When Will We Grow Up?

I was noticing the clouds this morning as I sat out on the porch and the sun rose in the eastern sky. The wind was gently pushing puffy, cotton ball clouds generally to the south, and as they changed shape and the sun rose, the sky changed its appearance almost constantly.
I thought of God using the heavens as a canvas, having fun with His creation of clouds, wind, sun, and water. I thought about Him moving this cloud here…making that cloud come between the sun and another cloud…causing shadows and hues to fill the sky. I wonder if He thought about how many people were actually taking the time to watch Him paint the sky and bring forth a true miracle…the begetting of another day.
God indeed is faithful. He makes the sun to rise, the wind to blow, the sky to drop rain. And He does it all regardless of whether anyone in His creation is paying attention to His handiwork or not…whether anyone in His creation pauses to thank Him or not. He’s like the traffic cop that’s always on the beat or the ambulance attendant that is always at the ready. He’s like the electricity, natural gas, and water that we’ve come to just expect each time the furnace comes on, the light switch is flipped, or the tap is turned.
And we treat Him just as we treat those things. We’ve come to expect perfect days, just the right amount of rain, and temperatures not too hot or cold. Then we gripe when it isn’t just the way we want it. When will we ever grow up?

The Rains Came Down

“The rains came down and the floods came up…”  So goes the lyrics to a children’s song about the parable told by Jesus of the wise man and the foolish man.  Remember, the wise man built his house on the rock, but the foolish man built his house on the sand.  When the storm came, the house on the rock stood, but the house on the sand washed away.
Have you ever felt that your life was resting on a sandy underpinning, and that underpinning was slowly and inexorably washing away?  You felt like you needed to get yourself on something more solid and secure?
I don’t necessarily feel that way, but there have been times in the last week or two when I thought briefly that all order and decorum was slipping away out from under me and I was sliding toward some kind of abyss.
That never happened, though, because something under me caught me and kept me from washing away.  Maybe it was a rocky foundation…maybe it was something else.  I don’t know, but I do know that I’m grateful to Whoever it was that put that thing that caught me under me.

Shaping and Molding

Today is Friday.  We’ve been through, almost, a week of school with our girls.  We’re getting the hang of getting up early and getting six girls up and ready for school.  Now all we need to do is figure out the hard parts of this job.
I think I said once, maybe in this blog, that this was probably the most challenging job I’ve ever had in my life.  I’ve had challenges…many of them.  But this one, because it involves so many people who have so many issues, and because there is so little normalcy in these people’s lives, is a challenge unlike any I’ve had before.
We have treatment team meeting today and have a chance to do our own laundry and get things ready for the weekend.  So we’re trying to take full advantage of that time.
Life doesn’t always hand you what you think you need or deserve.  It seldom hands you what you want.  But if you take what you’re given and work with it…use it…mold it…shape it…and allow it to work, mold, and shape you, you find that what you’ve been given is just what you needed after all, and probably was what you wanted.
Oh, I’m not talking about anyone wanting cancer or a car wreck or something like that.  What I said was that if you  work with those things…use those things…shape those things…and let those things work, shape, and mold you, chances are you’ll find out that you’re the better person for it.  Even if those things end up taking your life and you’re a child of the living God, what better position could you be in than to be in the presence of the One who loves you unlike any other.

No Desire

We indeed have been, and continue to be blessed by being here in Wichita at this time in our lives.  Yes, the work is difficult.  Yes, we’ve already raised one family and now we voluntarily moved in with another.  Yes, we are working with kids who have issues and problems that have brought them here.  And yes, the pay is not great and the time spent is considerable (three weeks on [24-7]} and one week off.
But where else could we be right now that is better?  If we had our ‘druthers, where would we rather be?  I can’t answer that question with anything other than here, doing this, in this place.  We came out of health care and have no desire to return.
Health care is becoming so bloated, so bureaucratic, so regulated, so greedy, and so cumbersome that it is virtually impossible to do one’s job, whether one is a registered nurse, a lab tech, a housekeeper, or an administrator.  I mourn for the health care system because it is not only broken, it is dying.  Some are trying to salvage it, rescue it, or save it.  Others are milking what is left of it for all it’s worth while the milking is good.  And the consumer is the loser., just as the consumer is the loser in most aspects of our capitalist system.
Now, I’m not saying that we should do anything different, necessarily, because I don’t have any answers.  As long as the consumer is aware of the pitfalls of capitalism and the dangers of the road ahead, and plunges ahead anyway, who am I to suggest something different.  And we do know the pitfalls.  We can see the dangers.  We should know what is coming…but many of us prefer to keep our heads the sand.
Besides, I don’t think there’s any place in the world today that I would rather be than here, now, even with all the problems and issues we have.  There are even more in other places, I think.  That doesn’t mean that we don’t work to make our system better.  That doesn’t mean that we don’t criticize ourselves.  That doesn’t mean that we don’t make (as the politicians love to say) the tough choices.
God bless America.

The Girls Are Coming

The girls are coming back today.  We have one less than we had a week ago, as one girl is no longer in the program.  So we’ll have six this week.  They will have a slumber party of sorts tonight here.  We’ll get some movies, popcorn, goodies, pop, etc. and let them stay up late tonight.  But not all night.  We old folks can’t handle that.
We had a good, restful week this past week.  I am anxious about keeping the girls, but know that if we just take this one day at a time, we can do this.  I also know that we need to focus on the troubles of the day (sufficient for the day is the trouble therein) and not be concerned about what may or  may not come up in the coming hours and days.  God will give us the strength and wisdom we need in the here and now.  I believe that.  Now I need to live my life such that I practice that.
It’s quiet here now, but in a short time, they’ll be carrying their things back over here, ready (or not) to spend the next three weeks with us.  And we with them.  Praise be to our Creator for His marvelous grace!

Search Your Heart

We were in Hays this last weekend seeing my son and his family (our new granddaughter).  While there, we had the opportunity to worship at the local Church of Christ.
This building was where I was baptized 32-some odd years ago, where we married, and where we got acquainted with our Christian family.  Only one person is still there who was there when we were there those years ago.
The congregation has changed over the years.  I’ve sort of tried to keep track of them and what is happening with them.  They’ve had preachers, preacher problems, high attendance, low attendance, and everything in between.
But one thing I noticed about the worship at Hays, compared with Topeka or Wichita was the nature and tenor of the service.  The service was…well…the best word to describe it is “primitive”.
Now, that’s not a bad term.  The way I’m using it, it means simple, easy-going, home-spun, unpretentious, not showy or glitzy.  And don’t get the wrong idea.  I’m not saying that worship in Topeka or Wichita is pretentious, showy, or glitzy.  What I’m saying is that there’s a world of difference in worship in rural areas and small churches, and the larger, more metropolitan assemblies.  I think that’s true in any denomination.
Is one right and the other wrong?  Of course not.  Do some people prefer one over the other?  Yes, they do.  Some prefer the slower paced, simpler services.  Others like the more organized and polished variety.
Do they both get the job done?  It depends on what you think “the job” of worship assembly is.  For the answer to this question, you have to search your own heart.  I can’t do that for you.

Recent Happenings

I haven’t written much this past week. We’ve had the girls for a week, having given them to the relief houseparent last Friday afternoon. It’s been a time of recuperation for us.
We went to Western Kansas Saturday evening and Sunday, stopping in Central Kansas along the way. Our son and daughter-in-law along with our new grandbaby live in Western Kansas, and my wife’s family lives in Central Kansas. We made kind of a flying trip to see both sides of the family.
Yesterday, we just rested, as we are doing today. We’re working on changes to the schedules of the girls today, and hope to have something solidified with the relief houseparent on that soon.
Pat now is going with the relief parent to the school to pick up the girls, so she can see where they are picked up and how that situation is. I will go at another time…perhaps tomorrow morning.
This remains probably the most challenging and the most difficult work we’ve ever done. It won’t get any easier any time soon. Please continue in your prayers for us as we continue down life’s adventure that God will continue to work through us and that He will give us abundantly more than we can ever ask or even think.

A Friend

I lost a friend Tuesday. He died as a result of a fire that engulfed his mobile home. You know how bad those fires can be. He didn’t have a chance.
I’ve not seen him in thirty years. I’ve not spoken to him in that time, either. But I’ve thought about him…a lot…over the years and have followed his career in broadcasting. Those of you in Kansas who are reading this would immediately recognize his voice, if not his name or face.
Sheldon Craig Workman (Kevin Craig was his DJ or personality name) was the voice of the Dillons Food Stores for many years until this week, and has done other commercials (in Wichita, the “carganza” commercials and many others) that have run nationwide over the past thirty or so years. He also did intros for newscasts for KSN and other stations. That was his business. He marketed and sold his voice for commercials and voice-overs.
His voice was more than smooth...more than inviting...more than deep. His voice could (almost) melt butter. He had "the touch". He had "the range." He had "the golden vocal cords". He had what 99 percent of all other radio and TV personalities wish they had..."the voice". His was the standard by which others were measured...nationwide.
I first heard of Kevin when he was a DJ on the old 98FM KFH in the late 60’s in Wichita. They played rock, and I was into it. He was one of four young men that the station hired to develop younger listeners and a following. The only other one I remember now was Robert St. John, which undoubtedly was a personality name.
I moved to Hays when I finished tech school and got a job at KAYS Radio and TV. Kevin Craig came several months later as a DJ and personality. It was a dream come true for this farm boy-turning-man who was still finding himself and his way in life. KC (Kevin Craig) was larger-than-life!! And he was coming to Hays, America!! We quickly developed a friendship, and spent time together. We rode motorcycles, talked, listened to Chicago (one of his favorite groups) and generally had fun during the time we had together.
His grandparents lived in McCracken, not far from Hays, and we went to visit them a time or two…once on motorcycles. He was not at all in person like his on-air persona. He was quiet, unassuming, intelligent, and somewhat shy. He was lonely, just as I was, and to my surprise was very, very human. I cherish those memories.
Kevin was someone I’ve always counted on my short list of friends, even though we haven’t spoken for all these years. He was a groomsman at Pat and my wedding. His recent photos look just like those of years ago. I’m not sure he aged any at all.
I would like to think he would have remembered me and we would have enjoyed meeting again. In fact, when we moved to Wichita, I thought about looking him up (finally), knowing that he lived east of Mulvane. I could have tried to look him up before now, but something always kept me from making that call or driving out that way. That something was that Kevin continued to be a larger-than-life person in my mind, even as he was when he was a DJ on KFH-FM and I was an 18 year old teenager awed by the savvy and coolness of the DJs on the radio. I didn’t think then that I would ever get to know the great KC, and couldn’t believe it (and still can’t) to have been able to spend time with him in Hays.
Even as I contemplated looking him up a week or so ago, I thought that he might not really want to see me or care. But that wasn’t the real Kevin Craig, and deep down, I knew that. He did care. Deeply. And he would have wanted me to come see him. And we would have done some reminiscing and gotten caught up on what’s happened in our lives. And the void that is now in my soul wouldn’t be quite as large, open, and bleeding.
There’s a lesson here. You’ve heard it before. Don’t wait. It may become too late. Look up that friend. Tell someone you care. Send that letter. Write that email. Make that phone call. You just never know….

We Continue On

I’m not going to bore you with the details of our last several days getting used to the girls and they to us.  I will say that after seeing them, I can certainly understand how parents could be at the end of their ropes in dealing with them.  I also wonder how they got along as well as they did with all the issues they are facing.  This is a controlled environment, and it’s all some of them can do to just get through the day.
Of course, it wears on us as well.  This is parenting at some of the most intense levels.  I knew, yet I had not a clue.  It’s taking all that I have and am to make this work.  I’ve not faced a challenge like this, I think, in my life.  The only thing close would be the first few months of work at Oakley at the hospital there.
We continue on.  Keep us in your prayers.

We're Off

In just a couple of minutes, the first of our “charges” will be coming through the door. We’re asking that they come in about 5 minute intervals, but we’ll see how that works. Deep breath, suck it up, and we’re off.