How You Will Know the Day that You Die

 

I love being a dad.

 

Out of all of the "hats" that I wear, the one that I am the most proud of is the hat called "Dad". I am not the best at that role, nor am I the most patient and I do covet my alone time just like anyone else, but when I do have the chance to interact with my kiddos, I do love it.

 

One of the things that you cannot help but notice when you are around your own kids, grand kids or someone else's is that a child always needs to ask the question "WHY?".

 

 I try to take time to answer this question when I can but honestly, it is a question that I dread a lot of times. I guess I dread it the most because there are so many instances when I just do not know the answer to that question. Have you ever been there?

My wife and I made a decision when our first son was born that we would always answer his questions honestly no matter how long it would take for him to understand the answer.

It was challenging, but it was worth it when one day I overheard my (at the time) five year old son correct another child on the playground after they both spotted an airplane flying overhead. The other boy called out, "Look! Its and jumbo jet airplane!". Clark quickly countered, "No, that's actually a C-130 Hercules. If it was an A-130 it would be a gun ship, but it is a C-130 and it only carries cargo."

I was sitting there mentally saying, "Yeah!!! You didn't know that kid?"


I was thinking about how exhausting a child's endless torrent of questions can drive even the most patient parent to the brink of insanity, when I was faced with a question that stopped me cold that my son asked me.

"Dad, how old do you get before you can stop asking why?"

When was the last time that you asked your parent "Why?" during the course of your day?

I began to think about that and I realized that we don't ask that question as we grow older. We just go look for the answer ourselves. We go to the Internet and ask the question and search how to videos or forums until we figure out what we were looking to figure out.


The truth of the matter is, the older we get, the less we feel the need to really ask the "Why?" question.

I believe that dying is truly a process and not an event. Death is an event, but dying, no, dying is a process that each of us embarks on at our own pace and in our own way. Granted, physically we are all dying the day that we take our first breath, but I am speaking about a different type of dying here. Dying in our potential, our ability, and our dreams of what could be accomplished with the life that each of us has been given.

Jesus had a conversation that I found to be very interesting in the 6th chapter of the book of John. He has just been teaching about His purpose in coming to earth and it was difficult for those around Him to understand what He was saying.

^"Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it?
When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you?"  ~ John 6:60-61

 The Disciples asked him, after he was done speaking, "Why?"

"What are you trying to tell us?"  

 It was a child asking their parent, "Why?".


I truly believe that the day that you die is the day that you stop asking your Father the question "Why?".

King Saul died long before Gilboah. He died on the day he decided to not ask God why Samuel would be sent with the message that he was sent to deliver.

I love the first chapter of the book of Jeremiah because God takes man, and teaches Him how to listen to His voice and it was given through what the prophet saw with his eyes just as much as what he heard with his Spirit.

Think for a moment about your favorite radio station. You get in the car or at work and you "tune in" to that station right? Now let me ask you, did that station begin broadcasting when you tuned in, or was it broadcasting long before you tuned in? The answer is simple. It was broadcasting regardless if you chose to tune in or not.

God is speaking every single day and it is mind blowing how loud He does this! It is like that radio station. His voice is all around you regardless if you "tune in" or not. He never stops calling out to you.

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." ~Proverbs 3:5-6


Two key words are used here. 1) All thy ways & 2) Acknowledge Him.

"All thy ways" would be everything that I do, everywhere that I go, and everyone I meet.

"Acknowledge" means to search for or discover intently.

So you could read the passage this way.

"In everything you do, in everyone that you meet and everywhere that you go, intently search for God and He WILL direct your path."

When is the last time that you asked your Father, "Why?" when it came to the things that you have seen, or have done, or in who you have met?

I always do this. "Out of everything that I could have seen why was I allowed to see the things that I saw today?"

"Out of everything that I could have done today, why was I allowed to do what I have done?"

"Out of everyone that I have spoken to, why was I allowed to speak to the people that I have spoken to today at the times when I did?"

I was having a rough day at work awhile back and was lost in thought and a co-worker called out my name as I walked by. I was oblivious to anyone at that moment and when i looked up, they smiled and said, "Daniel, I just wanted to make sure that you saw me today."
Their name means "God is gracious". Father was using that person, by their presence, to remind me that in my rough day that His grace was there in plain sight and ever in front of me and that He was not going to stop telling me that until I noticed!

"Daniel, I just wanted to make sure that you saw me today."

You will not hear that until you stop to ask the question of your Father, "Why?".

It is understanding the need to have "God Awareness".

^"And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred. And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. And when he was alone, they that were about him with the twelve asked of him the parable." ~Mark 4:8-10

Don't be afraid to ask your Father anything! He wants to answer you! He wants to speak to you! He desires relationship with Him! Don't confine His voice to just the Bible, or just the assembly of the church. Open your ears and ask the right questions throughout your day. It is AMAZING because you "tune" into this beyond audible broadcast that is going on all around you!

Father LOVES you and He longs to have you hear Him express His love to you and when you "tune" Him in, it solidifies just who you are to Him. You see how expansive His Kingdom is and you are emboldened from Him!

Someone asked me once, "Do you really think you are good enough for God to speak to you every day?" and I had to correct them. The right question is, "Is my Father big enough to get past all of my distractions to speak to me today?"

Seven times alone the book of Revelation speaks the words, "He that hath an ear, let Him hear" to the churches.

You will know the day that you truly die when you get "too big" to ask your Father "Why?", "What do you want me to see in this?", and "What are you trying to tell me through what I have seen, heard, or done?".

There is no accidents, or coincidences ever.

 

When my mother-in-law was diagnosed with cancer nearly five years ago, my four year old son would pray every night for God to heal his "Guh-Guh" (That is four year old speak for Grandma).

 

What was God trying to teach us through that whole ordeal? I asked Him "Why?" He would allow this Wall in our life. He answered by giving me the idea for this little book entitled, "The Man and The Wall".

 

The book became a very simple but awesome tool to help people from child to adult grasp the answer to why God allows the things in our life that He does. The book became a little movie and it turned into a blog that has taken this understanding of God's hand in our circumstances, and literally sent it around the world to be viewed in over 77 countries to date.

 

God Awareness.



 

"Most of the world is asleep and the few that are awake live each and every day in constant and total amazement."

Out of all of the things that your eyes will see today, why were you allowed to read this blog about a father and his kids asking "Why?"?

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." ~Proverbs 3:5-6
 
 He is your Father and He delights in you asking Him why He does the things that He does. Ask Him today and then just be quiet and listen with your Spirit. It is beyond audible and there is complete rest in that! God loves being your Dad!!!

Climbing with you,
~Dan