19 LONG MONTHS

19 months is a long time. How long would you put up with a person who demanded things from you by screaming? How long would you live with a person who never paid rent, never bought groceries, never helped cook, and never picked up after themselves? What if on top of all that they seldom, if ever, thanked you? Who in their right mind would live with such a tyrant?

Who can do that? I can only think of one answer: your parents. Everyone has parents; some are biological, and one is spiritual.

Hannah Miller was born on Novemeber 28, 2006. That is approximately 19 months ago. She is an amazingly special Child. God's creations always are. I am blessed beyond measure. But alot of what I wrote above defines my relationship with Hannah. Hannah is definitely not a daddy's girl. At least she has not been until recently.

This week I took the girls to the water park. Ashlee had a friend with and she kept pretty busy. So it was me and Hannah. Amy warned me that Hannah wasn't really into the water and that she liked to walk around the whole time talking to anyone who would listen. I was determined to get this child wet.

Inch by inch I slowly backed her into the water as I held her. Before she knew it we were chest high, still splashing and having fun. She was genuinely diggin her situation. All of a sudden the little bugger started shivering. She stepped into me and hugged me. I started diggin my situation. She was holding me so tight it just blessed me.

I hugged her and held her in that water until her lips turned blue. When we retreated to the warm sun and lounge chair she continued to dig into her daddy. We laughed and giggled and played at a new level. We were finally bonding. 19 months is a long time to wait.

What a neat analogy this was for me when I thought about, and applied this, to my heavenly Father. Just as I have always been there for Hannah, God has always been there for us. He has quietly provided and protected in the background knowing and waiting for the day when we would come shaking and shivering to him.

How long has it been for you? How long has it been since you went to your Father? He is waiting for you.

1 John 3:1 How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him (NIV).

Righteousness or Righteousmess

I did it again! I said more than I wanted and I said it in a way that hindered instead of helped. It never ceases to amaze me how many times I come back around to this intersection in life. It is a place I have been to many times. Do you ever do it? Have you ever had words come flying out of your mouth that you wish you could lasso from the minds of people? Most of us have, haven't we? James 3:5-9 is a famous chapter on speaking out of turn. In it he says that no man can tame the tongue. So if you haven't, you will. We'll save you a seat on the bench.

I know the road back. It starts with a gentle nudge from the Holy Spirit. Sometimes it is immediate; I know I’m out of line and it is easy to accept, correct and move forward. Other times though, I find myself resisting; the fight is on and I feel the war within that Paul speaks about in Romans 7.

In those times I typically try to justify myself. I think this usually stems from pride, sometimes ignorance and other times twisted desires. No matter what my problem is though the Spirit and Word of God have consistently worked together to root out the unrighteousness in my life (Heb 4:12). They reveal God’s best and when they do I have a choice. I have to choose where to stand: in his righteousness or my righteousmess.

Additional Verses
To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech (Proverbs 8:13).

Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing (Romans 12:17).

For whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech. He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it (1 Peter 3:9-11).

LEARNIN A NEW LANGUAGE

I'm a dog lover. Always have been. A few months ago we picked out a really cool chocolate lab and named him Charlie. Like me, Charlie is a runner. Very seldom have I seen a dog run like him. When Charlie gets off the leash he vanishes. Once he recognizes that he is free he hits the boosters and is gone. There is no lookin' back. There is a joy and energy to his running that makes me smile. I am conflicted when he gets off the leash because I know I'm not going to see ole Charlie for awhile and I worry about him. And yet the other side of me understands his excitement and how he must feel. In some strange way I have been there. I was young and wild at heart and I got off the leash a few times. When we are walking together I talk to charlie a lot about the dangers out there in this world. I tell him to stay off the road. I tell him he can't go onto other peoples property. I try to explain to him that he shouldn't taste everything he thinks smells interesting. I talk, but I also know that he doesn't get it. He is a dog.

Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ speaks to us also. He walks with us and he talks with us. He has a couple of special ways of revealing himself to us. When I'm out there in the woods with Charlie I can sense and catch glimpses of God. We call that general revelation. But understanding this God takes much more than that. General revelation doesn't tell me how I got here or what I'm supposed to be doing. It doesn't tell me what God wants from me or what I can expect from God. General revelation does not define our relationship. For that we need special revelation.

The other day Charlie was pulling me around the neighborhood on my bike. It was dark outside and we were going pretty fast. But as we turned the corner, right there under the street light, in plain view, were two of Charlies neighborhood rivals. Two little bunnies that have been antagonizing Charlie when he is on the leash. There was no pause, just a change in direction. Charlie shot after those bunnies so fast it just jerked me right off the bike. In the aftermath I realized that I had let go of the leash and Charlie had vanished.

I drove around the neighborhood for quite awhile calling his name. In my mind I could just see him out in the woods with that big ole retractable leash handle caught on something. From that point on it started to rain, thunder and lightening. I had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. Reluctantly, after several loops around the neighborhood, I retired for the evening. When I woke Charlie was still no where to be found. It continued to rain.

Charlie found his way home almost 24 hours later. We found him on the back deck, tail waging, tongue hanging and looking pretty rough. It was still raining. I was happy to see him and we were all relieved that he was OK. I was relieved but I was also burdened. Burdened knowing that Charlies freedom fests could someday cost him his life. I felt a new urgency to train Charlie. He needs to learn some very speciifc things. I have to get Charlie to heed my voice, to recognize it and to respond to it. If only I could speak in a way that he could understand. Just one day with the ability to bark out some orders in his own dialect.

Aren't you glad that God has already figured that for us? You see Christ is that special revelation. He is Emanuel, God-with-us, the god-man. He spoke our language, walked our walk and talked our talk. That is what God did for you. He knows the trouble all around us. He sees it and he is reaching out to us to bring us to safety. If you Have Christ as the Lord of your life you have the ability to understand God. "We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding" (1John 5:20). Jesus Christ is that special revelation that will guide us and keep us close to the Fathers heart so that we do not get lost again.