Diligo Diem - Value Highly the Day

There's an old cliche that goes something like "happiness is a journey, not a destination." I believe it is true; still I find myself too often looking toward the horizon focusing on distant glimmering lands that may very well be mirages for all I know. Only when I think of days gone by am I reminded that today is the stuff of dreams.

I can't tell you how many times I've looked at old photos and felt a longing to re-live those moments now regarded with their clearer, hind-sight value in mind. The photo on the right is such a time. It was Springtime in Charleston, and I was on a weekend trip with the Boy Scouts. I'm second from left in the back, and next to me on the left of the frame is one of my very best friends to this day, Danny Holbert. Jerry Burns is squinting in the middle next to Victor Robinson and Tim Watson in the back right. In my memory, the sun shines a little brighter, and the clouds ease by more full and white. Occasionally, I hear a song on the radio, or smell the sea on the air and it all comes back. I was experiencing life for the first time in so many ways, yet unaware of the profundity of each experience. I knew we were having fun, but I didn't know just how iconic such a moment would prove in the way I view so much of my youth.

Yesterday, I spent the afternoon in downtown Charleston with my family. We walked up East Bay and down to the Waterfront Park. Bobbi gleefully pointed out the dolphins playing in the harbor suggesting that they had waited for her arrival before beginning their performance. I played along mimicking a showman directing attention to stage left in the harbor. Nathan and I found an open swing to enjoy the view while Kristin braced against the stiff March breeze on a nearby bench. Afterward, we walked up to Market Street for dinner and then back down Church Street to complete the loop. The Spring flowers were vibrantly in bloom, and despite all the slights of a nostalgic mind, I'm sure the sun shone as brightly as it ever has. The whole afternoon was just a spur of the moment kind of thing. I'm not anymore successful or distinguished than I was yesterday morning, but in a way, I am richer...it just takes a little reflection time to realize it.

I'm reminded that everyday has such potential. True, I can't always go take a stroll through a garden spot in the sun, but I can, and should, weigh the value of time spent with the ones I love. Life is now and it should be highly valued as a precious gift from God.

Psalm 118:24 "This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

A Time of Joy

It's been nearly 25 years since this photo was taken. In fact, it was April 29, 1983, and it was the very first date I ever had with my yet to be bride, Bobbi Kaufman. The pic brings back so many memories. It was our first prom and we were only 16 years old. Yes, Bobbi does look a little like Princess Di doesn't she? I, unfortunately, look a little like Prince Charles. :-/

I remember nervously going to her door with corsage in hand, and being greeted by a little fireball boston terrier named Precious. This little dog could jump up over 5 feet from the floor and lick your face before you knew what had happened. It was also the day I would meet my future mother-in-law, Kay Kaufman.

Kay was born in Curlew, Iowa on June 2, 1938. She had a dry sense of humor, like her carpenter father, Harold Ward, and she would take 30 minutes to eat a piece of toast...buttering every bite while she kept the family and the past close at hand with one anecdote after another. There is so much that can be said about Kay; she suffered with crohns' disease since the age of 16, enduring dozens of life threatening surgeries and outliving doctors' predictions by decades. To hug her was to hold a tiny lady in your arms. Her child-sized frame was accented by her perfect posture, and her manners were regal, but her most defining characteristic was her faith in Christ.

To know Kay was to know the heart of an apostle. To talk with Kay was to have before you the living scriptures, and one who cared for your very soul. I recall that afternoon in April when we first met. We hardly had exchanged niceties before she inquired as to my faith. Now, many might mistakenly think this was simply a mom sizing up a potential suiter for her daughter...well maybe just a little, but you should know she did that to everyone. My soul would've been equally important to her if we had met in a grocery store checkout line.

Kay endured more than just physical challenges with a grace I can only aspire to in this life. When asked about her own desire for healing, she responded as the apostle Paul stating, "His grace is sufficient." Her patience and faith became even more remarkable later in life when she underwent years of dialysis treatments, advanced chemotherapy for recurring cancers, and an almost unthinkable regimen of medications. Still, she glowed with the joy of the Lord.

Kay went on to her reward just a week before last Christmas. She had asked that her service not be about us, but "all about Him," and it was. The pastor recounted her faithfulness with a joy that can only be explained by the blessed assurance of salvation that a life such as Kay brings to all who knew her. He extended an invitation at the end of her celebration service, and 5 people responded and were saved for the Kingdom of Heaven. Never have I known such joy during a time of loss. Never before have I known a sweeter sadness. They say that the Angels rejoice when a lost soul finds the way home. Perhaps we felt their joy over the 5 that found the way home, and perhaps we felt the joy of the Lord as He held Kay in His arms.

Nathan by My Side

Hello again! I thought I'd introduce this little thought with a photo taken last week. It shows a guitar lesson I had with Nathan up in my music room. Nathan is now 10 years old. Most of you know that like his older brother, Marcus, Nathan also has autism. God always has blessings for us even in the midst of trials. I've learned to appreciate the unique beauty of people with disabilities. Nathan is different than most kids his age, but in the sweetest ways. He's brilliant, but has almost no ego about it outside of openly enjoying our smiles at his abilities. He learns to do difficult things, like fingerstyle guitar, because he doesn't know he can't, and his memory can be astonishing at times. He not only remembers every president by number, but he can tell you how tall they were in inches and feet. He knows their middle names and can list every president that had facial hair in the order that they served...I know, I know. He knows my CD collection too. I found out one morning at Hardees when "Fields of Gold" came on overhead, that he knows what track that song is on "The Very Best of Sting and the Police." Puzzled how he knew that, I asked a couple of questions and learned that "Englishman in New York" is track 3 and that it's 4 minutes and 25 seconds long. Funny thing is that he might not be able to tell you that he had a cheeseburger for lunch just 15 minutes ago or that 10 X 6 = 60. He can, however, quickly compute roughly how many miles are in 10 light years.

The next photo is Nathan with his sister, Kristin. He is openly affectionate with her and the rest of us. He'll cry if he thinks you're upset with him for any reason. He tells me he wants to be a Daddy and that his kids will call me Grand Daddy...and that he will marry Mommy. He was a bit disappointed to find out that it doesn't work quite like that...at least outside of Spartanburg County. ;-) The thing that gets me is that the proof of Nathan's autism lies not in what he can't do, but in what he doesn't do because of his innocence.

Last year, Nathan and I toured Washington DC for 3 days, and had a special time together with him that I'll always cherish. Here he is at Mount Vernon on the right. I learned a lot about him those three days. I learned how much he loves cold weather, and how much he enjoyed the simple fun of kicking ice with me down the sidewalks. I marveled that he was saddened, as if out of inate reverence, at the site of Washington's tomb and the President's box at Ford's Theater. I learned just how precious a couple of days can be just talking to, walking with and watching Nathan be my son.

I make a special effort to spend time every week and every day that God allows with Nathan. We've walked for days hunting shark teeth, journeyed many leagues servicing Li'L Cricket convenient stores together, wandered through art gallerys and coffee shops, and driven hundreds of miles for a two hour concert. Not a minute with him has been a waste in any way. I imagine God looks at His time with us in much the same way, and that He sees the beauty in us most when we grow to be who He intended us to be while simply walking by His side. We do well to make time for our Father and for each other often. Doing so spins the threads of precious moments into the blanket of a precious life, and what better to keep us warm.

Good News!

Hello friends. Thanks so much for taking the time to read my blog! To start this new blog, I feel it appropriate to start by sharing some good news. I was lead to this passage from1 Corinthians chapter 2:

1. And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. 2. For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. 3. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. 4. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: 5. That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

As I read these words, I'm reminded that I have no wisdom of my own to share with you. I only have what I've been given, and it is a blessing to share this with you. There are many men in this time that are wise in their own minds. Their words are designed to entice you with promised filled doctrines of earthly blessings and rewards. Paul placed little or no value on the things of this earth. He stated in Philippians 3:7-8 "But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ." He lost all things and eventually lost his life for the sake of Christ. Later in the same chapter, Paul contrasted his view with the prevailing worldly view when he wrote, "For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ."

I have to remind myself often not to lean on my own understanding, but instead seek after the wisdom of God. I also have to remind myself that my purpose is not to live for earthly reward, but to use what I've been given to serve the Kingdom of God without regard for the things of this world. I'm a proud U.S. Air Force veteran, but I'm prouder still to be a citizen of heaven. It is in this citizenship that I find peace when the peace and wisdom of men fail. God has made a way for us to be restored to Him, and all we have to do is respond to Him with all of our hearts by accepting the gift of His Son, Jesus.

This is GOOD NEWS! Thanks for letting me share it with you.
Keith