Over the River and Through the Woods....

As you read this, we are traveling down to Chicago for the annual family gathering at my parent's home for Thanksgiving; aka the world series of food fests, the super bowl of gastronomical indulgence, the foodies pleasure palace and home of the elastic waistband.  Ahh, the sublime pleasure of it all!  There are equal parts noise and lot's of it, we're Italian after all, enough food and desserts to feed a small nation, wine, music and laughter!  Frankly, from the time we arrive to the time we leave it's a blur.  But, I wouldn't have it any other way!  When our children were younger it was easy to pack them all up into our family suburban and fill them with enough snacks, drinks and games for them to play to indulge them for the five hour trip down.  Our vehicle was full of activity and head counts every two hours when we stopped at rest areas for the bathroom breaks.  As the kids got older games were replaced by ipods, portable dvd players, headsets, magazines and cell phones. There were even stretches of silence so my wife and I could visit and actually hear each other.  But soon enough my wife who loves to nap, would dose off and leave me to my own thoughts and meanderings.  Often times I would catch myself smiling as I recalled a  memory of a past holiday that brought a special warmth to my heart.   Whether it was my older brother's irreverent wit, my younger sister's always unedited opinion, my younger brother's analytical observations on the world around us or my parent's different versions of the same stories, the treasured moments are endless.  Over the years we have added a few guests and family members in addition to the five kids, their spouses and seventeen grandchildren and here and there we lost a few too.   Front and center of the additions are my Aunt Fran and Uncle Tom along with my cousins Tommy and Cary.  But that will be a whole other column for another day. ;)  We've seen the passing of my grandparents on both sides, my Uncle Don and just this past year our beloved father.  And that is what brings me to the heart of my writing.
  This is the first Thanksgiving without dad.  The sting of his passing is still fresh in our hearts and minds.  Each day that goes by I think of my dad and my mom's struggle to cope with out him.  Each morning when I go downstairs to our ministry center sanctuary to read and pray, I say a special prayer for my mom and say hello to dad.  Not seeing him or hugging him or sitting down for our precious visits together in the midst of all the activity has left a large hole in my heart.  I remember when I walked into the funeral home and saw my dad for the first time since Thanksgiving of last year.  How gut wrenching the emotion of his loss was.  How final his passing was for me.  But I clung to the hope of what Christ has promised us all.  That the passing of our beloved saints is but a transition for those who love Him.  It is not the final toll of the bell.  All is not lost at the cemetery.  The hole can be filled and praise God for that!  You see my dad loved the Lord.  He wasn't the most learned bible scholar or great theologian.  He was a simple man with a huge heart for God and his family and friends.  He is with Him now and I know it as surely as I breath.  It is in that fact that I will stand contented in the midst of our family this year.  We will raise a glass, tell some stories, laugh and probably shed a few tears.  But dad is with us.  I see him in my brothers and sisters, my mom, my nieces and nephews and my own family.  You see the continued lineage of those who have given their lives to Jesus is assured.  The end of our lives here is just the beginning of eternity with Him.  With that assurance comes the grand reunion ahead for all who love Him too.    I miss my dad immensely but my heart will be glad for the time to come.  So when you sit down this Thanksgiving to your meal remember why we give thanks and to Whom we give it to.  It will enable you give all the many tears for your heartaches back to the Lord for those that have left us for now!  God Bless you all and Happy Thanksgiving.


Psalm 95 1-6
"O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also. The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land. O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker." 

Happy Holidays?

As I was flipping the through the endless number of channels on the television the other night I was struck by something I saw in almost every advertisement being shown.  It had been creeping up on us since before Halloween passed on the calendar, but now the full onslaught had been unleashed.  The Holiday Season had arrived!  Or so business in America had said so.  Every department store, car maker, food and beverage company, restaurant, hotel chain and all other businesses involved in the greatest yearly push for the summit of free market capitalism were on point.  As I watched the many sometimes amusing advertisements, I noticed a common theme, Happy Holidays.  It seems most everybody or every company in this country at this time of year has an identity crisis of sorts.  The constant monotonous drumming of the politically correct police, their allies and spokespeople and their mantra of removing everything associated with Christianity and it's value systems in this country has taken it's toll.  We are caving in as a society to a minority of people who through taxpayer funded organizations like the ACLU file lawsuit after lawsuit trying to remove crosses, nativity scenes, signs and other forms of Christian faith and celebration that have been hallmarks of our existence for generations.  By trying to water down the holy season of Thanksgiving and Christmas to a celebration of material gifts and parties with no true meaning of hope and love is a crime with high moral implications and fallout.  This attack on Christmas reflects a broader more methodical battle plan by secular groups to sanitize the American landscape of God and his Holiness along with the moral absolution that holds our laws together and inspired our founding principles.  We must not let it happen!
  I grew up saying Merry Christmas, reciting grace at the table, going to church, singing Silent Night and Joy to the World.  Each year we set up a manger in our house and it held a prominent place right next to the Christmas tree.  Yea, we loved the presents, what kid didn't, but it was bigger than that.  We celebrated as family under God's grace and gave thanks to God for our good health, families and friends.  By steadily stepping backwards from the endless assault on our rights and liberties we are now at the cliff's edge.  I believe we are a generation away from the abolition of Thanksgiving and Christmas as we know it.  Go ahead and laugh if you want.  Call me an alarmist and reckless intolerant.  But with our continued slide into moral oblivion and catatonic state of apathy we will give the secular minions a crushing victory.  I challenge you to investigate for yourselves.  See if you can't find numerous examples of either pending legal action or existing sanctions against churches, Christian groups, our laws, rights and liberties as it pertains to our daily lives let alone Thanksgiving and Christmas.  When we remove what is considered rightfully lawful, traditional and holy then we take away all restraint to act otherwise.  Can any of you tell me that the traditions of this joyous time of year have harmed you irrevocably by driving by a lighted Nativity Scene?  Have your eyes burned out of their sockets by seeing a cross on top of a church?  Are your ears melting because somebody said Merry Christmas to you or invited you to church to celebrate the birth of Jesus?  Sounds ridiculous right?  Not half as ridiculous as the arguments against them.  But then again, why worry be happy it's the Holidaze!!


1 Cor 11 1-3
1 Be you followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.

 2 Now I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things, and keep the traditions as I delivered them to you.

 3 But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.

A Little Faith Goes a Long Way!

I read a story awhile back about a family that was on vacation out west somewhere.  They were camping in a national forest wilderness area.   While hiking one day with the kids they somehow had gotten separated from and lost the family dog.  As a dog owner myself I know that it's not unusual for a dog to go wandering off when out in the woods, as they are in hog heaven with all the exciting sounds, sights and smells.  I know, our Golden and Labrador were the same way.  However, this dog did not come back.  The family exhausted several days calling and searching for their beloved pet.  They were panicked and quite forlorn with apprehension and guilt over his loss.  They reported the dog to the local sheriff and humane society and even put up makeshift reward posters with their phone numbers and address if he was found.  No such luck.  They went home in a state of grieving and shock as if they had lost a precious sibling or parent.  Time went on and the family moved on from their loss until almost a year later.   Their beloved family dog showed up one day on the front stoop of their house looking ragged, dirty and somewhat emaciated but alive.  Needless to say the tears and joy were overflowing.  Now I'm not talking about leaving the dog at the county park down the road.  These folks were hundreds of miles from home in a vast wilderness area.  We would get lost let alone a dog!   I am amazed at stories like this because of the improbable odds and seemingly impervious obstacles that had to be overcome for this dog to even make it home!  Now some veterinarians call this a natural homing instinct.  That all our dogs and some cats have this innate ability deep within themselves with help from the magnetic poles and their internal compass and memory to somehow navigate their way back home.  But by far, most of the documented cases are in the tens of miles not hundreds.   I tend to look at this a little differently.
   This dog had two very powerful attributes I believe which helped it get home; unconditional love for it's owners and unwavering faith.   Two traits that we as children of our dear Lord often lack in their fullest abundance.  What other explanation could you give for this?  Did someone find the dog and keep it only to feel guilty later on and release it near it's home?  Possible not probable.  Did the dog just want to see the world and took advantage of it's freedom?  Not likely.  Whatever the story I'll stay with my version.  Why?  Because both faith and love are the two strongest drives or lack of we have in this world that enables us plain old ordinary people to do extraordinary things.  Story after story of great human accomplishments that amaze and confound us and the experts are often attributed by the people that lived through them as being not of their own conscious accord.  In other words, where they in their benign limitations gave up, something or Someone did not.  In that moment of great tumult they found the strength to change, or go on or not give up.   It is then in the testimony of these people that they tell the truth of their victory.  That it wasn't them, their ability, their knowledge or physical strength.  They just knew they couldn't give up!   I believe it was their faith.  Faith in God or from God with grace and favor that supernaturally took over and escorted them through the great storm.  Notice the humility and different demeanor these people have after their ordeals.  It's almost as if they have been transformed from the inside out by their life-changing events.  They have a new found reverence for life and it's privilege.  You call it what you may, but if it's not from us naturally as most of these people attest that it isn't, then what or better Whom is it from?  I know, and if you don't believe me then just ask the dog!


Matthew 17:20
And He said to them, "Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.

To Tolerate is to Obliterate.

Nowadays, it's hard to turn on the TV or computer without overdosing on an overwhelming amount of surreal and sensational headlines or over the top advertising for the legions of reality shows inundating our lives.  From the Kardashian clan, to Snooki and her pals, the Real Housewives of every town and city and countless others which aren't worth naming, the slurry of absurdity flows into our homes and minds at frightening speed.  Worse yet, we are gobbling it up!  There are currently hundreds of reality shows on or in the concept stage or in production now for our ever decreasing standards of quality to enjoy.  If you can't catch them in their time slots you can watch them 24/7 on the web.  The ratings are going through the roof for most of these exercises in mediocrity.  Networks and advertisers are pouring money into these prime time shows and are reaping the profits.  But there is a caveat to all this grandiose entertainment.  What lurks below the surface that could be causing a storm surge of problems?  Simply this, nothing.  That's right nothing.  Nothing is sacred, innocent, out of bounds, unacceptable, demeaning, detestable or immoral, nothing.  Relationships are skewered, marriages are a sideshow, behavior is anything goes, verbal and physical abuse abound and the cameras will keep rolling!   All to the incessant appetite for garbage and shame.  Why even our news media and sports networks are abandoning their former high standards of ethics and integrity and are joining the fray. 
   I am not writing this to suppose myself to be above any of you or your families or choices at all.  On the contrary, I am a father of five children, a parent just like you and I am just concerned, really concerned.  I am not perfect, have made more mistakes, said more hurtful things and done more shameful acts in my past than most.  I've lived like my choices didn't matter to me or to those who I love.  But I am here to tell you folks, they do!  I had to come to a point in my own life where I needed to change and quite literally, thank Almighty God I did.   Most people my age have grown up with a different set of values.  God, family and country really mattered.  My parent's and their enduring marriage and values passed on to me are the linchpin to my own behavior.  Even though I wandered away, I came back to my roots.   I simply wouldn't be who I am without them, good bad or indifferent.  That's the point!   We are the single most powerful influence over our children other than God or lack of in their lives.  They will make most of their choices in life based upon our choices for ourselves and them.  If we act irresponsibly from a parental or moral aspect and don't apologize and atone for the mistakes neither will our children when they become accountable.  If we make bad choices, or watch bad programs or treat others badly then chances are so will they.  What we have given in to over the years is now tolerated as acceptable and is the standard for moral relevancy.  This is tragic, considering the powerful medium TV and the internet play in our lives today.  There are a host of parasites waiting to infect and feed off our children in the absence of loving and concerned parents.  Look around you and observe.  See the rudeness, disrespect, dishonor and shameful behavior of a lot of young people today and you can correlate that directly to the slide in our ethical, moral and religious influences.  We need to stop the bleeding now.  Whole generations of children are falling off a cliff and they are our future.  If they don't care to have the same God fearing moral absolution as others before them than woe be to us all when they are in charge.  We need to quit tolerating the garbage that is claiming our lives and families and fight back.  After all, who is more dysfunctional, the people we watch on these shows or our lives which are being shaped by them?


Romans 12:2
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.