another bright light

today is deborah's birthday and our daughter, jessica, and her 22 month old son, jay, came to visit from ohio for the weekend. while deb, jessica, and debs' mom went out for a day of pampering, jay and i went to fort discovery to have some fun. i had the best time just watching little jay say "hi" to all the kids - he is very social. he especially liked playing in the water area and getting soaked. what a joy! i hope deborah is having as great a birthday as i am.

my valentine

i shot this photo this morning of the roses i got for my valentine. when i saw these i knew i wanted them for her. they represent what she means to me - beauty and love. what i also got in this photo was God's glory in the rays of sunlight penetrating the morning sky. valentine's day is "officially" tomorrow. why do we have an official day designated for love? why don't we celebrate love everyday? i want to wake up in the mornings with immense feelings of love for my Savior but i would be lying if i said i did. usually i just struggle to get out of bed and into the kitchen to start the coffee maker. why is the coffee maker a stronger feeling of need in me than my Maker every morning? i am reading the book "the shack" by william young (no relation). it is an interesting look at our lives and loves in relation to God, our father, Christ, our Savior, and the Holy Spirit, our daily bread. if you have a history of church going at all, you have a knowledge of the Trinity but what does that mean to our daily life? what does my love for God look like in my daily life? why don't i just "get it"? i tell myself that this is a work in progress and we all have our own identity in Christ and life around us. we all have a different path with different desires. but as paul says in 1 corinthians 13 verse 7, "it always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." those words from paul sum up so much. love is my valentine and it is beautiful.

love is...

"love is patient, love is kind. it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. it is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs." 1 corinthians 13:4-5. sharing is love and recently i have been following a story of love shared. it is a story of love that i am not familiar with but that has pierced my heart. this story is being told in a blog titled "i see love" written by jill smith who works with my wife. jill is pregnant with her fourth child, a daughter named lily. lily has been diagnosed with trisomy 18 sometimes known as edwards syndrome which has an extremely high mortality rate. to me the story is not about life or death, it is about love. i urge you to read the story of lily, here is a link to jill's blog: http://iseeloveblog.blogspot.com/

what is love?

if you are as old as i am you probably remember the 1970 movie "love story" starring ryan o'neal and ali macgraw. a famous phrase arose to become one of the top 20 movie quotes of all-time, "love means never having to say you're sorry". a story of young love against parental wishes and ending in death of a loved one. while it sounded pretty cheesy back then, there is a certain reality to that phrase. unconditional love requires no apologies does it? when we makes mistakes, the love God gives forgives without hesitation, without explanation, without consideration - it just does. this thing called love is complicated yet simple. we humans probably make it more difficult than it is meant to be. what is love?

make me smile

i received a call this morning from my daughter jessica. i missed the call but returned it about forty minutes later. she had called because her son, our grandson, jay wanted to say hi to his grampy, "be be" as he calls me. man does that make me smile. the simple love of a child. the chicago song, "make me smile" opens with this verse,
"Children play in the park, they don't know
I'm alone in the dark, even though
Time and time again I see your face smiling inside."
children don't know the dark side of life. they know love, food and a good dry diaper. simple. and they know how to make you smile. thanks jay