The Coin Returns (see post of 1-26-08)

Today I opened the mail and there I saw a letter from my friend at the Defense Department. A short note accompanied his coin and I sent of a brief note of thanks to him. It really was silly how much I wanted this coin back. I looked at it for a while then put it in a plastic holder. I was heading out to a local bike shop for some parts and I thought about taking it with me. Not a great idea. I put it in my safe and locked it. I did take one of my coins with me. You never know when the opportunity to share your faith may arise.

It is dangerous to take Bible verses out of context or take different genres from the Bible and apply them incorrectly, but as this episode unfolded I was reminded of the words of Jesus, recounted by Luke 15:8-10:

"Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.' In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

Maybe this story will help someone, anyone, repent of their sins and give their life over to Jesus.

Amen.

Why I know God loves me personally

As parents, we are amazed when we have our first child. We look at them, touch them, kiss them, feed them and clean up after them. Most of all we love them. We have created a human being and though it is a daunting task, that love grows as they grow. If we are blessed with another child, our love for the first child is not lessened or split between the two. It is equally applied to the new child. Our love graciously grows. When I see the school pictures of Hannah and Luke, I am amazed at how much I love them and adore them. I told Luke this morning that I cannot imagine a father loving his children, and expressing it, more than I love them.

But I'm wrong. Based on the simple premise that there must be an "Intelligent Designer" that created the earth and therefore us, He must be much more powerful than me. It would therefore go that He would make a creature similar to Himself, but not infinite, sovereign or omniscient as Himself. And based on these two creations I've had a hand in creating, I cannot believe that He would not be concerned with everything they, and I, do. My faith has grown and changed in my life, but there is one thing I am sure about, that I can trust above all other things. That is that I have a perfect Father in heaven who cares about me, listens to my prayers and responds as He sees fit, not just because I want something. I believe I am a very good father to my children. I am intentional, I try to get better and I love them dearly, even when I have to discipline them. But I am so imperfect.

Luckily they have a perfect Father in heaven.

And He knows us and loves us. Imperfect as we are.

Hannah hates her P. E. Teacher (today)

Just because your mom is the P. E. teacher at the school doesn't mean you have to like it. Hannah run/walks everyday at school. Last year she completed over 100 miles during the school's running program. But according to school regulations, a few times a year they are timed on how fast they complete a mile. Hannah doesn't like it and expressed her displeasure on the whiteboard I set up on her closet doors. Just in case you can't see the fine print, it says:

Dear Mile Meanee, (otherwise known as Meanee Mom)

We are not running a mile.

I hate P. E.!

It is a looser program!

You have to love her passion, if not her spelling.

OK, Luke is Fine, just ask him!

Luke is a smart child who struggles with his reading and therefore, his writing. Here is his written response to seeing his mid-term progress report. Since I'm not taking classes, we read together every night and sometimes have "math facts" challenges between Luke and Hannah before dinner. His reading is getting better, not "fine", but better. Pray that we may continue to see progress from our work together.

The Lost Coin of a U. S. Defense Department official

(Revised in respect of the official's privacy (2-5-09)

About two year ago I was flying to Denver. I had my schoolwork from Biola University ready for the three hour flight. This was valuable time and I was a new student. Part of the project was in time-management and I was to write down everything I did for 24 hours. As I started studying, the man in the seat next to me started talking to me. I was polite but I really wanted to get going on my studies as this was the first class in Organizational Leadership at Biola University. I wanted this uninterrupted time to study. He continued to talk so I finally figured that instead of learning about Christianity, I should demonstrate it by being a better listener. Eventually I learned that this man was a high ranking official in the Defense Department.

He has lead a fascinating life. He told me of his life in the Pentagon, working with the President, Donald Rumsfield and Dick Cheney. Near the end of our trip, as we were getting close to landing in Denver, he showed me a coin. It is his personal coin. It has the flag that is flown wherever he goes. I looked at it and he told me the military tradition that if he gave his coin to you and if you didn't have it with you, and it was within the next 24 hours, you had to buy the officer's club a round of drinks. Secretary Rumsfield left his personal coin at the site of the plane crash in Shanksville, Pa. on 9-11. Then he gave me his coin. I thought it was so cool that I kept it with me, telling people about the story and just holding it in my hand. Just touching it. It was about 1 3/4 inches in diameter and fairly heavy. Finally it hit me. I should make my own coin. There were many occasions when I spoke of my relationship with the Lord and it would be nice to give that person a gift. There are other times when I just want to say thank you and this could be a way of doing it. Luckily, a man I worked with, Daniel Garmus, used to design coins for McDonnell Douglas, so I had him put my ideas into the design.

I had 100 of them made and have given away quite a few of them. I wrote to my friend and sent one to him in thanks for him being the inspiration. He was gracious enough to remember me and I sent it to him. About two months ago, I realized that the story seemed to be better if I had his coin with me. So I kept his coin and one of my coins with me to remind me about speaking of the Gospel. Unfortunately, sometime near Christmas, I must have given out his coin instead of mine. I was heart-broken and very embarrassed. I e-mailed him at Christmas but never heard back from him. With the change of administrations, I wanted to see what his plans were (and broach the subject of a replacement coin). He answered this Saturday at 6:00 in the morning. I was thrilled. He has been asked by the new administration to stay on until a replacement is named and confirmed, which will take several months. He said he'd send me his new e-mail when he gets it. I then had to humble myself and tell him the story of the lost coin. "No problem" he said, "I'll send you another one." I was thrilled. I haven't received it yet but it will be here. I'm like a little kid waiting for my coin to return. It will not leave the safe in my house.

This is not my missing coin, but a similar one. I can't show the actual picture as it will reveal his identity and he asked that he'd "rather not to have my name out on the net in any form."

Luke and the Mountain - Conquering Fear (Part II)

Yes that is Luke and I working our way down a pretty steep hillside. We all have our demons. Things we fear. Some of us are born with them, some of us acquire our fears as we go on in life. Mine was swimming and open water. I may not have completely conquered it, but I am now able to swim in the open ocean in triathlon events. Luke has never loved heights. I know this because as I carry him up the stairs to bed, he never wants to be too close to the edge. This weekend, we went to Agua Caliente, a camp site in San Diego with the YMCA Indian Guides. Besides the hot water springs, they have mud caves that you get to explore. Not having explored these before, Luke, the rest of the tribe and I explored the caves. What we didn't notice is that as time went on, the caves led us up to the top of some hills that we had to descend to get down to the parking lot. Luke was way in front, as he is one of the older kids. I saw from the top that we were pretty far up and had to go down a very narrow path. I was near the back of the line. I saw Luke start to hesitate and start to let people pass him and let them head down the hill in front of him. He started breathing hard and when I came up, he said, "Dad, I just want to go back. Let's go back through the caves, I don't want to go down this hill!" Tears started to flow. We slowed down and talked about it and I promised him I'd be with him every step of the way. By now, all of the kids were way ahead but nobody said anything but encouraging words to Luke. Finally he said, "Let's do it, but slowly."

So we went down. Slowly. Very slowly. Step by step we went down together. But he did it. Luckily a member of the tribe took this picture and I had it framed in Luke's room with the signature:

Luke,

There is nothing that we can't overcome if we work together.

Dad

John 16:33

Fear takes another hit from the Smith boys.

University Graduation - 25 years late

The mere fact that I wanted to attend Biola University proves the existence and cleansing power of the Holy Spirit.

“For I was lost, but now am found.
Was blind, but now, I see.”
John New­ton, Ol­ney Hymns (Lon­don: W. Ol­i­ver, 1779)

Most adults reentering academia have a great story to tell. My story isn’t great, but it is of the great guiding love of the Holy Spirit. Prodded by the Holy Spirit and Douglas Grisham’s father, C. S. Lewis, who constantly reminded me on Biola’s radio commercials, “Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil”, I approached Admissions Counselor Vanessa Velasco about attending Biola University. Emboldened by the Holy Spirit, I sought admission on a Friday and signed up for my first class, Acts, with Chico Goff, to start the next Tuesday. Off I went to class; my timing was perfectly in sync with God’s timing.


I thought.


The university had other thoughts. Biola is a leading Christian academic institution with a process for admissions. My admission was a little problematic. I had to write a letter explaining my dismal G.P.A. I had to write a letter explaining my “lack of academic progress.” I wrote another letter explaining some youthful indiscretions. I had to be interviewed by Biola’s BOLD faculty Advisor, Emilio Nunez. This took a few weeks and I was still attending Tuesday night classes with Chico. I was sure I wanted to be at Biola. Biola wasn’t so sure if or when they wanted me. But they were sure of one thing, that I shouldn’t continue taking the Acts class until I completed all the proper steps for admission. They requested that I stop coming to class. In anger, I continued attending and finally had to attend my last class, listening from the lobby. Chico taught the class and could look out the door and see me listening.

Finally at the break, he came out and returned my graded work and said that since I was not on the roster, he could not continue to grade and accept my work. He counseled me to take the class later. He said that maybe it was not in God’s timing that I should attend the class.
I did not hear the Holy Spirit saying, “In My time, not yours.” The Holy Spirit had been there the whole time watching me. So instead of fighting the system, the Holy Spirit gave me Kathy Mavity. She shepherded me (rod and staff-like) through the process and had me admitted as a “Pre-BOLD.” As a “Pre-BOLD” I was not assigned a cohort group. But the Holy Spirit led me to take another Bible class with a student who heard my story and said, “Pray for your cohort group. Pray for the students that will be a part of it, they will be integral to your success.” The Lord answered my spoken prayers and those that were unspoken and surrounded me with a group of friends will liver forever as “The McGee Group.” We are cohesive, loving, caring and strong in His love. The Holy Spirit was so tangible and apparent in our classes, we sometimes would leave class and immediately e-mail one another and say, “Was that you or the Holy Spirit?” The Holy Spirit was working and active at Biola San Diego.


What other proof do I have about the Holy Spirit’s existence besides, my admission, Kathy Mavity and the workings of the McGee group?


My professors. I’ll only name a few.

Dr. Charles Bradshaw
Dr. Forrest Weiland
Pastor David Fandy
Dr. John Coe
Dr. Jason Wilson.

Jason was my Statistics professor. I used to love Math and was fairly good at it. I loved the precision and the wild mathematical theories. But not all students had those positive feelings. Jason has an enormous heart for the Lord and seeks to help those who came with fear and insecurity into a Statistics class. So Jason sent an e-mail prior to the first week of class to all of the students. He asked that we pray about what God wants us to learn in Statistics and how God will use that to grow the Kingdom. He asked us to pray about any bad experiences we had or about anyone who said that we weren’t good at Math or said we weren’t smart enough. Then he asked us to forgive them and come to class with an open, loving heart. Jason may look like a mild-mannered Math professor, but he is a titan of Faith.

These are only a few reasons why I know the Holy Spirit is alive and well in my life, in your life and especially here at Biola University. So as I write this and think of my graduation day, 29 years after my high school graduation, I see the words of a writer, John Bingham, who wrote about completing his first marathon. He said, “The miracle isn’t that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start.”

As I close, I say thank you to all of the family, friends, brothers and sisters in Christ that helped me. And I thank them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen