Dad

Grace

February 16, 2017 0Comment

One of my most vivid memories of college is not so pleasant. It was the first semester of my freshman year, and I must say….. I was enjoying it. I had an Economics 130 at 0915AM on Monday, Wednesday, and every other Friday. Without my mom around to wake me up, my attendance for the 0915AM class was less than stellar. Nevertheless, by mid-semester, I had an “A” in the class. Then I missed a class “to catch up on my sleep”. Apparently, during that class, the Professor scheduled a test, and I eventually missed the test. I could have accepted my fate, took a zero for the test, and probably still made a “C” in the class. However, I decided to lie, and I lied in a very dishonorable, but college-like way. I told the Professor that I missed the test because my Grandmother died. The Professor became suspicious, and confronted me about my story. I’m not a very good liar, and I told her the truth.

She kicked me out of the class and gave me an “F” for the semester. The “F” was bad enough. I had never gotten an “F” in my life, but I was also on a scholarship, and I needed to maintain a 3.0 grade point average to keep the scholarship. That “F” brought my grade point average down to 2.92.

I needed to call my Dad, but it was the absolute last thing I wanted to do. But I worked up some courage, grabbed a handful of quarters, and found a pay phone (yes, it was that long ago). I called Dad, and he could tell that I was upset. Actually, in my 18 year old head, the world was about to end. I’ll never forget what he told me. He said, “I guess she’s (my Professor) never made a mistake”. With that little bit of reassurance, I knew everything would be okay.

I still have an “F” on my official college transcript to this day, but I didn’t lose my scholarship. I also learned that little white lies are not so white to some people. And while I can’t say that I’ve always been a model for honesty, since that day, I’ve done much better.

However, for me, the real lesson is not about honesty. It was about my Dad showing love and compassion, when I obviously didn’t deserve it. I guess the real lesson was about grace. My earthly father read a situation and responded with love and compassion. How much more love and compassion will our heavenly Father respond with, if we take our problems to Him?

Uncategorized

Thanks, Mom and Dad

March 31, 2014 3Comments

I recently took a class called “How to Argue so Your Spouse Will Listen”. Although revised somewhat by our local church, the material was written by Dr. Sharon Morris May. It is a superb class with solid advice. During one portion of the class, I was asked to identify emotions that I felt as a child. The purpose of the exercise was to find any insecurities that may have originated during childhood, via my parents. There was a 23 item checklist of negative emotions that included some of the following 1) not seen, 2) no one will be there for me, 3) rejected, 4) not wanted or desired, 5) controlled, etc. Other people in my group were marking almost of the these negative emotions. I could not mark any, not even one.

Now, do not get me wrong. My parents will be the first to admit it. They were not perfect. In fact, they divorced when I was 18 years old. However, I have never, in my life, held any resentment towards them. They raised me the best way that they knew how. And I will always be grateful. I love you guys very much.

My Mom was fantastic. She kept the meals cooked and the house cleaned. In fact, everyday that I came home from school, she had something ready to eat. My Dad was great too. Even though he worked all the time while I was growing up, I never held it against him (in Eastern Kentucky, if you had a job at all, you felt lucky). He HAD to work all those hours. He worked so much, he asked my uncle to take me fishing one time. We went to the Dogwood Valley Pay Lake. We had a blast. As I got older, Dad’s work schedule got a little better. From 1986 until about 2008, Dad and I hunted together every deer season. I started hunting with my son in 2009 or Dad and I would still be hunting together.

I could write for days about my parents, but I want to be sensitive to people who did not have good parents. There are plenty of bad parents out there. Actually, I think there should be an application process to have a kid…… You know, the Bible promises us a just, loving, and wonderful heavenly father. I understand that, for some people, this is a hollow promise. Maybe your father was so bad that you do not want any part of another father. If that is true, I am very sorry. I know what it is like to have a good earthly father, and I can only imagine what my heavenly father is like.

Hold onto the hope of wonderful heavenly father, it will be worth the wait. In fact, I will discuss attributes of our heavenly father in my next post.

Grace

Thanks, Mom and Dad

You Missed

Intersection of this Life and the next Life

Child-Like

Inverse Hypocrisy

Spread it out before the Lord