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Father

Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

The Father on this Pilgrimage

Father’s Day is Sunday. My children’s father has always exhibited the characteristics of a godly father. But I’m just going to tell you that it’s the 63-year-old father, even more than the 36-year-old one  that really shows the stuff he’s made of. “Sandwich generation” was never a more fitting description for anyone than it has been the last two years for Glenn Colley. Caring for his father till his death last fall and continuing to care for his mother as she suffers from deep and progressive dementia, of course, was/is enough—enough in every physical, spiritual, and emotional way. He cleared out a large house with 60-plus years worth of sentimental possessions, had yard sales, protected their nest egg from scammers, and moved them—three times, virtually alone.

But, on the other side of the sandwich, during those same months, this father, with the help of many of God’s people in two cities, has moved a family of four—four times! These moves have been, by far, the hardest ones, because mixed in with the physical exhaustion, has been extreme emotional pain, intense spiritual seeking and dependence, and providing the only soft space on earth for this mom and grandmother. And while he has done all of these heart-breaking (and back-breaking) things, he’s preached the Word of God upwards of 200 times, helped organize and made a trip to the Bible Lands, sat down and talked with scores of people who have sought his counsel, and helped provide accountability for several people who are breaking habits, dependencies and addictions. I know this is HOW he has done it, but he has also spent many, many hours in earnest prayer though these years. I should add that he has done all of this in the face of some pretty potent criticism from a very few people—but people for whom he deeply cares. I’ve watched him examine and re-examine his motives and actions, always striving to bring his life into conformity with Christ in every way. He would be the first to tell you that he is always in need of the mercy and grace extended in his behalf at Calvary. 

Yesterday, we went together to see someone who seems to be in the process of walking away from the Lord. I watched him balance, as on a tight wire, the tasks of taking every personal insult with grace and credibility, while not giving any space for the insults being hurled at the Word of God. Humility and confidence are not easily mixed, but I have watched the mixture of personal humility and unflinching confidence in the Will of God become a conduit for the Word to work in many lives through this man. 

Now, you are thinking, and I am knowing—I am biased. I have been the one walking beside him for 43 years! I love him and so I am bound to praise and honor him. That’s true. I am him and he is me: one flesh. As his wife, I have probably been more frustrated, angrier, more critical at times, and even more hurt by this good man than anybody on the planet…because he is a man. But every flaw, every aggravation, every mistake and every sin serves to make me love Jesus more—for his leaving heaven, living as a man, and dying on the cross, so that after waking up beside a good, but not perfect, human for this lifetime, I will one day wake up in a place where the heavenly Father has completely perfected this father of my children. And I will see him with perfected eyes. Though we will not be married, I will love him perfectly!

Praise God for the Christian father in your life. If you do not have one, praise Him for the privilege of being a child of the ultimate Father who can redeem every hurtful thing in your life. Glenn Colley is the father who has sheltered and moved us around on this pilgrimage toward heaven. But that Father has moved us from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of His dear Son.. He shelters, loves, listens and answers our heavenward pleadings. He has a forever home waiting for Glenn and Cindy Colley. He is the Father of mercies. 

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort…(2 Corinthians 1:3).

Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

Elephants and Rhinos and Fatherless Boys

Elephant portrait

If you can spare about fourteen minutes, watch this documentary. It will make you think. It’s about elephants and rhinos, but it’s about something else, too. It’s an illustration of, if not a scientific parallel to what’s happened in our culture. It really needs no commentary, but maybe this injunction from the Holy Spirit fits, at least for our human species: “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”

The video is found at the bottom of the following article: https://www.kotafoundation.org/the-delinquents-in-pilanesberg/

 

 

Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

Sister to Sister: The Father and the Daughters

images-3I knew it would be touch and go for my ladies day in Warner Robins, Georgia yesterday because of the laryngitis issue that has hung around for way too long. There are bad things; no singing along with the Pandora, no cheering for my favorite kids at Lads to Leaders, no phone chatting with Ezra lately. But there are good things like getting Glenn to answer my phone, drinking lots of spiced tea with honey and no husband nagging!

I also knew that my sister, Celine Sparks was going to have a tough time with her ladies day in West Virginia because she also has has coincidentally succumbed to laryngitis at the same exact time as I.

But when I called my dad and he told me that my other sister, Sami Nicholas, was also preparing for a ladies day in Georgia and that she also had laryngitis, I argued with him. “No, Dad, you’re mixed up. It’s Celine and me that are speaking this weekend and it’s us that can’t talk—not Sami.” But Dad was persistent, and sure enough, when I finally got Sami on the phone, she was obviously worse than Celine or me and she was speaking, or trying to speak, in Cedartown, GA.

It was amazing that all three of us had the same debilitating issue, trying to do the same job and we had not even been in the same proximity of each other. (Maybe the devil is just trying to shut us up!) I guess it’s those spring pollens and perhaps a family allergy to them?

At any rate, it got me thinking. Sisters are like that. We suffer from the same problems and face the same challenges. Sisters in the Lord have so very much in common. The big problem is sin and we all suffer from all of its direct and indirect consequences as we go through our days. This is true even if we do not personally know each other and if we are not even in the same proximity.

Secondly, sisters in the Lord are all trying to do the same job. Just like the three of us were working toward the same weekend goal, even though we were not together, spiritual sisters are all working toward the same eternal goal. We want to get to heaven and our primary job is to take our families there with us.

Finally, we all have the same Father and he does know what we are doing. Sometimes, we argue with him and often we do not understand that He does know best. But He is our Father. He IS keeping up with us—our problems, our plans and our schedules.

The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knows them that trust in him (Nahum 1:7)