GENDADS

So, what do I do now? Better yet, what would YOU DO? Even better still, what would you BE THINKING, MUSING, PLANNING, PRAYING now?.

I’m cool, even strangely excited, about sitting here in Starbucks waiting for my bone and CT scans. You may know those to be cancer tracking proceedures.

Speaking of “cool,” that’s what everything was last visit. I’d shifted from the Urologist to the Oncologist. Oh-oh. But she said, “You don’t need no stinking chemo.” (Well, maybe not in such street terms). That was two months ago. In six days she sees me again with today’s scans. HMMmmm. NEVER assume. NEVER take God’s gifts and blessing for granted.

Think about this in your own life. Doesn’t have to be cancer, health, or seeking God’s wondrous will. It could be something small. Yesterday is but a taste of tomorrow, and there are no guarantees of healing, even tranquility. Momentum is not a heavenly concept. For those walking with Jesus, who, after all, is the Lord God incarnate, the future is now; it’s how you walk with, trust in, depend on, love Him NOW.

So, do I count on the cancer being held at bay, maybe conquered? Nope. But I do know this, and I pass it on to you. What is, is. And it is He who IS, the “Great I AM.” Count on it. So will I be anxious next Wednesday? Maybe a scosh. Like you, wondering if God wants that loan to go through, that sort of stuff. We get the answer and move on knowing each step, like each moment, belongs to Him and it is He, the Lord God Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth, who treats us to His will at each point.

May I get religious for a moment? (The cowboy lost on a rugged trail and counting on Toffee to carry him home is surely a creationist thanking God for smart horses and His sovereignty). This is too common, so don’t take it for granted, please. Think of it in the context of wild, wild Peter who, recovering from his moral failure was going to conquer the world for his Master:
2 Peter 3:11-13(Msg)Since everything here today might well be gone tomorrow, do you see how essential it is to live a holy life? Daily expect the Day of God, eager for its arrival.

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No, I’m not dying.  Well, yes, I am, but so are you.  I mean my cancer is there, but so am I; healthy, strong, no affects other than the entertaining issues from the femine hormones (prone to hug, spending extra time in Khols, hot flashes).  Still, there is this thing about the path of life.  I, of course, think in terms of “The Trail.’   Many a trail on the back of Toffee (who preceeded me last year into Horse Heaven), many a ride along rich and challenging sections with Matt.  We peel off and head down our own trails, always within shouting distance, always following the Wild Goose, always ready to reign strong and ride hard over to the other’s call.

Along the trail are the cairns (rocks stacked in such a way as to guide the next rider, invaluable when maps, trail markers, and overgrown trails cloud the journey).  We follow some, we leave some.

This is a short post leading to a longer one in my personal blog (this being more a dads and book blog) The Wild Gray Goose.  Before you jump over there ( I recommend you do), I want you to catch a “bottom line” idea.  Saves you all my poetic meanderings.  We ALL need heart–partners.  We need comrades, amigos, saddle mates, partners who will stand beside us for God’s sake and ours.   SEAL Team Six is a TEAM.  And they do their missions in pairs.  I flew with a wingman, never alone in combat.

Life, because of the Fall and subsequent invasions of our lives by the Enemy of Our Souls, is warfare.  We need trusted companions.  The new movie, Act of Valor (active duty SEALs as “actors”), will emboss that on your psyche.  Ephesians 6:12 will take your understand where it ought to go…the battle is in the heavenlies but touches down in our lives sometimes subtly, sometime dramatically.  The battle is not ours, it’s His.  Our heart/life/trail mates are cruicial.

Oh, one note more.  My grandsons (and soon the granddaughters) are being conditioned to the trail ahead and its difficult sections.  Through Matt and I (the team, co-fathering theme again) taking them up to and through a rite of passage; boot camp for those who would ride and fight well…but never alone.  We provide two generations of savvy companionship.  And when I go, Matt and each of them will repeat the cycle; a legacy of preparing for the long ride on life’s trail and the battles and joys thereupon, one cairn followed by another.

And now, you’ll better understand the meaning of my view of the trail in The Wild Gray Goose.

 

 

 

 

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