Rich Rockwood, Christian Author

Thoughts on Memorial Day 2013

Posted on May 27, 2013 by richrockwood

It is my family’s custom to go out to breakfast on all holidays so today was no different. On my way home, I thought about my observance of Memorial Day. I hoped I could find a service somewhere either in person or on TV. I want to remember and to be reminded of the sacrifices made by my fellow veterans.

I came safely home from my service obligation. They gave up their lives so I could go about my business, interact with my family, without interference, without roadblocks every mile, without worry of incoming rockets. These extraordinary men and women gave up their one and only life to defend the precious freedoms we enjoy in this country. The very least I can do is pause and reflect on those sacrifices.

Then it occurred to me I could do more. I am a Christian and so Good Fridays are days when I reflect on the sacrifice my Lord made for me. I try and keep quiet and to keep my mind and heart focused on Mount Calvary. I thought I could assume the same attitude today, keeping my mind and heart focused on those brave men and women who went off to war and never came back. I can say a prayer for their families who, though honored by their family members’ loyalty to country still miss them. These brave service men and women were people, like you and I, who loved holidays, family, and freedom. When their country called on them, they answered. Probably with a lot of fear, the joined other Americans in fields of terror and fought with their last ounce of strength against our enemies.

I invite any reader who is a Christian to think of today as Good Monday and keep quiet and reflective of what they did for us. For any reader who is not a Christian, I invite you to still take time at a service or in watching a movie that vividly portrays their sacrifices and say a silent word or give a thought to the ones who for us said goodbye to it all.

Posted in Adversity, Appreciation, Bravery, Choices, Commitment, Country, Courage, Faithfulness, Fear, Freedom, Holidays, Life, love, Loyalty, Memorial Day, Military, Mission, Patriotism, Prayer, Quiet Time, Service, Soldier, The Past, Values | Tagged American, Country, current-events, Fear, Integrity, Liberty, Life, Loss, Memorial Day, Military, Patriotism, Principles, Surrender | 2 Comments

How Do You Set Up a Household?

Posted on May 27, 2013 by richrockwood

I have been asking myself this question lately, because my home feels comfortably set up. Next month I will be married three years to Cindy. Let me see if I can recall the steps involved in our setting up this household we now have.

I remember packing up all my things in my apartment and then moving everything over here in one day. Unpacking took a bit longer. I remember Cindy moving things in gradually before and then after we were married. Her move-in took a lot longer than mine, but she was able to do it at her pace.

Then there was the process of putting things in places in some sort of logical order. This was supplemented by purchases as we discovered things we needed which neither one of us had brought to the house.

As projects came up that needed attention, we were able to work on them together and get this house more in line with the way we wanted it. A big project, which required a contractor, was getting a deck on the back of the house. We wished we had realized at the start how much trouble it was going to be getting a permit from the city. We would have started there first, ordering the materials by comparison was a snap.

All of these things were tangible items being moved and placed in our new house. There was another process which also took some work…learning to live with another person on a permanent basis. Sometimes there was disagreement and a bit of tension, but mostly we were able to compromise and adapt, because having someone in your life you esteem so highly makes the sacrifices bearable and interesting.

We both recognized the importance of having a spiritual connection to each other. Our common faith in Christ has laid a strong foundation for our marriage. We recognized early on that we were not perfect, did not have a perfect relationship, needed Christ’s help every day. Having regular times of prayer and Bible reading, at breakfast and in bed before going to sleep, have been good tools for keeping that spiritual connection intact.

Having this spiritual connection has helped love flow between us from little acts of kindness to big affectionate hugs. Love has helped tie a lot of loose ends together.

Back in 2006, the household I was living in with my then wife Inga was blown apart with her sudden death. The question that nagged me over and over was “how can someone just walk out your door in the morning and never come back.” From that time until June of 2010, I didn’t have a household, a place I called home. Now I do. And I am grateful at the center of my being.

That experience made me realize that even the most secure household can have strong winds blow through leaving any survivors without a place to call home. While I am so thankful for what I now have, I know that the only real household I will ever keep is the one being built by Our Lord for me in Heaven. I am not setting that one up. He is. It is a gift which I have accepted in faith. That household is far superior to what I have now and what I had back in 2006. It is a household that I can always call my home.

Posted in Accomplishment, Adaptability, Adversity, Appearance, Christ, Contentment, Eternal Life, Grief, Heaven, Home, Household, Marriage, Peace, relationships, Seasons, Spiritual, Spirituality, Thankfulness, Uncategorized | Tagged Christ, Eternity, Gifts, Heaven, Home, Household, Life, Loss, Relationships, Suffering, Surrender, Trust | Leave a comment

It’s a Test!

Posted on May 21, 2013 by richrockwood

Do you remember dreading tests in school? I was never fond of the cramming method and was always looking for the best way to take a test. One fellow I met suggested having a drink beforehand because it helped him relax. I don’t remember trying that, but the idea of going into a test in a relaxed state made sense. My goal was always to stay on top of the material so I didn’t have to cram or stress when test day arrived. I don’t think that ever happened. And then there was immense feeling (sometimes) of relief after the test was finished. If I thought I had done well, I was relieved. If I didn’t know the answers or had to bluff my way through, I felt a bit lost and a whole lot of regret.

According to the dictionary a test is “a short written or spoken examination of a person’s proficiency or knowledge: a spelling test.” This kind of test applies to school. Then there are tests that happen to us in life. This is the second definition for test: “an event or situation that reveals the strength or quality of someone or something by putting them under strain: this is the first serious test of the peace agreement.” This kind of testing can go on for a lot longer than in school and can seem so much more difficult.

I suspect many of us would readily admit that we didn’t like tests in school and we don’t like tests in life either.

If you are a believer in God, as I am, a test may be seen as a cruel event placed by God in your life so God can see how tough you really are, how strong your faith actually is. This kind of thinking can lead to resentments against God who seems to be a mean school master intent on teaching the lessons of life in ways you will never forget.

From my understanding about God, this kind of thinking is off the mark. I believe God knows everything: past, present and future. If this is true, then God already knows how you are going to respond to the test. Since he already knows how you are going to respond then he cannot be the one who will learn something, it must be you. As you go through the test, you will learn that you can or cannot endure the thing you are going through. The test is for your benefit and your learning.

Take a moment and think back on all the difficulties you have gone through in your life so far. Did you gain from them? For me finding a tumor on my ankle was a terrifying discovery. However, as I settled into living with it and discovering what tests I needed to learn its pathology, I calmed down. I learned that when I get shockingly bad news, I will eventually accept it and gradually act accordingly. We humans have an amazing capacity to adapt and accept difficulties. Would I have learned that if I just read the statement in a book without going through the test? I doubt it. By the way, the tumor was benign.

So as much as we find them uncomfortable, tests are still a regular part of learning in the school of life. You and I continue to learn at every age, at every stage in life.

Posted in Faith, Faithfulness, Fear, Focus, Learning, Letting Go, Medical, Morale, Patience, Perseverance, Perspective, Prayer, Providence, Questioning, Relaxation, School grades, Self-Discovery, Study, Suffering, Teacher, Temptations, Tests, Trials | Tagged Learning, Patience, Perseverance, Prayer, School, Self-Knowledge, Suffering, Surrender, Temptations, Testing, Trials, Trust, Worry | Leave a comment

I Put Your Hand in Mine

Posted on May 15, 2013 by richrockwood

To my dear wife: I feel a rolling warmth through my being every time I put your hand in mine. First I feel connected to you and then surrounded by you. Why should this be if I am claustrophobic? I ride elevators taking in all the oxygen there is so I can sigh a long prayer all the way to my destination floor. Yet, when you touch me I feel closed in and safe.

Even if your hand is sweaty from working out or warm because of a hot flash, I still want to squeeze it because it is you, and you squeeze back.

When you come home from work, I want to touch your shoulders and rub away the tension and my missing you.

I feel a thrill when I wake up in the morning and realize you are there. Even during the night if I wake and hear your patterned breathing, not talking to me at all, I smile because you are near.

Over three years ago, while each of us were alternatively keeping those hands to ourselves or stretching them Heavenward in grief, God gently put them together. I love you more now and recommit to you while asking God to help us walk hand in hand until death do us part.

Posted in Contentment, Despair, Feelings, Gifts, Grace, Grief, Happiness, Healing, Life, love, Marriage, Memory, mercy, Miracles, Perspective, Praise, Prayer, Priorities, relationships, Restoration, Sleeplessness, Thankfulness | Tagged Appreciation, Grace, Identity, Loss, Love, Marriage, Prayer, Principles, Relationship, Self Worth, Spouse, Thankfulness, Wedding, Wife | 2 Comments

I Wonder

Posted on May 12, 2013 by richrockwood

I walked in the late afternoon of Mother’s Day, noticing the shiny green leaves dancing with the breezes blowing in from the north. I gulped the fresh air and felt my limbs slide into rhythmic strides. After all the food and a delicious nap, outdoors pulled me there like a magnet. It was not a forced walk with time being an issue, rather a lazy walk with photographic eyes scanning everything. There were reds and whites arranged in floral patterns on reborn trees. There were small trees framed around giant trees. There was sunshine, so I stopped…too late, a massive cloud blotted out the momentarily perfect scene. I took pictures but a problem with my computer put them all out into the land called Deleted.

The sky looked more like Fall than Spring, enormous piles of clouds moved quickly overhead. The wind was chilly but not the piercing kind. My mind went to wondering.

How many people have walked this same area before me, before sidewalks were laid down, before trees were cleared, before cities were built. How many people have walked on this planet since its creation. Yet not all of them are alive anymore. Someday I will not be alive and many others will walk this route. Perhaps in the future people won’t even walk.

How many people have put time and energy into making my life as comfortable as it is? I live in a house made by carpenters using raw materials made by others. I ate in a restaurant today, served by a waiter bringing me food prepared by a chef. We drove to the restaurant in my car made by many individuals with parts provided by many, many others. How many people are responsible for the easy life I have?

How is it that trees can produce fresh leaves in Spring? They are not re-cycled leaves bearing the scars of winter, but brand new ones. How is it that a woman can carry another life inside for nine months? How is it that life continues, but people do not?

How is it that I only have one person I call mother when there were so many that “mothered” me along the way. They cared and nurtured me. Why don’t they have a special day?

These questions are too much for me, I am not meant to understand everything. I am, however, meant to wonder and be delighted by an afternoon walk on a brisk, sunny Mother’s Day.

Posted in Appearance, Appreciation, Cameras, Creation, Life, Meditation, Nature, Peace, Photography, Questioning, Quiet Time, Restoration, Seasons, Spring, Trees, Values, Wonder | Tagged Appreciation, Camer, Computer, Creation, Life, Quiet Time, Walking, Wonder | Leave a comment

Not Made by Human Hands

Posted on May 8, 2013 by richrockwood

With so much gorgeous color all around in Spring it is natural to stop and notice it. In fact men and women have so admired flowers and other parts of nature they have made duplicates of them. I remember seeing a house in freezing November with what appeared to be blooming flowers in front. I took a closer look and discovered they were artificial flowers. Someone had “planted” artificial flowers in their yard by the sidewalk. Anyone who walked past regularly or who looked closely could see they were not real.

How is it each Spring we are treated to such extraordinary beauty that fades and leaves us in the Fall. This is like many other good things in life, friends come into our life and then leave, we have a beautiful experience and then it becomes just a memory. We grow up and experience the prime of life and then the beauty we had as young people begins to fade.

It seems to me that these wonderful things are a call to surrender to something greater than ourselves. They come in unexpectedly and then as hard as we try to hold them, they fade away.

It also seems to me that we can just see these things as incidentals or we can see them as gifts from a Creator who has a wildly artistic ability that both pleases the eye and delights the soul. For the Creator these things may be mere incidentals, beauty that flows out and around like a bubbling spring. For us they are precious in our eyes.

The question remains, do we see these things as just products of blind, arbitrariness or the deliberate creative acts of a Genius seeking relationship. And do we appreciate them enough to let them go when the time comes. I’m reminded of the words of Solomon who said many years ago:
      There is a time for everything,
      and a season for every activity under heaven:
      a time to be born and a time to die,
      a time to plant and a time to uproot, (Ecclesiastes 3:1–2 (NIV)

I hope you enjoy this short video peaking at the wonders of Spring.

Posted in Aging, Appreciation, Art, Balance, Belief, Creation, Depression, Enjoyment, Fear, Feelings, Gifts, God, Grace, Letting Go, Life, Nature, Old Age, Perseverance, Photography, Reality, Seasons, Spring, Time, Trust, Worry, Youth | Tagged Aging, Appreciation, artistic expressions, Creation, Fear, Gifts, God, Renewal, Surrender, Trust, Worship | Leave a comment

New Life Closing In

Posted on May 6, 2013 by richrockwood

After a blustery snowy winter and then c0ld rainy days we finally are seeing signs of new life all around us. As soon as the rains stopped, the store rooms of water in the ground and trees provided plenty of moisture for the new life popping out everywhere. In just one week our empty trees and bushes have sprouted buds and blossoms. The landscape is as alive as a painter’s easel undergoing sweeping strokes from an artist’s passion-filled inspiration.

And this is not life rejuvenated, brought back to life wearing the scars of winter. This is brand new life, pulsating with newness, color, and fragrance. The earth is being re-born.

The photo is of the ravine behind our house. You may or may not be able to make out another house through all the greenery. It is a sign of Spring’s recreation which is all around us. What an amazing event! What was empty scraggly trees between us is now alive with magnificent greenery.

For those of us who are getting older, all this new life might spark some hope. Decay and death are not the intended goal of creation. I remember thinking one time as I watched young men playing baseball. “If I cannot throw the ball as hard as they can, and run as fast as they do, I am glad someone can.” I live vicariously through their strength. Similarly I draw renewing strength from being outside in Spring Time. What a wonderful, concrete example of creative power.

Is it just an analogy for us or is there more to it. From my spiritual background, I believe these signs of new life are pointers to the new life I shall someday experience in Christ. I wonder what that will feel like?

Posted in Creation, Eternal Life, Nature, Spring | Tagged Christ, Creation, Renewal | Leave a comment

A Second Look at Life-Every Sunrise Brings a New Day

Posted on April 25, 2013 by richrockwood

An experience with despair need not end there. Every sunrise brings a new day.

A Second Look

While I traveled through
The back pages of my mind
In search of something meaningful
To calm my awareness of failure,

I realized under layers of
Forgotten dreams
That my heart had been disappointed
To the Point of Despair

Leaving me empty,
And with a feeling of total loss
For words or ideas, to compensate
For lost time and lost ideals

Sadly broken and torn with grief
I quietly put my mind together
And, walking away slowly,
I tried again once more.

Posted in Acceptance, Adaptability, Adventures, Adversity, Appreciation, Contentment, Creation, Darkness, Depression, Despair, Enjoyment, Feelings, Grief, Healing, Letting Go, Life, Miracles, Morale, Perseverance, Perspective, Providence, Restoration, Spirituality, Stress, Suffering, Worry | Tagged Appreciation, Creation, Depression, Despair, Fear, Gifts, Perseverance, Quiet Time, Relaxation, Renewal, Stress, Worry | Leave a comment

Alive Again!

Posted on April 1, 2013 by richrockwood

What is happening: the followers of Jesus are taking in this startling reality. He is alive! He is back with them! They can see Him! He is eating with them! He is alive.

Ironically, I was unable to finish the writings for Easter Saturday and Sunday due to illness. That, however, does not diminish the fact that He is alive!

Thoughts to Ponder: The authorities could not dispel the resurrection news by producing a body. The best they could come up with was that his disciples came while the soldiers were asleep and stole his body. How do people know what is going on while they are sleeping? How could a group of men all go willingly to their death’s if they knew what they had been saying was a lie? How else can we explain their boldness before authorities. Jesus is alive!

Prayer: O God who raised Jesus back up from a lifeless form to a living, engaging, life-changing, inspiring man once again, may you do the same for me.

Posted in Appearance, Easter, Happiness, Healing, Jesus, Messiah, Restoration, Resurrection, Witnessing | Tagged Easter, Jesus, Resurrection | Leave a comment

Good Friday

Posted on March 29, 2013 by richrockwood

What is happening: Jesus was interrogated last night before the ruling body of Elders, the Sanhedrin, where they tried to figure out what to do with him. Finally he was locked away in a dungeon at the home of the High Priest. Picking up the story in Matthew Chapter 27, it is early morning and the chief priests and elders have finally decided to put Jesus to death. There is a problem, however. They don’t have the authority for that so they send Jesus to the Roman governor, P0ntius Pilate.

When Judas realizes the consequences of his betrayal, he is filled with remorse. He makes his way back to the chief priests and offers to return the money if they will let Jesus go. They basically tell him he is wasting their time, so Judas goes out and commits suicide by hanging.

Pilate doesn’t know what to make of Jesus because He won’t say anything. Pilate does not want to execute Jesus so he reminds the crowd of the custom which allows him to release a prisoner during Passover. Instead of asking for Jesus as he hoped, they ask for Barabbas, a man indicted for insurrection and slated for crucifixion. So Pilate makes a symbolic show of washing his hands to show he is not guilty of Jesus’ death. He has Jesus whipped and turned over for crucifixion.

According to Wikipedia:

“Crucifixion is a method of deliberately slow and painful execution in which the condemned person is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross and left to hang until dead. It is principally known from antiquity, but remains in occasional use in some countries.

Crucifixion was used among the Seleucids, Carthaginians, and Romans from about the 6th century BC to the 4th century AD. In the year 337, Emperor Constantine I abolished it in the Roman Empire out of veneration for Jesus Christ, the most famous victim of crucifixion.[1][2] It was also used as a form of execution in Japan for criminals,”

This appearance before Pilate is sometime mid-morning and then he is paraded through the streets of Jerusalem out to Golgotha where by lunchtime, he is nailed to a cross. He hangs in agony for three hours. It is a slow, excruciatingly painful death. Finally his weakened body slumps lifeless.

Shortly afterward, he is removed from the cross and hastily buried before sundown so the Sabbath prohibitions against work will not be broken.

Thoughts to Ponder: Much has been written about the details of Jesus death and its significance. Suffice it to say that his own words sum it perfectly: “Greater love has no one than that he lay down his life for his friends.” Christians have tended to stay quiet and contemplative on this somber day. What thoughts come to you as you think about Good Friday?

Prayer: We cannot even imagine such devotion that would drive a man to voluntarily relinquish his health and well-being in such an unjust and pain-filled way. Yet O Lord Jesus, you did this as an offering for the sins of all humanity. Help us to believe and receive this gift now and through all the days of our lives. AMEN.

Posted in Accomplishment, Adversity, Atonement, Bible, Courage, Crucifixion, Darkness, Evil, Faithfulness, Good Friday, Holy Week, Jesus, Manliness, Mission, New Covenant, Passion, Perseverance, Priorities, Prophecy, Rejection, Sacrificial Lamb, Salvation, Suffering | Tagged Atonement, Christ, Crucifixion, Faithfulness, Forgiveness, Good Friday, Integrity, Jesus Christ, Suffering, Surrender | Leave a comment