If

Rudyard Kippling

This is a poem that I wished I had leaned as a young boy or even as a young man. Had I understood this poems significance I would have committed parts or all of it to memory.

It seems like so few men are being real fathers. I think that a father is a man who will do everything in his power to give his son's and daughter's safe passage to adult hood, and will pass to his kids as much of his fathers and grandfathers virtues and values as he can.

I understand that life is difficult at times but not near as difficult as a child's life when they are with out some sort of paternal mentor and moral compass. A father may start out on a dirt trail but during his life he does as much as he can to pave a highway for his kids and grandkids.

My dad worked all week as a tree surgeon and then worked private jobs cutting down trees on the weekends to earn money so his kids lives would be the best that he could make it. Thanks Dad.

I would encourage anyone to commit this to memory and try to live by some of it's principles. This poem was written to a young man, helping and teaching him how to become a man.

If
By Rudyard Kippling (1865-1936)

If you can keep your head when all about you 
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

I Think I Know Where Luke Might Be

It is obvious to me now that Luke had a hard landing in a field in east central Wisconsin in a small town called Auroraville. It appears that C3PO is in some type of dormant hibernation phase until Han and Chewy come to rescue him. I wonder if Luke is incognito as a humble citizen of Auroraville?

This photo was taken in Auroraville, Wisconsin while I was taking pictures for an e-zine article on the history of Pentecost in Wisconsin.

A totally unexpected find.

Over Under Around and Through

There was an old song written and sung by a man named Gary Paxton and the words declared that "there's gotta be more to livin' than people just waiting to die" How true. As a pastor/minister when a thought hits for an encouraging word I try to keep a notebook nearby so I can write things down and maybe let that thought develop into a sermon; (just for the record it never works out as well as I would like). I wrote something down the other day that has sort of stuck with me. Here goes.

There has got to be more to my life and the way I live than the dreams I have for the future, and the achievements or regrets I have from the past; what about today?

The Bible says that Jesus is an ever present help in a time of trouble. It also says that if I will seek Him I will find Him, as a matter of fact there is a reward for seeking Him. He will never leave me or forsake me, He is with me until the end. All of these passages refer to my today situations. I have often wondered why as Christians we always mention God in relation to trial or trouble and for a long time I did not have a good answer, but then I realized that when things are going really well for us Jesus is often the last thing on our minds. But when we do face difficulty we can turn to Him and He is always there.

Don't get stuck spinning your wheels between yesterday and tomorrow, do something that matters today. Something that matters to someone who could never pay you back, something that might affect someone else's eternity. James tells us that pure religion and undefiled before the Father is to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction and to keep ourselves unspotted by the world. Do something out of the ordinary.  Today begins when you tie your shoes, and head out the door. 

Over, under, around, and through, this how we tie our shoe.