Birthdays and Other Assorted Miracles

It was just the other day...

January 8th is a special day for me. No, it's not my birthday or anniversary or anything. Nope. It really has very little to do with me beyond giving me an excuse to go shopping at Fry's or Home Depot. You see, January 8th is my Dad's birthday.

This particular 8th of January fell on a Sunday this year, which means that our family went to church before the commencement of the birthday festivities, to which we will come in a moment. As it happened, Sunday School's topic of discussion revolved around the concept that G-d was not only our creator, but also our Heavenly Father, and has been referred to as Abba Father, or, more properly, Daddy.

Now, I remember when I used to call my earthly father "daddy". This was later shortened to "Dad" about the time my dad shortened "Brian" (me) to "Bud", his nickname for me. For a time, I let others call me Bud as well, but as I grew older, I found that I preferred that "Bud" should be reserved only for my Dad.

So now, here I was listening to the Sunday teacher describing how many in the Bible also referred to G-d as Daddy or Dad.

Funny old language, English.

Well, a few hours later, the time came to celebrate my earthly Dad's
75th(!) birthday. As it usually happens when G-d takes things in hand, we found ourselves at a gathering of believers who were holding an open forum type of discussion at a local coffee house. It seems that my dad had heard from my Heavenly Dad regarding this group, and that he should go that night to fellowship with them.

Cool.

Suddenly, this computer accessory that I had got him kinda faded into the background as G-d let my father reach out to these folks. And, as an added bonus, G-d let me minister to these people as well.

When the night was done and we had returned home, there was a twinkle in my Daddy's eyes that filled me great joy.

G-d is Good!

Army of Light

Explosions rock this world... or is it the world to come?

What are these things that flow through my mind's eye?

Is it a vision from G-d? Or perhaps a bit of under digested potato soup?

G-d, I think.

I say this because when these images come, they are in IMAX format with Dolby 6.1 surround sound. I don't think potato soup has this kind of bandwidth. But I digress.

So here I am, with the sound of a huge army all around me, a couple of swords (that, when I picked them up, were wood, but now seem to be rather sharp steel) in my hands, ready to go into battle. Up ahead, the Mediterranean Sea looms to the north with what appears to be another army coming at us up from the lands to the east and west. This army is composed of beings covered by shadow.

OK. This is ominous.

I seem to recall that, when last I looked into a mirror, I was 42, had a bad hip, and suffering from the midlife spread around my middle.

Not the stuff of legendary heroes.

But I am not afraid, for as I look at myself in this context, I see myself in an Akido hakima with a fit body. I also find that I am secure in the knowledge of how to fight, and, more importantly, that G-d is my strength!

This was to be the final battle between good and evil, and I was being shown, in a manner my puny human mind could understand, that even one such as I could fight with absolute assurance of victory.

It is at this point that I look back over my shoulder to see where we had come from. Two things were immediately obvious: First, we were coming out of Africa; and Second, the Commander of these forces, G-d as Christ, was holding the likeness of my wife (representing the Church) in his left arm while holding a HUGE fiery sword in the other.

Whoa!

I'm not from Africa. Last time I checked, my country of origin was the good ol' US of A. And I don't think my wife can represent the whole Church.

But, I somehow find myself reassured that G-d is in control!

There is a pattern beginning to emerge here.

God Bless!