Yahoo! 2010, the Year of the Lord’s Favour!
My Passion
Ever been lost? In the woods with no compass unable to see the horizon or the sun. It’s scary but even scarier is losing your way. Everything around you is familiar; you have a home, family and friends, yet you don’t know where you are going or why you are doing what you are doing. It is horrible and painful. You can’t seem to put your hand to anything with true satisfaction.
There is a line from the movie, Chariots of Fire, where Charles Liddell says to his sister that when he runs he feels the Lord’s pleasure. The Lord’s pleasure will see you through every obstacle and hindrance, giving you endurance to succeed at the seemingly impossible and the completely mundane. It is a wonderful place to be. Much worse is to have had that experience and then seem to lose it. You can still do what you used to but the life is gone. You are going through the motions without any enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is a great word. Today it means intense and eager enjoyment, interest or approval. The word originates from the Greek and means possessed by a god, inspired. Life without God’s inspiration is so desperate and unfulfilling like a shell with no yoke, a tree with no fruit, Smarties without the blue ones.
I never knew how much I was a man inspired by a cause until I didn’t have one. Bonnie over the last 2 years has repeatedly said that the Lord wanted to use us to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to the fathers. (Malachi 4:6) I couldn’t get my heart into it. I wrestled with it. I didn’t want to become the parent guru. We had written a book on parenting which I think is really good stuff. Yet my passion and zeal was lacking. This summer we did vision/ministry planning that all indicated this was the way to go; yet I was dragging my feet.
Then it happened in the shower where so much of my revelation comes. The movie, The Patriot, came to mind. I thought about how the character played by Mel Gibson did not want to go to war but to stay home and protect his children. He saw nothing but pain in war and wanted no part of it. But his reluctance caused him to lose the very thing he was protecting. Two of his sons died in the war, his home was burned to the ground and his family was attacked. He had no choice. I felt like the Lord said, did I want that? Did I really think I could protect my family from the breakdown of society that was happening all around us? It was as if a veil was drawn back from my eyes and I could see the future if someone didn’t do something. What would my grandchildren face if I didn’t act now? What kind of a future would they have if things went on unabated as they were, if no one cared? Something dropped into my heart as I stood there. I must do something for the sake of my children and my children’s children. Suddenly my legacy became clear once again.
What can we do? We can but try, and with God’s help we will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to the fathers.
