Thoughts About the Butterflies...

The butterflies and Emily who was three then and what God was at that time trying to show you was that she would “fly again” has certainly come true. She is now about to turn 9 if I am not mistaken and what a beautiful little granddaughter she is. I can’t wait to see her in October and November. I just love the fall season in Pennsylvania. I think this year we will all need to visit the apple orchard and pick some of the juiciest apples


On planet earth. Becky, having read your blogs to this point I must admit that I have real reservations that we will be doing a lot of diologue. I am not a debater and I am not near as intelligent as you are nor your teachers. My only hope in all of this comes from what the Psalmist said in 119:99 “I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statues.”

Here are some things that raised a flag in the butterfly story but one that is actually common to many people. You said that you “began to see certain things and had a strong sense they were forthcoming”. You had a sense that some difficulties lay ahead for Emily. So you did what we are all instructed to do from the “sacred scriptures”, we pray. I will never forget when I kissed your mom good by and boarded an airplane with the destination of Vietnam back in 1969. We had no children at that time. On the airplane I had a sense that something bad was forthcoming and after my first encounter with the enemy on LZ Ike only two weeks after landing there I believed I would actually die there. So, I prayed and others prayed and God was gracious and now I am going on 66 years of age and still have a sense that bad things could be forthcoming. That of course is not all bad. In a way, that is why we have our children taking part in Sunday School and learning God’s ways and learning about a God who loves us and knows how to protect us and meet all of our needs in a sick, evil, dangerous world and that we are at war.

When you said in your blog that you followed the Lord to a yard sale not knowing where or what would happen when you got there I can sort of relate to that as well. You are a chip off the old block. It seems that when I am stressed out about something, I often get the urge to just go garage shopping or yard sale shopping and it doesn’t really matter where I am heading but any sale will do. I am not so sure I could blame all those visits on the Lord however after all these years of ministry. We do have strong propensities and I do know that fathers pass most of the bad ones off to their children so you might want to give your dad credit for that one.

You ended that blog with a very interesting word and this is one that I believe our diologue might be dealing with. Hopefully, it will bear some fruit. Here are your words: “The idea of restoration through a butterfly”. Becky, Emily is flying like the butterflies and so too are Grace and Sarah. So too is your dad at 65. It is just that he is flying in “slow mo”. You do remember though a time when your dad was not flying high. It was a very painful time and I never suffered anything like it prior to or thank God afterwords. It was a school I would never want to return to. I can say as the Psalmist said, “Before I was afflicted I went astray but now I obey your word.” For me it was something quite common of those who are in the ministry or heading into or out of the ministry. It has put many a flying butterfly into a mode of needing restoration. I was so naïve about the effect bitterness can have on anyone and especially since I felt justified in my opinions. God was gracious to me and to our family and I am thankfully among the restored and hopefully God will use me to help many others to the same flying status.

The butterflies on the beach that were so beautiful yet damaged and died before their time instead of beautifying God’s created earth challenged you and I can relate to that as well. That is why your mom and I are still here in Brazil. That is what ministry is all about. God is not willing that any should perish. They don’t have to either. We don’t need to be so intelligent and try to figure it all out. We don’t need to know it “all”. We don’t even need a special calling! There are plenty of butterflies in every neighborhood all over the world and they need rescuers like you and like me.

Well, by now you know that once you give me an open door I usually go through and pay the price afterwards. Just try your best to be gracious to this “old man” and try to respect your elders and remember to be slow to speak, quick to hear and slow to be angry. I have tried to follow this rule and that is why I have been very slow to respond to the butterflies posts. I may take even longer to respond to the post on dreams.

I do love you and always will and can’t wait to fly some together in ministry like we used to at Edwardo Menezes hospital with the aids patients who were not flying well at the time.
Love you much.
Dad