that I had too much of an investment in being right and less in just proclaiming Jesus, what I know about Him and how I’ve experienced Him. I realized that I can’t blame others when I have an argumentative mentality. I must learn to love others, all others, the way Jesus does. Jesus is the truth I can rest in without having to prove anything. He is alive and concerned about conversations between disagreeable people. Jesus will draw all people to Himself when He is the focus.

I recently read a man’s obituary in the newspaper. He was impressive. It made me feel like I took a loan to spend time on planet earth and have spent the time on planet refusing to make payments. It reminded me of a lesson I am learning about respect and gratitude.

I had a dog named Sam. He was my only friend during a terribly challenging period of my life. I feel sure that I relied on him far more than he relied on me. I’m feel that I’m not the only pet owner who has felt that way about their pet. He taught me a lot about life and love.

One day in prayer I was triggered to think of Sam’s death, as all eventually die. Who would morn? Nations? My nation? My state? My community? Who? I would morn because I had invested my love in him. I belonged to him and he to me. So who will morn when I die? Not nations or this nation or this state or this community only the people who have invested their love in me. I am made valuable, not by what I do, but by the love that is given and invested in me. I am given the gift of value. I am learning to exercise gratitude and respect for the generosity of others instead of devoting all my energy to earning what can only be freely given by someone who cares. Love can not be demanded, required, earned, or forced — only given, or it’s not love

Jesus has given and gives the greatest love. He gave up all the joy of heaven to walk as a man and then gave Himself to torture and death. He was resurrected to prove all the truth in what He did and why He did it. That gift of love is beyond what anyone can earn. It is proof that, in our most difficult time and our worst failing, God loves before we get it right. We are each loved, first by Jesus, and next by all those He put in our lives to invest in us. The generosity of God and those He sends our way are more than enough reason to be thankful now, before everything works out.

We each are created as a one of a kind miracle, so unique that each person can be identified from any other by both finger prints and DNA. Man clones and duplicates. God creates and originates. Each person is given gifts and talents that are to benefit those around them, even when they, or the people around them, can’t recognize the gifts and talents.

My high school students constantly fought to be like one another. Their desire to fit in was so strong that they would deny their individuality to fit with their peers. I assigned a short story task with complications which would allow me to work on their logical story telling and thinking. I did the assignment for years. I’m sure over 1,500 students were given the challenge. There were many similarities, but no duplicates. Students couldn’t produce identity sameness, no matter how hard they tried. Uniqueness is a God given gift that we often overlook.

Consider a tapestry metaphor. Each individual strand is unique. Each strand might know the colors of the strands around it, but each is unable to see the entirety of the tapestry or what part of the tapestry image it is helping to create. There is a greater plan than can be accomplished by a single strand or even many strands. The individual strand is important to the whole of the tapestry, and the whole of the tapestry provides the value of the individual strand. Take an individual strand out of a complete tapestry and the entire form is diminished.

God has a plan that involves every person on this planet. We tear a strand out of the tapestry every time we rule someone out as lacking value or being insignificant in any way. It is important to consider the bigger plan and to recognize that we have a limited view of how the plan is progressing. God knows and is working on each soul on this earth. Treating others as important to God is a different perspective than seeing others based on how important they are to me. Like the class assignment, my perspective gives God a chance to see how clearly I’m thinking.

I like comparisons, metaphors, images that simplify ideas that are too complex and detailed to hold easily in the mind. The old comparison of “Life is like a football game,” provides an image that opens the details for discussion while giving a simpler context to use as a base. Today’s image is “avatar.”

An avatar is an electronic representation of a person in the digital world. We put together a representation of ourselves, as best we can, so we can interact with digital life in the digital world. We use avatars to play games, communicate, identify ourselves, in addition to whatever other functions techies can find. You might say we put ourselves in the digital world through our avatars. We, as individuals, are much greater than the world we enter and experience through our avatars.

Now here is an idea to consider. The creator of all the universe, He who is at all places in all times, has given us a face, a person, a complete set of characteristics that is He in our world. God gave us the gift of knowing an infinite God in finite form, such was His desire to relate and communicate with us. The lessons Jesus taught are all lively and relevant today as they were over 2,000 years ago because they address the same issues humanity has faced since the beginning. Jesus is our doorway to the infinite beauty and truth of God because He is emmanuel, “God with us.”

I realize this metaphor is oversimplified and doesn’t adequately deal with the subjects being compared, but it does give an image to prod and push our thinking about how much God has given us and how much access He has given us to Himself.

I am reliving my childhood as an adult child.

I depended on my mother as a young child. I learned to nag, as little people will, calling “Mom” in a constant stream of repetition in an effort for her to stop anything she was doing to take care of my urgent request. My request was usually unimportant to anyone other than a child, but occasionally had some merit. All the urgencies were important to me.

Mom’s response, most often, was “Just a minute.” A mother’s minute can last from several seconds to hours because it is not a length of real time. Most of the time mom was working on my request before I made it. She was definitely going to take care of my needs, and I was never being ignored. The fact was that she was operating in adult time while I was on child time.

I realize now that God was the one who created the “Mother’s Minute.” He did it to prepare me for being an adult child. He wanted me to learn that He is not ignoring me and is definitely going to take care of my needs. I am simply living in limited time which can only see the immediacy of my desires. God is living in His time and can see how all my needs fit into all the other things He has to consider. He says, “Just a minute,” not to refuse me but to tell me to hold on until all is ready. God’s timing is the right timing.

It is frightening to realize that the Lord actually listens to what I say. Someday, I will face that truth. I can see it now. The Lord will ask me why I didn’t follow all the advice I gave to others. If it was right for them, it was right for me.

My two-year-old grandchild wanted to play outside. Her baby sisters were asleep. She didn’t want to get dressed to go outside; she just wanted to go out. The joy of outside arrived after the tussle of getting dressed. Now was the struggle of boundaries. “Don’t go too far because we have to watch the twins. Don’t go around the corner because I need to see you. Come back because you are too far away.” Every instruction was followed by a child determined to push her limits because she didn’t see the need but the desire. She convicts me because I’m sure I am like that to the Lord, all the time. My grand old age hasn’t brought my childishness under complete control. I speak the wisdom. I just don’t follow it.

Based on an interview with an atheist–

An atheist recently spent an entire diatribe convincing me about the truth and reality of God and Jesus, even though he couldn’t see it himself. This man was a mathematician, a scientist, and a life long learner. He loves astronomy and all the information being discovered about the stars. He loves facts of all sorts including historical. He is a master of patterns and how those patterns work consistently throughout the universe, empowering scientists to expand and apply knowledge far beyond the boundaries they have ever experienced. In the midst of all this order throughout the universe from the great to the small, he believes it was all formed by random. Order and organization happen on purpose, not by random or accidental means because random and accidental means are not self sustaining and continuous.

His defenses for his belief in the random always goes back to a structural pattern, which works in unity with all other patterns to create the effect of an observable fact. He sees all the threads, but he does not see the intricacy of the weave or the image of God the weave produces. He labels all the parts but can’t see that all are part of a piece, a whole within which all the individual pieces make sense. He bows to the creation and not the creator like many before him. He sees the artifact of God’s handiwork and says, “Here is God.” His vision is one step short because he sees the product as god instead of the producer. He loves the things that cause him to feel instead of the one who gave him the ability to feel.