Author: Wick

Husband, Father, Pastor, Missionary, Writer, Poet, Friend, reader, coffee enthusiast, hockey Wing-Nut, musical participator, etc...
Posted in Different Moments

prayers sprouting

Posted on by Wick

I remember visiting the “Church of the Pater Noster” on a trip to Israel when I was in high school.  Being in the very location where it was believed Jesus had taught his disciples to pray was an incredible experience.  To pray out loud, together with those who were gathered, the very same words others have for ages….it was moving.  The artwork around the Church had the Lords’ Prayer in over 44 different languages.  It was a very impressive day, and I still remember much about it.But last night, I experienced the Lords’ Prayer in an even more memorable way.  In most evenings, we close the day with daddy reading a chapter from a book (We’ve been doing “Little House on the Prairie” books, but recently took a break for one or two other “fun” books).  Then we have a prayer time where they say what they want to pray about, and we pray.  Sometimes, we close the time of prayer by saying the Lords’ Prayer together.
Last night, after reading a chapter from a silly book “Miss Daisy is Definitely Crazy”, we shared our prayers together.  Their first request on most nights is for their sister in Africa.  They pray for her health and safety, and for “the mommies and daddies in Africa to stop fighting”. (that’s as far as we’ve explained most of the current conflicts in the DRC)  Usually that leads to praying for our sponsored girl from the Philippines, Sheila Mae.  Then they go through a mental checklist of whatever they can remember from that day, including boo-boos, stuffy noses, friends and family, etc.
Last night,  I closed prayer with them by my signature “Aaaaaaaaaaaa—(wait for them to join me)—Men.”  But as soon as I began climbing off her bed, my 3 year old sat straight up and wondered, “Daddy?  Wat ’bout da’ Lowd Pear?”
I love it.  She can’t even pronounce it really, but she knows that prayer by heart.
I smiled and said sure, we could close with the Lords’ Prayer together.  All three of our kids joined me in saying the prayer out loud, and as the final “Amen.” came – they all seemed to nod, turn over and cuddle their pillow tight.  Finally, something had been spoken that enabled them to transition into what came next.
I pray that as we continue on this journey, my daughters continue to require praying together as a natural requirement before moving forward into what comes next…
(for more moments like this, and how God can use parenting to transform who we are, check out my book, “Different” today!)

 

Posted in Different Moments, Different Scriptures

Jesus – Superior

Posted on by Wick

I was recently able to preach on Hebrews 1 and 2. My daughters were sitting in service, because it was a communion Sunday, and our oldest daughter turned a bit red during one cute illustration. We’ve not instituted a “When daddy uses your name, you get paid $1.” rule. I praught again this past week at a nearby church, and my daughters listened closely. Unfortunately that time, no one was paid. 🙂

If you have a few minutes, I hope you enjoy the Truth found in God’s Word here…thanks for listening.

Posted in Different Learning, Different Thoughts

re: what God can do

Posted on by Wick

Kids ask amazingly complex questions that we often given very simple answers for, simply because of what their brains can comprehend.  That sounds like I’m talking about my children as if they can’t understand as much as me – when really, I hardly understand a sliver about the totality of God either.  Imagine a road trip from San Fransisco to Augusta, Maine.  Whether you’re just leaving town (my kids), or you’re about 10 miles out of town (me), it’s still quite a distance to Augusta.   That’s how I feel about our respective understandings of God.  As we get older, we can simply understand larger words.  It’s amazing to me that a thousand years ago, people were writing and posing such wonderfully complex questions, and many of them are approached by new people today as if they’ve never been thought of.

Peter Damian did a lot of thinking/writing in the realm of forgiveness. Putting it in the realm of virginity (since most sins can be seen as a loss of “innocence” in whatever area they are in), when one is forgiven, can God go back in time and make something that has happened as if it never happened?

The response is a bit humorous.

There was a large focus in their day (and still today, even if we don’t talk about it or give name to it) on this aspect of “being” (ousia). Damian believed that God could do anything that was good (in God’s nature), not to be limited by any aspect of ousia (space/time/matter/etc.). That the goodness of God stands outside of being….not bound by it and whatever that all means.

But because “ousia” is something that is brought into existence by God, that means for something to have “being” it must be something good, for that is the nature of God. So if something has previously happened that is not good (i.e. “evil”), that thing that has happened has a sort of “non-being”, since it obviously did not come from God, source of all ousia. It doesn’t actually have “ousia”. Damian’s initial response, therefore, would be something like “why would God have to undo something that isn’t?”.

But Damian would eventually concede in a way that, although focusing on God’s superhero omnipotence, still offers us something helpful in our thinking of God. He would say that because God could have stopped Rome from becoming Rome (before it happened), God still can today. This follows the logic of God being not bound by the realms of time. He talks a bit about the most faithful way of speaking about God is ALWAYS in the present tense. (Gotta love that. If we take away nothing else, to remind ourselves to speak of God always in present tense. Not so much “could do”, or “will do”, but “is doing”. 🙂 ) So even though something evil that has happened lacks “ousia”, and doesn’t actually “exist” as most things do, God can go back and alter that future just as much as He could have stopped it before it happened.
But when my daughter asks me,”Daddy, what is God’s forgiveness like?”, I can simply answer “It’s as if you’ve never done it.”  Someday we’ll get all ontological…but maybe we shouldn’t. 🙂