March 13th is Always a Good Day for Reflection

Since the day that I launched this blog from Taiwan, I've wondered one thing: would I regret making this blog "themed?" After all, doesn't that limit creativity and keep me from posting about a lot of things that I would otherwise be glad to talk about?

About eight months later, I'm about 97.565% sure that I don't regret the decision. And I'm sure you're curious as to why - and trust me, you are - so I'm going to share.

Having a blog that is "themed" is tricky. However, without a theme, and therefore, a purpose, this blog only becomes about one thing: me. So, by not choosing a theme, I automatically would be choosing the default them of, well, me (for lack of a better term; see how this could get old quickly?).

This was never and will never be the purpose of my writings and ramblings. I might do this for myself to a point, but I don't want it to simply be about me. I want to encourage you. I want to inspire you. I want to make you laugh and help YOU to enjoy life a little more fully, even if just for a few seconds every few days.

Having a themed blog has actually forced me to become more creative, not less. Writing about my life goals has truly helped me to find more direction and purpose as I live. It has helped to keep me accountable. However, there are days when I want to post about subjects that don't involve me cliff-diving (it will happen) or flying an airplane (it will definitely happen). This is where the creativity comes in.

Take this post for instance. It was about giving to a great cause: The Adventure Project. However, giving to them wasn't on my Bucket List anywhere, and my 111 in 2011 didn't exist yet, because, well, it wasn't 2011. But I made it "fit" because it matters to me. And frankly, it's my blog, so I can bend the rules a little if I need to.

I'm saying all of this to eventually get to the point of this post. And I promise we are about to arrive. Just stick with me and my unnecessarily circular tangents for a few more moments...


Today is March 13th. We all lost an hour of sleep because of Daylight Savings Time. If you're anything like me, you lost more than an hour of sleep, because that's how it works. However, today is about more than suffering sleep deprivation so that we can save a negligible amount of energy. Today, for me, is a day of reflection.

Three years ago, I probably would have never considered this a day to reflect on. It would simply be another day in another year with too much to do and to little time to do it. It would have also been my dad's birthday.

Now I know that I briefly wrote a while back about my dad. He passed away just over two and a half years ago unexpectedly. After he passed away, I wrote a note of reflection around his birthday, and it is something I never want to forget. And that is the point of this post. I don't ever want to forget what I have learned from this loss. Hopefully I never will. And I want to be able to share what I've learned, in the hope that someone else might be able to learn from it too.

I'm going to post that note here. Read it, enjoy it, but most of all, learn from it. I hope I can do the same.

This note was written just about two years ago.

I want to preface this note with this: there are about a million notes I want to write right now. I'm not sure that any of them will get written over the course of Spring Break, and I doubt even more that they'll be read if they're written. But that's alright.

Romans 8:38-39
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Today is March 14th, 2009 (it's actually the 15th now - it's past midnight, but who's counting?). That naturally means that yesterday (or two days ago, for those who ARE counting) was March 13th, 2009.

Forty-one years ago on the 13th, my dad was born. That means that on the 13th, it has been 7 months and thirteen days since my dad died. I left school a little early for Spring Break because of that fact. I didn't expect much to come of it, but who am I to decide what can be made out of a few extra hours? As Louie Giglio would put it, "I am not."

Naturally, this weekend has been one filled with a billion emotions. Being a guy, I thought that only about five emotions existed, and I only like to use two of them: tired and hungry. But in all seriousness, I knew that this would be an emotional weekend. And truth be told, it has been. The thing is, because "I am not" God, I didn't know what these emotions would be. However, today I find myself more complete and full of joy than I have known in a long time.

To be saying this on the weekend of what COULD have been my Dad's 41st birthday party amazes me. I guess that's the sort of business God is into, though. He likes to take the way we perceive things and flip them upside down. Which reminds me of a book I just read: The Shack. And in the book, the author makes a great point. So keep reading if you've gotten this far, because this is a point that has really rattled my cage recently.

Everyone tells us that God lets the bad things in our lives happen "for a reason." You know, the whole, "before every rainbow is a storm" concept. Well... The Shack shook up my perception of this. And I can't help but wonder if it's right. You see, the way that the author (William Young) puts it, is this: God does NOT allow bad things to happen in our lives "for a reason." You see, the world is fallen. Humans have chosen independence, and as a result, we screw things up - a LOT. And not only that, but nature screws things up too - disasters occur, things collapse, and people die. God does NOT allow this to happen for a reason. What kind of loving Father would God be if He allowed people to die simply for a "reason?"

I know this might sound crazy to most of the people reading (all 3 or 4 of you), but hear me out. You see, like I said, God does NOT allow terrible things to happen for a reason. Instead, it goes like this. We've desired independence, received it, and we exercise our free will as we continue to fall, along with Creation. And as we fall together. Bad things happen. Why? Because they just do. Ultimately, there usually isn't actually a "reason" for struggles in our lives. My dad did NOT die just for a "reason." Do you know why I believe this? Because I believe that God loves my dad TOO much for that. He would NOT have him die just for a "reason." However, this is where the truth hidden behind the cliche comes in.

Bad things happen. They don't happen for a reason. Instead, God sees these things, and it sucks JUST as much, if not more (because His love is perfect), for Him. So he decides to DO something about it, to bring about some sort of change. What we do with that change is up to us. All God knows is that He doesn't want that struggle to be pointless. However, I am NOT saying that this "change" is the REASON for the problem. It just happens to be the result.

For me... this helps. Knowing this and realizing its truth helps. I don't want to believe that God let my dad die before I got to tell him about my trip to Africa this summer just so He could bring about some "change." I'd ask God to let someone else die for that - maybe I am selfish. However, understanding that his death was a result of a streak of fallibility that runs throughout all of Creation because of our desire for independence... that, I get. The fact that God sees my dad's death and HURTS over it... THAT is comforting. And the fact that God cares SO much about my dad's life that He would bring about CHANGE because of it... WOW.

Like I said... I'm at a loss for words... but...

… it’s okay.

Miss ya, Dad.