As I write this post from Romania, I have to tell you that there is something a little strange about not being in my own country on the Fourth of July.  I experienced this back in 2000 when I worked with Gujarati Indians in Loughborough, England.  It just felt odd.  And it does this time around, too. 

The Bible is full of examples of fathers.  Good ones, not so good ones, ones filled with wisdom, ones who ‘struggled’ with wisdom, and plenty of other types.  No matter who our father is (was) Ephesians 6.2 tells us to honor our father (and mother) – and it was also the first commandment with a promise.  It was easy to honor my father.  I was one who was blessed to have a ‘good one’ – and one who was filled with wisdom.

Everyone thinks that their dog is the ‘best’. But I, truly, had the best dog – for about 11 years. He was a beautiful smooth-haired Chow-Chow, and his name was Johann Sebastian Bachie. My boys were quite taken a-back by his name, but since they couldn’t seem to come up with anything else, Bachie, it was.

In Deuteronomy 22, it says several times to not ignore your neighbors’ needs.  In the NASB, it uses the words, ‘pay no attention to them’.  And in the Message it says, ‘don’t look the other way’.  Oh, how many times we been tempted to make believe we didn’t see a need perhaps because we didn’t have the time to tend to it, or the money, or frankly, just didn’t care – and we looked the other way.