Saturday, September 5, 2015

I Never Thought I'd Want to Be a Moon.

I never thought I'd want to be a moon but now I hope I am one.



August 29, 2015 at approximately 2100 hours, I could be found walking on the beach of Anna Maria Island off the mainland, on the Gulf Coast of Florida. Now there's a place who's fine white, shell strewn sand I had never heard of let alone dreamed about. As God would have it I and my family were taken there to help my oldest son move his home in order to follow employment opportunities. As I lazily strolled south on the beach from a starting point at the public beach parking lot with Ann, Stephen, Micah and Seth the summer warmed waters of the Gulf of Mexico lapped gently at our feet and ankles. These same waters that so peacefully took use to a place of solitude and peaceful enjoyment of nature and God's creation with their rhythmic lapping of the coast are also the same fuel used by tropical storms rev up their engines of rain, wind and destruction.  

Probably just as amazing as the gulf and the shore this particular evening was the moon. The Earth's God-hung satellite. The astronomical calendars tell us that it was one day short of being a full moon but only someone with a micrometer could accurately measure the difference between what was seen this evening and what the calendars reported.

Our conversation this evening during our walk included may varied subject. How the past days of travel, by car and by plane, were; the challenges we had with the move; our successes in meeting those challenges; hope and expectations with the coming days in Florida; and as the King of Siam would so authoritatively say, etc., etc., etc.

I believe it was Micah who first mentioned the moon. How bright is was. How big it seemed. How it lighted the entire beach showing us the way without the scorching heat of the sun. He then made the statement that he was amazed not so much by the moon but rather by the sun. The sun, he said, was so magnificent that it's light could reflect off an object 93 million miles from it so much that it was still able to illuminate the very beach upon which we trod. I interjected with another fact about the sun. At 93-million miles it was still hot enough to blister my skin if I was not careful. All this family conversation coupled with the place and the tiredness of the day delivered a weariness to our bones that in it's own special way was good to feel as well as welcomed by all.

It was the next morning during a pre-heat, pre-suffocating humidity early walk, that the full impact of what happened the previous evening arrived at special spot in my brain or my heart or my soul where God plugs directly in and through a fire-wire transfers exactly what He wants me to know. I hope you have one of the God controlled USB ports.  God works like this in my life a lot. He lets me experience some wonderful things and as the rush of that enjoyment begins to wane he allows my mind to see the message in His plan.  He wants me, He wants you, He wants us to be moons! He is looking for us not to create our own light. He does not want us to light the way. He is only asking us to reflect His light. He wants us to light the way for others, not with our light but with the reflection of His light through our lives.

How easy is that. I am not being asked to create something new. I am not being asked to save the world. I am being asked to allow the light and the love of the Creator to reflect off me so that others can see His light. This I understand. This I can grasp. This I can do.  I need only to maintain my orbit, allowing all that is Love reflect off me. I understand that like the moon I will wax and wane in this task but for those times when I am able to I can be a full moon for God, shining His light on the beaches and shores in my community, lighting the way for others as they walk in the darkness.

May I be a full moon for the creator. With His help I too can accomplish this. - DD

Friday, May 22, 2015

The Ann and Dan Compulsory Education Farewell Tour, Next to Last Stop



Tuesday May 19, 2015.                                          IMG_2769

This was a day I sometimes never thought would come. This particular Tuesday morning Ann wrote the last tuition check to Bishop McDevitt High School, end a very special chapter in our lives. Many families have experienced this same thrill time after time. In our case it is unique because we have been writing checks for 24 years. More specifically, our family's time at McDevitt spans 286 consecutive months or 1,246 weeks or 8,448 days. Figure the hours, minutes and seconds out for yourself, I am not counting any more.  During that time Ann and I estimate that the sum of all our checks easily exceeds one-hundred thousand dollars.  Our oldest son Stephen enrolled in August of 1991. Seth our youngest graduates May 27, 2015.  Our home mortgage did not last this long. Before I continue please permit me to say that we wish it to be clear that we are not complaining. This was our choice, 100%. We were in one accord in this decision. To us it was not a sacrifice but rather a priority. Never did we feel that we missed out on anything, never did we do without anything and never did we ever have second thoughts about our commitment to value of the high school education of our children provided by Bishop McDevitt educators. The return on our investment (ROI) was worth every cent. 

How does one measure the ROI for a hundred thousand dollar plus investment twenty-four years in the making. In our case we looked at the finished products and the feedback received from them directly and garnered from the successes and failure in their post secondary years reflected in their lives. When your college student tells you that their undergraduate classes are easier than the classes they had at McDevitt you know your ROI is good. When you college student tells you how easy it is to write term papers you inherently know you ROI is great. When your college senior is challenged by his professor, accused of plagiarism, stands his ground by defending his work and ultimately wins when the accuser admits that he has been convinced admitting that rarely has he witnessed writing skills such as those exhibited by this particular college student, you know your ROI is off the charts. When you have a son that does not do well in college as a recent high school graduate but returns to the academic world ten years later and earns a Bachelor degree while working full time, one's ROI soars. The value of a McDevitt education is not only manifested in those who continue their education in college. When you have a son that finds himself challenged by the classroom rigors of the undergraduate student, realizes that it is not for him, then parlays what he learned at McDevitt into a successful career as a surveyor, our ROI continues to climb as it nears the apex of expectations. The measurement does not end here. We have other children who are still working on or just beginning the next chapter of their lives. Where they are going, what they do when they get there and the measure of success achieved are still hidden behind the curtain of time. What we as parents know, what we as parents have proof of is that they have the same advantage as those siblings gone before them, they have a Bishop McDevitt education. 

Through the years when speaking to friends about our commitment to a Bishop McDevitt education we are told that they cannot afford to send their child there.  We realized when we were blessed by having a family, when we became stewards to God's creations, we could not afford not to make the commitment. Through the entire process these past twenty-four years we were able to do what we did, we were able to provide what we did, we were able to have a fantastic ROI because we believed that God would provide us our daily bread. Whether it was the food on our plates, the roof over our heads or the tuition needed to provide a quality education for our seven children, He was always there, He was always faithful. Thank you Lord! May you now continue to be with us as we turn the page to the next chapter of the life you have so graciously give us.  Proverbs 30:8-9 - DD

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?

Could You Accept This for What You Believe?




Philippians 3:7-8 

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.


Mark 8:34-38 

And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”


Matthew 16:24-26 

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?


Psalm 46:1 

To the choirmaster. Of the Sons of Korah. According to Alamoth. A Song. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

*~*

As I was finishing up the devotional for my other blog, I started  to think about the Coptic Christians that were martyred for their faith in Jesus the Christ.   I was then convicted by the Holy Spirit.  Dan, what would you do?  Would you deny Me and save your life or would you do as these men did and lose your life to gain everything?  I know what I'd say here sitting in the comfort of my home but what would I'd say if I was kneeling in the sand, wearing an orange jump suit on a far away beach. How about you?  What is valuable? Where is your treasure?

God grant me what I need now.  God grant me your peace and love if the time comes that I have to make this decision for Your sake. Carry me Lord in all my weakness. - DD