Making History!

Happy Fourth of July!  Piper and I pray that all of you are having a great holiday whether you live in the USA or not!  I had thought that today would be a rather sad day for us as our kids that were visiting from Oklahoma last week, left for home on Saturday afternoon.  But you know… it is not!  In point of fact, it is a good day!  I was a little leery of how quiet and dull our home would be after all the activity of the previous week, but again, it is not!

As it turns out… although I was saddened as our youngest daughter, her husband and our newest granddaughter pulled out of our driveway, I was also feeling very content and satisfied!  We had a great time together and since my son-in-law owns a home entertainment installation business, we ended up with an excellent, theater-like stereo sound system in the living room, stereo sound in our garage-workshop area and a nice set of outdoor speakers over our backyard deck… and let me tell you… it is nice! 

Oh yeah… and the best part is that we now have one smart remote control that takes the place of the other five I had to fiddle with before!  (or I can control it on my iPhone as well!)

During our week together we spent a lot of time reminiscing over past family memories, and maybe even more importantly, we had many conversations about current activities as well as numerous discussions over the plans and dreams that our kids have.  So, I wasn’t sad that they were gone and that we were going back to our old routine, but excited that our family has a bright and exciting future ahead.  Sure the old times are fun to look back at, but I find myself getting excited about the new memories that we made and will continue to produce in the years to come!

I am discovering that I am enjoying the transitions into the new roles that my wife and I play in our children’s adult lives.  And this Grandpa and Mema business is pretty cool!  It was also a lot of fun watching our new dog and granddaughter (who happen to be the same age…) bond and quickly become inseparable! In fact, to the chagrin of our daughter, Fiver would push the door to the study (where the baby slept) open each morning to see if his buddy was awake yet… and wake up Sarah Piper in the process!

It was also exciting to see Piper respond when JoAnna put the baby on the couch next to her.  Piper looked up at Sarah and the whole countenance of her facial features changed as she smiled at her granddaughter!  You can’t tell me that Papa God wasn’t working in the gathering last week!  And having a house full of people with lots of chatter and noise also helped to stimulate her.  I especially enjoyed watching our two daughters interacting with their Mom… Okay, okay… I admit that it brought a few tears to my eyes!  If anyone ever gave their whole self and energy to their kids, it was my wife!  Raising our four children and teaching them at home through high school was the joy and passion of her life… along with having me around too – of course!  

We had many a good laugh as the girls described some of the funny things that Piper did with them in their childhood.  They even mentioned a couple of humorous activities that I championed… that I still don’t recall!  Like the night Piper attempted to have the kids go through a serious earthquake drill only to have me walk down the hall in the midst of it with my hair in disarray, wearing an old red and white polka dot bathrobe askew around my chest and talking like I was half asleep and not knowing what was going on!  I guess the kids had a pretty good laugh… although I am not real sure Piper appreciated my humor!

So what does this have to do with the Fourth of July?  Well… I’m not real sure… except that as we celebrate the freedoms that our country represents for its citizens, that we also celebrate the new adventures in the future that we all have before us!  I’ve have known those that love to live in the past and while they made for good story telling, I don’t think those folks were really happy with their present day lives.  Our past week with our kids made me take a good look at the future and I am excited to be in the midst of new adventures, new memories and a new chapter in our family’s life!

Ephesians 1:10 tells us that God has “planned to bring all of history to its goal in Christ.” (God’s Word ©)  And if you’re like me, then you are quite excited to be a part of that history in the making!  That is why my wife and I trust in Him with all of our hearts and do not lean or rely on our own (limited) understanding of the big picture!  As we yield to Him, He is free to direct our paths into the history He has planned for each of us! (See Proverbs 3:5-6)  How exciting, wouldn’t you agree!  When I think about that, I can picture fireworks going off all around me… how about you?

Have a great Fourth of July celebration and a great celebration of the future history that you and the Lord are making today!  Hopefully you’ll stand in agreement with me as I declare that “I am expecting a great life in Him ahead!”