I have been catching quite a bit of grief from many of you for not announcing the birth of my grandson, Declan James Drent. It is not because Dedra and I are not thrilled, or that being a grandfather makes me feel old. We are both ecstatic, and I have no issues with growing older – it seems to happen to everyone eventually. I am cautious, however, about using the pulpit to toot my own horn, or to share personal life events that the rest of you do not get the opportunity to do.
Many of you have become grandparents for the first time, and we do not invite you to share your photos or make announcements from the platform on Sunday mornings, so I want to be careful about that. However, I do get to write a “Jym Shorts” article most weeks, so I will take the opportunity here to share a photo, and to tell you how happy I am to be the grandfather of a healthy baby boy! I feel tremendously blessed to be the husband of a wonderful wife for the past 27 years, and to have two beautiful daughters who have followed us in the faith, along with a son-in-law who loves and serves the Lord. And now, to add Declan to the mix, there are no words to say how grateful I am to God. He owes me nothing, and yet he pours out his blessings upon me. I have not had a trouble-free life, but through good times and bad, God has proven to be a good and gracious Father to me.
This morning I was reading from the prophet Nahum. I was struck how Nahum 1:1-11 gives us such a full and accurate picture of the Lord. It describes the Lord as angry at the kingdom of Assyria for its atrocities against the nations, in particular the nation of Israel. He is a God who by no means clears the guilty, nor is he the least bit shy about declaring his wrath and impending judgment on those who plot against him, but he is also good, a stronghold in the day of trouble. He knows those who take refuge in him.
For some reason, we have lost the stomach in our culture for anyone to be balanced, to be both good and willing to pursue justice. My father stepped on the beaches of Normandy at D-day plus 4, and he told me about the carnage he witnessed there - an unavoidable evil in order to bring an end to Nazi tyranny in our world. I am convinced our nation could not – would not – sacrifice like that again. We are now a generation who, by and large, cannot handle being told that what we are doing is wrong. It offends our delicate senses, and those in authority coddle us into believing our feelings trump virtually everything else that is taking place around us. We desire only good and happy interactions - from our employers, our teachers, our families, and our God. My parents would have laughed at the concept, and so would most of yours, but this is a brave new world. They experienced much sorrow in life, more than I have ever known, and yet they both were perfectly able and willing to have a hearty laugh at genuinely funny moments, even at their own expense.
I share a fallen world with all of you, but there is a balance to it. In spite of what the scoffers say, happiness is possible here. Even in this world, God has shown us much good. As I hold my new grandson at Christmastime, I am reminded that 2,000 years ago a mother and father held a crying babe in their arms. Unlike my grandson, that babe had a pre-existence in eternity as the divine Son of God. He had willingly given up the glories of heaven to come to this barren earth, to experience both our joys and our pains, and to lay down his life as a ransom for all who would believe on him in faith. It is worth noting that he did not exactly live what we would call a “happy” life.
I like the balance of life. I like serving a God that cannot quite be figured out. I like knowing that better times almost always follow bad times. I like holding my grandson, even though he too has been born into a fallen world. I like serving that babe who came to live and die for you and me. I like knowing that one day the morning star will rise for the last time, and give way to the Light of the world. I like knowing that God has a plan in all of this, and for letting me be a part of it. I like knowing that all of you are a part of it too.
Grace and peace,
Grandpa Jym