Papa's Passing

 Sunday morning at 4:51 my Papa died at age 85.

I'm sure that at 4:51 Eastern Daylight Saving Time my Papa heard, "Well done good and faithful servant.  Come enter your Master's happiness." (Matthew 25:21).

How do you put into words the life of a good man?  How do you express to others all that he meant and all that he was?  I'm confident that I cannot meet the task, but I do want to say a few things.

Papa was a grandPARENT.  After we moved back to Iowa when I was in 6th grade I rode the bus to his acreage nearly every day.  He and Mimi took care of my brother, sister and I.  They fed us, helped us with homework and let us treat their home as our home.  They not only took care of us, but they also had foster-children.  They had as many as five at one time, if I remember correctly.  Three of them became my cousins.  So, my grandparents took care of a number of kids each day after school and fed a small army at supper as even my dad would stay after they reassured him that he couldn't be divorced from the family.

It's not often you get to watch your grandparents parent.  But I watched my Papa have a sternness when necessary and gentleness as his default mode.  It was rare to hear him raise his voice but the maybe 5'8" man seemed a great bear to us kids on the rare occasion he needed to.  I remember the first time I watched him parent.  I had not moved back to Iowa but was spending time with them and one of their many favorite foster-children at Hardee's.  The tween boy had a meltdown in the car and I watched how my Papa responded.  Little did I know I would steal that move about 23 years later with my own foster-son.

My Papa was a rock of peace in a sea of chaos.  There's no shortage of drama at times in the family and I can't recall a time when Papa was the source of it.  He was always so reasonable, as I saw it.  He was someone no one could have a quarrel with.  

Papa served his little, country church.  For years in his office he balanced the church checkbook.  He was always the one cheerleading the family out the door to get to service on time.  I enjoyed going to Wednesday night prayer meetings alongside him when I got the chance.  Papa was a faithful churchman.

The cousins might be surprised by this, but I think Papa tricked us all.  "His hair was never to be touched.  No one got to mess with his hair and the contents of his breast pocket protector but me." That's the sentence we all say.  Somehow a score of us probably all believe that he had a soft spot for us and only we got to touch that immaculate hair of his as a young child.  I'm pretty sure we all did and that Papa just loved babies, especially his many grand and great-grandchildren.

From mindless games of Trouble to rides on the lawnmower or tractor, he gave us fun memories as kids.  We all learned that someone can be awoken by the turning of the channel from the news.  We all learned a little about putting hay in the barn.  We all knew that Papa had a special love for us.

And boy was he funny.  I always loved when my Uncle Brad would come.  Brad could get Papa laughing so hard.  I loved Thanksgivings with Uncle Brad because I knew Papa would belt that rich laugh as he enjoyed his son's clowning.  I'm glad those two are back together.  I hope there are those kind of tears in Heaven from rehearsing of old Tim Conway bits.

Papa instilled some great qualities in me as he was not only was my grandpa but helped raise me in some of my most important years.  When the chaos of divorce entered my young life, my Papa was a steady rock of a man.  He's the only one of my grandparents to see my children.  I'm glad that all three of my kids were placed in his lap.  

There are no goodbyes for Christians; only see you laters.  I have more thoughts coming about him but will save those for myself.  That's the beauty of a memory.  So, for now I say, "See you later" and I'll miss you today.

When God Feels Small

 I have too low of a view of God.

That said, I don't think I will ever lift my view of God as high as I should.  I will always fall short of the infinite heights of His glory, but I often have a lower view of God than I had a week prior.  Meaning, I exalt God in my mind's eye and then days or minutes later shrink God again.

"What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us."

-A.W. Tozer The Knowledge of the Holy

If you're like me, you also need to have more appropriate thoughts about God.  If you're like me, you would live entirely more holy if you more rightly thought of God.  If you're like me, you would have a deeper appreciation of your salvation and adoption if you had a more accurate understanding of our Father who art in Heaven.

There isn't a sin or an anxiety that can't be traced back to a low view of God.  

So, how can we lift our view of God?  How can we magnify Him like a telescope that take gargantuan figures and makes them look a little more like the size they are? 

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Genesis 1:1

This opening verse of the Bible is what has helped me lift my view of God recently.  Let me show you three ways that my view of God has been exalted in through this one verse.

1) The entire Bible is about God.

The Bible is, primarily, the means God has used to specially reveal Himself to us.  The Bible certainly helps us live better lives, but it is first and foremost about God.  "In the beginning God..." This verse sets up the main character of Scripture.  This opening verse reminded me that I need to look for who God says He is in His Word.  I often read the Bible utilitarianly.  I read it to get something of use out of it; but it's first about who my God is.  Will the knowledge of God prove useful?  Yes, the fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight (Proverbs 9:10).  But my eyes must be looking outward and upward rather than simply inward when I read the whole Bible.

2) God is without beginning.

"In the beginning God..." At the beginning of what?  All things.  Meaning that before ALL things began God was there.  God is eternal in both directions.  After we have lived for an eternity (if that were possible) God would still be an eternity older than we are.  If you just breezed by that sentence, turn back and slowly read it again and give it a thought.  God is eternally older than all.  God has always been and will always be.  My little brain can sort of begin to grasp an eternal thing one way, but my brain starts to hurt when I try to make eternity a two way street.  If this fails to lift your view of God, I'm at a loss for what will.

3) God created the heavens and the earth.

Look at your children and think about how they started as one cell.  Think about how one cell became all you see in them.  That once one cell can now ask you a ton of questions.  Isn't that wild?  Or think about the complexity of the human eye.  God designed it and holds it together.  

It's Fall.  So, take a look at the beauty of this season.  Walk out in nature and let its beauty guide your mind to wonder at the One who created it all.  Isn't it amazing that the first thing God wanted us to know about Him is that He created the universe?  The first thing He wants us to do is look at all that we're surrounded by, heck, all that. we are, and wonder at how marvelous His creation is.  Let the orange, yellow and reds of the trees make you smile.  Let the videos of Hurricane Ian's destructive power fill you with fear.  Let the flying bird make you wonder.

We all need our view of God lifted.  We need to be enraptured by the scope and majesty and wisdom of our infinitely glorious God.  Take time now to spend five minutes thinking about one or two things that will take your view of God up the mental escalator.  Magnify God like a telescope to see Him a little more like He truly is today.