Self-Correcting Tree

So reads the sign along the trail by this interesting specimen. I suppose it's true as far as it goes but I suspect the location of the sun was more than a little influential in the so called 'correcting'.  This is probably similar to the "train" in "train up a child" (Prov. 22:6).  Herein is great hope for we who start out parallel to the ground, seemingly making no progress. Then the strong influence of the source of light and growth reveals that the Master was there all along, drawing unto Himself.

"No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him:" (John 6:44).

More Ryan & Sarah

I'm not sure engagement pictures ever look "natural".  But it seems as if our second session with these two yielded better results than the first.  Or maybe the dad/photographer was more relaxed.

In any case, it's been a joy watching these two begin to blend their lives together.  And in that blending, we have again been blessed to "gain a daughter" whose life is now blending with our family as well.

"For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife;" (Mark 10:7)

Life's Shadows

This image struck me as how life feels at times.  Some days are "dark", some are "light". As we walk along the "corridor of time", we transition between these stages, as it were.  It can be easy to forget one while experiencing the other.

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." (Psalm 23:4)

Guapa Chica!

My blogging hiatus after Dad died has me reaching back a few months.  Most of my posts are not "time sensitive" as this is not really a diary or any kind of attempt to chronicle the events of our lives in an organized fashion.  That said, our Julie spent the spring semester studying in Spain and we were blessed to visit her in late March.

Spain is amazing and I look forward to dribbling out some images from the trip over time.  The highlight was our long weekend in Granada, Julie's "home" for almost five months.  The Alhambra is an amazing icon of that once Moorish city.

If you're so inclined, you can read some of her exploits here.

Ryan & Sarah

"Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth." (Prov. 5:18.).

I'm way overdue to post and especially on this topic.  Right in the middle of Dad's illness and passing we were blessed with the arrival of a new family member in the form of Sarah Drake whose engagement to our son Ryan was announced.  The smile on Ryan's face is pretty typical of how he seems to feel having her at his side! 

For our part, we feel blessed beyond measure as God continues to reveal Himself in the lives of our children.  An August 18th wedding is being planned.

Dad

Dale R. Eisenmann, 72, of Darien, Illinois passed away at the Tidewell Hospice center in Bradenton, Florida on April 23, 2013.

He was born January 13, 1941 in Watseka, Illinois to Christian and Lydia (Koehl) Eisenmann. He married Judith A. Feller on June 25, 1961. They loved each other deeply and enjoyed almost 52 years interwoven with blessings and life’s challenges.

They were blessed with three children; Bradley (Cynthia) of New Lenox, Illinois, Todd of Darien, and Luann of Darien. He loved his four grandchildren; Greg (Diana), Ryan (fiancée Sarah), Julie, and Nelson. His two brothers, John (Beverly) and Kenneth (Sharon) also survive. He had nine nieces and nephews.

Dale served on the faculty at the University of Illinois College of Dentistry in Chicago for 32 years. He worked in research and administration, ending his career as Interim Dean in 2000. However his true profession was in the service of the Lord. He was a member of the Apostolic Christian Church for 59 years and served as minister and elder until his retirement in 2010. He deeply loved his church and cherished so many close relationships among the brethren. In his spare time he enjoyed gardening and nurtured a deep affection for God’s marvelous Creation.

Services will be at 11:00 AM, Saturday, April 27, 2013, at the Chicago Apostolic Christian Church with ministers of the church officiating. Visitation will be from 3:00 to 8:00 PM on Friday, April 26, 2013 at the Modell Funeral Home in Darien, and also from 10:00 to 10:45 AM Saturday at the church. Burial will be at the Apostolic Christian Cemetery in Elgin, Illinois.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Apostolic Christian Home for the Handicapped in Morton, Illinois.

Tangled Webs

Oh what a tangled web we weave,
When first we practise to deceive!
--Sir Walter Scott

It's usually early in childhood that we require admonition to truthfulness.  We are told to always tell the truth and to be sure it will find us out.  To avoid even "little white lies," so called, and to learn that deception can masquerade as truth, or be "technically" true and still mislead.

We can ponder the heart motivations which drive the act of deceiving others but what lies at the root of our vulnerability to accept a lie in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary?  What fans the flame of an effective conspiracy theory?  I will only allude to some of the more famous ones for fear of attracting the same "Google love" that sends their advocates scurrying around the Internet for fodder.

Perhaps the most famous and enduring surrounds the death of a beloved American leader and whether or not his killer acted alone or was "bought and paid for" by enemies, foreign or domestic.  Another suggests that space travel is all contrived and that we never actually landed a man on our lunar neighbor.  More recently the tragic events that toppled buildings in our capital and largest city surely must have been a government plot or something other than what they--Oh, the faceless "they"!--say they were.

Sadly, we're bent to want to believe the negative about others, perhaps especially those in authority.  Somehow it elevates the self.  "Did you hear?" pricks the ears, ready to glean a juicy tidbit however dubious.  So much the easier to swallow--and pass along--if we can make it fit the "pattern".

Fear strengthens the web as well.  "What are things coming to?" we ask, and fill the unknowable void with wild extrapolations and hearsay, satisfied that we've found the answer. Further query is not needed, thank you very much.

Rather that we would ask: Is it true, is it honest, is it just, is it pure, is it lovely, is it of good report?   And surely we'd want the virtue and praise that comes from thinking on such things (Phil. 4:8).

Starting with me.

Sense of Wonder

Solomon records four things which are "too wonderful" for him (Prov. 30:18).  Do you think his list was longer when he was a child?

Watch and Pray

With all the goings on of the papal retirement and the occasion of our Julie visiting Rome right now I thought I'd reach back a bit and dust off this image.

Whatever else might be said about it all, the architecture of St. Peter's is amazing.  Though I'm not aware that Peter ever got anywhere near there, you can hear echoes of the disciples as they came out of the Jerusalem temple, "Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here!" (Mark 13:1).

Imagine their disbelief at His response, "there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down."  Followed by the warnings of great and terrible things yet to come.

The concluding thought, for then and now, "watch and pray."

Is My Name Written There?

Today in church we were reminded that our names will be carved in a headstone someday, along with two dates.  And though some might choose to have additional details about their life engraved in granite, the only thing that really matters at that point is whether our names are written in heaven.  In the Lamb's Book of Life (Rev. 21:27).

As we sang in Sunday School:

Lord, I care not for riches, Neither silver nor gold;
I would make sure of heaven, I would enter the fold;
in the book of Thy kingdom, With its pages so far,
Tell me, Jesus, my Saviour, is my name written there?
       --Hymns of Zion #211, v. 1