What is worth discussing?
Well, if I could share this now with my nephew. Lord knows if I had kids, they probably wouldn't know what to think. I even challenged my dad's beliefs- as young as I ever remember being.
I didn't believe him at his word. Though he promised me he knew from his own walk that 'God' our father was real, I really didn't believe it. I was already too natural for all that. Ready to get ahead of life, being 3-4 years old, learning how to roll in the foyer of one West Flint Church of God. I didn't want to pay attention, I already decided I knew it couldn't be.
A couple or a few times I can remember questioning him.
One day, amidst these days of youth. I remember clearly my dad lifting his hands up to the Lord. He was standing, arms outstretched, peering out the back-door sliding window, which overset the porch and a little further beyond lay our fairly sized garden.
His hands still outstretched, inquisitively I asked aloud something to the effect of, "What are you doing?"
His answer I can still hear in my heart, "I'm praying son."
"For what?" I asked.
He answers, "I'm praying, son, that the Lord protect our garden from the hail."
With that, the initially cheery, late morning turned dark as dusk. Thunder commanded reckoning. Sounding off the tinning, the hailing, nickel sized falling ice marched through our abode on Fulton Street. For four minutes at least it fell balls of ice. First time I ever experienced 'hail' I believe.
The storminess passed and the brightness of the cheerful day returned.
Inquisitively I followed Bear (dad), and mom came too. There was ice on our porch. There was ice/hail on our lawn. There was hail on the driveway and upon the cars. The fence bordered another garden, the neighbor's garden. There was hail all through his garden.
But our garden...
Mercy, Lord! Not one ball of ice anywhere in our garden. No hail, no ice, no nothing! Plants were fine, standing tall. But I remember more so, how it appeared as if there were some A-frame roof over the garden temporarily because there was a bunch of hail on the perimeter of the garden. On the border, on the edges there was a bunch, it had collected there in abundance. But honestly, as certainly as you are reading this post, there seriously wasn't one piece of hail anywhere in the garden or the upturned dirt thereof.
I was astounded but I had the mind to see if this miracle would continue. So I picked up a piece of hail and I threw it in the garden. My father scolded me for it, but my heart was curious! And no, it didn't bounce out from a force field, the piece I threw hit the dirt.
48 But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more. Luke 12
Maybe some of you have an excuse to say I don't believe cause I've seen nothing that makes me believe.
But, lol, unfortunately, I won't have that excuse when I see Him face to face. Though my face isn't going to look up for a long time. Probably will sob for a week first. If I'm lucky enough to be in his presence that long.
15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Revelation 3
What is worth sharing...
I've been on an investigation since this thing above happened to me. Lot's of people tell me hail does that all of the time. To which I think, I must be terrible conveying ideas in my natural English language.
But some would have been me in those shoes and still thought nothing of it?
So tell me why I cannot stand most the literature, the programming, the preschool, the science, and the dinosaurs that are creating the foundation of a younger man's reality.
If perception is reality,
Then what if the foundation is a lie?