A Legacy of Faith: A fresh look at blessing, morality, self-worth, and mentorship
Sample Chapter Table of Contents
Introduction
I was twelve, and my brother was sixteen. It was the middle of winter. We had just finished taking off our skates and putting on our shoes on the bank of a favorite ice skating pond nearby where we lived. A car drove up, and I noticed Tommy, a neighborhood boy, get out. He and I were about the same age and often hung out together.
He put on his skates and went out onto the ice. He had a new pair of skates, and was breaking them in on his first time out on the pond. Those of us who skated there often knew the pond’s idiosyncrasies. We knew there was a dangerous current of water that flowed out from under a bridge nearby the embankment Tommy was skating around. In deep winter, a thin layer of ice would film over the flow of water, hiding the danger from unsuspecting skaters.
Tommy was skating too close to the current. We tried getting his attention by screaming out his name, and waving him away from the killer flow of water. But, he couldn’t understand us and it was too late. With a sickening sound of broken ice we witnessed him plunge into the frigid water beneath him. Clinging desperately for life on the side of his icy tomb, he fought to keep from being swept away by the current that was pulling at him to surrender his grip and finalize the ultimate fate before him. Screams of terror filled the cold air as both Tommy and his mother, who had witnessed all this from the bank, were pleading for someone to pluck him out of the hands of the grim reaper.
My brother acted in heroic fashion. Grabbing a hockey stick, he and a friend darted across the ice toward the gaping hole where Tommy had moments ago been skating. My brother shouted instructions to his friend as both positioned themselves flat on the ice, nearing the death chamber.
I can still feel the terror I felt that morning. I knew someone had to reach Tommy quickly, but I also feared for the safety of my brother and his friend. Crawling closer and closer to the edge where Tommy had plunged, my brother and his friend were on way too thin ice. The ice was giving out cracks of warning as the two boys defiantly pressed forward anyway. Within just a few feet of where Tommy had just plummeted through the ice, my brother stretched out the hockey stick in his hand. That was the chain of survival! Tommy, holding on to the hockey stick in my brothers strong arms, while my brother’s friend was holding my brother’s feet. Little by little, they squirmed their way back onto solid ice, where they stood to their feet, and Tommy ran to his mother for comfort, warmth, and an eventual change of clothes.Maybe you’ve been there, skating on thin ice, discouraged, angry with God, and ready to throw in the towel. My wife and I were walking up to the golf course nearby where we lived in Northern Vermont. I was just hoping that some of the brisk Fall air would breathe new life into my brain. As we strolled hand in hand, she listened patiently to my barrage of complaints against God, the church I was with, and the world! She whispered something gently to me that rattled inside my mind. It was a simple question really, “Why don’t you quit and do something else for awhile?”
I searched in my heart for an answer that came literally from above. I looked up into the tall pines that were lining either side of the road. I imagined a little child having climbed up into one, only to find he was unable to get back down. Tottering dangerously in the tiny branches being swayed by the wind, he was crying for help. What would I do? What would you do? The urgency of the situation I had imagined caused me to remember why I do what I do. As Jeremiah said: “…his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.” (Jer 20:9 NIV).
We live in a country where people are tottering perilously in the trees of life. They are blown around dangerously by the winds of a great storm of lies. The lies affect Christian, non-Christian, agnostic, and atheist. They know no barriers, and are influencing both the rich and poor, targeting us all, regardless of ethnicity, age, or gender.
The lies have invaded our politics, our theology, our spiritual health, and our mental health. The lies are born out of a corrupted belief system that has influenced what we have come to believe about the blessing of God, morality, the value of life, and the purpose of gender.
I was born April 22, 1949. That puts me at the age of 56 at the time of this writing. The only reason I note that is to justify what I’m about to say. Age increases one’s appreciation of the world around them, whether that’s where they are going, or where they have been. In my case, I have learned through the years to appreciate my past, specifically those things handed down to me from my father.
My father has become my posthumous mentor. As I have reflected on his life through the years, I have remembered the example he laid before me. It has helped me keep on a decent path, and to recognize the lies in the world around me. Because of that, it is his example that I often refer to in this book.
It is with the same urgency that my brother and his friend ran to save Tommy, and, with the same conviction that Jeremiah had to release the “fire shut up in his bones,” that I write this book. With that passion I hope to stimulate the readers thinking.The screaming of God’s angels can practically be heard in the heavens, and I’m sounding a warning cry. As a nation, we are skating on thin ice. I have a lifeline to throw, a “hockey stick” to drag the fallen one to safety. I hope to unravel the twisted ends of the lies that have sunken their roots into our mindset, and, perhaps free the reader from what I believe to be a curse on our land!
Sample Chapters & Sample Review Questions.
I) Chapter One: Growing Up Poor
Our living quarters were riddled with rodent holes. On one occasion, an insurance salesman came to collect a payment. As he stood at the front door, I was watching a little mouse dancing in and out of his hole, balancing precariously on the doorframe just above the man’s head. I was a pre?school child then, but I knew the importance of keeping what I saw to myself. The salesman left with handshakes and smiles, knowing nothing of the incident that was happening just above his head. It was an early lesson in covering up the embarrassment of being poor, and cloaking it with silence and a smile.
Sample Question:
Have you ever felt different because of what you either did or did not have?
II) Chapter Two: Being Satisfied In A Land Of Plenty
It’s hard to hold things loosely unless you’re satisfied with what God has given you. We were going through financial hardship at college. We couldn’t keep up with rent, baby supplies, and groceries. On one occasion, something had to give, and for that week we literally had nothing left to eat. We were hungry that chilly fall night in the Berkshires, when we sat down around the table. It was bare, along with the cabinets and fridge. Our funds were totally exhausted. I suggested we give thanks anyway for God’s supply. Holding the hand of my hungry wife, we gently bowed our hearts before our Master. In pure honesty we acknowledged our hunger before God, yet, assured Him of our contentment to rest within his resources for us. “If You choose to not supply food,” we asked, “then stave off the hunger that is ripping at our stomachs.”
Sample Question:
How can someone or a group of people have afflictions and poverty, yet be rich?
III) Chapter Three: Dissatisfaction Leads To Discouragement
They say in order to truly appreciate the devastation of that area you need to see it firsthand. My wife spent a few days in Waveland, Mississippi to help out a homeowner there. His home was spared because it was made of brick, all wood frame homes were torn apart. The water came about six miles inland. If you drew a mark on the wall of that home in Waveland, about five and one half feet up, you could eliminate salvaging anything from there down. As the water began to seep beneath the door they naively attempted to put a towel down to keep the moisture out. But in a flash the door burst open and the floodwaters surged through the home. They survived by climbing into the attic by a ladder. Their two dogs barely managed to survive. One was clinging to a cooler when rescued and he wouldn’t let it go for three days after. The other dog, a lab, had tread water the entire time. When they finally reached him he held on to the rescuer for literally hours after.
Sample Question:
Did you watch the news concerning Hurricane Katrina? What stories moved you to tears? Or touched your heart? What life lessons do they leave us?
IV) Chapter Four: The Content And The Cravers – The Haves And The Have Nots
With cash in hand, I entered into the used television repair shop that a friend had told me about. There it was! A little television not much bigger than the black and white one I had but beaming with such brilliant colors I could hardly keep my eyes off it. And, the price tag was exactly the amount that I had saved up. As far as I was concerned the decision was a no-brainer, I had the money, and, the television was precisely what I wanted. The craving that I had to purchase that little set was drowning out an inner “sense” that I shouldn’t be in such a rush to buy.
Sample Question:
Have you ever wanted relief from the pressure to “keep up with the Joneses?”
If so, what are you doing about it? Does it include a budget cut?V) Chapter Five: Brittle Standards
I moved my vehicle away from the front door and waited along the side of the bank. Internally, I was mulling over the fact that the criminal who had just threatened my vulnerable wife was about to be brought within a few feet from where I was waiting. My wife had already been through this in a prior incident, a few months before, where the robber held a loaded gun just a few inches from her head and demanded in obscene language that she empty her money into a sack. I was tired of this for the sake of my wife. I knew how shaken she had been the last time it happened, and was thinking what I would like to say, or even do, to this assaulter of my wife’s dignity if given the chance.
Sample Question:
Have you ever experienced mercy from someone you had wronged?
Or didn’t deserve it from?VI) Chapter Six: Our Source Of Life
The young lady sat directly across from me on a piano bench. She was barely out of high school, with long blonde hair. I had heard she had tampered with witchcraft and the occult during her school days, and silently wondered how such a young life could have been led so far astray. Her spiritual torment was obvious and showing through her movements. The pastor broke into my silent contemplation with an urgent appeal to pray. I lowered my head, but hundreds of thoughts pummeled my brain and stifled my prayer. I was pondering what I was doing there, why I had chosen to come, when in a sudden fury the pastor commanded the spirit tormenting the young girl to leave. It has been over 30 years ago now, but I can still quote the verbal response made by that spirit.
Sample Question:
Have you ever witnessed someone’s healing or deliverance, in ways spiritual, mental or physical, and wondered if God would ever do it for you personally?
VII) Chapter Seven: Becoming Spiritually Defined
For whatever God’s reason, I’ll never forget that summer of 1964. For that year in a tiny spare bedroom, located in the back of a modest parsonage, which was built for a little church, at a small town deep in the heart of the South, far from my home in Connecticut, were those two events that God chose to “separate the light from the darkness” in me. They were a stirring of my nest, and the launching of my own spiritual definition.
Sample Question:
Was there ever a time in your life when the “lights” just seemed to go on for you? Why do you think that happened?
VIII) Chapter Eight: Metamorphosis
One night after returning home, burdened with an empty feeling of sadness and despair, she fell on her knees before God and wept bitterly. Through the sobs she uttered this reminder to God concerning a Bible passage she had grown familiar with: “God you promised me ‘abundant life,’ but, my life is empty and dissatisfying! Why don’t I have abundant life?”
Sample Question:
How can we avoid the world’s definitions of acceptance and love?
IX) Chapter Nine: God Heals The Desperate
With eyes widened in fright, my friend screamed out at the top of his lungs, let loose of the two?by?four, and darted quickly out of the barn. The old mean cow had barely gotten into her charge when the loose two?by?four came crashing down, hitting her solidly on the head, and sending her bellowing into the milk stall!
Sample Question:
Why does God heal the desperate? What is it about desperation that points us toward God?
X) Chapter Ten: Big Rocks
There was a girl in our class that year whose face was severely scarred when her clothes were set on fire, melting her flesh and nearly taking her life. Apparently, she had gotten too close to a stove. The fire not only left her disfigured physically, but also left its mental scars. She was often all alone, with no one who would befriend or talk to her. Some, despite her involuntary mutilation, taunted her for her ugliness. She was different, and all in our class avoided her. I am ashamed to say, even me. I of all people should have known better. I knew what it was like to be taunted and friendless because of something I had no choice in.
Sample Question:
Have you ever failed God because of inconvenience? Did it have an effect on your relationship? How did it get resolved, if it did?
XI) Chapter Eleven: The Rogue Elephants
I had a hard time getting my mind around the whole scene before me. How could a young man of fifteen show no signs of mercy, sorrow, or pity for his victim? How could this young man continue to bleed out the life of another with absolute stoic rage? And then I remembered. I knew something about that young man that very few knew.
Sample Question:
In what ways have you been a mentor?
XII) Chapter Twelve: Will You Take This Woman?
I noticed the change in her demeanor almost right away. She was not so talkative, and seemed to have a lot on her mind. The next morning we dressed for church with relatively few words. I didn’t think much of it because my wife isn’t a morning person, but, the ride home from church wasn’t much better. Even a few tears managed to surface and roll down her cheeks.
Sample Question:
Have you or your spouse carried a closet full of hurts into your marriage? How do they come out?
XIII) Chapter Thirteen: Sorry About Wendy’s
It was after church on a Sunday afternoon, I had finished preaching and doing any “touch up” business with members of the congregation I was serving. I was ready for lunch, and so we packed into the car and headed out for the twenty-minute ride to McDonald’s. Along the way the little guy whose birthday we were celebrating had fallen sound asleep. The wheels in my head started turning and calculating a way that I could satisfy my craving for carbohydrates, specifically a baked potato with cheese and bacon on it, and, still fulfill my obligation to honor that little guy’s birthday wishes.
Sample Question:
In what specific ways does God use the family to refine us?
