Author: andrew
Salvation and Parenthood
Salvation has always been a mystery to me. Not all of it, mind you. I’ve long stood in awe of the poignancy of God’s provision for us. I’ve explored the options in the avenue of my mind and can only see one way for redemption to work out: for God to sacrifice some part of himself to satisfy the wrath that his perfect holiness and justice demand. Bt the ‘why’ part of salvation has always been a black box to me. I can see it from the outside; rotate it around and see that it works. But exactly why it works has been beyond my comprehension. I can see man’s fallen-nes and God’s holiness. I can see God’s provision in the sacrifice of Jesus. But as I look at what God has to gain from this whole deal, I’ve been stumped. It’s always seemed like He has a lot to lose and nothing to gain; like he sacrificed with no end or reward.
Today all of that changed. As I sat in church and ached to hold my baby son in my arms, I finally understood. Sometimes I hold him and he’ll look around. In those moments, the thing I want most in the world is for him to pay attention to me. But I understand when he doesn’t, because that’s the same way I treat God. He holds me and provides for me, but I don’t always take time to look in his face.
We were singing a song that has the line, “You tore the veil; you made a way,” when it hit me. God’s provision wasn’t a cold, austere one. God was on a rescue mission; he was desperate. He would do anything to reach out and grab his children, whom he loves so much more than I can love my own. In fact, he DID do anything and everything when he sacrificed his own life in a desperate, half-failing 11th hour run at salvation. And he did it all to see the look on my face. You know the look I mean: the one that a baby has when he looks into his daddy’s face with utter ecstatic joy simply because they have a relationship. I think I’d do about anything for that look. God’s love isn’t a mystery to me anymore. Now it’s real and it’s precious. I need to make sure to take time to look into my heavenly daddy’s face for the simple joy that it will bring him.
Karen, Grandma, Bethany, and Liam!
Larry’s Surgery Update-2
Dad looks good this afternoon. The nurses are slowly removing more and more of his attachments and monitors. <Hyperbole alert!> I was even able to peer through the spaghetti-string-like jungle of tubes and cords to see most of his face today. </Hyperbole> He’s been able to stand up several times. The ICU is readying to get rid of him and put him in the Cardiac Surveillance Unit to make room for people who are in far worse shape. We expect that to happen today, sometime after 5 p.m.
Keep your prayers a-flowin’, though. God’s grace is evident in Dad’s countenance, and it’s needed every minute. The recovery process is and will be difficult and painful. I’m continually amazed that humans are able to do something as audacious as ripping out the core human muscle, repairing it, sticking it back in, and expecting it to go back to work immediately.
New Liam pictures by Lisa!
As part of Little Ones by Lisa, Shinn Photo’s new product line, we took Liam to the studio and took pictures of him and two sets of clients! Here are some of Lisa’s pictures. (I took a few of momma with baby, too.) I’m proud of Lisa. If you like the picture, let her know in the comments to this post. Enjoy!
What am I reading?
So glad you asked! Here’s a little list of stuff I’m reading or have read recently. These include audio books. Let me know in the comments if you’d like a review of any of these books.
New print series
Text for me, photos for you. That’s the deal here at andrewandlisa.org. Here’s a photo from a series I made the other day. If you’re a clever little web surfer, you can figure out where I’ve posted the rest of these.
Enjoy,
Andrew
Book Report: The Joy Luck Club
I’m one of those people who hasn’t read many of the interesting books that pass for high school required reading. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan is one such book. Someone gave me a copy a few years ago and I put it on my shelf, thinking that someday I’d return to it. Someday came a month or two ago.
The Joy Luck Club is a fascinating series of intertwining stories told by Chinese women who emigrated to the U.S. and their daughters. The book asks the question, “What does it mean to be Chinese?” I think it’s a question that many second-generation immigrant children ask regarding their roots. Though the answers vary widely, when asked together by many different people at the same time, it sounds like this: “What does it mean to be American?”
Joy Luck is a mind-bending view into the perspective of the Chinese mind. Even having spent a summer in China, it was a glimpse that was totally unexpected. I wish I would have read it before going to China to better understand the radical difference in worldview.
A recommended read. 4 out of 5 stars.
Liam’s first words
Liam just said his first words. Or at least they sounded like words. His first one was (almost) as clear as a bell: “Google.” He then went on to say something about “onion” and “Ralph.” Three 2-syllable words! What a marvelously intelligent child! Not bad for 9 and a half weeks old!
Blogging like it’s 1999
Just for kicks this morning I checked to see if my first web site is still up. It is. Complete with cheesy graphics, music on many pages, egregious amounts of advertising, and <blink> tags, this testament to my history on the web still stands. It’s where I first started learning to write <html> and how to post photos online. But it’s also where I started blogging, before the word had been created. I called my blog posts updates, and put together a few of them. I posted on politics, spirituality, and what was going on in my life. I also posted writings in stilted, overly descriptive language. I thought I was such a good writer. :-) I also posted some photos there. They’re photos of a chunk of my life I haven’t thought about for a long time. Most of the photos are poor quality, but now they’re meaningful because that was my life. I guess the old site is like an old snapshot of me. Out there for all to see. I thought about logging in and editing it, but can’t bring myself to do that. Sometimes it’s just best to leave history as it was.