Tag: Music

Good, Good, Father

August 29, 2022

My Father is very important to me. The way he loved me in his way. The way he provided for me, my mother, and my three siblings. He was not perfect. He became agree at times. He did not curse but I have heard him cry out in pain when he skinned his knuckles, or the hammer hit his thumb. Usually, there were no recognizable words. I may have heard a dam or two in all my years with him.

Growing up with both my mother and father for over thirty years was a fortunate circumstance for us that you may not have enjoyed. So that you know that our lives were not “Leave it to Beaver” or “Father Knows Best” I will tell you some things that may have occurred in your life.

Dad suffered from mental illness. Mom became so angry with him over what she thought were things he could control that she yelled and threw dishes at him once. Don’t think that the kids were unaware of this problem. He was finally diagnosed with schizophrenia when I was in college. We were not told what had caused it until years later.

With that introduction, I wish to tell you about a perfect Father. Pat Barrett and Anthony Brown wrote the song “Good, Good Father” and Chris Tomlin released it in 2016. He is not the only Christian artist to record it. He was the first to make it a number one hit.

The song begins by talking about the stories that are told about God the Father. Our songwriter speaks of hearing Him speak in the dark of night. The words are encouraging. We are reminded that He has promised we would never be alone.

The second verse talks of those looking for answers in a way that relates to “Desperately Seeking Susan” or “Looking for love in all the wrong places.” Jehovah is the only one who has all the answers for us. He is not surprised at what we need even though we may be.

Our Father’s love is undeniable, unexplainable, and deep. We are not perfect. He is. Jehovah means I am that I am. We call Him the great I am. Jesus said, “I am the way, I am the truth, and I am the life.” He also said. “I am the good shepherd” and I am “The door.”

We are loved by him. The love that He has for us is greater than we expect from ourselves or each other. He is who He is. We are who we are. There is no way for us to be other than us. He always is love. He is always our good, good father. It is who He is.

©Copyright 2022 by Charles Kensinger

Who’s gonna fill my shoes?

August 7, 2022

Have you ever asked yourself this question? I asked myself after I heard the George Jones song “Who’s gonna fill their shoes?” It is about the country singers that my dad liked, and I grew up listening to. Some I only know by the records my father had in his collection. Most of those albums are long gone.

I am not a country music fan. If you know me personally you also know I am not any kind of singer. I like to create through my words in the form of prose and not poetry. My life has been spent in many ways and others have taken my spot in many of these.

Business managers are easily replaced as are purchasing agents and managers. A job can be filled by many when the previous holder moves on. As a teacher in the church, those positions have also been filled. While they may not use the same style of instruction, they have their own and get the job done.

The shoes that I want to talk about are those of husband, father, and grandfather. I have not been perfect. I have done my best and I will never be replaced when I am no longer here to fulfill those responsibilities. Others can try to accomplish the tasks that I have spent time on. It still will not be the same as I would do it.

Those tasks are to educate and inform the ones I care about on how to become a person of integrity, someone who loves them, and their biggest fan. Time is always too short. I would enjoy as much time as possible to continue with these wonderful people. How can I show love and concern to them when I am not with them?

Love is not an emotion as we normally think of it. Love is the actions that we take every day to show that we genuinely appreciate and accept each other. What can we do to continue these acts that are seen as love? Let’s look at how we communicate love.

Letters that encourage are one way. Write them now for the special occasions that will come after you are gone. A letter for each anniversary, birthday, wedding, graduation, and any other special occasion that you can think of. Start as soon as you can. Don’t mention a number except in certain cases.

Purchase and wrap gifts for these events and others like Christmas or a day that you currently celebrate with a gift. The hard part is how to get these into the hands of those you prepare them for. One of the simplest ways is to have your attorney or executor of your will present these for you. Discussing this extra and ongoing part of the job should be accomplished as soon as you can. Choose someone young enough to be around when you need them.

Selecting several individuals to take this task for you is another way to make the job easier. Be sure these are dependable folks. Do not forget to have letters and presents sent to them as well. Time is not the enemy here. It provides the opportunities to continue to be the person that others cherish.

©Copyright 2022 by Charles Kensinger

Jesus loves me

July 20, 2022

There is a song with this title. I learned it when I was a kid. I’d like to talk to you about the words of this song. “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” This is the first phrase.

The bible does tell us that we are loved by a man named Jesus. About two thousand years ago He was born into this world just as we all are. No difference other than that his mother was a virgin and ours were not. Now that we know who Jesus is let’s look at the world loves.

Love is the verb in this phrase. It is the action word. The apostle Paul tells us that love is patient and kind. This is enough of a definition to show how His love is different from what most of us experience from those that claim they love us. Most of us are not very patient and would have a definition of kindness that probably varies greatly.

Do you know that He loves you? The Bible tells us in many places that we are loved by God and this includes His Son, Jesus. The Messiah told us many stories to explain how much His Father loves us. One of these is that of a shepherd who left 99 sheep that were safe to find the one that had gotten lost. Are you that lost one?

The next stanza tells us that we belong to him. We are told that His strength will make up for our weakness. The dependability of God and our fallibility are written all through His word. The Psalms have many verses of poetry that tell us how we can follow Him and have Him protect us.

In the second stanza, we are told that Jesus’ love is as strong as it always was. He places children on His knee and tells them to come to Him as He always has. Our Lord told us that to reach Heaven we must become like children and trust Him as they do.

He is still with us on our way is what verse three tells us. He walks with us today as He has always said He would, giving us light and love as a friend. He told us that we would be His friends forever.

Our Savior died for us to open a way to eternal life. That was His purpose for becoming human. The fourth verse tells us this and that His sacrifice was for the payment of our sins.

The fifth and final verse tells us that He will stay close with us on our way, and we promise that we will live for Him as He died for us. This song is considered a children’s ditty. By looking at the words I want you to see that it is a confirmation of what Christians believe about the creator of the universe and His plan for our redemption.

He did what was necessary to bring us back to fellowship with Yahweh. This was done to show that He loves us and always will. From the mid 1800’s this poem has been around to remind us of what was done for us and why.

©Copyright 2022 by Charles Kensinger