What Goes Around Comes Around

My oldest son is either going to get a big head and think I love him more than the others, (sorry, but no, I love you all the same) or he might be very mad at me, but I have to do another blog with him in it. I am not certain why he has been in so many blogs lately, maybe because he is the oldest and I see him making some of these life decisions for himself for the first time.  Therefore, the least I can do is dedicate this blog to him, Joshua Black.

Josh and his wife Lauren got married last year, and we gave them a week of our Disney Vacation Points for their wedding gift.  They had already planned a cruise, so they decided to go to Disney this year.  It is so fun to see both of them all excited about going, and asking questions about the things we did to get ready.  Josh wants to show his wife the same things he experienced all those times we went as a family.  He wants to show her the same restaurants we ate while we were there. He called and described what he remembered about a restaurant, I told him the name of the restaurant, and he went on line and made a reservation.

Another thing we did when we drove to Disney is we would always play books on tape or CDs. (We listen to classics like Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Adventures in Odyssey, or the Chronicles of Narnia.)  The other day Josh called and asked me the name of the person who read the Narnia series (I did not know at the time, but I knew he also played Hercule Poirot. I later found out it was David Suchet) when we were going to Disney.  He wanted to get them downloaded to his I Phone so he could play them while they traveled.  

He also called to ask about when we went to St. Augustine, Fl.  My parents took me there when I was little, and I got a big kick out of taking my children on one of our vacations. One of the things I remember happened at what we called the Castle, (it is actually a Fort built to protect the city). They fired cannon off one of the ramparts.  It was one of the highlights of my young life, and I have gotten to share it with my children. Now Josh wants to share this experience with his wife.  We also went to the Alligator farm in St. Augustine when I was little.  As an adult, I took my kids to the same place, in fact, Josh was one of the kids who helped during the demonstrations, they placed a big old boa constrictor up one arm, over his neck, and down the other arm.  This of course gave his mom the willies, which Josh loved.  We had taken a picture of this, and he loved to freak out his grandmothers, aunts, and any other lady who would look. He is taking about taking his wife there too.

 It is so fun to watch Josh making all of his plans. It is the most fun I have had with our Disney Vacation Points without actually going there.  The best way to describe this feeling the way I feel about Christmas, as I have gotten older. I really do not care what I get, in fact, I am always the last one to open my gifts, I get more pleasure watching my children and grandchildren opening their gifts than I do opening mine.

You are probably thinking, “This is nice, but why is this the subject of a blog?”  The answer is simple.  I think Dr. James Dobson says it best when he says the best way to teach a child is by them catching the concept instead of being sat down and taught the concept.  Do not misquote Dr. Dobson, or me I am not saying do not sit down and teach your children, I am saying that they learn better by seeing and doing.  My parents took me to see these sites and I learned about history and about God’s creation, I took my children, and now my son is repeating the process.  My parents did not sit down and teach me about these places, they showed me, and I did the same with my children.  Now the process is continuing; Josh is doing the same thing.  My point is that if Josh is doing this with something as simple as a vacation and planning where to go and what to do, he will do the same thing with the bigger things in life.  By this, I mean his life with Jesus Christ.  Josh learned about Christ from the examples he saw in his life; the importance of living out what you believe, studying God’s Word, communicating with Him through prayer, things we did every week, such as going to church and having family meals on Sunday, and every day, like thanking God for providing our meals. You really cannot teach this; it must be demonstrated.  Josh just proved that life’s most important lessons are better caught than taught.

Creativity

Creativity

God has really been teaching me a lot about creativity lately.  I know some of you are going say, “God is teaching you because you always have something to say about every subject.”  However, I do not know everything, and I will be honest, I am very proud of my education and knowledge, so when God teaches me something He has to use a frying pan upside my head in order to get my attention, and I will admit, it hurts some time. 

To be honest, I have never thought much about creativity, I have always taken it for granted.  I have appreciated artwork, poems, plays, books, etc… but I have not ever given any thought that they are examples of God-given spiritual gifts.  I will let you ponder this a second. 

In the book of Genesis, God created everything.

Genesis 1 King James Version (KJV)

1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

² And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

³ And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

⁴ And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

⁵ And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

⁶ And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.

⁷ And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.

⁸ And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

⁹ And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.

¹⁰ And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.

¹¹ And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.

¹² And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

¹³ And the evening and the morning were the third day.

¹⁴ And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:

¹⁵ And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.

¹⁶ And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.

¹⁷ And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,

¹⁸ And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.

¹⁹ And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

²⁰ And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.

²¹ And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

²² And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.

²³ And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

²⁴ And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.

²⁵ And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

²⁶ And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

²⁷ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

²⁸ And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

²⁹ And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.

³⁰ And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.

³¹ And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Since God created humanity in His own image, we as humans have a desire to create and be like our creator.  In addition, God wants us to be creative.  The most obvious place God tells us to be creative is Genesis 1

²⁸ And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth,

God asks us to be creative by being in a Biblical relationship and making children.  That is just a small fraction of what we are to do.  God made beauty when he made creation, and I have told you in past blogs how I have marveled at this beauty of God’s creation when we went to Yosemite Park.  We as humans want to create something beautiful.  We see this in all the beautiful artwork created over the years.  Where God really got my attention is that people making art, even if it is not for the church, is that person’s God-given talent and that beauty created is honoring to God and can be a work of righteousness.  Therefore, think of it this way “The Mona Lisa” by Da Vinci is a work of righteousness.  That took me a long time to understand.  My wife Sharon painted murals on the walls of the nursery for our grandchildren. They are works of righteousness.  I will let that set in a little while.  (Check out the rough drafts and murals, then read the rest of the blog)

 

 

While I was learning all of this, my men’s Bible study group started a new book studying authentic manhood.  The second lesson was that men are to create and cultivate spiritual training in their family.   This hit me even harder.  The idea that I am to be the spiritual leader in my home; I have done that and have encouraged my children to do this in their homes.  However, it is the idea that I am to create in my home.  I have never thought that Bible studies, this blog and other things I have done are all creative and therefore I am being like God and fulfilling what God has asked me to do. 

Then in Sunday school today we talked about spiritual gifts. Jim, the teacher, read 1 Corinthians 12.

¹⁹ And if they were all one member, where were the body?
²⁰ But now are they many members, yet but one body.
²¹ And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.
²² Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary:
²³ And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness.
²⁴ For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked.
²⁵ That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.

Jim went on to say that we do not see all the little things that happen behind the scenes and the un-sung heroes who make the Sunday school work each week.  With what I was learning about creativity, these people are being like God, being creative and taking care of the needs of the Sunday school.  I know I have never thought about this and I know I have never thanked anyone for this, or praised them for what they are doing for Christ.  Therefore, I want to thank all the un-sung heroes, not just of our Sunday school, but the people in my life who have affected me and in my blind arrogance, I have not thought of, let alone thanked them for what they have done.  I know this is not nearly what I need to do to honor and thank those people.  Please bear with me as God keeps banging me in the head trying to teach me His lessons.