When There Is No One Left To Thank

I have thought about three men a lot lately, Robert Claggett Brown Jr., Uncle Ken, and a man who I don’t know his name.  They are all three relations to my wife.  The first is her father, the second two uncles.  The one I don’t recall his name was a fighter pilot in WW II and was shot down and killed over Belgium.  His parents never got to visit his grave.  Once on a trip to Europe Betty and I did and placed flowers on the cross marking his grave.  The second one, Uncle Ken, was a B-27 pilot and was shot down over Germany and captured, exposed to unbelievable hardships and spent the remainder of the war as a prisoner.  I visited a few times with this man, fairly steeped in the aged vices of hardness.  I liked him deeply!  Betty’s father, Robert Claggett Brown Jr. fought up the islands of the South Pacific ending up in Hiroshima Japan.  I spent many a day sitting alone with Bob, listening to him unload his memories of those fateful years of his life.  He liked me and for that I faithful love him. All these men are dead now and every year I have such a longing to thank someone for their sacrifice for me and mine—there’s just no one left to thank. 

Betty's father, Robert Claggett Brown, Jr.
I carry this picture in my briefcase.  

Binocular Prayer

Perfect eyes would be eyes that if they could see something they could see it in perfect clarity.  Binoculars are a good underlining of the verse, “Now we see imperfectly...” Oh, someday we will be able to see perfectly everything we see.

PS:  Looking at wildlife across the river at Fair Haven.

a Better Standard Being

Dawn comes again like a balm of hope, promising the great Do Over.  I wonder when that first day was complete if God had more in mind our need to try again than to create time and space.  I think of all the things we need to try again, our government, our schools, our virtues, our forgiveness; if the truth be known—mostly just try again at being, if being better is the goal.  Being better has lost its appeal to most of us, proving we are better seems to be the norm, or I guess it is more proving the other lesser better than me.  It all seems to come from using “me” as the standard, the bar by which I measure all others.  What is needed is a Better Standard Being!  Oh, how brilliant God is.

 

Where Should God Wait For You?

I spent time with a fox pup this morning, him as silent as a fox and me trying to be.  He never knew I watched him or the great joy he provided my quiet time or the great praise he invoked for his and my Maker.  A back porch is a sanctuary if you make it so and everyone should have a sanctuary—lets God know where to wait for you in the morning.

Extravagance

Extravagance: spending much more than is necessary or wise; excessively high; exceeding the bounds of reason; going beyond what is deserved or justifiable. 

I have studied that word all week as it relates to the women pouring an entire bottle of perfume, costing a year’s wages, on Jesus’ head.  I will have to admit I have struggled with this idea, what an extravagant act of love.  I like it when Betty is extravagant towards me like taking me to Ireland last year for my birthday.  But that wasn’t my struggle.  My struggle was how to be extravagant toward Jesus like this woman, especially in light of how extravagant He is toward me. There is the ultimate, His dying for me but also Betty, sunshine, and rain come to mind and fire and grandbabies and love being inside of me and sugar and hot bread and the color blue and Hawaii and mountains, puppies and dryer sheets—the list could go on, hearing, tasting…Extravagant: exceeding the bounds of reason.  It’s not like God loves me as much as it seems He is enamored with me.  So the issue this week has been how can I do this for Him like the women with the perfume?  Not, how I can do it for others but how can I do it for Him???  I believe the first way is to spend time with Him when it is just me alone, to always make those alone times, when my list of “to-dos” is off the chart, to still make sure I have the most time to just sit and be with Him.  Out of that grows other ways but only out of that.  That time seems to be the key!!! 

A circle is an extravagant gift from God; if you had thought
it up and then shared it you would be disappointed if
no one said thank you!