The Picture

My daughter suggested I use my Children's Messages from Sunday morning for my Blog. Last Sunday I presented a picture of my parents on their wedding day, June 25, 1938.

The children recognized it instantly as a wedding picture, even though it is outside--Mom is wearing a bride's dress, good hint! I then said God had a plan for their life together, and through the next 48 plus years they lived in but two houses, had five children, eleven grandchildren, and lots of good memories. They were faithful to God and His plan, but they weren't all smiles, as they were on their wedding day. But God helped them through, and blessed them, just as He will help us through and bless our lives.

We can be confident in this because God has promised, and because we have examples like this marred couple and many others who can say that, too.

All of this led into the message theme for the say: "Bless This House--Both Marriage and Children." Indeed.

Conspiracies

Simple explanations about things that happen are sometimes not enough for people. This, according to writer Vicki Santillano, in an article appearing in the Chicago Sun-Times[1], is why people latch on to conspiracy theories. From the John F. Kennedy assassination, to Elvis, the first moon landing, and Shakespeare, conspiracies have a life of their own, and can endure for quite some time.

At the time of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, religious leaders plotted a conspiracy theory that possibly lasted a generation. They told the soldiers guarding Jesus’ tomb to say that Jesus’ disciples had stolen the body, so that they could say Jesus rose from the dead (Matthew 28:11-15). But that theory has not endured, because the overwhelming evidence demonstrates that Jesus did rise from the dead, and later ascended into heaven.

Conspiracy theories are comfort food for people looking for some deeper meaning, a scientific explanation. Disbelieving the reports they get about events that occur, they comfort themselves with the knowledge that there is a different, darker, more sinister explanation. To say that a UFO (piloted by aliens from beyond the earth) crashed near Roswell, New Mexico in 1947 can explain things like wondrous inventions and unexplained phenomena in the sky.

But Jesus came to earth, lived among us, died, rose and ascended, all as part of God’s “conspiracy theory of one,” that there is one way to the Father, and we are blessed to have faith in the One who has come for all people.

[1] “Vicki Santillo, a writer for the online women’s magazine "Divine Caroline," lives in San Francisco. Her article was reprinted in the Chicago Sun-Times, Saturday, May 30, 2009.

Dreams and Mom

Dreams and Mom

Recently I had a dream about my mom. She had decorated the house for Christmas—this was a hard task because she was “getting on in years” and it must have been difficult for her. When I told her I wished she had asked for help, she merely smiled and said she was glad to do it.

Then I found a quote in a Neil Steinberg column in the Chicago Sun-Times. He was doing a review of the recent biography Losing Mum and Pup, written by accomplished humorist writer Christopher Buckley about his famous parents, William F. Buckley and Patricia Taylor Buckley. The quote reads: “Our parents help us, then we help them. We begin as their dream, the poet said, then they become ours.”[1]

Mom would be 91 this coming June 14. She’s been gone nearly sixteen years, and I still miss her. We used to joke about people putting out their American flags on Flag Day, her birthday. This year on her birthday, I think I’ll lower my flag to half-staff for a moment and say a prayer of thanksgiving for my mother.
[1] Neil Steinberg, Chicago Sun-Times, May 18, 2009, page 22.

Test Posting

Test Posting