Train Up A Child

From the time I was eight years old until I was nineteen, I spent my summers taking swimming lessons and eventually teaching swimming or working as a lifeguard. In the end, I was a Red Cross Instructor and held a Silver Medallion (Award of Merit) from the Royal Life Saving Society. I still love to swim, albeit with much less intense speed and vigour. In those days there was no public indoor or outdoor, for that matter, swimming pool in the city where I grew up. All instruction was conducted at an open air facility at one of two lakes. As you can imagine, weather was a great factor in lesson planning. As I matured, we spent more and more time in the water during cool and windy conditions. In August, the lessons were moved to a smaller but deeper lake in order to work on deep water and life saving skills. The painfully frigid temperature of the water in late August is something I remember to this day. Swimming through a misty fog for examination day was somewhat common in the early morning.

One of the great pleasures that I realize in retrospect was the way that I got to the swimming lessons. From the time I was ten until I was about fourteen, I rode my gearless coaster brake bicycle the seven miles (11.2 kilometres) to and from my lessons. My summer physical fitness after bicycling 22.4 kilometres and swimming for forty minutes five days a week was not something that concerned my parents. Lately, I have been remembering the exhilaration of that daily bicycle ride. For some reason, I only recall the beautiful sunny days. I remember more summer warmth than I am sure there really was. I remember only level or downhill hedged walking paths. I remember purchasing and savouring that ten cent Jersey Milk chocolate bar each and every day. Given the level of strenuous exercise, calories and sugar were not a concern. On some days in August, when the ride was even further, my father would put my bicycle in the trunk of his car and drop me off at my paternal grandparents’ home on his way to work. My grandfather was already at work and my grandmother who was an invalid for the last ten years of her life was still in bed. I sat in the quiet of that house reading until it was time to bike the rest of the way down a secondary highway to the swimming lesson awaiting me. I wonder sometimes if sitting in the quiet prior to riding in complete isolation shaped me as somewhat contemplative as an older adult.

I also wonder at the trust shown by responsible parents in an admittedly much safer time. I couldn’t imagine our or indeed the current generation of parents allowing such independence at ten years of age. What a great loss has been suffered by both succeeding generations. By allowing such early independence in both decision making and physical fitness, lifelong skills, not to mention work ethic indoctrination, were encouraged to flourish. I realize that my parents’ generation were not really aware of the luxury they enjoyed in being able to parent in a much less controlling and hands on manner. I also realize that we live in a much different world today. I believe, however, that there is much to be learned from them and applied to parenting today. The same principle of allowing the child to experience, make decisions and learn independently can be used with some required modern world restraints of course. There is much wisdom in the word of God in Proverbs 22:6.

6 ¶ Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.

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Set Your Love Upon Him

Our eldest daughter was born one week prior to spring examinations when I was in teacher’s college. That was a while ago. Lozanne stayed in hospital for the usual three or four days following a long and difficult birth. As I look back, I realize from a much more seasoned viewpoint that medical incompetence was a factor in the difficult birth and its aftermath. Within a few days of settling into our new lives as parents, Lozanne began to haemorrhage due to a collapsed uterus. The memory of my mother physically prying our infant daughter out of Lozanne’s hands will always be with me. Lozanne felt that if she left the baby, she would never see her again. The feeling was a valid one. But for the grace of God, that is exactly what could have happened.

I rushed her to the emergency ward in the same hospital we had just left. Although it was very inappropriate, we were treated like the kids that we were. I was twenty and Lozanne was eighteen. I had to reassert several times that I was her husband and not her adolescent boyfriend. A nurse, who was slightly older than I was and who had actually travelled on the same school bus as I had, referred to me several times as “the boy”. Lozanne continued to haemorrhage. Our family physician, who had, in retrospect, caused the emergency was more concerned about delaying his vacation a few hours than treating my very ill wife. A blood transfusion was ordered and started. I have no idea how many pints of blood she was given throughout that night. I was given little information except that the situation was dire. Sometime after midnight, a Roman Catholic priest showed up in Lozanne’s hospital room to give her Last Rites. She unceremoniously threw him out of the room with the admonition that she had no intention of dying. I was beginning to catch on how serious the situation had become. At about two o’clock in the morning, a very competent gynaecologist miraculously appeared and replaced our general practitioner as the doctor in charge of the case. He made some rapid changes to treatment and called for more units of blood. By the next morning, it was evident to all that Lozanne would survive. She remained in hospital for the week. Our daughter endeared herself to my parents during that very difficult week in 1969. I have often wondered how my and my daughter’s life would have been irrevocably changed had Lozanne not survived that night. I have learned that the wife of your youth is your greatest comfort as you age and your body starts to fail.

I am, after so much time has passed, entertained with the fact that, when Lozanne was so severely ill, I was exempted from writing my teacher’s college spring exams. The irony is that I was exempted from final exams because I had been successful in the term work as well as practice teaching, not to mention the fact that one professor realized that my time would be better spent making a living for my young family than writing examinations. Although I wrote countless exams as my career unfolded, I gained my basic qualifications as a teacher without writing one examination.

I have in recent years become very much aware of the Hand of the Lord being on both Lozanne and myself long before we professed our belief and our need for a Saviour. It is not such a leap to realize that the God of the universe would of course know that well into the future we would become saved. His hand was on us much before that blessed event in time. The words of Psalm 91: 11-16 are resonating in my heart this morning.

11 For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways.

12 In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.

13 You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.

14 "Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name.

15 He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him.

16 With long life I will satisfy him, And show him My salvation."

“Because he has set his love upon Me,…” (verse 14) could easily be read by me as “Because THEY WILL set their love upon Me”.

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Children's Children

I have been thinking lately about the special relationship grandparents have with their grandchildren. Last Saturday, Lozanne and I were blessed with a very rare day. We spent time with all eight of our grandchildren. We were surprised and delighted to receive a visit from our three granddaughters who live a considerable distance away. They were driving with their mother by our home on their return trip home following attendance at a funeral. Later the same day, we attended my birthday party where all five of our grandsons were in attendance. It was a very special day indeed.

If you are a grandparent, you are very aware of the phenomenon. Grandparents and grandchildren enjoy a very special bond. The relationship with one’s own children is a more complex one since it involves or involved parenting. Discipline and guidance are or were an issue and rightfully so. Our grandchildren have no need whatsoever for another set of parents. The result is a special relationship that transcends the generations. They understand us and we understand them. The bond of love is quite simply instant and just is. I believe that the special relationship we enjoy with our grandchildren is clearly a gift from God. It is a blessing that in most instances is without complexities and parental responsibilities. I have to be forgiven for quietly enjoying a little manipulative misbehaviour which I realize in maturity is of little consequence.

Psalm 128 describes the blessings that result from simply being a believer. What appears to be very worldly blessings can also be interpreted as spiritual as well. We are blessed through our relationship with Jesus now and into eternity. One of the blessings listed is seeing our children’s children. Only a grandparent can understand the importance of verse 6.

1 ¶ A Song of Ascents. Blessed is every one who fears the LORD, Who walks in His ways.
2 When you eat the labor of your hands, You shall be happy, and it shall be well with you.
3 Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine In the very heart of your house, Your children like olive plants All around your table.
4 Behold, thus shall the man be blessed Who fears the LORD.
5 The LORD bless you out of Zion, And may you see the good of Jerusalem All the days of your life.
6 Yes, may you see your children’s children…

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All Things Work Together

As I sit here in the very early morning, I reflect upon the fact that as of midnight, I turned sixty-two years of age. I truly did not think for several years that I would ever be 62. Only the most loyal of readers will have noticed that I have missed a two day writing cycle. There is an explanation (not an excuse) for the lapse that I only realized myself last evening. I started to use sleep medication in order to improve the quality of life for both Lozanne and myself. Indeed I slept much better for several nights, but I found myself getting up much later in the day with a fuzzy and not a little depressed mind incapable of writing a word. In order to sleep better, I was giving up on prime contact time with the Lord. Last night I did not take the little blue pill and here I am at the keyboard feeling like I can think and pray again. It finally occurs to me that my chronic sleeplessness is a positive and not a negative aspect of my life after cancer treatment. Sometimes our all too human reasoning powers just simply fall short of the reality that God has created for us. Lozanne reminded me yesterday of the comforting words in Romans 8: 28-31.

28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
29 ¶ For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.
31 ¶ What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

Our little human minds have trouble with the concept that, if we are believers, everything that happens to us will turn to good. Until this morning, I thought that my inability to sleep past the very early morning hours was a very negative aspect of my life. As it turns out, it was a positive that I missed immediately as soon the “problem” was cured by medication. Obviously, I didn’t need the sleep as much as I needed to pray and write to the Lord. This early morning Lozanne and I have been praying constantly for the desperately ill daughter of a Christian brother and sister. “If God is for us, who can be against us?”

(Comments, corrections, suggestions or rebuttals are welcome. My email link is contained in “About me: view my complete profile” to the right of this page or use the comment section below which requires that you have a Google account.)

What Sacrifice?

In my Christian walk, I admittedly feel at times that I fall far short of what God would expect of me. I am sure that my behaviour always falls short of His expectations. No matter how hard I try, that is a given. For this reason, I am so very thankful for my redemption through the sacrifice of Jesus at Calvary. As a believer, I ask over and over for forgiveness and receive it through miraculous grace each and every time. Another area where I often feel inadequate is the amount of time and resources that I give to His service. In the Old Testament there are long lists of appropriate and sometimes required sacrifices. These were in the form of livestock, harvest or harvest by-products such as olive oil or wine. In the modern day, we can easily translate these tangible things into gifts of monetary value. I suspect that our latest dilemma in appropriate sacrifice has been all too common for believers this week. Lozanne and I have discussed at some length the appropriate amount to give to the aid of the people of Haiti following the disastrous earthquake last week. We have also thought carefully about which agency or agencies we should approach. Must the agency be a Christian based charity? Should our gift be one time or over time? How can we do the most good with our limited resources? Should gifts earmarked for other areas of His service be diverted to the greater physical need? We have indeed made our decision and in doing so, I have been considering carefully the words found in Micah 6:6-8.

6 ¶ With what shall I come before the LORD, And bow myself before the High God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, With calves a year old?
7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, Ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
8 He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?

What a great and loving God we have! He wants us to have mercy on others. He wants us to act justly in our treatment of others and indeed he wants us to walk humbly in His presence. The Message paraphrases the last part of verse eight as “It’s quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbour, be compassionate and loyal in your love, And don’t take yourself too seriously—take God seriously.”

There is great wisdom in the provision that we are not to take ourselves so seriously. We are fallible, indecisive, selfish and ever changing creatures. The key to making the proper gift decision or decisions is found in our taking God seriously and using His criteria as given to us in The Book of Micah. We are to be fair, merciful, compassionate and loyal in our love for our neighbour. In not taking ourselves so seriously, we are able to stop thinking about what we should, could or would do and just do it!

(Comments, corrections, suggestions or rebuttals are welcome. My email link is contained in “About me: view my complete profile” to the right of this page or use the comment section below which requires that you have a Google account.)

Judge Not

I am more than a little disturbed this morning by the reaction of the media this week concerning the comments of one Pat Robertson. Mr. Robertson is an American television commentator with a reputation of being a member of what is referred to in the United States as “the Christian right”. His comments are supposed to reflect the opinions of conservative and evangelical Christians. He apparently had the audacity to suggest on national and international television that the disastrous earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12th was a punishment from God. How he came to this conclusion appears to have something to do with his belief that the people of Haiti apparently sold their soul by making a pact with the devil in order to escape the colonial rule of France two centuries in the past. It bothers me to even write down such thoughts. Unfortunately, it does not seem to bother the media to report such unloving thoughts and statements. Indeed, Mr. Robertson provided them with just the kind of anti-Christian ammunition that they love and they have made the most of it.

Pat Robertson represents, I hope, a very small minority of Christians. They are the few that, despite the words of Jesus, continue to judge others. They judge the lifestyles, clothes and perceived behaviour of all those around them including fellow Christians. They are typically very sour in their demeanour in their treatment of others. They may even shun other Christians who do not live up to their perceived ideal of how a Christian should look and act. Personal grooming, the use of cosmetics and fashion accessories, level of education and even personality traits can come under their scrutiny. Every Bible believing church, chapel and assembly has a few such persons. The key word; however, is “few”! The media would have us believe otherwise. The vast majority of Christians at least attempt live up to the words of Paul in Romans 13: 9-10.

9 For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery," "You shall not murder," "You shall not steal," "You shall not bear false witness," "You shall not covet," and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
10 Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

We are all so very aware that Jesus admonished us to love our neighbour as we would love ourselves. Unfortunately, a small minority of Christians can mouth the words constantly, but for some reason they never seem to be able to internalize them. They just don’t get it. Pat Robertson, I would suggest, just doesn’t get it. If we are to love, we in turn are to do no harm to our neighbour. Our neighbour is not just the people next door or in the next pew. They are every human being on this earth. We are to love and honour them. The Apostle Paul tells us that "love is the fulfillment of the law". I suspect that Pat Robertson and a certain few are suffering from a form of biblical dyslexia. They must be reading that “the law is the fulfillment of love”.

(Comments, corrections, suggestions or rebuttals are welcome. My email link is contained in “About me: view my complete profile” to the right of this page or use the comment section below which requires that you have a Google account.)

Power to the Weak

29 He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength. (Isaiah 40:29)

Our home is heated by wood. Heating with wood has always been an interest for me. Every home we have owned has boasted at least one wood burning appliance. Heating primarily with wood has become a retirement dream come true for me. There is something so comforting about the all pervasive heat it creates. It is aesthetically beautiful. It is relatively inexpensive. It is also very labour intensive. One of the most challenging jobs is the necessity to clean the heat exchangers in the furnace as well as the chimney. For safety’s sake, I undertake that job three times a year. Several days ago, I spent the evening before and the morning cleaning the furnace. It is a very dirty job resulting in an exhaustive cleanup of the furnace room and the do-it-yourself technician. Since the weather was mild, I determined I should go on the roof to clean the chimney as well.

I acknowledged to myself that I was indeed too tired to do the job properly, but stubbornly climbed the ladder. Normally, cleaning the chimney is as simple as running the four lengths of chimney brush rods down the chimney and cleaning out the resulting debris in the cleanout in the basement. The rods are threaded and attach together very securely so that they will not come apart in the chimney. It is paramount to pay close attention to each coupling or the brush can become uncoupled and therefore hopelessly stuck in the chimney. Of course the inevitable happened and there I was, exhausted, with a brush and two lengths of rod stuck in the chimney well out of reach. I spent about forty-five minutes attempting every way I could think of to grab the top of the rod just barely in sight in the chimney. I wearily had to descend and sat down at the kitchen table to have something to eat and to think. Finally I had the foresight to pray. I prayed for the technical solution as well as the energy to carry such out. As I calmed down in prayer and stopped wondering if I should call my handy neighbour for a second time or indeed a furnace repair man, the answer came to me and that was to push the brush and rods up from the bottom of the chimney with the remaining rods and a spare brush. In half an hour, the job was complete and the Lord thanked.

In my exhaustion I was feeling particularly sorry for myself. I sat down in front of the family room television only to be shocked by the early pictures of devastation coming out of Haiti. I still can’t properly comprehend the scale of the disaster following the earthquake. I cannot even put into words the degree of pain and suffering we are witnessing through modern communications. The flow of heart rending photographs and video clips seems to be never ending. Image after image shows the anguish, shock and grief of loss on each face. As the days unfold, we see the results of thirst, starvation and inevitable disease. As always, desperation leads to the breakdown of civilised behaviour in favour of the chaos of violence. I pray that relief efforts can avert this all too common human response to survival.

I have not felt sorry for myself since that moment.

The words of Isaiah 40: 29 are constantly in my mind.

29 He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength. (Isaiah 40:29)

(Comments, corrections, suggestions or rebuttals are welcome. My email link is contained in “About me: view my complete profile” to the right of this page or use the comment section below which requires that you have a Google account.)