AWKWARD!!!

So...for Christmas we invited my son and daughter-in-law, our family friend, and the kid's dad. So you have to understand with the divorce in progress, this was a kind of touchy situation and one that I really wanted to go well. I mean, it is about three weeks from the divorce being final so it was a little strained but it was actually going well.

Dawson decided to be "Santa" and read the tags and hand out the gifts. God bless phonics! He was doing well until he came to the gift I bought for Ed. Out of the mouth of our darling six year old came:

"Ga Ga...this is a gift from your old husband"

Now...what I normally due with awkward situations is laugh...and laugh....and laugh.....and that is exactly what Linz and I did...and we were the only ones laughing so I can only assume that either others had great control or they didn't hear anything. I will go with the second choice because my family is all about awkward situations, i.e.: falling in manholes, dispersing grandma's ashes only to have her fly everywhere with a big gust of wind... or drying the cat....IT WAS AN ACCIDENT FOLKS!

Bill and a Request for Prayer this Christmas!

I want to tell you a story. It is a true story about a guy named Bill.

Shy Bill

Bill was a very shy boy and didn't have a lot of friends in school. His early years did not involve a relationship with his dad due to long trips in the trucking industry.

Being so shy, he didn't have a lot of friends and as a teenager, he was too shy to ask a girl out. In high school, he finally mustered up the courage to approach a girl at her locker. When he asked her out, she slapped him across the face. His lack of relationship with his father and his parents marriage problems did not help his tendency to withdraw and be by himself to deal with life.

A first love

After high school, he worked for a friend up the alley from the house and there he found a trade in tool and die work. It was during this time he met his soon to be wife. They were married and lived in a very modest, low-rent apartment complex. They soon found their way to home ownership. His wife had severe diabetes and they had many medical bills due to her condition.

A new life

They finally learned that they were to have a baby. Their entire family was so excited as it would be the first grandchild on both sides. After showers and room preparation, they waited with excitement to the day for the C-Section as doctors felt with her diabetes, this might be the best for both mother and child. A week before the scheduled surgery, she felt that something was terribly wrong as the baby had stopped moving. An emergency delivery was decided upon. Sadly, the small little boy was still born and the mourning began.

Another try

Bill got a different job in the iron workers field and he did so well that he also taught the trade. She found out that once again they were expecting. They were so careful and cautious so that this child would make it. Alas, once again, at the six month stage, she went into premature labor and they did a C-Section only to find that the little girl had died one hour earlier. Once again they mourned.

Number three
After that, it was decided that possibly children were not in the plan for them but a surprise pregnancy and a finally successful delivery produced a healthy daughter. They joined a church and became teachers and leaders in the congregation. They did everything to help out. Bill really felt a calling and decided to take a mail order course with Jerry Falwell in Lynchburg Virginia studying the bible. He completed two years of study and was very intent to saving his family and leading them to a relationship with Jesus.

. Grief once again

A fourth pregnancy went very well that is until a week before the scheduled surgery. This time they felt they had identified the problem so they rushed her to surgery and a beautiful little boy was born. He was having a lot of problems and the doctors weren't sure that he would make it but Bill held tight to the little guy. Six hours later, the weaknesses and problems overtook the little guy and he passed away quietly and once again...this family buried an infant along side a brother and a sister.

The stranger

One Sunday the pastor of the church announced that there was a homeless man that turned to the church for help and he needed a place to live. Bill and his wife offered shelter to the man in their home. After a couple of months of the man trying to get back on his feet, Bill's wife announced that the guest in their home had become the target of her love and devotion and she left Bill taking his daughter with her. The daughter had severe learning disabilities and so Bill allowed his exwife to have the main custody through the divorce. Bill was alone and depressed and layed off the iron workers force due to no work in the area.

Not under her influence

He was alone for years and then his second wife came on the scene. She was very young and they knew each other for a very short time and then married. Shortly after the wedding, he discovered that she had habits that he knew nothing about. She was a drug user and after requests for her to stop and the fact that she refused to, he divorced her.

A wolf in sheep's clothing

Alone again, he started working at Notre Dame and secured housing for himself. It was many years later that he met her. She came into his life like a breath of fresh air. His entire family took to her and embraced their relationship. Bill was on top of the world. He lost a lot of weight and seemed happier then anyone had seen him. Due to the years of stress of being overweight, his knees simply gave out. He had a knee replacement and while in the hospital, a nurse came in with a sealed envelope. Inside was a confession that the woman that he married and his family embraced had fraudulently signed his name to several credit cards, run them to their max limits and was leaving for good only leaving behind her cat. She disappeared into thin air and could not be found so during the divorce it was determined that there was no way to prove that it was not his signature and that both names were on the accounts which made him responsible for the debt and the court and lawyer expenses.

The Sinking Ship

Deep in financial trouble, his depression and medical issues escalated including heart surgery, shoulder replacement, and deteriorating back discs. Too large to fit on x-ray tables due to weight restrictions and too much of a risk for back surgery he was soon unable to do his job, exercise, and he became depressed and withdrawn. His bills began to mount and he became more and more desperate to make ends meet and to stay in his rented home. After two years of trying to get a settlement from his employer, he is at the point of destitution sometimes not having anything in the house to eat. So extremely overweight, in pain, no hope of a decision by his last employer, and at the mercy of life.

A father's answered prayer

His 87 year old father still lives alone and every day, Bill drives over and refills his medication containers, helps him with household chores, shopping, and keeping him company. Life has dealt Bill an unbelievable life of challenges and heartache but at no time has he ever blamed God for any of it. Instead, he still trys to lead others to the Lord by sharing the Truth with them.

Reality

I spent some time with Bill today. His knowledge of the bible and the events within was astounding. Not only that but in his loneliness he created several cantatas using hours of music and narration done by himself. He is deep, gifted, and a fan of humanity.

Who is Bill

I know all this because Bill is my brother and we all love him very much. During this Christmas time of family and blessings, I ask that everyone that reads this say a prayer for Bill. A true heart and honest soul that has endured years of disappointment, stress, and heartache. May your thoughts and prayers join together and help Bill find a bit of happiness and peace of mind in 2008.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Beatle Revolution / Revolution for Jesus

'At the moment The Beatles are bigger than Jesus Christ. They're not building Jesus enough; they ought to do more.'

This is an excerpt from an interview about comments made by the famous foursome years ago when the Beatles first took music and the world by storm. Our church is doing a series of messages that is matched with lyrics made popular by the Beatles. Tonight......Revolution. After the music...I found myself drifting to this statement and to the present Christmas season and these are some of my thoughts.

Kohls invited me, JC Penney's invited me as well as Old Navy, Sears, Walmart, Meijer, Target, Martins, Kroger, K-Mart all on TV, Radio, and coupons, coupons, coupons. Not once did I see on TV or hear on the radio anything about an invite to get to know Jesus.

We get bombarded by the commercialism yet we complain and continue to buy, buy, buy, watch the commercials, get up at unearthly hours to save three dollars on a toaster, and heaven forbid someone should get in your way as you run over people getting to the over promised and under delivered electronic devices.

Do we stand up against what we so passionately complain about ? We smile and embrace each other on December 25th and the rest of the year we demonstrate impatience, belittling remarks, knowing the rules and feeling it is ok to break them at the expense of someone else.

So what John was trying to say when the Beatle insanity started was that the world should be more insane about Jesus and Heaven instead of "stuff".

Christians need to start a revolution and make it as much of a well known message as the two for one sale at the local department store. We need to be just as driven to get up and save our souls as we are to save that three dollars on a stupid toaster. When asked "what's in your wallet", maybe we should ask back, "what is your plan for eternity?".

My brother had a wonderful idea. He said that Christmas should be a two day holiday. The first day should be the day you attend church, reflect, pray and then get together with your family and friends on the second. This way, we are putting Christ first and then allowing the other traditions to follow the most important reason for the season.

May you find Christ in Christmas this season.

Understanding the Season of Giving

Just when I think I can't be surprised or amazed by my grandson, Dawson says or does something that ignites my heart, challenges my thoughts, and magnifies my love for that little guy.

Linz was getting ready to go out so Dawson and I put a puzzle together while she finished with those finishing touches and as she passed by Dawson on the floor, he said: "Mommy, you look beautiful". What a wonderful thing for a mom to hear from the little guy in her life. Linz said her goodnights and left so Dawson and I finished up watching Frosty and without a reminder, he cut the wrapping paper and wrapped his Christmas party gift for tomorrow and put it by the door just as his mom had asked.

He asked me to read to him so I let him pick two books. One was the "night before Christmas" which he so enjoys trying to say the words along with me as I read and the other one was one "santa" had brought him last year about the comparison of Santa and Jesus and how they both love children and do wonderful things.

I had just finished reading and Dawson said he has Santa all figured out. Gulping, I was expecting some very touchy questions that I didn't want to be the one to answer. Instead, he layed back down and put his hands behind his head and staring up at the ceiling said that because Jesus is so good and Santa is too, that "Santa must really be Jesus".

His heart is amazing as a child.....stay tuned for his heart as a man.