Author: Wick

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

hope as daydreaming.

Posted on by Wick

Me: (talking out loud, assuming my daughters are listening to every word I’m saying, smiling to myself because of how funny a dad I am.)

Addie: (literally laughs out loud…almost too loud to be believable)

Me: That was pretty funny, eh?

Addie: Huh? No daddy, I was watching Megamind in my head!!  (laughs again)

Me:  (realizing I wasn’t the source of her laughter)  Oh.  Yeah.  That’s a good movie.  (she laughs again, eyes closed)

Our children are generally very impacted by the moment to moment forces of life.  If we run out of milk, it’s a tragedy.  If someone took my spot, the world is about to end.  If our sucker falls on the ground and gets dirt stuck to it (and dad’s not around to wipe it off), it’s a time of mourning.  But every once in a while, our kids are a great reminder that we are not slaves to the moment.  We do not have to be controlled by whatever external forces or happenings are surrounding us.

It’s a message we hold fast to as followers of Christ also.  We live in a time (very much like others before us) filled with uncertainty.  Disease, weapons of mass destruction, drought, disasters, people who want to spread terror, and random acts of selfishness are happening on a daily basis.  We are  tempted on one side to be self-sufficient and hippie-like in our approach to this uncertainty.  A pessimistic and apathetic approach that says, “whatever”.  On the other side, we are urged to purchase “food insurance” and warned that a time is soon coming when the only survivors will be those who secured underground bunkers and farms in the middle of nowhere.

In the midst of all of this, we are living as Easter people.  People who are called to announce to the world (even when it doesn’t seem to look like it), “JESUS IS LORD!”  We are living examples of a life that isn’t chained up by the happenings of this world, but have been set free.  Not simply free from worry, so that we can go on eating and drinking with an apathy for tomorrow.  But freed from worry and TO HOPE that God has already begun to make all things new.  Yes there are horrible things happening on a daily basis.  But there have been pretty wonderful things happening as well.  Beauty is all around us.  People are loving.  Healing is coming.  New Life is being born on a daily basis.  Resurrection is on the horizon.  Heaven’s veil becomes thinner by the day, and will soon be lifted completely.

“Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what it fears, or be in dread. But the Lord of hosts, him you shall regard as holy; let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. He will become a sanctuary, a stone one strikes against;” Isaiah 8:12-14a

And so, may we find our sanctuary this week in Christ.  As the world gives us reason after reason to fill ourselves with anxiety and become slaves to fear – we laugh with our eyes closed.  After all, we are remembering those beautiful moments of covenant.  We are imagining what will be when the resurrection life of Easter flows out over all creation.  Then we open our eyes, and live it out today…

Posted in Different Scriptures, Different Thoughts, Uncategorized

tasty-good.

Posted on by Wick

When our oldest daughter was just learning to talk, and something tasted awesome, she would say it was “Tasty-good!!”  This earned more than a few smiles around dinner tables and snack plates alike.  This phrase came to mind recently, as I was reading 2 Timothy 2:6.  It’s a verse that upon first reading, doesn’t sound like something a follower of Jesus would say:

“The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops.“

But wait, wasn’t Jesus all about giving to the poor?  About all of the workers getting paid the same, no matter how long/hard they labored?  What could Paul be saying to Timothy here?

For that, I’ll tell a quick story from last weekend.  My wife was attending “Hearts at Home” here in Illinois, and I felt like it was my job to make this time with my kids more than just “surviving until mom gets home”.  I wanted them to love it, and to know daddy wanted special time with his girls.  Some parts went awesome, other parts not so much.  But one thing in particular was my attempt to make “Beignets” like our girls saw in “The Princess and the Frog”.  Because we’re recently gluten-free, I found a gluten-free recipe to try out.  How hard could it be, right?  So Friday  night after the kids were in bed, I worked at making the dough.  I harnessed the power of my OCD to use for good, and followed the directions 100%.  The dough was nowhere near usable.  The recipe called for the end result of a “ball of dough” to refrigerate over night.  I ended up with what looked like pancake batter.  Being the Martha Stewart that I am, I simply kept adding general purpose gluten-free flour until it was ball-able (if that’s a word).

In the morning, I rolled it out, cut it, gave it a chance to rise (even though it never chose to wake up apparently), and fried them up.  The result? Flat square donuts.  Thankfully they tasted awesome, and the girls still danced around – pleased to be eating actual beignets like Tiana.

Now, if someone had walked in that morning to sit down and eat square donuts with us, they would’ve enjoyed the food.  They were pretty tasty, as any fried dough with powdered sugar would be.  But you know who was the chief enjoyer of the fruit of all that labor??  Me.  I’d put in the time, care, work, and patiently crafting a meal out of love for my girls.  No one could have enjoyed that moment more than me…tasting the food, seeing my girls devour them, etc.

Paul is telling Timothy here – those who endure to the end, and do the sacrificial work it takes to plant seeds for the Kingdom – and care for the growth of Kingdom living – THEY are the ones who will most enjoy the fruits of their labor.  They’ll be first in line for the celebration of a harvest they’ve been living towards with every breath.  He is urging a young man he cares for deeply to keep up the work he’s doing, because not only will it be worth it…but it will make every bit of the fruit so much more fulfilling – knowing that somehow we were joining God in bringing all of this around!!!!

Posted in Different Scriptures, Different Thoughts

not limiting the infinite.

Posted on by Wick

This past weekend I took my daughters on a hike through some gardens for Saint Patrick’s Day.  One garden in particular seemed to capture their imaginations, as it looked like a giant labyrinth.  In reality, it was quite easy to see the few paths available, and find your way back to where you started, but the girls loved pretending they were solving a giant mystery as they walked through the waste-high well manicured bushes.

This past week I was reading in 2 Timothy 2, and there is a point where Paul writes to Timothy seeming to appeal to Timothy’s appreciation of “several paths”.  Check out verses 2-6:

“And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others. Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs–he wants to please his commanding officer.  Similarly, if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not receive the victor’s crown unless he competes according to the rules. The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops.”

In just 5 verses, Paul uses 4 different analogies to describe a servant of the Lord.  A teacher, a soldier, an athlete, and a farmer.  I want to talk more specifically about these in another post, but for now I was struck simply by how many ways Paul tries to convey the message he’s writing to Timothy in the last moments of his own life.

It seems Paul knows that in each instance, he’s trying to contain a Truth about an infinite God in some sort of finite way.  Of course serving God isn’t completely like being a teacher.  It’s not 100% similar to being a soldier either (although some believe they are raising “God’s Army” even after seeing Jesus walk a different path).  If we only used the comparison of an athlete, our faith would get way too competitive.  If it was all about farming, well…we’d probably have WWJD overalls.

Anyone who’s tried to talk with their kids about an infinite God has come up against similar issues.  We often have conversations about the fact that God will someday come and make everything completely different than it is right now.  We talk about “New Creation” with our kids as the ultimate destination we look forward to, and explained that even Great-Grandpa is with Jesus right now, waiting for this New Creation.  How God is with us, even though we cannot see him. Every time a conversation like this happens – new questions are raised.

In all of these things, it’s not that we can completely contain God in our finite words, but that we continue to attempt to talk about God and point our children in that direction.  Just as Paul continues to use one analogy after another, so we continue to have conversations with our children that change as they age.  We cannot assume that getting them to pray a prayer when they’re 4 or 5 has “sealed the deal”, and not worry about developing them beyond that.  God is infinite, and continues to transform both us and our children as we talk about these things as we “walk along the road”. 🙂