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A FATHER’S BLESSING by Morgan Cryar (a Christian music artist) from Decision magazine. From Stories for a Man’s Heart, P 240. Compiled by Alice Gray
Many a morning as a child I stumbled through the darkness to our family’s truck, fell back to sleep, then was awakened by the sound of the truck sputtering to a halt in the Louisiana woods. I can remember, even when I was too young to dress myself, climbing out of that truck alongside my dad - the most important person in my life at the time - and stepping into the gray, early morning light to hunt squirrels or deer.
One morning 10 years ago I was once again headed for the woods to hunt with Dad. But this time I was grown, with a family of my own. I had been touring for months and had promised to make a trip from our home in Nashville, Tennessee, to the swamps outside Lake Charles, Louisiana, where I had grown up. Though I didn’t know it, this would be no ordinary morning. It was the morning that I would find out that Dad approved. This morning he would give me his blessing.
When we got into Dad’s old truck and he turned the ignition key, music began to pour from a cassette in the tape deck. I knew the music well and was surprised to hear it in Dad’s truck. It was my most recent recording, blaring into the morning stillness! I couldn’t help myself; I said, "I didn’t know you even had this. Do you listen to it?"
His answer amazed me. "It’s the only thing I listen to." I glanced around, and sure enough, it was the only cassette in his truck. I was dumbstruck! He said, "This is my favorite," referring to the song playing at the time. I let his words sink in as he turned down the volume to match the morning.
We drove in silence down the road toward the hunting spot, and I wondered at what had just happened. It seems now like such a small thing - a few spoken words. But there seemed to be something different in the air. I sat taller in my seat. I looked at my dad out of the corner of my eye and thought back to two turning points in our relationship.
One turning point happened while I was in college. I remembered having it dawn on me that I had never heard my dad say that he loved me. I knew that he did, but I couldn’t remember having heard him say so. That was something my dad just didn’t do. For some reason it became important to me that I hear those words from his own lips. I knew, however, that he would never initiate it. So that summer, as I drove home from college, I determined to "force his hand" by telling him first that I loved him. Then he’d have to say it back.
It would be simple. Just three little words. I anticipated a glorious new openness once I came home and said, "I love you, Dad," and then he would respond.
But simple is not always easy. The first day came and went, and I thought, "I have to tell him tomorrow!" The next day came and went. Then the next, and the next. Then 12 weeks passed, and it was the last day of my summer break. I was frustrated at not having said those three little words to my dad.
"My little, beat-up car was packed and sitting on the gravel driveway. I promised myself that I would not start the engine until the deed was done. To someone with an emotionally open relationship with his own father, this may all seem a bit silly, but to me it was serious business. My palms were wet and my throat was dry. My knees grew weak as departure time came.
It had been a good summer visit. There was a general sadness in the house because I was headed back to school across the state. Finally I could wait no longer. I hugged my mom, my brother and my sister good-bye, and went back to find my dad.
I walked up to him, looked him in the eyes and said, "I love you, Dad." He smiled a half smile, put his arms around me and said what I needed to hear: "I love you too, son."
It seemed as though a thousand volts of electricity were in the air as we hugged each other (another thing that hasn’t happened since I was a small child). It was such a little thing, but it changed everything!
From that point on, all of our conversations were signed off with: "I love you, Dad." "I love you too, son." It became commonplace to embrace when we greeted each other and when we parted. As plain as it sounds, it resulted in a new sweetness between my dad and me. The memory of it came back to me in the truck that morning on the way to the woods.
The other turning point came after college. I remembered that I had learned at a seminar about clearing my conscience with those whom I had wronged. This was entirely new to me - admitting guilt and receiving forgiveness from those I had offended.
Part of the process was to ask God to show me anyone and everyone with whom I needed to clear my conscience. Sure enough, at the top of the list was Dad.
So I sat down with my dad and started first with the worst things that I had done. I proceeded from there to the least serious offenses. I confessed everything that I knew had hurt him, even from my childhood. Then I simply asked, "Dad, will you forgive me?"
Just as I had expected, Dad was embarrassed and tried to shrug it off: "Aw, it’s all right, son."
I said, "It will mean a lot to me if you will forgive me." He looked right at me and said, "It has already been forgiven."
That was his way of saying that he had not held a grudge. And once again, everything changed. From that moment Dad treated me with new respect. I hadn’t anticipated it, but he also began to treat me like an adult - like a friend.
In the stillness of the morning, on the way to the woods, these things floated through my memory, and I rested in my dad’s approval of my calling, my work, my music.
I had no way of knowing just how precious his blessing would become to me. One short week later, after my family and I had driven back to Nashville, I received the telephone call from my brother, Tommy, telling me that Dad had walked out onto the porch and had died of a heart attack. He had been young and healthy - only 49 years old. It was my darkest day.
Though my family and I tasted intense grief, I still had much for which to be grateful. I had enjoyed 30 years with my dad - some of them as his friend. He had given me a strong enough start that I knew I could meet the challenge of rearing my own children, including my son who was born on Father’s Day six years later.
Even though my dad is gone, in the wee hours of that morning on the way to the woods, he had given me something of great value to pass along - a father’s blessing.
CHOOSING COURAGE; FINDING PEACE
By Steve Goodier
http://www.LifeSupportSystem.com
"Do you know what my son James dreamed about last night?" a friend
asked me. "He dreamed about YOU," she went on.
"James told me this morning that in his dream he was being chased by
King Kong. Then he met you. I asked him if Mr. Goodier helped him. He
said, ’No! He was hiding in the bushes with me while the Boy Scouts
were beating King Kong with sticks.’"
Since I wasn’t much help, thank goodness for the Boy Scouts!
Are you courageous? For most people, courage has little to do with
fighting imaginary monsters in nighttime sleep. It has more to do with
fighting those monsters of real life that keep us up at night. Real
courage is always found in everyday living. In fact, it is the one
ingredient that, when present in a life, will ultimately bring peace.
Babe Didrikson Zaharias, the great golfer, died of cancer. Her husband
stood at her bedside weeping shortly before she passed on. Babe said
to him, "Now, Honey, don’t take on so. While I’ve been in he hospital,
I have learned one thing. A moment of happiness is a lifetime, and I
have had a lot of happiness. I have had a lot of it."
Babe found courage to meet two of life’s universal monsters -- fear of
death and fear of the unknown. She chose to remember all that life had
given her rather than what was being taken away. She decided to meet
those monsters equipped with gratitude and a smile.
Babe chose courage. But what she actually found was peace.
You may be stronger than you think! Your real-life monsters can keep
you awake at night, or you can allow them to awaken strength and
power within you. It’s a matter of choosing courage -- and finding
peace.
The sun was shining so bright, so the turtle pulled over to take a nap.
While he was napping, a snail came creeping ever so slowly, and saw a big bump.
The snail very slowly climbed up on the back of the turtle, the snail rested on top of the turtle.
Later the turtle was awaken and started his journey.
In great excitement the snail started screaming, "WHEEEEE, WHEEEEEE!"
From the snails perspective this was the most exciting, fastest experience of his whole life.
The snail lost his breath with all the speed?
Listen to this news clipping. “Gambling, robbery, sexual immorality, and violence is prevalent. Half of all children are born out of wedlock; purity and fidelity to the marriage vow are sneered out of fashion. Corruption in politics is rampant. The world is broken.” This clipping is from 1694.
It was in this time that John Wesley began preaching to the poor, a message of new life through the free grace of Christ. His message was one of assurance and the power of the Spirit. He taught that while sin remained it could not reign. In addition to a great preacher Wesley was an organizer, and those who accepted Jesus as Lord where put into bands. In these bands people strived to put scripture into practice and they called it holiness. Wesley had a great deal of observers, but his goal was to bring them to obedience of Christ<...
In Chapter 5 Randy CLarks book Evangelism Unleashed he sites examples of “Power Evangelism” from the great American Revivals:
1. The Second Great Awakening and the Cane Ridge Revival:
a. He states, “As in the First Great Awakening, power encounters such as falling, shaking, groaning, shouting, deliverances from demons, and falling under trances were common. The Cane Ridge meetings had the outbreak of another phenomenon, what is commonly called ‘the jerks’” (31).
b. He adds this thought to about other revivals, “When several Southern Baptist seminary professors of evangelism were asked by phone, “What was the greatest revival in Baptist history?” the response was unanimously, “The Shantung revival.” Healing, falling (or slain in the Spirit), electricity, laughing in the Spirit, even raising the dead are recorded in “The Shantung revival.” This was a revival built upon the desire that one had truly been “Born Again” even though some of the missionaries realized that they hadn’t, and the desire to be baptized in the Holy Spirit” (32).
Revival came to north China in 1932 in answer to several years of prayer. At one point, Norwegian missionary Maria Monsen wondered what good her praying could do. She longed to see God’s river of life flood spiritually dry China. Then she realized that the mighty Yangtze River began when the tiny drops of rain came together in the top of the mountains. Maria sought a prayer partner who would join her in claiming the promise "that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven" (Mt. 18:19). When she finally found someone she exclaimed, "The awakening has begun Two of us have agreed" The rain drops of revival prayer were coming together. In November of 1930 Maria announced, "A great revival is coming soon and it will begin in the North China Mission." She was convinced that the missionaries had fulfilled the conditions for revival found in 2 Chron 7:14. In 1932 about forty Christians were meeting in a town in North China for prayer four times a day beginning at 5:00 a.m. Believers were convicted of sin. Two men repented of hating each other. Love was strong and deep. Joy abounded. When revival came more people were born again than in any previous year in North China. One missionary estimated that 3,000 people came to Christ in his town. Pastors, missionaries, and Bible women experienced a deeper Christian life than they had ever known before. A spirit of prayer was poured out on the church. People loved to pray. Many times prayer meetings lasted two or three hours. The prayers were short, fervent, and sometimes tearful. Children’s prayers led to the salvation of their parents and teachers.
Princeton.edu also states, “The Great Awakening, the series of religious revivals that swept the English colonies in America in the eighteenth century. The Great Awakening had other important social and political consequences, too. It brought an upsurge in missionary activities among the Indians and the first important movement against slavery. Of special importance for Princeton, it increased opposition to the Anglican Church and the royal officials who supported it, and created a democratic spirit in religion that was allied to the insistence on political home rule that eventually brought independence from Britain.”
Whoever Takes the Son
Many years ago, there was a very wealthy man who shared a passion for art collecting with his son. They had priceless works adorning the walls of their family estate.
One day, the nation was at war and the young man left to serve his country. After only a few short weeks, his father received a telegram. His son had died. Distraught and lonely, the old man faced the upcoming Christmas holidays with sadness. The joy of the season had vanished with the death of his son.
On Christmas morning, a knock on the door awakened the depressed old man. He opened the door and a soldier, with a large package in his hands greeted him, “I was a friend of your son. I was the one he was rescuing when he died. May I come in for a few moments? I have something to show you.”
The soldier mentioned that he was an artist and then gave the old man the package. It was a portrait of the man’s son. Though the world would never consider it the work of a genius, the painting featured the young man’s face in striking detail. Overcome with emotion, the man hung the portrait over the fireplace, pushing aside millions of dollars worth of art.
His task completed, the old man sat in his chair and spent Christmas gazing at the gift he had been given. The painting of his son soon became his most prized possession, far eclipsing any interest in the pieces of art for which museums around the world clamoured.
Half a year later, the old man died. The art world waited with anticipation for the upcoming auction. According to the will of the old man, all the art works would be auctioned on Christmas Day, the day he had received the greatest gift.
The day soon arrived and art collectors from around the world gathered to bid on some of the world’s most spectacular paintings. Dreams would be fulfilled that day.
The auction began with a painting that was not on anyone’s museum list. It was the painting of the man’s son. The auctioneer asked for an opening bid, but the room was silent. “Who will open the bidding with $100?” No one spoke. Finally someone said, “Who cares about that painting. It’s just a picture of his son. Let’s move on to the good stuff.”
The auctioneer responded, “No, we have to sell this one first. Now, who will take the son?” Finally, a neighbour of the old man offered $50 dollars....
The 100-Year Prayer Meeting
In 1722, Count Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf, troubled by the suffering of Christian exiles from Bohemia and Moravia, allowed them to establish a community on his estate in Germany. The center became known as Herrnhut, meaning “Under the Lord’s Watch.” It grew quickly, and so did its appreciation for the power of prayer.
On August 27, 1727, twenty-four men and twenty-four women covenanted to spend an hour each day in scheduled prayer, praying in sequence around the clock. Soon others joined the prayer chain. More signed on, then others still. Days passed, then months. Unceasing prayer rose to God twenty-four-hours a day as someone—at least one—was engaged in intercessory prayer each hour of every day. The intercessors met weekly for encouragement and to read letters and messages from their brothers in different places, giving them specific needs to pray about. A decade passed, the prayer chain continuing nonstop. Then another decade. It was a prayer meeting that lasted over one hundred years.
Undoubtedly this prayer chain helped birth Protestant missions. Six months into it, Zinzendorf, twenty-seven, suggested the possibility of attempting to reach others for Christ in the West Indies, Greenland, Turkey, and Lapland. Twenty-six Moravians stepped forward the next day to volunteer. The first missionaries, Leonard Dober and David Nitschmann, were commissioned during an unforgettable service on August 18, 1732, during which one hundred hymns were sung. The two men reached the West Indies in December of that year, beginning the “Golden Decade” of Moravian Missions, 1732–1742. During the first two years, twenty-two missionaries perished and two more were imprisoned, but others took their places. In all, seventy Moravian missionaries flowed from the six hundred inhabitants of Herrnhut, a feat unparalleled in missionary history.
By the time William Carey became the “Father of Modern Missions” over three hundred Moravian missionaries had already gone to the ends of the earth. And that’s not all. The Moravian fervor sparked the conversions of John and Charles Wesley and indirectly ignited the Great Awakening that swept through Europe and America, sweeping thousands into the kingdom. The prayer meeting lasted one hundred years. The results will last for eternity.
(Robert J. Morgan, On This Day (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1997), August 27.)
Information below taken from J.C. Willke’s book ABORTION AND SLAVERY:
Slavery:
Dred Scott 1857
7-2 Decision
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that black people were not legal persons, therefore they had no legal rights.
They were the property of the owner. They could choose to sell, buy or even kill them.
Abolitionist should not impose morality on a slave owner
Slavery is legal
Abortion:
Roe vs, Wade 1973
7-2 Decision
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the unborn fetuses were not legal persons, therefore they had no rights.
They were henceforth, to be legally the property of the owner, the mother.
The owner the mother could chose to keep them or kill them.
Pro-lifers should not impose morality on a mother.
Abortion is legal
RESPONSE TO DECISIONS
The response of the Abolitionists was, "The ruling was outrageous", they said it was immoral and discriminated against an entire class of living Americans solely on the basis of skin color.
The response of Pro-lifers was "The ruling was outrageous," they said. It was immoral and discriminated against an entire class of living Americans solely on the basis of age (too young) and place of residence (still living in the womb).
DEHUMANIZATION
Courts ruled that a slave was biologically inferior and only considered three-fifths of a person. Courts ruled an unborn baby is a fetus or mass of tissue, an embryo not a person.
ECONOMICS
Why keep slaves?
Money was the bottom line reason.
Slaves’ worth – their life had monetary value to the plantation owner and their life was a tax revenue for the US government.
Why keep doing abortions?
Money is the bottom line.
Reduced social costs to the government and to the possible parents is a main reason it is legalized.
It is also a profitable business for the Doctors performing abortions - it’s a $400 million dollar a year business.
This business creates tax revenue for US government.
RESPONSES BY CHURCH
"It is shocking public policy to permit men to commit adultery and then enslave their own children, and a strange doctrine of the Christian Church that forbids ministries to condemn sin simply because it is authorized by the government." (Barrow)
“It is shocking public policy to permit men and women to commit adultery and then kill their own children, and a strange doctrine of some churches that forbids ministers to condemn sin simply because it is authorized by the government."
REVIVAL THE KEY
In 1825, a great Revival in western New York took place.
Charles Gradison Finney blazed a path with a message of salvation, repentance, and forgiveness of sins.
This Christian revival gave the anti-slavery movement an uncounted number of devoted apostles.
The first major group to oppose slavery, came from converts of Finney and his college in Oberline.
These leaders emerged - Tappan, Levitt, Wright, Berney, Stanton - devoted Christians, and men and women of exemplary character.
Revival in 2008!
I have a vision for revival! We need another Great Awakening in America to open the eyes of the deceived and the blind that will call them to repentance.
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