Uncle Donnie

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs; who comes short again and again; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” -Theodore Roosevelt

Donald Harlow Burke has achieved his victory. When I think of my experience with the original idea of God I know as Uncle Donnie, boundless, fun loving, and gracious are adjectives that come immediately to mind. I did not get to spend as much time with him as I would have liked, but the time I got was exciting, world view expanding, and even life altering. He introduced me to moose burgers, float planes, and king salmon fishing in Alaska in the summer of 1990. We camped on an island-first and only time for me, very far from anything sedate or civil. I can still hear him hollering my name as I stepped off the boat into what I thought was knee deep water after an hour of pulling in my first salmon, a meager 45 lbs. The water was deeper than I was tall, and when I came up still holding the rod, fish hooked, I saw his laughing face and felt his pride that I had held on. He caught the very next fish, a 90 lb king- Vintage Uncle Donnie.

     Whether far out in the wild places, in his shop learning to bend and cut metal into ductwork, hiking a mountain, doing roof work on a giant building in downtown Knoxville, or just hanging out on the front porch listening to the cicadas, he just made you feel good about yourself. That was his super power. And if everything was going awry and panic was on the prowl, he stayed calm, cool, and collected, took another cast with the fishing rod of his imagination, and tried to hook another idea from a different perspective. Looking back, we did not have fun, he just was fun. He brought his infectious, easy-going determination and excitement into every venture, whether finding a way to clean up oil spills or going for a burger and a shake.  

     He was an example of tenacity, ideas, and grace under fire. His faith in God was unshakable. Not perfect and admitting it, Uncle Donnie is a man who wrestled with himself and with God and made a brilliant impact on my relationship with Jesus Christ. He is a hero to me, and in my memory will always remain the man in the arena.

idol 2 (Presence Series)

I was fourteen years old.  Mom and Dad were off on a trip somewhere far away.  It was a few days before they were to return, and out of boredom, I decided to take one of the trucks for a spin.  When I returned and parked the truck, I realized I had parked it in the wrong place.  I had parked it on some deep gravel on a slope, and instead of just driving forward down the hill, I put it in reverse and got the drive tires buried in the gravel.  So, I ran to the shed, grabbed two 2x6 boards and shoved them under the tires.  It worked.  The disaster happened when I forgot to shut the driver-side door.  Heedless of the tall pine in the path of it I got the truck out of the gravel, but the door was laying on the ground!  I put the truck back in the correct place. With the help of a rubber mallet, I was able to get most of the metal back in the right place and jammed the door back on the truck so that it looked like everything was fine.  And it was fine, until the next Monday morning when one of Dad's workers opened the door and it fell.  Dad met me in the yard as I was walking up from the bus stop that afternoon.  I deflected, I lied, and for three days Dad mulled over firing his worker, who had been truthful in saying he had no idea how the door fell off.  Finally, Dad cornered me and told me he was getting ready to fire someone, if I could not tell him what happened to the door.  I finally 'fessed up.

He was not angry that I had taken the truck for a spin.  He was not so angry that I was responsible for the truck missing a door.  He was angry that I had lied and had almost made him a fool and cost one of his best workers a job.

Aaron, Moses' brother, decided to do what the people asked and made a golden calf to worship.  Moses had been gone up the mountain for a long time and they did not know when he would return.  When he did return, He heard the noise of the people worshipping and saw them dancing around.  Moses was so angry that he threw the tablets down that God had written the law on and they were broken.  Of course, Aaron deflected and said he just did what the mob of the people wanted for fear of his life.  Three thousand men died by the swords of the Levites.  Moses had to go back up the mountain to plead for the people and to receive another set of tablets of the God's law.

remember   The people of Israel had forgotten to remember.  They were bored of waiting and had chosen to forget that it was God Who heard their moaning for freedom.  They had chosen to forget that it was God Who called Moses to intercede for them.  They had chosen to forget that it was God Who brought them out of Egypt, the land of their slavery, and freed them from that tyrannical situation.  They had forgotten God.  The calf they made was not who they really worshipped when Moses came down.  The calf was the idol, a representation of the false god of self.  Moses reminded them of all that God had done and was still doing in their behalf.  He made them consecrate themselves to God and to His law before He would carry them on to the Promised Land.  They got a "whipping" for their sin, but God was merciful and fulfilled what He promised, but not without more episodes of the people forgetting to remember.

When we get bored, we forget to remember Who's we are, where He has brought us from, where He has promised to take us.  Our faith is discarded because we want what we think we need, and we want it now.  We tend to be stiff-necked toward waiting, acting like we should, living in a way that is pleasing to God which is always in our own best interest, because He knows what we really need.  

For the sin of worshipping my golden calf, a.k.a., me, I got a whipping and was put on severe restriction.  But Dad had mercy, too, because He saw that at least I was not willing to pass the recompense of my sin onto another person.  He knew that experience would teach me to remember that my actions, when they are what they should be, create harmony.  And when they are bad can affect people around me in ways I would not wish.  When we discard the One Who's idea we are, when we forget to remember, chaos always ensues.  Deuteronomy 6.4-15   

You are His idea.  He knew you before you were born.  He saw every day of your life before you had lived even one.  Whether you are religious or not, Elohim is God.  He is goodness.  He is mercy.  And as we live our days out, if we can continually remember what He wants for us, how He expects us to live, and live in worship to Him, He will lead us to the Promised Land.  Learn the inexplicable, totally amazing, audacious, and magnificent value of His Presence in your life.

idol 1 (Presence series)

 Exodus 33:15 NKJV

Then he said to Him, “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here.” 

I have roamed.  I have run.  I have blithely moved from place to place trying to find my place in this world, laboring to fulfill God’s idea of me.  I have dragged my wife and kids literally across the country and back many times.  I was thinking if I could just find that perfect situation where I’d fit and be at least allowed, if not supported to exercise my giftings and ideas… but I would not be content.  In truth, every situation was a perfect one.  I just couldn’t see it for my golden calf. 

Grateful  No, I did not ask to be born or come into existence.  No one did. The eternal material of my soul, the distinct machinations of my mind, the one-of-a-kind idiosyncrasies of my body, and that this idea of me comes from (what we think of as) nothing into this (what we think of as) empirical time/space continuum…  it was/is/will be God’s idea.  I know if I could just stick 100% to this juggernaut of knowledge in all my musings, decisions, actions, reactions, words, I would be in a perpetual state of serenity.  All would be well with my soul, continually. 

     “I AM THAT I AM” is the name God replied to Moses’ question on that plain with the burning bush.  “I am” is the very first name we call ourselves when first we become self-aware. Some people are born into this world with an inherent understanding of who they really are and WHO they come from. Some of us are just not bright enough to want to explore that inkling that the Apostle Paul calls “the measure of faith.”  And some reject it because they were offended by another who is following that path.  Some reject it outright, choosing to go along with the flow of the corrupted times they live in, so that they will not “stick out.” 

Whether we admit it or not, we have been chosen to be given a life, and that decision was not influenced a hair by us at all.  As “I am” is our declaration of existence, “we were not” is the accurate description of our influence on our existence.  God’s idea, distinct, original, piece of God’s immaculate creative genius, He put into a mortal, fallen body, that was introduced to this corrupted world by water, flesh, and blood.  As He is three in one, so we are 3 parts in one being-body, mind, spirit.  He has chosen you to have this amazing, incredible, astounding, phenomenal, odds-busting opportunity to live, to be as He is in a lesser way, “I am.”  With this knowledge we should never have cause to bemoan our life or regret that we live.  The only truly universally harmonious response, for this thing we didn’t ask for, is utter gratefulness to the Great I AM.

seen

    As we live each day our thoughts are filled with joyous moments of the past that make our days sweet and our living relevant. They also harbor the agony of our sins. Those scenes play over in our minds and we wish we could hide them, even kill them, so we could never see them again.  

     For Believers in Christ and His atoning work, we hold the hope for that day when He wipes every tear from our eyes and makes all things new. But until that day comes we bear, at least, the shadow of our sins, and depending on our focus it either propels us in that hope or drives us to despair.

     A long time ago there was a household worker, a slave, of a very rich man called Abram and his wife, Sarai (Genesis 16). She must have been a pleasing servant to her owners, because the wife proposed her as a solution to a quandry. The wife was barren, even after an amazing visit from an "angel" Who said Abram would have an heir that came from his own body. Ten years had gone by and no heir.  

     Sarai was getting up in years and thought something had to be done. So she gave her husband the faithful servant girl in hopes the heir would be produced through her. When the servant girl became pregnant, she became increasingly haughty, even rebellious toward her mistress, to the point where the mistress treated her roughly, and she ran away. 

    So far we can see the doubt, faithlessness, and manipulation for control of the couple of promise. We can also see the pride,  arrogance, and want of pre-imenence of a misused servant girl.

    Hagar, the servant girl had no one and no place to go. She was homeless, despondent, and despairing. At a lush watering hole in the wilderness is where she poured out her sorrow to a God she could not see. An "angel" came to her to minister to her seemingly impossibe situation, and told her to go back to her mistress, that it would be well.  Not only that, but she would be greatly blessed with nations of descendants.

     Hagar was astonished that this angel-like being would visit her, and realized that even in her misery, her caste, her smallness, God saw her. God saw her in her obedience, and her victimization, her plumeting attitude, and in her degradation. He saw it all. He saw the future of the nations she carried in her womb. He saw the evil that would be launched from her descendents generation after generation against the nation of promise yet to be born of her mistress, Sarai. He saw it all. Yet, He cared for her. She called Him the God Who sees.

  Thousands of years later, He is still the God Who sees.  He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Like a good father, God allows us to choose, and does not desert us when we choose poorly.  He will not leave us, even long after we have departed from His idea of us.  If we are drawing breath we are a candidate for the tender loving care of a God Who sees. He sees our obedience, our disobedience, and the generations they will produce. He sees our best and our despicable worst. He sees what we wish to kill in ourselves. He sees our hopes and our impossible dreams. He sees, and He chooses to love us with an everlasting love. He chooses to make us new again.  

When peace like a river attendeth my way 

When sorrows like sea billows roll 

Whatever my lot thou hast taught me to say

It is well, it is well with my soul

My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought

My sin, not in part, but the whole

Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, oh my soul

drivel

I have shoveled no snow in 5 years this coming April.  Winters in the Huntsville, AL area pretty easy, like a cold summer in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  Ya might get snow…  On the flipside, we were jolted out of REM cycle very early to tornado warnings going off on our phones.  I turned over and went back to sleep.  Beth, I guess, huddled under the covers waiting for that ominous whooshing train sound…  I’m having my second cup of coffee at 0700 feeling rested and looking out serenely through the picture window in our breakfast nook, writing drivel.  Beth is sprawled under disheveled bedding trying to locate the rest that eluded her in the wee small hours.   In a short while she will detangle her limbs and extract herself from bed, walk into the kitchen where I am, and this bubble of silent serenity will be broken.  Maybe we’ll eat something, she will shower, then we’ll quarrel about going to church. 

As this was the week of Valentine’s Day, which I slightly, but grudgingly acknowledge as a real holiday, I discovered something share-worthy in my reading. It struck in my soul like a hammer on an anvil.  I do not hate St. Valentine, or despise his plight. But this holiday we… “celebrate”…  is not about St. Valentine.  It was hoisted onto Americans in order to incite folks to spend money on frivolity in a time of the year when things are financially tight.    Regardless, I read something that I have to call attention to, that resonates not in the superficial Valentine’s Day way, but in the most pointedly authentic Valentine-y way.  Here it is:

“I do understand that you can look into someone’s eyes and suddenly know that life would be impossible without them, know that their voice can make your heart miss a beat, and know that their company is all your happiness can ever desire, and that their absence will leave your soul alone, bereft.”

It is from a book titled The Winter King by Bernard Cornwell, written about an ancient time and story that is being buried these days by fallacious reckonings.  The romance we visage in movies-the most prominent medium of story-telling today – is a shallow, distorted, and sometimes grossly absurd kind.  This quote is written in a time when people’s lives were in a fog of danger every minute, and life was so utterly valuable because lives were treated so very cheaply.  We do not know each other like this anymore.  This quote is intended to be romantic.  But the verve of it is lost in basic human connections.  Though I am tempted to loath our time in history because of the technologies that have made living so easy (irony here-I would not be alive without these technologies), I grieve that our humanness has been so corrupted by it.  Folks do not connect with each other anymore at those deep soul levels-the ones marginally revealed in this quote.  It is so prevalent and easy to privately 'cancel' someone when they do absolutely nothing for you, or you for them.  It’s not even possible for that thought to exist when you would be counting on them to help bring in your crop, protect your family and livestock from wolves or raiders, or stand in a shield wall with them defending your homestead and crops, hoping you still live to harvest… 

Not so many generations ago, living had that kind of a ring to it.  Neighbors, folks down the street, people meant something, relationship had a deeper value, or perhaps, it only seems that way.  My grandparents came of age in the Great Depression, and their lives were scented with that deeper kind of tribal-ish vibe.  That is why nonsense, or what Grandpa branded “foolishness” was little tolerated.  Foolishness has now crawled into the highest offices of the land, and from our land into the deep crevices of global humanity, ripping and destroying.  And if I did not believe in the inherency of the Bible, I could see the world soon falling into a post-apocalyptic time, worse resembling those ancient, brutal times.  “Don’t know whatcha got til its gaw-wone…” -Cinderella.  From a genre of music marked by flight from anything profound, this song hit on something real, probably by accident.

Selah…

Like it’s titled:  drivel. 

wisdom

Once there was a young man who was placed in a very difficult position.  One moment his life was completely carefree with the resources to pursue any whim. The next moment he was the king of his realm. The weight of the responsibility for an entire nation was thrust upon him.  He beseeched his God, not for riches or fame or women.  His one request was that wisdom would be given him for his lifelong task.  That he asked for wisdom exhibits his habit of seeking wisdom already, for he knew the skills he would need were far out of his wheelhouse.  He became the greatest earthly king of all time with all the riches, fame, and women.  His name was Solomon.

Wisdom begins with the understanding that we are not enough to survive, let alone thrive on our own (Proverbs 1.7).  Add to that decisions we must make now!  We must ask our Creator for wisdom.  Then we must surrender to the lessons it teaches progressively.  If we make a decision that results in poor outcome, we must stop and ponder our steps, learn the lesson of it, redirect our energies and motivations, and try again.  It is a grueling process.  It is a metamorphing process.  It is a lifelong process.

The following photos are pages of wisdom that has helped me, written by my rough hand in a book my brother made for me.  As you read, ponder your steps, knowing that the steps of a righteous person are ordered by God.  As we are prone to wander, seek to live righteously-to do rightly, seek the desire to fulfill your purpose in being given this life.  We are our Creator's idea, not our own.  Wisdom is getting in line with the correct idea.  May we all find success in this year, 2025.

mary

   Dreams of life beginning flooded her sleeping hours.  A beautiful fresh face with soft head-turning curves developing in her unmistakably feminine silhouette, she was.  She was that pure, innocent, and obedient daughter on the brink of full-blown womanhood. She had the best grades holding her teachers' highest regard, and an utter joy to teach.  Her parents could not be more pleased with her.  Her neighbors had no worries leaving their children in her care.  Though of humble means and origin, all the people in the village expected only the brightest future for their blossoming native daughter.  No one was surprised when the smart and responsible Joseph, son of the wood worker Jacob, won her betrothal.  It was a fairy tale unfolding in the sight of a simple people in a location as obscure as it was inopportune.

   That the betrothal turned sour proved to the village that fairy tales were too good to be true.  Talk of indescretions began swirling at the well and the doorways of homes where the villagers spoke in hushed tones.  Joseph seemed displeased with his betrothed, whose curves seemed to be filling out and who began to glow in her countenance.  Could she be ... ?  The best and brightest among them was glowing, but there seemed to be a tarnish in it.  Folks dropped their heads and turned away from her when she went to fetch her household water from the well.  No one bid her good day as she passed through the market.  Even Joseph seemed distant as of late, his small graces and attentions waining.

   "May it be to me as you have spoken," was the only response her lips could speak when the heavenly visitor revealed to her Elohim's desire.  But did she know just how divergent her decision would make her appear to everyone?  Did she know her contented life would be so utterly disturbed by agreeing with God's idea, and partaking in the Divine plan?  

   Maybe.  Maybe she could already hear the whispers, feel the cold shoulders, the harsh assessments of good folks who could never understand the amazing truth of what was happening to her, to them, to the world, and the history of all mankind.

   Even after Joseph had decided to take her in marriage after an encounter by the same heavenly visitor, her way did not become easier or her vision of the future clearer.  

   As the months and years unfolded the unlikely family could only take one day at a time.  Through the mundane activities of daily life, they could only remain steadfast in their faith they were existing both in the common life they had always known and in the celestial domension of eternity.  

Mary believed, even when she did not understand or have any promise of understanding.  She lived, tended her family, and pondered all these amazing affirmations in her heart.           God did not stop evil men from doing evil.  But He let the unlikely family know they had to run for their lives to live for some years in a strange land.  God did not overtly tell His chosen people the Messiah had come.  But a twelve year old boy astounded the teachers of the law and pharisees in the temple courts by His astute assessment of the law and current events while his parents frantically searched for Him.  And in those years silent to history,  Mary watched her oldest son grow in the grace of God and in favor with men.  She watched as Joseph worked and taught the boy the family business.  She watched as He became as she once was, favored, before that fateful visit, and perhaps could not understand how his body could be pierced, or how a sword would pierce her own heart.

   She did not understand.  But she believed.  And she reported to her cousin, Elizabeth: 

   “Oh, how my soul praises the Lord. How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!  For he took notice of his lowly servant girl, and from now on all generations will call me blessed.  For the Mighty One is holy, and he has done great things for me. He shows mercy from generation to generation to all who fear him. His mighty arm has done tremendous things! He has scattered the proud and haughty ones. He has brought down princes from their thrones and exalted the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away with empty hands.  He has helped his servant Israel and remembered to be merciful.  For he made this promise to our ancestors, to Abraham and his children forever.”  Luke 1:46-55 NLT