Gospel Living...Gospel Driving

Writer's note: The following is a guest blog from Darcy, my lovely passionate wife. Her piece challenged me...I hope it does you as well.


Have you ever been on auto pilot? Auto pilot is a dangerous place to be when you are operating a motor vehicle. I know we all want to pat ourselves on the back and say that we are not guilty of this recklessness, but too many times we have all been there. Lost in thought, talking to or looking at our passenger, exhausted or just driving the route we are too familiar with traveling. I wonder if studied, if this type of driving could possibly be as dangerous as drunk driving?

I found myself in a mindless trek just this past Sunday. I was taking a very familiar trip to my brother’s house. I don’t have any recollection of where my mind was and suddenly a car was coming directly at me that I failed to see. I found myself at fault and in complete and obvious error. Thank heaven for a defensive driver! While my recklessness could have been a devastating situation and have lent itself to a horrific accident, my children and I are safe. I am thankful that the other driver was in control of her thinking and reacted quickly. Her driving skills were self-protective and to me very beneficial.



We have all made a mistake while driving; a mistake that is totally ours, a mistake that bellows I MESSED UP BIG DIDN’T I?! It always makes the situation worse when the driver in the right of way lets you know it.

With my near catastrophe simmering in mind, trying to figure out where my mind a drifted off, a horn is blaring. And not the “toot-toot” you made a mistake horn. The “BLARRING”, you’re an idiot horn….the one where someone lays across the steering column like they’re pounding plastic moles at the local Chuck E Cheese. The horn that says, “in case you don’t already know it you are an idiot”.



In the midst of this, I was thinking…There was a time in my life that I would have blessed this woman out. But I continue driving, uttering the words. “I know; I am sorry, please forgive me.”

Honestly, I made a mistake, I know it…you know it. Can we just stick to I’m sorry and part ways, like we were taught as toddlers? Well…maybe not!

Next thing I know this woman is riding so close to my bumper that I can’t even see headlights, but I can see her and her passenger throwing their hands in the air as to say, “Idiot…what were you thinking.” And as if the tailgating wasn’t getting my attention, back to the blaring of the horn. Seriously, I’m sorry. I really wish you could hear me say it…I’M SORRY!

When the road finally split into two lanes, my bumper rider had the opportunity to pass. And she did. Stopping at the next light, my rival had clearly forgotten her “I’ve lost all control” road rage incident; which made me feel better. Her car, however, was still in sight and lined up on the back were not one, not two, but three stickers, “Jesus Saves”, a silver plated JESUS, and an Ichthus. My jaw dropped to my lap and I almost missed my turn arrow



“Jesus Saves”, really? How come I didn’t just see this proclamation in living color? Jesus, Jesus and Jesus, right there across the back of that little, silver CRV. And all I have experienced the last 12 blocks is her lack of self control, her anger, and a spirit of vengeance.



Wouldn’t she die if I rolled down my window to ask her how Jesus had changed her life?



I have since not been able to get this incident of my mind. I have asked myself one hundred times, what do I do in the car that people could say, “Jesus, really?” Not just in the car. How many times have I failed to show Christ in my actions? How many times have I been the only Bible that someone will read? What does Jesus think when I turn my body when talking to a stranger that looks different or does not smell fresh?

Obviously my CRV friend needed to harness her anger. Would she have acted differently if she remembered those stickers were there?....Would she have acted differently if she remembered Jesus was there?

How many times would we stop our actions in their tracks if we truly believed that Jesus was sitting on the seat next to us?

Would we cut the driver who was an idiot a break?

Would we quit taking part in the conversation when unkind words were being spoken? Would we stop if we could see Jesus listening?

How would we strive to take captive our thoughts to make them obedient to Christ, if we truly thought he heard everyone of them?

St. Francis of Assisi is noted with one of my favorite quotes, “Preach the gospel always and when necessary, use words.” I hope that we don’t forget that the Gospel is not always the easiest, but is the only thing we should be preaching. Bumper sticker or not.

From Photographs to Funny Faces

I remember the words as if I wrote them myself. It was a prophetic statement, written by someone with similar beliefs, taunting me as if to say, I beat you to your own thoughts. They happen more than I would like, neglected moments of invention, when songs I could have written, products I could have created, or phrases I have pondered life long find the light of day through innovative outlets other than my own.



The proverb I am referring was uttered during a verbal exchange of two TV characters. The writer, drawing on a cliché, penned the following exchange between a father and his associate. “Sometimes we don’t teach our children, sometimes they teach us.” Taking the words out of my mouth, I was bested once again by a like minded thinker leaving me to ponder the serendipity of the statement alone. And while deep in thought…I updated my facebook status…because that is what hip, computer savvy social networkers do in light of poetic expression. Nevertheless, I was reminded of my deep-seated feelings on family matters, children, and personal growth by a character on TV. Whatever gets your attention, right?



Thinking through such a simple statement reminded me of the birth of my youngest daughter Haegan and her 3-4 month battle with colic. The struggles of child rearing fade quickly over time but while entrenched in infancy, little things like colic represent a mountain, not a mole hill. Endless crying, late nights, little to no sleep all add to the challenge of parenthood yet a simple smile or gentle hug wipe away sleep stained eyes in an instant. New life, no matter how difficult, present parents with pure joy capable of rejuvenating even the most tired of souls. It is a lesson only an infant can teach and only a parent can understand.



Once the colic faded, Haegan taught me that simple things oftentimes supersede those of complexity with smiles, giggles, and funny faces. She’d react to fire trucks, kittens, puppies, and other babies in expressive ways most of us have unknowingly grown past. She’d talk to strangers, tap burley biker-looking men on the shoulder, hug random animals, and make use of the oddest items. Through her innocence I learned that most people melt when engaged by an outgoing baby, grown men can and will go gaga unwittingly in public, judging people by their appearance is not only wrong but most often inaccurate. I also learned that while I was charged with raising Haegan, I was essentially a student and the lessons were for me.



As Haegan’s 2nd birthday quickly approaches, I am sometimes saddened with the passing of time. I am unsettled by certain changes; changes that subtly erase infancy, yet elated by others, charting Haegan’s milestones with the pride of a lion. Indeed, the transitions bring forth knowledge but a certain side of me wants to harness time and relish the moments that are simply slipping into photographs for my future self to see.



In reality, a year is equivalent to 365 days but for the last two years, I have experienced a lifetime of learning under the tutelage of a daddy’s girl in vast and colorful world I have only begun to see.



Happy birthday Haegan, may we traipse, and sing, and smile, and play, and tickle, and pat, and laugh, and jump, and swing, and hop, and walk, and love for the rest of the time we have on God’s earth.

Prioritization; Media Style

Pat Hingle (actor) -- Dead. Myelodysplasia. Cheryl Holdridge (actress) -- Dead. Lung cancer. Don Galloway (actor) -- Dead. Stroke. Rob Gauntlett (adventurer) -- Dead. Mountain climbing accident. Patrick McGoohan (actor) -- Dead. Ricardo Montalban (actor) -- Dead. Andrew Wyeth (artist) -- Dead. Bob May (actor/robot driver) -- Dead. Congestive heart failure. James Brady (writer) -- Dead. John Updike (writer) -- Dead. Lung cancer. James Whitmore (actor) -- Dead. Lung cancer. Bossom Dearie (singer/pianist) -- Dead. Robert Anderson (playwright) -- Dead. Pneumonia/Alzheimer's. Estelle Bennett (singer) -- Dead. Colon cancer. Louie Bellson (drummer) -- Dead. Parkinson's Disease. John McGlinn (conductor/music historian) -- Dead. Heart attack. Dr. Eugenia Calle (epidemiologist) -- Dead. Murder. Howard Zieff (director) -- Dead. Parkinson's disease. Philip Jose Farmer (writer) -- Dead. Wendy Richard (actress) -- Dead. Cancer. Paul Harvey (radio broadcaster) -- Dead. Horton Foote (writer) -- Dead. Jimmy Boyd (singer/actor) -- Dead. Cancer. Lenore Annenberg (Philanthropist) -- Dead. Betsy Blair (actress) -- Dead. Ron Silver (actor) -- Dead. Esophageal cancer. Natasha Richardson (actress) -- Dead. [rumors] "England" Dan Seals (singer) -- Dead. Lymphoma.

Michael Jackson (singer/songwriter) -- Dead. Cardiac arrest.

Irving R. Levine (newscaster) -- Dead. Maurice Jarre (composer) -- Dead. Andy Hallett (actor) -- Dead. Heart failure.Jody McRea (actor) -- Dead. Cardiac arrest. Dave Arneson (game creator/teacher) -- Dead. Cancer. Jack Wrangler (Theater producer/porn actor) -- Dead. Emphysema. Marilyn Chambers (model/adult star) -- Dead. Mark Fidrych (pitcher/farmer) -- Dead. Truck accident. J. G. Ballard (author) -- Dead. Prostate cancer. Bea Arthur (actress) -- Dead. Cancer. Danny Gans (comic/impersonator) -- Dead. Heart disease/prescription drug overdose. Marilyn French (writer) -- Dead. Dom DeLuise (comic actor/cook) – Dead. David Eddings (writer) -- Dead. David Carradine (actor) -- Dead. Reported asphyxiation. John Houghtaling (inventor) -- Dead. Complications of a fall. Lorena Gale (actress/playwright) -- Dead. Stomach cancer. Jerri Nielsen Fitzgerald (doctor/speaker) -- Dead. Cancer. Ed McMahon (announcer) -- Dead. Pneumonia/cancer. Farrah Fawcett (actress/model) -- Dead. Cancer. Gale Storm (actress) -- Dead. Billy Mays (pitchman) -- Dead. Heart disease. Fred Travalena (impersonator/comic/cartoon voice) -- Dead. Cancer. Harve Presnell (actor/singer) -- Dead. Pancreatic cancer. Mollie Sugden (actress) – Dead. Allen Klein (music agent/movie producer) -- Dead. Robert McNamara (secretary of defense) -- Dead. Steve McNair (Quarterback) – Dead. Murder

Seven soldiers died Monday in Afghanistan: Four soldiers died in a roadside bombing in Kunduz province. Two soldiers died in a roadside blast in southern Afghanistan. A soldier died after a firefight with militants in the east. The latest identifications reported by the military: Two Army soldiers died Saturday at Combat Outpost Zerok, Afghanistan, after an insurgent attack. Both were assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, Fort Richardson, Alaska. Killed were Pfc. Justin A. Casillas, 19, Dunnigan, Calif. and Pfc. Aaron E. Fairbairn, 20, Aberdeen, Wash. Lance Cpl. Charles S. Sharp, 20, of Adairsville, Ga., died Thursday during combat in Helmand province, Afghanistan; assigned to 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.

RIP to the fallen. The true heroes of our land.

May God Thy Gold Refine

On July 2, 1776, future president John Adams signed the Declaration of Independence and penned the following words to his wife Abigail:

“The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfire and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.”




To see the entire letter, visit:

http://www.masshist.org/digitaladams/aea/cfm/doc.cfm?id=L17760703jasecond

While Adams’s timing was a couple days off from the eventual date set for America’s independence, his foresight was prophetic. As we near the 233rd celebration of American Independence, it is hard not to explore the grandeur of the American Fourth of July celebration; a celebration of monumental proportions with all the pomp and circumstance described in Adams’s letter home. It is a time for Americans to band together and revel in the freedoms we were afforded by men like Adams, who helped architect the greatest country the world has ever known amidst overwhelming odds and a monarchy bent on controlling the lives and minds of her men, women, and children.

Adams knew life would not be easy in America, even after the Declaration, as his final paragraph to Abigail eludes:

“You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. -- I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. -- Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will tryumph in that Days Transaction, even altho We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not.”

Freedom’s cost is infinite for those who wield the sword and Adams made sure Abigail knew the rays of freedom would eventually shine through the wrath of battle, the toll of securing independence, and the “days transaction.” His foresight again rang true.



As free Americans we enjoy the enthusiasm that eluded Adams and other founding fathers. Our freedom’s were paid for by God-fearing men, men who stood and fought the battles necessary to secure our independence and we need not take it for granted.

This Saturday, when the fireworks explode overhead and the battle hymns ring out amongst the crowds in celebration of American independence, remember the men who “kept the line,” who loaded the cannons, who sacrificed their sons, and pioneered our freedoms. Remember the men and women who have fought for us in the past and those who fight for us today and pray for their safety. Without American heroes there would be no America.

In the words of Katherine Lee Bates, “O beautiful for heroes proved in liberating strife. Who more than self their country loved. And mercy more than life! America! America! May God thy gold refine. Till all success be nobleness. And every gain divine!”



Happy birthday America! God surely has shone His grace on thee.