Author: Allen Reasons

Prayers from a Distance

For the most faithful among us, who may be uttering ancient, Job-like prayers…

O God, we know You are our God of healing.  We are struggling, God, with the news of thousands of people dying around the world.  Is this an ominous result of our not having enough faith to be healed?  If we had more faith, would You flatten the curve of this illness?

O God, we know You are our God of blessings.  We are trying, God, to recognize that Your blessings come in many different forms.  In our currently narrowed perspectives, though, our cups appear to be shrinking, instead of overflowing.  We know You are not the treasurer of a prosperity gospel, but grappling with the news of shuttered businesses, climbing unemployment, and shrinking retirement dreams frightens even those who have steadfastly given You the glory for every perfectly good gift.

O God, we know You are our God of worship.  You delight in the assembly of Your children, gathered to worship You.  Some of the most elaborate buildings on earth are the sacred spaces dedicated to You.  We place such value in our centers of worship that many of us even have “our own pew.”  Since we need to close our sacred spaces right now, couldn’t You simply kill the virus so we don’t have to forsake our meeting together? 

O God, we know You are our God of companionship.  We thrive together because You deemed it not good that we should be alone.  In these days of social distancing, we are experiencing the reason that You didn’t create us to be people of isolation.  Shouldn’t You destroy this disease so that we can emerge out of isolation and return to live in connection and community, as You made us? 

O God, we know You are our God of judgment; we know You are our God of mercy.  In these days of pain and uncertainty, we wonder if the entire planet has become the modern-day Sodom, where there are not even ten faithful souls to redeem your Noah-like wrath.  We know that Jesus Christ is the embodiment of Your mercy over judgment.  Help us in our unbelief. 

What might be God’s response to these honest prayers?  He is still the God of healing, blessings, worship, companionship, judgment, mercy, along with many other divine manifestations.  The suffering in these days in no way diminishes who He is.  Consider what He said to His servant Moses in another time when His children were suffering.  He simply and profoundly said, “I AM WHO I AM.”

Certainly, God was in our past, even though the most recent past days seem forever ago.  He will also be in our future, despite our inability to imagine quite yet a future without distancing.  For now, let us celebrate that God is in the present.

I AM is still I AM.

__________

For further study of the references above, see Job 23; Matthew 17:19-20; Psalm 23:5; James 1:17; Hebrews 10:25; Genesis 2:18; Genesis 18:22-33; Genesis 6:5-8; Matthew 5:45; Exodus 3.

Being Connected in an Isolated World

“No man is an island, entire of itself;
every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. …
any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind,
and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee”
(John Donne, Meditation 17).

The Dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral wrote these timeless words as part of a longer meditation during a personal, nearly fatal, illness.  His own mortality underscored his link to the wider human family.  When the London church bells rang to signal another death, Donne recognized that a part of himself died as well … “No man is an island.”

The namesake of Donne’s cathedral, the apostle Paul, also wrote words of our interconnectedness: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit.  Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others” (Philippians 2:3-4, New International Version).  Paul envisioned a church where believers focused more on what others needed than on their own preferences or opinions … “No man is an island.”

Ultimately, Christ Himself commanded us to act on our interwovenness: “… Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39, NIV).  Faith places us in a bilateral world, where love for others is measured by love for ourselves.  The word “neighbor” indicates anyone whose path we have come near.  The person may be a believer or unbeliever, friend or enemy, Democrat or Republican, Boomer or Millennial, Facebook friend or close family member.  The internet has created a world where our neighbors can live across the globe.

In these days of self-protection, our well-being ironically depends on the altruism of other people.  Before we speak, before we post, before we walk out the door, our next act should depend on what is best for others.  Our heath care workers express this well in their context: “We stay here for you, please stay home for us!”  Adapted for all of us: “I make decisions to protect you, please do the same for me.”

In a COVID-19 world, where isolation is the new abnormal, the words still rings true: … “No man is an island.”

God’s Plan: Participant or Bystander?

Looking past someone’s outward qualities to focus inwardly on the heart sounds divine (see Looking to Change the World), but it requires some major human mind shifts.  When God told Samuel that he would learn the identity of the next king of Israel by looking at the heart, not scrutinizing appearance or outward traits, God was calling for such a mind shift within his prophet.  One of the greatest prerequisites to making any colossal pivot in thinking is humility, then and now.  To see others as God sees them demands that we abandon “doing it our way” and move forward “doing it His way.”

The account of Samuel’s anointment of David as the new king of Israel (1 Samuel 16) was filled with characters who had to relinquish their pride.  It couldn’t have been easy for them to get out of their own way; but God had a plan, and that strategy included their humility.

First, Prophet Samuel needed to humble himself.  Since God sent him decades earlier to anoint Saul as king, Samuel figured he knew how to recognize royalty.  Experience has a way of making all of us self-appointed experts.  Experience is one of life’s most powerful instructors; but when used to inhibit personal growth, it instead can become a paralyzing impairment.  Samuel needed to humble himself by submitting his reliance on his personal history to embracing God’s new future direction for him instead.

Next, Jesse had to humble himself.  Jesse was the father of these eight boys; and he clearly thought that Eliab, his firstborn, should be the choice for Israel’s new king.  His presumption went beyond even his personal preference.  Primogeniture was part of the Mosaic law that added value to the first son’s position (see Deuteronomy 21:17).  Not only was the firstborn to receive a double portion of the inheritance, but he was also an indicator of his father’s strength.  When Samuel passed over the eldest, it could be perceived as a potential blemish on Jesse’s reputation.  Jesse needed to humble himself by letting go of what others thought about him and substitute his trust in God’s plan for him.

And then, there was the critical humility of the brothers.  When their youngest brother was selected as the king of Israel, they were at a crossroads, of sorts.  They could submit to him as their king, or they could forever treat David as their baby brother who took away what could have been their own honor.  David’s anointment was not easy to accept, as revealed when Eliab confronted David on the front lines of the battle with Goliath.  Accusing David of being conceited and wicked, Eliab clearly struggled with prerogative, giving up what he must have thought was his rightful position.

Could God have accomplished His plan without the humility of Samuel, Jesse, and the other sons?  Of course he could, but God was offering them the blessing of being a part of His story.  To join God’s plan, it appears humility was demanded: Samuel would be required to humble the pride of his experience, Jesse the pride of his potential reputation, and the brothers the pride of their possible entitlements.

God continues to carry out His plans today, often requiring humility from those He calls as participants.  Just as in the story of David’s anointing, we can choose to engage actively in God’s work or to watch the divine work as mere bystanders.  The challenge for us is that our involvement will require a similar mind shift, one that transfers the focus away from us and toward God’s line of sight.  Humility may be a key characteristic within us that needs realignment.  There may be some other obstacles that hinder us from our willing contribution in the movement of God.  If we ask Him what is in our way, be careful, He just might tell us.

 

Looking to Change the World

“But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him.  The Lord does not look at the things people look at.  People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7, New International Version). 

God sent Prophet Samuel on a mysterious quest to find Israel’s next king, an individual whom God had already identified.  If God had already decided the next monarch, why would He not simply tell the new king directly or announce it from the mountaintop for the whole world to hear?  Why involve Samuel at all?

God’s activity almost always intertwines His truth and our trust.  The story is not just about a new king; it is also an account of Samuel’s faithfulness.  Samuel only knew one detail of God’s truth: the new king would be one of the sons of Jesse.  For Samuel to determine which one, he would have to trust God’s decision over his own assumptions.

When Samuel met the first son, he thought his task was one and done.  Not only was Eliab the firstborn and most logical choice, but his outward presence also met Samuel’s standard for royalty.  But before Samuel could anoint his new king, God stopped him: “People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”  God challenged Samuel to look from a divine perspective.

After seven sons failed their interviews, Jesse dubiously acknowledged that he had one more boy.  This one was so unlike a king that Jesse had instructed him to babysit the flock while his older brothers met the prophet.  When the young son answered their summons, God told Samuel that he was looking at Israel’s next king.

How did God speak to Samuel?  That detail is missing, so it must not be vital to our understanding of the story.  What we do know is that Samuel received God’s word when he trusted God over his own preconceived notions of what a king looked like.  He stopped looking at the outside and began to look at the heart.

Within David and within each of us lives a reflection of the divine presence.  We are all vessels of the image of God Himself, for “…God created mankind in His own image…” (Gen. 1:27).  When Samuel recognized that image within David, he saw the young man whom God had created for the task.  To look at the heart is to see the divine presence of God that yearns to reveal His mark in this world through each of us.

We know that Samuel’s trust played a major role in the birth of our Lord, when Joseph and Mary traveled “…to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David” (Luke 2:4).  The way we see someone may also be vitally important.  The world is filled with individuals yearning to be free of society’s shallow, preconceived notions of who they are.  You may be the one person, following God’s mandate to look at the heart, who gives inspiration to that individual’s fulfillment of God’s purpose in their lives.  Your look may change their world.

Life with My Caregiver: Turning Decisions into Non-decisions

I’ve learned more about caregiving in the last few years than I did in all my years as a pastor. When I used to visit people in the hospital, I knew enough about the difficulties of caregiving to address the needs of the patient AND caregiver through my words and prayers. I sensed that the one in the bed was receiving necessary medical attention, but who was caring for the person in the family chair? Who even knew the caregiver’s needs? Who even asked about them?

I’m learning about the caregiver firsthand through the selfless presence of my wife, my caregiver. I can only share our story, because no one walks another’s journey. All journeys are not equal. My health condition means that Laurie’s journey as a caregiver is permanent, not temporary; it is progressive, not stagnant. But I write with the hope that these and future words will resonate with others, no matter how different our journeys may be.

One of the first truths that I’ve learned is that every decision a caregiver makes is complicated, layered with factors that most people never need to deliberate. What most of the world considers a “no brainer” decision is, for a caregiver, a conscious repetition that demands weighing a multitude of circumstances. For example, Laurie doesn’t go to the store, walk down the hallway in our home, or even close a cabinet without measuring the impact that might have on me and my condition at the time. It’s a thought sequence that she lives all day, every day.

As most of you know, Laurie is a health coach. She has touched thousands of lives over the last several years. Her company recognizes her exceptional work by rewarding her with trips, including a trip to Greece last year. Another one, a trip to the Dominican Republic, will take place this month. Even though Laurie always meets the qualifications for these trips for herself and a companion, she has never gone. An all-expense-paid trip for two to the most beautiful places on earth…a no brainer, right? Not so for my caregiver. She has made the decision that since my health prohibits me from going, she will not go. We’ve always done life together and that doesn’t stop now, she says. Again, every decision that a caregiver makes is layered with many dynamics.

But a caregiver’s decision-making is usually much deeper than merely working through the pros and cons of a situation. There is something else more powerful going on within the mind of a caregiver. I’ve learned that for Laurie, the most difficult decisions are not decisions at all. They fit in that part of the “in sickness or in health” that we promised each other 38 years ago. In my caregiver’s mind, the circumstances of our journey may have changed, but the commitment to it has not.

I’ll write more lessons from my caregiver later. For now, we should all learn from the caregivers out there, who turn decisions into non-decisions, all because of love.

A Letter to My Grandchildren, No. 8: The Grandson You Don’t Know

Dear James, Ellie, and Darcy (and anyone else who reads our letters),

I have been rereading the Bible recently, based on the version of Scripture that I read as a teenager: The Living Bible. This many years later, the readings strike me much differently than they did as I was starting my life journey.

I read these words recently: “But just when Rehoboam was at the height of his popularity and power he abandoned the Lord, and the people followed him in this sin” (2 Chronicles 12:1, The Living Bible).

King Rehoboam’s family tree stood like a mighty oak alongside small saplings. His father was King Solomon, and his grandfather was King David himself! What a pedigree to share with your classmates on take-a-parent-to-school day! For several years, Rehoboam ruled with a healthy respect and allegiance to his rich heritage, including the faith of his fathers. But before long, things went south (literally). He almost lost the entire kingdom to the Egyptians. Why? … because “he abandoned the Lord.” King Rehoboam led his people into faithlessness and nearly ruined everything for generations to come.

But when I read his story this time, I noticed something I missed in my earlier years’ readings. His missteps occurred when he “was at the height of his popularity and power.” Two conditions led to this king’s walking away from God’s path: too little past and too much power.

Too little past. When King Rehoboam emerged from the long shadows of his father and grandfather, he idolized his own popularity. He couldn’t wait for the day when people referred to him as THE king, NOT the son of Solomon or the grandson of David. His present and his future no longer needed his past, or so he thought. Be careful, my grandchildren, not to forsake your heritage. Listen to the stories of your parents, your grandparents, and your great-grandparents, or the stories about them. They form the backstory of your narrative. You will learn from those stories and, hopefully, rewrite them for the better in your own lives. Too many people try to find their current identity and ultimately their future dreams, without looking back on who they were. For good and bad (hopefully more good than bad!), we are all part of who we were. For Rehoboam, once he escaped who he was, the man he became was not so good.

Too much power. The second quality was equally as destructive as the first: King Rehoboam acquired too much power. He walked away from God when he impudently assumed that his dominating power abolished his need for God. Ironically, power almost destroyed his throne. I’ve witnessed power as the great killer of so many relationships between family members, among business arrangements, within churches, and even in one’s personal faith. Power destroys the balance of goodness. Even the humblest can get caught up in the misleading allure of power. It is near impossible to love power and love God at the same time. Be wary, my grandchildren, of those who love power above what is right. At the same time, be careful of your own personal hunt for power in the years ahead. What and whom you lose in the pursuit of power is far greater than what you will ever control.

You will likely hear grand stories about the roles of King David and King Solomon in your spiritual history. They prepared the way for our Lord well. Conversely, you will probably hear very little about King Rehoboam. A little more past and a little less power might have led him to a greater chapter in our story. My grandchildren, write your own story with a healthy respect for your past and a humble perception of your present.

I love you,

Grandad

A Christmas Letter to My Grandchildren, No. 7: The Real Christmas Day

Dear James, Darcy, and Ellie,

Today has been a rather different kind of Christmas day. We celebrated our family Christmas gathering last weekend. We scheduled it then because Uncle Preston and Aunt Faina were not going to be able to be here on December 25th. As it turns out, we sure are glad we did! Gran and Grandad have not felt well for the past week or so; and we couldn’t get around you today anyway. Thanks to the miracle of Facetime, we got to go on your tour of Santa’s treasures, though!

Christmas 2017 is the year we changed Christmas to December 16th; but really, there’s nothing especially holy about the 25th of December.

Choosing the day for Christmas has been a rather random process over the years. The Gospels and the story of the early church in Acts don’t offer instructions on commemorating the birthday of our Lord. For the first 200 years or so after His birth, Christian writers are virtually silent on the subject.

Not until the 4th century or so did Christians start settling on a specific day. In our faith tradition, His birthday became December 25th. I find that date strange, given the description that “… there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night” (Luke 2:8, New International Version). It’s much more likely that the sheep would have been “out in the fields” in the spring, instead of December!

I won’t bore you at your young age with all the details of the Christmas Day deliberations. I’ll save that for when you’re older! Suffice it to say that our family is not the first family in history to celebrate Christmas on a day other than December 25th.

What’s truth is that Jesus was born. What’s of utmost personal importance is that you know that Jesus was born for you. I pray every morning that each of you will come to receive the living presence of Jesus in your lives. That, my three grandchildren, will be Christmas Day.

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A Letter to My Grandchildren, No. 6: Choosing Communities

Dear, James, Darcy, and Ellie,

The three of you are members of a community to which no one else in the world belongs. For lack of a more creative term, we will call it the “Children-of-Katherine-and-Eric-Pyles” community. You share a bond that is exclusive to you three. Darcy and Ellie, you share a connection as identical twins that very few in the world will ever understand. And James, your role as big brother to twins places you in rare community as well.

While I would love for the three of you to remain just as you are, God designed you to grow and enter the lives of other people as well. Some of the most important decisions you will make involve deciding the communities to which you will invest yourself.

When you think of community, think bigger than the neighborhood where you live, although that is one important community. Think of community as any group of people who are brought together by a common denominator. For a while, Momma and Dadda will help you choose your communities. In a few more years, they may speak the language of all parents: “Don’t follow that crowd because it’s the wrong one! If your friends say, ‘Go jump off a bridge, would you do it?’” In the language of this letter, they are saying that you are in the wrong community. I hope every one of your communities is good for you, but most of us have learned the hard way — finding what is right by learning from what is wrong. I have some suggestions that might help you choose your communities along the way.

First and foremost, choose the community of God. By choosing to live in communion with God, the other communities will find their proper and subordinate places in your lives (see Matthew 6:33). Long before the three of you were born, I prayed every single day that you would join the community of God. I’m not exaggerating; I continue to pray that every day. I admit a little bit of selfish motivation in that prayer. I want the assurance that when I am no longer holding you, talking to you, describing the world to you, playing with you, and praying with you… when I have left for heaven… I need to know that I will be able to enjoy life with you forever. I think God is okay with that “selfish” prayer!

But of course, it is not just about what I want for eternity. I want you to be in community with God while you live here on earth. No other way compares to the enjoyment and fulfillment of what God intends for you here. You enter community with God by embracing the community of His being. You come to God through the conviction of His Holy Spirit by way of a forgiving relationship with His Son Jesus Christ. Even God Himself lives in community as He expresses Himself through being the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. (If the Trinitarian concept doesn’t provide enough divine community for you, then read the description of God’s creation of man: “Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness …’” (Genesis 1:26, New International Version). The plural pronouns, us and our, in reference to God can be explained in different ways; but for me, they represent God in the divine community of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. I will continue to pray daily that the most important thing you do in your life is to choose the community of God.

Second, choose the community of family. Family is a heaven-inspired community on earth, as evidenced in the beginning when God declared: “…It is not good for man to be alone…” (Genesis 2:18, NIV). Family lies at the heart of who we are as human beings. Family is the only community that God chose for you; you didn’t have a single word in the matter.

When God called me to be a minister, my parents, your Momma’s Gran and Grandad, were thrilled, supportive, but also sad. When I accepted my calling, my mother told me that she knew that I would probably never live near them for the rest of their lives. She was correct. My calling meant that I had to live where God sent me. It meant that my beautiful wife, your Gran, would never live close to them, and that was painful because they always considered your Gran to be the daughter they never had. To make matters more painful, when your Momma and Uncle Preston were born, the divine nature of my calling meant that they would never be able to live very close to their grandchildren.

I tell you that history because I understand more now than I ever did about how important community and family really are. Your family loves you more than anything else in the world. You will certainly be a part of many more communities in the future, and it breaks my heart to know that some of those communities will break yours. But second to your community with God, there is nothing as valuable as your community with family. At the end of the day, God and family are what you have.

Third, choosing the many other communities you will join. Hopefully, you will join the community of the church. (We’ll talk a lot more about that in future letters.) Additionally, you may join communities that have to do with shared interests, such as schools that you attend, or hobbies that you may have, or sports in which you may participate, or a myriad of other groups that appeal to you. Your most limited resource is your time; choose its expenditure very wisely. To warrant this special commodity of your time, choose a community that offers much more than common interests. Make sure that the community shares your values. If you don’t choose a community based on what are the most important values in your lives, the community will not be good for you. It may even hurt you.

In the last several years, Gran has chosen to participate in a community of health coaches. She and I both lost 80 pounds in the first months of her business. Since then, she not only has led hundreds of other people to become part of a healthier community, but she has also guided the training of over a hundred coaches to help others in this community of health. Community of support is one of the four cornerstones of their principles. This company is actually one huge community based on the value of living an exceptional life through making healthy choices in all areas of life. Gran is convicted that one of Satan’s greatest works is to keep the community of God bound to poor health in their bodies and minds. Gran was invited to a conference with other like-minded coaches at Sundance Mountain Resort in Utah. It was established by a well-known actor of our time, Robert Redford. While Gran is in meetings, I get to appreciate the beauty of God’s world from the views in our room. I also have been able to enjoy dinner with other coaches. They all have the same common value: to help others live a more meaningful life by taking care of the bodies that God has given them. It is one of the sincerest communities with which I have ever been associated, with some of the finest people of character and integrity that I have ever known.

My point of telling you about this is that I’ve been a part of many different communities in my life, but most of them were based on similar interests or traditions in our lives. But remember, the most important connection of a community must be common value. Look for those communities, the ones who appreciate the same values that you do. Know your values, live your values, strengthen your values by bonding with like-minded communities. That way, you will always be at home.

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A Letter to My Grandchildren, No. 5: Will You Stand for the Anthem and Flag When You Are Able?

Dear James, Darcy, and Ellie,

You’re not aware of it, but standing for the national anthem and the American flag has become a subject of passionate debate. Particularly noticed in professional football (which may mean “soccer” by the time you read this), some players are kneeling during the anthem as a sign of protest against injustice in our country. Since the platform occurs during the anthem and presentation of the flag, the focus has shifted from its intended call for justice for all and morphed into respect for the flag. The conversation has gone even deeper than disrespect; kneeling has come to reflect disregard for those who have served in the military.

I didn’t serve in the military, nor do I know of anyone in our immediate family who did. I had an uncle, my father’s brother, who served, in addition to countless people in churches that I pastored. But I personally have never carried the flag into battle or seen it planted in a field where I just lost close friends who were more like brothers. My lack of personal experience notwithstanding, I do have a profoundly deep respect and appreciation for those who have defended our country, and even have died, for the freedoms that we enjoy. Without their sacrifices, I doubt that I would have the freedom to write these words. Without their sacrifices, I would not have been free to preach whatever I felt were God’s truths for over 35 years. I hope that you three develop similar gratitude, but I also pray that you don’t have to acquire it through your service in a war. I now place my hand over my heart from my wheelchair, but I stood when I was able. The symbolism of the anthem and flag represents my own patriotism and honor for those who served.  I do not take my freedoms for granted, and I am grateful.

What do I think of the current debate? Since I don’t have the military frame of reference, I turn to my life context: faith, religious history, and church practice. The most prominent symbol in the church is the cross. While there is absolutely no appropriate comparison between the flag and the cross (and my Baptist religious freedom tradition makes me cringe at even putting them in the same sentence), my thoughts about the cross guide my thoughts about the flag in its current controversy.

Every church I pastored displayed a cross in the sanctuary. Some had very beautiful and expensive crosses, which seemed indirectly to sterilize the tortuous death of our Lord. Others had wooden, rugged crosses, apparently in an attempt to be more “authentic.” Some were in the center of the altar, and their placement there was protected as though its movement would create something out of an Indiana Jones movie. When the location of the cross remained the same Sunday after Sunday, I wondered if its familiarity caused it to go tragically unnoticed to regular worshipers. The church I attended as a child hung a huge cross above the baptismal waters, causing young, daydreaming worshipers (like your grandad) to wonder what would happen if it fell. However the cross was postured, it became part of that individual church’s lore.

The placement, the construction, and the cost of the crosses are immaterial. After all, the cross was never meant to become decoration. It was an instrument of anguish and slow, agonizing death. It was the means by which people murdered our Lord. Frankly, we ought to cringe when we see a cross. We have even taken our casualness to an inappropriate step further: we wear this brutal device as jewelry! When the cross loses its symbolism as the tortuous death of Christ through His ultimate love for us, we have lost our way.

My unparalleled respect for all that the cross represents makes it the most revered symbol in my life. Secondarily to it are a wide array of symbols that also have value in my life, one of which is the American flag. Symbols of any kind are supposed to call us to something else, usually to something greater than the object itself, even calling us to something greater than ourselves.

The flag represents what is good about our country, including our liberty and our justice. It calls us to honor the sacrifice of men and women who earned the freedoms that our country enjoys. Given the symbolism of all that our flag represents, we should all stand for the presentation of our flag and anthem if we are able. In my opinion, that includes our fellow football-playing citizens. (By the way, while we are considering proper behavior before the flag, someone should also rethink those massive flags that are held horizontally across the entire field, as well as the flags that appear on the football helmets. Both of these actions appear to violate the United States Code for the flag (https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/USCODE-2011-title4/html/USCODE-2011-title4-chap1.htm).

Stand for the anthem and the flag? Yes. But not out of habit or political correctness. Stand because the flag takes us to the field of sacrifices made for our freedoms. But what about injustice, the original reason for kneeling? Injustice goes against everything that the flag represents. Injustices toward each other do far more to harm the flag than kneeling ever will. We should all stand up against injustices to anyone, but let’s never denigrate the flag that represents why injustice is so wrong in the process.

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A Letter to My Grandchildren, No. 4: Making Room for More Love

Dear James, Darcy, and Ellie,

What a momentous day!

James, you are about to know what the #twinvasion really means! Up to this point, you have been able to scrub up a couple of times and go see your sisters. I can’t imagine whatIMG_3748 all was going through your mind as you saw your sisters for the first time, along with all the NICU tubes and wires. I’m sure something like aliens in a spaceship came to mind! While Momma and Dadda have been busy helping your sisters get stronger, Gran and I have sure loved having you at our house!

We all want you to know that even though a great deal of things has changed, your family loves you as much as we always have. Even with two new sisters entering your world, your Momma and Dadda love you as much as your sisters. And people will come to see the twins, because they are brand new! But always know that Momma and Dadda, as well as Gran and Grandad, love you with everything we have. And somehow, we love Ellie and Darcy with the same amount of love! That love is such a gift!! That love is a gift that God offers to people, if only we will embrace it.

Your Momma was our first child. We didn’t think we could possibly love anyone more than we loved your Momma. Then, your Uncle Preston entered our family; and we learned that we could love them both with our entire hearts! We didn’t love your Momma any less. God just increased our ability to love even more! What a great gift from God!

Jesus said, “…As I have loved you, so you must love one another” (John 13:34, New International Version). We have the ability to love as God loves, to love everyone as much as God does! Just imagine that!!

For some reason, people think there is a limit on love. If they love this person, then they can’t love that person. Or if they love that group, then they cannot love this group. I hurt for the times ahead when you have to experience the loss of love from people. It’s painful, and I wish I could spare you that ache. But I can’t. Just know that is not God’s kind of love. To love as God loves is to realize the ability to love everyone! When we only love a certain few people in our lives, then we are only using a tiny piece of our love capacity. God has given us the ability to love as He does; that means to love everyone!

It’s a divine gift: There is always room to love one more person within us! The world has never witnessed anyone love as Jesus loved. Maybe, James, Darcy, and Ellie, you will be the first.

Always remember that I love you, James, with everything I am. I love you, Ellie, with everything I am. I love you, Darcy, with everything I am. I love all three of you with the same love that I love each of you.

Never ever forget how much I love you,
Grandad
October 1, 2017