Renaissance Man

         The single most ludicrous concept that I can come up with right now is the often heard excuse that today is just like any day in years past where there were wars, and violence and crime and economic downturns and.....well you get it. It's denial that we are in any more difficulty in America than we have ever been in. While our military is purposely being depleted we have people
making decisions on national security who even if they had any love or admiration for America have absolutely no qualifications to even sit in the back of the room where strategy is taking place. The economy is ripe for catastrophe again and the next time the economic repercussions will be far worse. We have emboldened enemies and given them a window of opportunity that they have never seen before and will never see again. Our domestic situation is utter....utter....havoc. This should be a time of weeping, rending of garments and of extreme soberness, yet we are as content as a sleeping infant who only wakes up occasionally to cry for more food and giggles at the faces made to him.
         The following post is a plea to men. It was originally a Father's Day post and concerns the greatest vulnerability on our families and therefore our nation and that is the modern day Renaissance Man who knows a whole lot about many things and is even an expert on some but knows little about that which ultimately effects his family, his nation and his eternal soul:

2011

         Essentially, my only advertising for this blog, other than the cards I occasionally leave around, is the bumper stickers on my car. I change the message with each blog in such a way that a driver behind me at a traffic light might just be inquisitive enough to visit the site. I'll often look in the rear-view mirror and see a man alone in the car, or a woman, or a couple, and lift up a prayer for them.
I've appealed often in this blog to the concept of a father's love for his children.
         The average man is willing to take the chance of staying away from God. He has just enough stubborn determination to stay with the crowd for a long time but I want him to realize something, that he is applying this decision of his to his children also. "Oh, they can make up their own mind later on in life," he might say, but they will most likely make the same decision based on the pattern they saw in the father they loved.
          So, speaking here to these men....How much work have you put into this question of God and man? Might I offer a few possible answers.... You gave it some thought on an occasion or two and were not convinced.... You were dragged to church when you were young so you know what it's all about....or, Carl Sagan didn't buy it...and he was very intelligent. Maybe you are more of a philosopher...if there is a God why is there so much suffering, or... I'm not that bad of a person. I'm not concerned here with trying to answer these questions but rather in saying to you That's it? You are consigning your children to a future of not knowing Jesus because of your own limited experiences or because you stumbled over some questions that multitudes of Christians have trusted God with and thanked Him for ever since?
          Let me take a real leap here and assume that someone reading this might actually consider my thesis, that although they themselves are not being drawn to Jesus Christ, they love their children more than their own life. What are they to do? The first thing is to pray with your children...before meals and at bedtime. How hard is this guys? They will never...ever...forget this! Second...put a Bible, God's word to us, on the coffee table and pick it up to read on occasion for them to see. Third...humble yourself before God and admit that praying with your children and picking up a Bible are a mere pittance of what a father should do but plead that God might take that morsel and protect them through it.
          Another Christian reading this might wonder what kind of advice I'm giving? Twenty-five years ago or so, on one of our Pittsburgh rivers, there was a boating accident with a father and small child. The father couldn't swim and struggled as he held his child's head above the water. The child survived but the father drowned. That's what kind of advice this is! Hold your child's head above the water for you love them more than your own life. You might be surprised at what may happen for you indeed may be saying "I am not worthy... but have mercy on my child!" Your response here may turn out not to have been of your own volition, for many have come to Christ in similar ways as this. We thought that we were making an insignificant step but God had initiated it. We didn't realize this until later. Take your child by the hand to Christ and see how He may respond...even with you.