Remarks for Friday, January 9, 2009

Remarks for Friday, January 9, 2009

It's Friday, but Sunday's coming
This Saturday morning our church is having a seminar on how to minister to children with special needs. I am proud of our elders for being willing to host this event. In our limited ministry to children with autism, mental retardation, and other special needs, I am aware of how much we need to learn as a church. I'm also mindful of the number of parents Tyler must hold who do not meet with God's people because they fill limited by a child with special needs. Who knows the good that we can accomplish, were we to become more equipped in this area.
For my part in our Sunday morning service, I plan to withdraw from the story of Elijah and the widow and I Kings 17. God, for sure, uses Elijah to go unto her and to minister to her and her son. However, the widow also ministers to Elijah by sharing with him what God gives her. I believe that it is the same way when we seek to serve children with special needs. Surely God can use us to bless them. Yet, I am very aware of how often they in turn bless us.
A Profound thought from Another Source
I read something interesting again this week from Donald Miller's book Searching for God Knows What. He was discussing the story of God creating Adam and Eve, and he pointed out that, more than likely, God created a number of years after Eve. According to Miller, there are between 10 million and 100 million different species of animals in the world. Now, we don't know for sure how many were available in the garden. But even if you severely reduced the amount of species, they're still had to be a whole bunch--perhaps in the thousands or even millions. Adam named all of them. This was a very lonely task, which probably took him years and maybe even decades.
Here is the point. God did not see Adam's loneliness and immediately seek to assuage it. Rather, even in paradise, God allowed Adam to experience the discipline of being without another close relationship with someone compatible with him--the discipline of loneliness.
This has tremendous ramifications. It knocks a hole in the mentality of God wants me to be happy all the time. It also makes me appreciate the discipline of being alone. In Adam's case, God was using a long time to prepare Adam for the beauty of the relationship that he would experience with Eve. I am sure God still uses times of aloneness today.
I must confess to you that I rarely think about my wife, Judy, dying before I die. The reason is simple. I want to block out that possibility from my mind. The thought has always brought me great fear. I cannot even imagine the pain and loneliness I would feel were Judy to die before me. I have often joked with her, with a serious message underneath, that I want to die first. However, in light of this interpretation of Genesis 1 and 2, I hope I can cultivate a trust in God that would allow me to accept the discipline of aloneness were I called to experience that on down that road.

PBS and Napoleon
I've been showing our girls the PBS special on Napoleon that I recorded a few years ago. It is good history and David McCullough does a masterful job narrating. Naturally, I was concerned about how I could encourage my girls to watch this program. All I had to do was show them the first five minutes and they were hooked. In this sequence, there is a stirring music as McCullough teases the listeners with tidbits of information concerning Napoleon's coronation. After that, and the girls were sold.
I do have a question though. I have been looking on the Internet, especially You Tube, for the source of this beautiful music. It sounds like an operatic choir singing a crescendo in the course along the lines of "Viva! Viva!" followed by Italian or Latin phrases. If anybody knows the title of this piece, I would appreciate you e-mailing it to me.

Florida versus Oklahoma
Yes I saw the game last night. I thought it was one of the best championship games of all time. I was pulling for Oklahoma to win because I thought it would make Texas look better, but that is the way things go. Tim Tebow was amazing as usual. I must confess though, while I truly admire Tebow for his Christian character, I don't have a great deal of affection for him. I respect him and I hold him up as an example, but he is not one of my favorite players. Maybe it's because I see him as a threat to Colt McCoy.
Incidentally, I love the game that Texas played Monday night against Ohio State. I believe that McCoy was every bit as phenomenal as Tebow was. I also hope that this will motivate McCoy and the rest of the Longhorns next football season.