Ensign: Stuff My Dad Taught Me
All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3
AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 9 December 2016
Over the last few weeks I've received three boxes of our father's pictures, medals, jewelry, and other items that belonged to him from my brother Bob in Florida. The first box we got, I was home with Sarah and Jeffrey to open and you'd think Christmas had come early with their eagerness to unwrap and pop the bubble wrap surrounding a variety of bottles, music boxes, and old papers including Dad's (Papaw to them, as Grandpa is Martha's dad) military records.
He was in the US Army, Company D, 109th Infantry Regiment, 28th Infantry Division.
And I evidently had a few things wrong. Wrong, that is, as opposed to what my dad told me when I asked about them. If he was on active duty from September 1944 to July 1946, how could he have been at D-Day + 6 (June 12, 1944, six days after history's largest amphibious landing) or been part of the first American army unit to march under the Arc de Triomphe at the Liberation of Paris ... unless he wasn't in said unit at the time (August 1944) which he couldn't have been.
I so wish I'd asked my dad more about his life.
I mean, yes, I have a lot of the stuff that he collected and accumulated over his life, enough so I can now say I come by my pack rat tendencies honestly -- I don't think my dad threw much of anything away either! But it is mildly frustrating to have so much that he accumulated throughout his life and share it with my family NOW without some context. Some parts I can go on and on about, and other parts are missing or have incredible gaps.
Sometimes reading in God's Word is the same way.
Then I remember I'm not reading straight history or prophecy or poetry or whatever genre you want to classify the Bible, Old and New Testament together, as. Like any letter -- a really long letter, but God working through nearly fifty people over fifteen hundred years in three languages -- there are bound to be parts that drag, that I think I don't care about but I will, or that I found more valuable when I was twenty or thirty than now when I hit forty-five in two days.
Two score and five.
But just as My Father in heaven doesn't tell me everything (or us everything, can you imagine if we had to handle that?) my dad didn't tell me everything either, just enough that I could live life and walk in the world that I'm in yet not of in a way that honored him. And honors Him. I certainly didn't and don't see every curve coming, but I know I can live with confidence that My Lord knows the best way for me. He doesn't give me a map of the whole course, but I have the faith to walk where I am.
So can you,
David
P.S. I write this devotional to keep in touch with you and I hope it encourages us too! If it's not or you want me to get lost, please let me know. Thank you!
Thank YOU, Lord, that we can come to You in prayer and that we can count on You to provide for all our needs, even when we don't know what they are. And let us come to You in prayer for the peace of Jerusalem on both sides of the fence and all over the world.
Thank You as well, Lord, for everyone in leadership and service both here and abroad. Thank You for the opportunities we have and the promise of new life through You by Your Son Our Brother, Jesus the Christ.
And may we all seek and have a blessed week! Amen.
AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 9 December 2016
Over the last few weeks I've received three boxes of our father's pictures, medals, jewelry, and other items that belonged to him from my brother Bob in Florida. The first box we got, I was home with Sarah and Jeffrey to open and you'd think Christmas had come early with their eagerness to unwrap and pop the bubble wrap surrounding a variety of bottles, music boxes, and old papers including Dad's (Papaw to them, as Grandpa is Martha's dad) military records.
He was in the US Army, Company D, 109th Infantry Regiment, 28th Infantry Division.
And I evidently had a few things wrong. Wrong, that is, as opposed to what my dad told me when I asked about them. If he was on active duty from September 1944 to July 1946, how could he have been at D-Day + 6 (June 12, 1944, six days after history's largest amphibious landing) or been part of the first American army unit to march under the Arc de Triomphe at the Liberation of Paris ... unless he wasn't in said unit at the time (August 1944) which he couldn't have been.
I so wish I'd asked my dad more about his life.
I mean, yes, I have a lot of the stuff that he collected and accumulated over his life, enough so I can now say I come by my pack rat tendencies honestly -- I don't think my dad threw much of anything away either! But it is mildly frustrating to have so much that he accumulated throughout his life and share it with my family NOW without some context. Some parts I can go on and on about, and other parts are missing or have incredible gaps.
Sometimes reading in God's Word is the same way.
Then I remember I'm not reading straight history or prophecy or poetry or whatever genre you want to classify the Bible, Old and New Testament together, as. Like any letter -- a really long letter, but God working through nearly fifty people over fifteen hundred years in three languages -- there are bound to be parts that drag, that I think I don't care about but I will, or that I found more valuable when I was twenty or thirty than now when I hit forty-five in two days.
Two score and five.
But just as My Father in heaven doesn't tell me everything (or us everything, can you imagine if we had to handle that?) my dad didn't tell me everything either, just enough that I could live life and walk in the world that I'm in yet not of in a way that honored him. And honors Him. I certainly didn't and don't see every curve coming, but I know I can live with confidence that My Lord knows the best way for me. He doesn't give me a map of the whole course, but I have the faith to walk where I am.
So can you,
David
P.S. I write this devotional to keep in touch with you and I hope it encourages us too! If it's not or you want me to get lost, please let me know. Thank you!
Thank YOU, Lord, that we can come to You in prayer and that we can count on You to provide for all our needs, even when we don't know what they are. And let us come to You in prayer for the peace of Jerusalem on both sides of the fence and all over the world.
Thank You as well, Lord, for everyone in leadership and service both here and abroad. Thank You for the opportunities we have and the promise of new life through You by Your Son Our Brother, Jesus the Christ.
And may we all seek and have a blessed week! Amen.
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