Sons of the Shepherd

  Writing Your Chapter Two Introducing Someone New        Did you ever have a moment in life where you wish you could redo something?  Hit the rewind and go back in time.  There are countless examples in sports, none probably as memorable as a missed field goal during Super Bowl XXV.  The Buffalo Bills were pitted against the New York Giants.  The two teams had very different styles.  The Bills were an offensive machine, scoring the most points in the NFL that year.  The Giants were the exact opposite.  They were stalwarts on defensive, keeping teams to the lowest amount of points scored.  It was a slugfest with both heavy weights throwing punches at each other.  Two minutes remained in the game and the Bills were trailing 20-19.  Bills kicker Scott Norwood entered the game to kick a 47 yard, seemingly game winning field goal.  The audience was at a hush as Norwood booted it with all his might, but sailing w...

  Writing Your Chapter Two When Kids Are in the Room        Math has never been a strong point in my life.  I started struggling with math when long division came onto the scene.  O' the dreaded remainders and having to carry numbers.  And then we started adding the alphabet to math.  Why do I need to know what x equals in a problem?  I yearn for the days when math was a simple one plus one equals two.  That's the kind of math that I can excel at.  A math that doesn't involve flash cards or rote memorization.  Dating after loss is complicated math though.  For most young widows and widowers the equation of two people falling in love isn't one plus one equals two, in my case it was one plus one equals seven.  That doesn't sound like it makes mathematical sense, but it does make dating sense in a post loss world.  Dating after loss is rarely just two people.  That is one of the most glaring differences be...

  Returning to the Fields         I once was a shepherd who tended a flock.  But that seems like a long time ago.  A time before an opportunity came to leave the flock and to enter an office.  The office offered more comfort, it offered more finances, it offered what seemed like a dream opportunity.  It offered more influence, more authority.  It offered predictabilit y and a roof over my head.  It would provide a bank account that would be in the green and not the red.  It would allow us to live for tomorrow instead of today.  Who wouldn’t want to sit behind the desk and leave behind the dirt, pain, and mystery of the flock.  Who wouldn’t want to lay down the staff that calloused your hands and the heat of the midday.  The only caveat, I had to leave the field.  A field that I had tended, a field that I was called to, a field of sheep that needed a shepherd.  The glitter of the office can blind yo...

Writing Your Chapter Two When the First One Isn't the One       One of my favorite things to do in the entire world is cook.  I'm not content with simple meals.  I like to practice with making more complicated things, making things from scratch. Of late I've picked up the hobby of making my own pasta noodles and my own pasta sauce.  The sauce is made from my tomatoes and herbs.  I also make my own salad dressings, peanut butter, ice cream, and much more.  Cooking can be a trial and error experiment.  Some things turn out great, other things make a call to the local pizza place necessary.  Most people who have dated can attest that there is a trial and error in dating too.  Most of us start in our teen years and needless to say, we haven't mastered the technique of human relationships yet.  We lack the emotional maturity  to be able to sustain a relationship.  The result sadly is a trail of failed dating experiences....

  Hope Beyond the Grave 1st Corinthians 15:20, 1st Thessalonians 4:13-18,  John 11:25-26, Revelation 21:4       Have any of you ever had trouble with your vision? I remember starting sixth grade and I noticed that I was  unable to see the chalkboard in the Mr. Dunkle's science class.  Yes, a chalkboard.  That might show my age a little bit.  I sat in the front row and it still didn't help.  I would write what I thought the teacher wrote down, only to write the wrong thing.  Tests were hard because I was giving the answer that I studied, but I copied the wrong thing.  And then one day I got the dreaded letter that I had to give to my parents.  It simply said "I think Matt would benefit from getting glasses."  That sounded so awful as a 12 year old.  Back in my day only the 'nerdy' kids had glasses.  They weren't considered fashionable.  They were a tool, and that was about it.  We went to the eye d...

When the Fire Is Out       I grew up in rural Pennsylvania.  Farms were abundant.  Cows way outnumbered people.  Growing things was a part of our culture, it was a core identity of my people.  FFA was more popular then football and the boys would drive their tractors to school a few days a year.  I vividly remember when one of our local farms caught fire.  It was the middle of summer and a bale of hay ignited.  The entire barn was loss.  Tragically so were a few of the animals that were in the barn.  I could see the fire from outside my front door.  The orange flames leapt into the air.  Smoke filled the air.  Every local fire department ascended onto our small town to try to save the farm.  People lined up to watch the fire.  Some of them stayed in their cars, others got out.  Back then the only way to take pictures was with your polaroid camera or it you had a disposable camera.  My grandmot...

  Writing Your Chapter Two Are You Ready?  The Questions No One Asks Out Loud       "Is everyone ready?"  Those are the last words out of my mouth before we go on a family road trip, and more then likely the answer is no despite multiple warnings.  As a family of seven there are a lot of things to get ready before finally putting the car in reverse to go down the drive way, and sometimes it means driving down the street only to turn around to find out that we were not ready.  Five kids require a lot of readiness.  Things like making sure everyone has their shoes on, that everyone indeed did use the bathroom, because if this box isn't checked, we will be visiting the gas station right down the street.  Leslie will be packing snacks, water bottles need to be filled, GPS needs to be programmed. It's amazing how the older children can say "I'm ready" while they are still getting ready.  I give this illustration to let you know that lif...