January 26, 1978, a winter storm nicknamed “White Hurricane” hit the city of Cleveland and surrounding areas with violent fury: 80 mile an hour winds, semi-trailer trucks stuck in snowdrifts lining the highway, and power outages across the city-wide grid. Luckily, before the center of the storm hit, the weather service gave the Cleveland residents ample warning to be prepared for a “big one.” Students were told in the afternoon on the 25th to prepare for the possibly of a whole week off of snow days. At the grade school I was attending, St. Raphael’s Catholic School, Sister Joan of Arc made sure each student had enough work to keep them busy for a whole week. That meant we had to lug home all four of our heavy textbooks: grammar, mathematics, social studies, and science. For a fourth grader, it was like carrying a mountain. (Yes, Joan of Arc was actually her name; and I still am convinced the rumor about her is true: like her namesake she hid a deadly medieval sword under her desk to have on hand when needed to ensure order in the classroom) At 3:20 the first afternoon school bell rang out - - all walkers and bike riders were now free to venture out in the blanket of white already pouring out of the ominous gray sky. My two sisters and I met at our normal spot on the sidewalk to begin making the routine trek home. We were bundled in our scarves, mittens, and giant plastic boots each carrying that mountain of books wedged under an arm. Our task: trudge 10 blocks in 4 inches of newly fallen powder snow. Sounds easy, doesn’t it? Surely, we could make it. Wait, you also had to factor in frigid below-zero temperatures, and a bitter north-easterly wind that was screaming off the top of the frozen ice of Lake Erie. And did I mention that our house was stationed directly across from the lake which received the full brunt of the ferocious wind? So there we were, 3 shivering, blinded, and scared out of our socks elementary school kids that had to enter the dragon of a newly birthed blizzard. Each step home was like the march of a Russian prisoner walking toward a Siberian camp in shackles of a Stalin’ gulag. And no, I am not overstating the case with pastoral hyperbole. We were trapped in the jaws of another Cleveland winter! “Look!” cried my sister Gina, “It’s Buffers!” Out in the distance a tiny brown dog was frolicking in the mounds of snow, wagging his tail running toward us. And then I saw him, my DAD, MY HERO, instantly appearing out of the white curtain of snow. He was wearing his favorite leather jacket, chewing on a toothpick, sporting brown polyester pants, and of course forging tracks in his big black army boots: The Iceman Cometh! Somehow, in that moment, Siberia turned into Wonderland! “Hey guys,” he said, “let me carry your books, mom has hot chocolate brewing and we are going to have some fun watching the storm tonight!” Fun? Yes, fun! When dad was nearbye, life was fun. In one swift movement of his arm he swallowed our stacks of books, and led us merrily back home. On that dark, cold winter day, my dad’s heart of joy melted our fear. This is how it is walking with Christ: though we face a scary and uncertain 2014, and we know that the storms will surely come, Jesus is with us. Joy is always at his right hand!
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Ooh yeah, the bowl games are coming, the bowl games are coming! I love football, and this time of year makes for some great couch time. And the big game between Florida State and Auburn will really be a doozy. I can't wait to watch Jameis Winston tear up the Auburn Tigers. I mean that guy is good: he was the A.P. Player of the Year, Sporting News Player of the Year, ACC Player of the Year, the Walter Camp Award Winner, and he won the Heisman. But with that being said, I can hear some of you wet-blankets out there saying: "Yeah, but...isn't his name tied to something about a woman, an assault, & an investigation for r....." Hey, relax, did I mention he won the Heisman?
"Yeah, but..." is a phrase that I think sadly is becoming all too common these days. Success trumps everything, including righteousness, goodness, humility and truth. "Yeah, but..." is the sad reality in a country where people are intoxicated with celebrity culture, easy money & our love of self. Just listen to a movie review that came out in the Business Insider discussing Martin Scorsese's new Blockbuster "The Wolf of Wall Street": "Credit Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio, who played Belfort, for keeping the high-octane, drug-filled movie entertaining for three hours (the longest Scorsese film by about 60 seconds). But my one major gripe was pretty simple: Jordan Belfort defrauded a lot of people—and by the nature of his penny stock transgressions, many low-income people—out of a ton of money. He then used that money, as one does, on cocaine, hookers, cars, and yachts. It may be great cinema to document his exploits, but there's a fine line between satirizing Wall Street's excess and celebrating Belfort's lifestyle." In other words: "YEAH, it was a great movie, you gotta go see it; BUT too bad people in real life were destroyed by this guy." What is worse, Jordan Belfort is still making a fortune from people who want to learn the sales techniques that he used to steal from people. And secretly many want to make the "Big Money" so they too can have the opportunity to drown themselves in the same wretched activities Belfort enjoyed. (By the way, if you didn't know it, those activities contributed to the lashings, beatings and nail prints delivered to the perfect man Jesus Christ. "Yeah, but...it is fun.) Yeah, but... is killing our world. "Yeah, the politicians on both sides of the isle are so compelling and persuasive, but they do tell little white lies every now and again." "Yeah, Joseph Stalin not only ruled all of Russia for 30 some years and the Eastern European nations around him, but he did have to kill some people to get there. A meager 30 million people is worth the price for power, isn't it?" Yeah, but...... Sometimes you do run into people that have the "Yeah" without the "But." They are a rarity because usually they are not well known, famous, or rich. Having no "but" takes sacrifice and a real desire to glorify God in your life. (Proverbs 19:1, "better to be a poor man who's walk is blameless") And when you live like this, it may be the single biggest blessing you can ever leave your kids. I know this firsthand because when my dad died, I heard hundreds of "yeahs" and not a single "but." What a gift! |
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