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Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Living Truth

I am glad that Jesus didn't point to something other than himself, like a book or a tablet or a scroll or any object around him, and say, "That is the way, the truth and the life." When he referred to himself as the Truth that told me that the ultimate truth is not a purely abstract, mental concept. Truth wasn't something to wrap our minds around but our hearts. In other words, Truth is not a proposition but a Person. Here in this divided world, we can express a truth without living it. In heaven, where all is tried by the fire of God's presence, only those who are living truths will be able to stand the heat. There can be no duplicity. Only true integrity (wysiwyg) will be able to bear the "weight of glory."

Reel it in to the present
I am a man divided
I think truth
I fondle lies
wysiNOTwyg
I smile outside
Only God knows what's going on in the inside
who can deliver me from this perpetual state of duplicity?

case in point:
last Thursday I cut down a large diseased section of our fig tree
I left two branches for my son to help carry to the front sidewalk
My son tells me that he can't lift them
They are too heavy for his pencil-thin arms
I ignore him because I've got more important things to do

The next day the large trash truck is coming
I remember the two limbs
I run out, grab them, and haul them to the front sidewalk
They feel light in my hands
I remember my son's words
"They're too heavy for me, Daddy"
He lied.
I confront him at the breakfast table
Humiliating him in from of his mother and sister
He starts to cry
He stops eating
I justify my anger by saying I want him to know that he's stronger than he thinks he is!
My wife tells me that I only want to prove that I'm right
She knows me well
But I ignore her and drag my son out to the front yard
To make him prove that he is wrong
He sees the two branches that I've separated from all the rest of the limbs
He says Those aren't the branches!
I say Those are the branches!
We play several rounds of ping pong
I am the stronger, better ping pong player
He carries the limbs to the sidewalk with some effort and says
These aren't the limbs!
The ping pong whooshes pass me

I try to help him see the truth
All he can see is an angry father who is more concerned that he is right
He calls me a liar
I shout at him and tell him to go to his room
I face his mother who looks at me like I'm a stranger
She has to teach him for the rest of the day
And I've just ruined it for her
What do I care? I'm right! I know the truth!
THOSE WERE THE LIMBS!
She tells me that I have to face the weeping angel in the room

I go and stand before his door
Lord have mercy on me
Give me the words to say to help my son see that I'm right
I walk through the door
There is my son
A Tempest
Rocking
Weeping
My heart skips a beat
I forget my wrath for a second
I forget the truth I was going to whack him on the head with
He says he wants to talk to mama
He wants to share his side of the story
I say she's not the judge
He can share his side of the story with me
He knows I already know his side of the story
And he stands condemned in my eyes
But he braces himself
He says those weren't the same limbs
Maybe a kid in the neighborhood came by and took it
I look in his eyes
I don't see a desperate criminal trying to weasel his way out of a crime
I see a little child desperately wanting to be believed
Wanting to be loved
I say do you really believe those aren't the limbs?
He nods his head
I breathe
The moment of truth
Ok, son, I will believe you
Even though my mind tells me that those are the same limbs
I will choose to believe that you believe they aren't
I know that there are many things I've done in life that were or weren't true
But only Jesus will be able to sort them out for me
And when that happens, it will not be a day to mourn
but a day to rejoice
To see our lives the way He sees them is freedom
And life
And love

It was like watching the sun rise in my son's face
the rain vanished from his eyes
he smiled
he couldn't believe what just happened
there was no condemnation

Next thing I knew he was happily helping his mom water the garden
The Day wasn't ruined

yes, i know what some of you are thinking
i just reinforced his propensity to lie, to get away with it
maybe i did, maybe i didn't
but you know,
i wouldn't be surprised
if an angel were holding those limbs down,
making them immovable
just to test me
sort of like Balaam's Ass who saw the angel
and in the end ended up saving Balaam's ass

or maybe my son did try to move them
but because they got caught on something
and because my son has asperger syndrome
and therefore is easily distracted
he really couldn't move them...

What is the truth?
The truth is Jesus was with my son when he tried to move the limbs
and I wasn't

If I had been with my son
The way the Truth chooses to be with me
I could have saved him and myself from much madness

Lord Jesus Christ Son of God have mercy on me a sinner!




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