Wow. Time has a funny
way of playing with our emotions, as sometimes it seems to just drag, and other
times it seems to race by us! This week,
it’s been a bit of both. Here we are at
the half-way point for the Olympic Games – really? Already?
Wow. For the every-four year
event, it seems like it just began – despite all the of various swimming and
gymnastics events that have consumed our television screen the past week+. Despite seeming to have raced by already
being at the half-way point, I will admit there have been days during this week
(or evenings), where coverage of various events has felt like it has been
dragging on FOREVER!! Especially when
any given event is hyped so much, and then after it’s actually over – it gets
played and replayed over, and over, and over , and over again.
But there are other things that have been happening, or are
being commemorated in my household this week that show that time seems to just
fly by! My kids, for instance, are just
growing up so fast! That’s pretty much a
given for any parent (though new parents don’t tend to “get this” fact during
the diapers & lack of sleep phases ;-)
and often don’t believe other, more seasoned parents who encourage them
to “enjoy every moment dearie, as you’ll blink and they’ll be gone off to
college!”). Off to college… something
that we’re facing with our eldest in just two years! He starts his junior year of high school in
little over a week now. It seems like he
was just two and running around the beach with his grandpa, but we
blinked! Time flew by.
Just a couple of weeks ago we remembered the death of my
grandmother – who was my last living grandparent. The other three all died years and years
ago (33, 34 and 21 to be exact). She outlived her first, and second
husband (who she was married to for 25 years!), and even had a boyfriend in her final years at the assisted living
facility she was living in. It was cute…
especially when she told me, one day, on one our walks when I got to visit her,
that she “wouldn’t marry again”. At 93,
it’s no surprise she wouldn’t marry again!
And here we are more than a year later since she left us all… we
blinked, and the year has flown by!
Today, as I write this, I think about an event that took
place this morning that was wonderful in so many ways – and another event that
took place 33 years ago today that was sad, yet also wonderful too. 33 years ago today, my grandfather (first
husband of the grandmother mentioned above), died of a massive heart
attack. He was, as I am, a Christian,
and with his passing from this life, I believe that he went to Heaven to live
eternally with his savior, Jesus Christ.
This morning, I was blessed and privileged to baptize my daughter after
she confessed her faith in Jesus publically for the first time. I did the same thing with my boys seven years
ago (time has flown by, as that seems to have just been yesterday…). As a Christian, we recognize baptism as
following Christ’s example and immersing our sinful nature in the water, just
as He was immersed in the grave. There’s
nothing magical or remarkable about the water itself – but the redemptive blood
of our Savior. But what is remarkable –
and very special to me – is that both of these individuals – though they never
met – will be able to do so someday in eternity when my daughter goes to Heaven
as well. As a father, I was very moved
by my daughter’s decision, and her request of me to baptize her. As a grandson, I look forward to the day that
I will get to see my grandfather once again in Heaven through my own faith and
relationship with Jesus. I don’t go
about preaching my faith too often, but from time to time, I just have to
preach it from the mountaintops. If I’ve
offended you, dear reader, by sharing this faith moment with you here in my
blog , please know that you have the right to your beliefs, just as I have the
right to mine – but as this is my blog, and I’ll share, or “wear it on my
sleeve” every so often as I believe it appropriate to the day’s post
discussion.
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| A very proud family indeed! |
Later this week we commemorate another “milestone” here in our
household. This is the week back in 2002 that we left
California - for the second time – on our cross-country move to Indiana (the
first time was in 1998 for our cross-country move to Michigan). The primary difference between the two moves,
is that the first time, the company packed us up, and moved all of our things
for us, while we flew over the great mid-section of our nation – and for this
move, we packed our stuff ourselves, and drove across the great mid-section of
our nation. We departed on the 8th
back in 2002 – this coming Wednesday this year.
So we’ll be marking 10 years – an
entire decade – here in Indiana next week.
Again – we blinked!! Time has
flown by. It seems like only yesterday
we were looking at houses to rent or buy. And then of course, when we came to Indiana we had two children - and in the time since we arrived our family grew to three children - the last who's getting closer and closer to being a decade old herself (she has more than a year to go, but she's getting close!)
Other big events from last year will be creeping up on us
very shortly as well… again, making it seem that time has just flown by in the
months since they occurred. It’s hard to
believe that almost a year has passed since I lost my full-time job of 11 years;
and since my father-in-law succumbed to
his battle with cancer in October; and
since I went into business for myself turning my dreams and passions into
reality. But it has been for all of
these things. Soon the coming months
will turn from summer into fall and even winter – with Halloween, Thanksgiving
, and Christmas right around the corner.
As a kid I remember thinking how slow time was – but as an adult – WOW –
time sure does fly by!
Until next time,
