Bruce

It is the birthday of my brother, Bruce, and I just hung up from talking with him this morning. He lives in Independence, Kansas, and we live in Lebanon, Illinois, and now, many years after our 'growing up together', we are probably closer and more caring for each other than we ever were when we shared the same room as boys. What is it that gives us the capacity to see the members of our family more clearly at a couple of hundred miles of distance than when they sat shoulder to shoulder with us at the kitchen table? What is it that time clarifies and distance focuses?

Bruce, the youngest of four boys, was always the one who loved electronics. Mom and Dad purchased a Radio Shack 'do-it-yourself' radio kit for him one year and the rest is history. He flourishes in his work with Garmin at the Cessna Airplane Corporation in Independence and has become so skilled in what he does that he often has the opportunity to teach others how to do it. And I am incredibly proud of my 'little brother' . . . .

There is an old German saying, "Too soon old, too late smart." which is a painfully accurate paradigm for many of the relationships we have in this life. Too soon we reach an age where we look around ready celebrate life with the ones who mean the most to us . . . and too soon we realize that the ones by whom we are surrounded are not the ones who mean the most to us. The most intimate and meaningful of family relationships are often sacrificed on the altars of 'Making It On My Own', 'Getting Away From This Place', and 'Success Will Never Happen Here', and, when all is said and done, years and miles have accomplished much more than we anticipated they would and we are left with the hollowness of occasional visits and birthday telephone calls. Oddly enough, for many, it is just like their relationship with God and their sporadic Sunday visits with their Creator . . . . leaving us to wonder if remediation and healing will ever be possible.

The presence of Christ gives us hope. Across the miles and years, God extends God's hand of love to embrace our directions and bridge the chasm of self-perceived unforgiveability. In the power of the Holy Spirit, God applies the twin balms of mercy and grace to our broken lives and, like the father of the Prodigal Son, welcomes us back into the home where, really, in God's heart, we have never, ever left.

I love Bruce more today than he knows . . . and am so proud that he is my brother. Miles and years have clarified how much more I need him in my life than he needs me, which could be said of each of my brothers, and that is very humbling. Yet, isn't that the point? Too soon we get old and, just as the notion begins to pierce our thick skulls that we need family, too late we get smart and realize family is no longer close at hand . . . . and we stand at the end of the road looking across the fields at the home of our childhood wondering if ever we can return.

Thanks, Bruce, for taking my call this morning and I do truly pray you a very happy birthday. You may never be as old as me, but I pray you are many times smarter than me long before you become my age. I am blessed that you and I are family, no matter where age and life leads us.

Your servant in Christ,

Pastor Don