You might have seen a small, stooped old man, shuffling down the sidewalk…



hair disheveled, shirt buttoned wrong, shoes on the wrong feet…Here's what I saw...




The Great Sock Caper



In terms of abilities and personality, a baby enters the world as a bag of reflexes, and it seems, not much more.  But it does not take long at all before the child’s interface with the world around begins to produce amazing results.  A personality emerges, and skills begin to develop.  Within days of birth, an infant is making rudimentary attempts at communication with his or her parents.  Shortly thereafter, the child gains the ability to focus and begins to learn the art of reading others’ minds by watching their faces.  Motor skills soon follow, the ability to grip objects, the ability to roll over, strength to hold up one’s head. 

Each day brings with it exciting developments in the child’s progress, and when I was a young father, I took a keen interest in each stage of my son’s growth as a person.  What a wonder he was to me!  What a magnificent thing God crafted when he designed Caleb!  A new aspect of God’s creation, which he had planned since before the world began, was taking shape right before my eyes.  What a high privilege to have been selected to play the role of father to this amazing new masterpiece of our Creator!

Those first days were amazing, but the realization of just how fun fatherhood would be began when Caleb learned to crawl.  Crawling vastly opens a child’s horizons, and with this skill comes the ability to have the first of what can be termed adventures.  Adventures are where daddies excel!

So it was that as I was getting ready for work one morning shortly after Caleb started crawling, I detected a sound from the doorway of the bedroom and glanced over to see my son, on unsteady arms and legs, laboriously making his way into the room.  Being in the early days of crawling skill development, he frequently collapsed under the burden of his own weight, and often this resulted in him rolling all the way over onto his back.  No matter; he would struggle back to the crawl position and onward he would come.

I do not now recall for certain, but I suppose that on this particular morning, I was talking to him as he progressed.  His mother and I generally heaped praise on him when he accomplished new skills, and making the difficult pilgrimage from one room to another was definitely cutting edge stuff for him at that age.  What I do recall was that I had laid out the socks I intended to wear for the day and that at some point I turned my back on my son and the socks.  When I turned back around, I discovered that Caleb had taken one of my socks and just as arduously as he had come, he was exiting the room, sock in tow behind his little balled up fist!

“Hey!” I cried out teasingly.  “You’re stealing my sock!”  I chased him down and scooped him up, kissing his neck and teasing him about being a little sock thief.  He squealed with delight.  I took my sock and went to work, thinking that the fun was all played out.

My Father's 77th Birthday

Today was my father's 77th Birthday.  My mother shared with me a passage that seems particularly meaningful today as we all remember the dear man who was...and is...my father.

Isaiah 54: 4 - 14

Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more.
For thy Maker is thine husband; the Lord of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called.
For the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God.
For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee.
In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer.
For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee.
10 For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee.
11 O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires.
12 And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones.
13 And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children.
14 In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee.

Note

Note that I have not recently been posting to this blog because I am scoping out another writing project.  Ultimately, I do plan to make more entries here, and in the event that I decide that I am moving forward with the other project, I will post information about it on this site.

Note Card: Leverage for Life

Written on a 4x6 note card by Stan Julin.

June 14, 2001
In this world, it is sought to keep an advantage secret lest someone else steal it, thus siphoning off our leverage for life.  In Christ, the more advantage we give away to others, the greater our own prosperity and joy.

Note Card: How Much is Not Visible to Him Who Thinks Truth is on the Surface?

Written on a 4x6 note card by Stan Julin.

[Blog Author's Note:  My father's use of left versus right is based on Matthew 25 and also on American politics.]

May 20, 2002
The Bible means what it says, and it means what it means.  Viewing the surface, one will be mystified by the curiosities of it.  The Bible is written to mystify the skeptic on the left hand and to disclose the mind of God to the open-hearted sinner on the right hand.  The prophet is a fool to the man on the left, but to the sinner on the right, his voice is thunder and his stature as of an angel of God.  To him on the left, the words are rubbish; to him on the right, each is a precious jewel to be stored away and to be brought out again and again to consider, ponder, and to amaze.  For behind each word there are stories and infinite depth of thought and promises and covenants and alliances and support...where shall we stop, where could we stop.  Here is truth!  Here is simplicity!  Here is liberty to be what one ought to be!

How much is not visible to the man who thinks it is all on the surface?


Truth

Truth is ugly, unless you love it.  Stan Julin

Note Card: Refuge and Strength

Written on a 4x6 note card by Stan Julin.

[Blog Author's Note:  "Esther" is a reference to a sister-in-law.]

Probably written in 2002 
 I once had a thought that meant something to Esther, who asked me after considerable time what the thought was.  I like thoughts, some of them.  In some ways, I live in and for my thoughts.  As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.  Anyway, it was this, from Psalm 46:1:  If you have no strength, you need a refuge; if you have no refuge, you need strength.  But God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.  I will add here that , apart from Jesus Christ, no man has either refuge or strength; in Him are both.  Why be completely exposed when complete security is available?

Note Card: Psalm 105 - The Law and the Covenant

Written on a 4x6 note card by Stan Julin.


May 20, 2002

...confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law and to Israel for an everlasting covenant.  [This is] another interesting comparison of Jacob and Israel.  Jacob, the earthly man, has God's words as law, while Israel, the same man, though the spiritual one, sees the same words of God as a covenant. 

Note Card: The Value of Apologetics

Written on a 4x6 note card by Stan Julin.


April, 2002
The value of apologetics does not usually accrue to the benefit of the skeptical, for they are unbelievers and that because they do not want to believe in God.  The value of apologetics is recognizable to believers who are the butt of attacks from the skeptics.  It is believers who want true answers regarding exactly what God says.

Caleb's Article Published in the Huffington Post

Caleb's article, A Penny For Your Thoughts, A Jar of Memories, has been picked up by the Huffington Post. 

Click the picture below to link up to the article.