An Insightful Week

This past week I was on vacation. I went back to Kalamazoo to see Dad and Mom for a few days and on Sunday went to church. Over the last few years I could probably count on one hand the amount of times I have been back to Berean (the church I was born and raised in). Over the years we've had several assistant pastors go through but only changed senior pastors twice (during my time there). When I sat down in the service Sunday morning it was the first time in 37 years that I didn't know any of the pastors on the platform and very few people in the congregation. It got me thinking about getting older. Many people had moved on. Dad asked me if I'd said anything to the new pastor. I'd thought about it. But what would I say? "Hi. I'm Gary and Denise Roberts' oldest son. The one you never see and probably will never see again." Another thing I noticed was all the parents of the kids I'd grown up with. The kids,of course, had long since left the nest. It was kind of weird to see the numbers of Berean dwindle that way but I suppose that's part of the growing process at any church.

I went to a Promise Keepers convention this past weekend. Over the years I've heard good and bad things about them. Someone told me once that they were sexist and believed that men were the king of the home. That person didn't understand that Promise Keepers based that on the biblical mandate for the man to be the spiritual leader in the home. It's the way God designed it. We don't have to agree with it and Satan is doing everything he can to change society's perception of men because men are dangerous. As was stated this past weekend, men start revolutions. But make them look weak and cowardly and the perception changes. I was challenged to be a leader. One speaker said that in order to leave foot prints in the sands of time we needed work boots. That same speaker talked about leading from the grave. By that he meant passing on principles (spiritual and otherwise) taught to us by our fathers and grandfathers onto the next generation. I've got four nieces with one on the way but I've also got about twenty nieces and nephews that I've watched grow up over the last ten years living in the UP. What am I passing on to them? I've actually had more of an influence on them then I have had on my own nieces simply because of the amount of time I've spent around them. I've known Kristie Keranen since she was born. I'm not married, dating, or anything but I have a real opportunity to leave a mark on some young lives. What I do with that could make or break some of them. That's a big responsibility and I take it very seriously.

They closed the conference out with a call to commit to standing with the Jews. I never thought I'd see that. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised and I certainly wasn't offended. I think it's great but it was unexpected and very thought provoking. All but two speakers were black which isn't a surprise given we were in Akron, OH. What impressed me was that one of the speakers actually encouraged black men as a minority to not be judgemental of the white man (he referred to them as those of the lighter hue) for being the majority. Basically it was the "Do unto others" concept. It's encouraging to see people of both light and dark "hues" pushing equality from a God based foundation. That is something rarely seen in today's culture.