Another Random Post To Play Catchup…

Wow, what a hiatus! It's been good though — but I'm ready to be back to posting. So, as with many of my older posts, this will be random — but I hope to cover loads of bases and let everyone play catchup with everything I've been up to.

Let's talk about the "elephant in the room" first: the passing of my Dad. I posted here a handful of times, requesting prayers and "good vibes" with the hope of Dad getting better, getting healed, getting back to normal. That didn't happen. As a Christ Follower, I prayed that God would restore Dad's body, and that God would restore vitality to Dad's lungs. That didn't happen, either. While this may seem like evidence that there is no God (or maybe one that didn't care), I see it as more evidence we have a Just God, and One that stands firm in His Creation and Authority.

You see, I believe God intended for Man to "live forever" in harmony with Him and the world He created for us (in the Garden). Mankind got greedy and screwed-up the plan, though, and Mankind and the world had to deal with the consequences we were told we would face: separation from God's Original Plan, or as I call it, the Origin. So what was God to do? Being a just God, He had no other choice, really, than to stick to His word — so that's what He did. The long and short of it is that He set Nature in motion, and Mankind would become yet another part of Nature in this "fallen" world, or screwed-up Origin.

The detail I'll pull out of all the millions available is this: Mankind now gets sick and dies.

Bringing it back to my Dad, we all knew he — and everyone else in the world — would die someday. Yet we weren't ready for him to go so soon because we love him so, so very much. The thought of his physical presence no longer being here with us was — and still is — hard to grasp. My brain still has a hard time fully processing that Dad is not here any longer. Sure, I haven't seen him in over a month, but he was such a huge part of my life (and everyone else's in the family), that the void left seems far too misshapen to allow into reality at some basic, brain level. I know he's gone, but the void is just hard to get right now.

So what about my prayers and petitions to God? God didn't act on them. Am I mad at God for this? Have I lost Faith? Of course not — because God is a just God, and He has to stick to the rules He set in motion oh so very long ago. Because we know of times when God stepped out of His Nature and performed miracles of healing to edify who He was/is/will be — we prayed that He would consider doing the same for Dad. But God was to be most edified, and Dad was to be most honored, if Dad was "called home." Like I've been telling everyone here, as much as we fought for Dad to get well and stay alive with us, God's heart ached for Dad to come home and be where he belongs, back at his Origin.

I feel that God had the foresight and plan to never fully heal and restore Dad, and that's why our family had the path we had as we fought this sickness. From the very beginning, God opened doors for us to get the best care on Earth, and through all the medicines and fighting, Dad dealt with none of the circumstances people normally face with chemo. He never had the nausea, vomiting, pain, aching, massive tiredness, etc. So many things could have gone so badly, but Dad never had any issues. While it's true that the chemo exacerbated his lung condition, he still fought that like a trooper. In the end, Dad was able to tell us everything he needed to tell us, and prepare us in every way we needed to be prepared — and I truly feel he stayed on with us so long, simply because he had just a bit more to tell us. Everyone thinks their Dad is a hero, but I really do believe a "normal" man would have died days or weeks before Dad — but Pop was just a tough ol' dude. He wasn't leaving until he was ready and it absolutely necessary — and that's what he did.

That said, God was merciful and kind in Dad's illness. He helped us get through things in ways that make our familial jaw drop. God was hugely compassionate, and if there was a "Way To Die," God made it horribly easy for us when you get right down to it. So in the end, the Victory of Dad being back at his Origin is so awesome, it far outweighs the pain of not having him here. Dad is truly healed, dad is truly well. We don't have to wonder if he'll get sick again in 3 months, 12 months, or ever again. And because of the Dad he was (and my Mom is equally awesome), we all see Dad everywhere. His hand is on everything, from the drill press in my garage, to his hammer, to the patio door we hung, to the clear coat on our cabinets, to the paint on our ceiling, to the crown moulding we hung together, to the woodwork on Mom and Dad's cabinets, to so, so, so very much. Nothing around us is without his handprint — and that's because he was a Dad in truest sense of the word: always there for us, always a friend, always the center of the familial life. Seeing him everywhere is such a blessing, and that's also what makes his passing easier to swallow: the legacy and memories he left are so, so wonderful. Couple that with his spirit and character, it's an honor to carry his family name.

And there you have it. I could go on, but I won't. It's still rough, and it's still tough — but the good and great outweigh his sickness by so much, the joy of his Victory over death is becoming more and more the focus. God is merciful, compassionate, and just — and Dad is healed more than we could have ever asked for here on Earth.

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Total shift now, and into to music mode. I bought a new guitar, though I haven't had a chance to take a pic just yet. It's a Reverend Daredevil HB in wine red (here's a pic from Reverend's site):

This is my third Reverend, the second being the P290 version of this same guitar, but I can't stand the 290 sound. I'm not 100% sold on the pickups in this guitar either, but my plan is to toss a WCR Iron Man into the bridge. It should be freakin' ridiculously awesome then!

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Since I can never have too many hobbies for myself, I decided to go back to one I experimented with (unsuccessfully) several years ago: bonsai. Now that I have more free time thanks to working from home, I can devote more time to sticking to a proper routine with the trees — or that's the plan, at least. So I got myself a Fukien Tea (again) and a Baby Jade, 9 and 5 years old, respectively. We'll also be taking some classes and stuff like that, and we're hoping that will really pay off for these little guys. Like the guitar above, I haven't had a chance to snap any pics — but I will soon (and I'm sure you can't wait!).

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RAILhead Effects is doing great, and I still haven't done an ounce of promotion or advertising. I'm planning to do a small push at the beginning or Q3, though, just to see how much more comes in. I'm really loving the custom build work, too, and it's great to really create something for someone that fits their exclusive needs. Nice!

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My massive, Hannh Aitchison half sleeve tattoo is healing perfectly, and now I'm sketching out the next ones I plan to get. I still can't get over how beautiful it is!

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Thats it for now — I need to get to work on pedals and hauling my new drill press into my indoor shop...

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 05/09 at 07:41 AM

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On 05/22 (11:15 AM), .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) said...

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