PASSING...NOT AWAY BUT ON

Following the call of the Wild Goose frames the way early Celtics saw God's leading, His Holy Spirit. That quiet, haunting, clear call comes from within for those indwelt by that Spirit.  Rebirth through Jesus,  our Savior, assures the Goose has nested, though He never rests.

Then there is life's long journey to consider...actually our lives are a very short trail when looking back from its latter parts.  It's value beyond survival is all about following the call of the Wild Goose.  The unexpected--like our son's sudden, untimely death at 31--or the inevitable--like aging often accelerated by cancer like my slowly progressing variety--is an expected part of the short story we call our life.

When seen in this context, life's design and purpose takes eternal dimensions.  We all think about it now and then.  Life's end, I mean.  Ironically, the earlier the better.  Here is where I put in my pitch.  If I may extend the metaphor,  I want to repeat the Wild Goose's call.

Life's end is not about "passing away," a strange euphonism, to be sure. LIFE IS ABOUT PASSING ON. Ok, "passing on" to a better, an eternal life.  Sure.  But what about passing on the values, the spirit, the milestones of a Walk With God to those heirs of your journey can impact what seems sure a much darker, more chaotic world than we have known.  It's called LEGACY.  And a godly legacy is not accidental, it's intentional.

That's why I invite visitors here to www.gendads.com, my blog.  The blog is all about passing IT on.  This site is about what's going on in me.  Inside the cancer (prostate) journey and in my heart, a heart made so much richer by my following the Wild Goose call to invest my life in my grandchildren.

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

Blue Moon snow ride...at midnight.

So, we are here again. So soon? Yep, with the first venture of soninlaw (and Best Friend Forever), Matt. We're saddle mates in several dimensions.

Last night, toward the end of 2010's first day, we did one of our Saddlemate cigar rides, full (“Blue”) moon, on a snow cover at 9000 feet. Organized the book a bit, but mostly we awed at the incredible beauty the Creator sets aside for those who take the time to take it in. Until both horses got stuck in a drift and, lurching to survive, threw me, cigar sparks flying as I rolled along the crusty snow, it was a lovely sortie. Another story to add to the dozen similar rides. Somehow, they’ll fit in the book. The Traditional Gen co-nurturing with the Next Gen over the Millennial Gen. There’s something to bringing heritage down from the family tree and applying all those “old” generations have to offer in order to leave a legacy that will cycle in each future generation. If I were rich, I could leave a hospital wing. Better, even if so, I leave living monument of goodness and godliness

This is the tone of the blog; personal stories relating to the Cowboy Way of walking with God. They'll spill from and in to Matt's and my book, Generational Fathering, now in the research and composition phase.