SPOSE THEY'LL FIND HIM...THE "BAD GUY"?

Dunno.  Prolly not.  Finding the "Bad Guy," I mean.  Caps indicate proper (or, in this case, "improper") noun, a name.  The Devil? No, 'he" is really an "it". 

Confused?  So's everyone, even the Urologist and Oncologist.  They don't say "confused" because they are paid a lot--A LOT!!--to know stuff but not tell stuff.  But their eyebrows lift in response to "Where's it going?"   "How far along?"  "How long?"

The "bad guy" ain't there.  In the world of blaming Bush and almost anyone/anything else, I suppose we could pin this one on God.  Yea, the Sovereign One, Creator of Heaven and Earth.  Jesus, we are assured, is the creative agent AND the "Sustainer" of earth.  And health.  Let's blame them.  I do. 

After all, it is a mean, onery, vengeful Judge who carries out the punishment for sin just like He said He would. Blame Him, not Adam who stood by passively as the Snake cajoled his wife.  He watched her succumb and didn't even lift the Garden hoe to the Snake's head.

OK, enuf bloggish sermon.  I do blame God for the extraordinary life that has no explanation but Grace.  It's been a long one, in and out of more danger than a Tuesday evening of TV.  Seventy years worth and, they tell me, probably ten years or more to go.  At least I know what my schedule is. Sorta. 

So, other than Adam (and Obama is just as related to him as Bush), ain't no one to blame.  You take the Whole Story to account and recognize every day we have is a gift from the Source.  

Romans put it this way in 5:17(Message)  If death got the upper hand through one man's wrongdoing, can you imagine the breathtaking recovery life makes, sovereign life, in those who grasp with both hands this wildly extravagant life-gift, this grand setting-everything-right, that the one man Jesus Christ provides?

Have you visited the book site recently.  I just did.  I LOVE it.  (Which is why this is a break in my headlong effort to meet a book proposal deadline).  http://www.generationalfathering.com/  Subscribe, why don't you?


  

LOVING THE HIGH LEVEL JOURNEY

One of the great metaphors for the journey of a life along the path of faith is...is...er..ah, a "JOURNEY". I've used it often. I also like to tell of the Walk, the Walk with God. This one turns me even closer to the "Jesus bumps" my mother used to talk about; dare any of us say we are "Walking with God? Yet we can, many do. Can you grasp the ungraspable imagery, can you sense the conundrum that He, the Lord God Almighty, Creator and Sustainer of Heaven and Earth, has arranged for such a walk, hand-in-hand, as it were?

So, as I reported in broad strokes in my latest post on www.gendads.com, Matt and Taylor and I had an extraordinary journey on the four-day trek, backpacking in the wilderness for Taylor's "rite of passage." At 10,000 feet overlooking eons of His handiwork, the Journey becomes real. There we were, father, son, father's father (inlaw) walking together on The Journey mapped for us somewhere in Heaven before time began.

Walk turns to Journey, Journey become part of The Story. The Story, like the Walk and the Journey, is never alone. It's about us with Him, us with each other. How special that it is with fathers and sons.

Life's Stuff-flood and Me

It's a flood. Stuff, I mean. Tides rise, so do rivers. So does stuff. They all ebb, too.

Let's do life's stuff-flood for a reflective moment.

Mine is a crowded life suddenly. So, I'm taking time over a quick PBJ to reflect. Nevertheless, heart beats fast and axienty crowds my focus.

Go over to the blog--we call it a DIAblog--soninlaw, Matt, and I are building for our book. You'll love the two latest posts: "Generational Hike or Death March?" followed by today's "The Soon-to-be-man Son, His Dad, and Dad's Dad Are Actually..."

We are actually going on our 100-mile, five day mountain hike. Full day packing, shopping. The last week in 4-mile test hikes. I'll turn 70 somewhere in the mountains near Moab. "Imagine," Carolyn said, gleelessly, "IF you return, you'll be 70!"

For all the effort, our www.GENDADS.com DIAblog has been a long, hard struggle, but not quite ready for prime time. It's needed these days for publishing.

Then there is the madness of five grandkids next door (we're parked in their long gravel driveway for the summer).

What's my point worth reflecting? Thanks for asking.

Busy, sure. But the priority is my grandchildren. (Sure, God and wife and country, etc, but I'm talking about where I put my time, energy, and those persistent little daily sacrifices). Of the four older than 1 year, I can see basic personality pieces that will be with them the rest of their lives. Personality pluses and minuses we all have. That's what being filled with the Spirit of God addresses. You know, "Love, Joy, Gentleness..."(that's the one I pause on the most) to offset the character flaws that emerge from untransformed personality inventories.

Ready for the point? Almost there.

I was wondering what makes so many grandfathers disassociate from their grandchildren. I think I see it in the basic personality. Some, raised in strong families, especially Christ-centered ones, will have a ready platform for future family focus all the way to grandparenting. Others must need that transformation of character that is willing to make the significant sacrifices required to fulfill the fathering role and needed to build the legacy of good and godly children.

I'm about to write the whole book here. So, let's stop withthe point: Are you, young dad and older dad, prepared to do now and in the future what is necessary to extend godliness though your life-blood (or, as they say so crassly and clearly in Scripture, "your loins")? Are you prepared or preparing for the initiative, energy, commitment, sacrifice to make your children (or, there we go again, "seed") the models of godliness for future generations

Strawberry--M&M--Oreo Shake...and 12.5

Ok, we're keeping the wild and gray for this old Goose, but let's pretend the Challenger heading up to rescue the GENDADS site still floating in the blogosphere is serving Strawberry--M&M--Oreo shakes on the way up. That's the hook for the date I conned my grandson, Taylor, in to for going with me for that generational fathering chat. I'm a contributor on the Legacy Dad blog and decided to put my story there while awaiting the premier of Matt's and my GENDADS blog in a week. Hurry. It's a bit long, only 1000 words, and a test of the length blog readers will accept for a story-telling. www.legacydad.com. Comment back if at all possible.

CHALLENGER, WERE SENDING UP A SOLUTION

Stay glued to your screens Wild Gray Goose fans. New plan. Matt and I are opening an entirely separate blog, we call it a "diablog," to be the active platform for our book, Generational Fathering. GenDads will feature discussions, ideas, musings, and surveys. And, we hope, lots of dialog. We think we have something to share with you out of our lives about fathering--together. We need to hear stories and ideas and those revolutionary (ok, "outlandish") concepts of parenting from you. It'll keep our book real. And, we'll listen to the struggles you have that are common to fathers. We've been there and Matt makes his living rescuing families at the residential ranch for, well, "challenging" teens.

When? Houston is sending up a rescue ship. Should reach us in yet another week. GenDad diablog hopes to premier August 1. Yeah!!

And the Goose? Still wild and a little grayer and filled with the Wild Goose. Gary will blog here weekly or more. Idea is to engage others in their walk with God. Learn a little, prod a little. You might read a subtitle as Wild at Heart Redux.

Gathered by the River

Recent ponderous pondering to frame the book vanished this morning. The Father massaged my heart in family worship. In simple conclusion it was rediscovering that life in Christ wasn’t as much about how we march out the Christian conventions drawn from scripture but about how we walk in the heart of The Story; His heart, His story.

Where’d that come from? The kids, i.e., grandkids . We took a family Sunday at the wild water world of Lake Powell, the dammed up Colorado River in Utah. Five little ones, four big ones huddled in the air conditioned cool of the RV before boating. Sang some of those kids’ praise songs on the CD. “Open the eyes of my heart, Lord…I want to see You.” Then, “Here I am to worship, here I am to bow down…to say you are my God.”

My wife then un-TIVOed a Joyce Myers message she thought would fit. It did. Even the kids (5 to 12) “got” it, especially in family discussion. Life is a warfare against the enemy of our hearts. Setting aside our hearts for God and not spending it on ourselves, now that was something the kids understood.

Then came the reading. “Obscure” OT stuff, of all things. The kids took turns reading The Message rendering of Deuteronomy 30. And it’s very worth the read for Legacy Dads. It’s about the consequences of following the Lord…for generations. Verses 6 to 8 talk about freeing our heart to love God and live a full life. We all liked the part where verse nine assures us with “God will start enjoying you again.”

Popi, that’s me, offered another set verses God-breathed but not often read. Micah (yes, Micah) 6: 8 and 9, “He has showed you, O man, what is good, what He requires of you: to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.” Across the page in my dual version Peterson puts it nicely, “…And don’t take yourself too seriously—take God seriously.”

The kids, our legacy, got it…for the moment. But like all children they do what they see. Will they SEE us take God more seriously than we do ourselves and follow our model with their lives in to the next generationS?

PROVERBS, TUFF LOVE, MODELLING, PRAYING

I just have to toss something out to you from early morning reflections. It’s simple and has been prodding me all day. Caught an email reply from Don who I had saluted in an email for the powerful interview I had with his son, now 21 and a front line missionary in his second year of Arabic language learning.

His father is a poster dad for creating intentional legacy. He is one of today’s most effective business-as-missions leaders. Son, Pete, says that dad was there lots in the young years (they all lived overseas), less in dad's more vigorous world-changing years and as the father-shaping need grew less. But, he said, around age 17 just before he left for college in the States, the sit-down chat included a reference to The File. It was finished. Pete never saw The File but knew it existed. It was his mom and dad’s organized plan for principles, activities, and truths of living they wanted covered before releasing the two sons. The File had transformed the hearts and the flesh of two young lives. But now it was finished.

Here’s what’s for us dads and grand dads who recognize the legacy we hope for is not alone in sound doctrine or proper church manners, but in holy lives imparted intentionally with care, caution, love, and prayer.

Here is Don’s response back to my question about the secrets to his successful fathering. This was nearly his entire email reply, in true laconic form:

"Not sure what to write on fathering. I spent a lot of time in Proverbs with the boys, was tough on them, but always explained my actions. The rest was just modeling. And praying."

Gary
(site) www.generationalfathering.com , (blog) www.newseason.us

GO WITH US ON THIS GRAND JOURNEY

The journey started today.  It's the one whereby grandfather Taylor, "Popi," joins Taylor, age 12, and his dad on the rough and wonderful trail to the manhood ceremony of age 13.  It's called various things around the world, "rite of passage" is a popular one and it is a ceremony embraced by cultures with ancient roots and possesed grand hopes of leaving a good legacy.

The event today was Taylor's first Journey Letter from Popi.  These are short life sermons delivered sometime on Thursday for a Friday read and think.  Taylor has the weekend to chat with Dad and Mom and, maybe, younger brother about the content and the application. 

I'll post the first one in the next couple of days.  Let's see how he responds.  I'll guide him to this blog for his response which is about to take on a new, wild, full, exciting generational whoopila.  Father, Father, son, three generations to bring to focus the lessons God had provided us through His World and thourgh the lives we can grateflully say He's guided.  The first title?  The Story.  All the lessons to follow come under The Story, His Story, the one He/They wrote in the Counsel of the Godhead just for Taylor before time began...for such a time as this. 

Saddling your best horse

This one's like a short ride after catching and saddling your best horse; not satisfying, but at least you saddled up.

Back up and ready to ride midst my busiest time in years (new job plus writing book and keeping family and Chapel ministry fulfilled). Am going to stay alert and active to the blog because soninlaw, Matt, and I are reading, outlining, interviewing and just now starting to write THE book. No, not the Bible, but the other one, Generational Fathering.

So, here's your chance. Short or long, let me have it. Your story, that is. It may be, and I'm hoping so, that it will be a story of the family tree from which you, the apple, didn't fall far. How you became who you are, especially how God THE Father, used the words and the model of your father and his to shape who you are.

Tell us the journey of your grand and great grand fathers, your own dads. The glory, the wounds, the recovery, the intervention of a gracious God to make of you what the best efforts of your elders could not. Tell us where you intend to go from here to assure a legacy of three more renewing generations of godliness that will glorify God and His Kingdom through the ages ahead.

www.ransomedheart.net/generationalfathering will take you in to an active group discussion.