You are currently browsing the Bruce Smith weblog archives for November, 2011.
29. November 2011 by BruceSmith.
Lessons from Hugo…if it aint working, fix it.
There is a scene in the movie Hugo where the plot comes together and bigger meaning is revealed. Hugo, a boy who has lost his parents, a boy who loved his dad, a dad who shared his love of watch-making and love of fixing complicated machines with his son, searches for years to discover the deeper meaning of his connection with his father and his compulsion to fix things himself. Lonely, and obsessed with fixing the automaton left behind by his father, Hugo fends for himself amidst the busy life of a massive train station.
Reduced, it appears, to the life of an orphan, taking what he needs to survive, Hugo is thrown into the life of a miserable and mean toy shop owner who has it out for him. Over time, and through a series of seemingly providential events, it becomes clear to Hugo that this mean shop owner, who has stolen Hugo’s cherished book, was somehow connected to his father in time past. Befriending the shop owner’s grand-daughter, Hugo comes to discover that this broken-spirited and cruel man was once a great film-maker, a pioneer of film in fact, in France, a country enamored with the art. What is revealed in time, is that this once iconic artist lost his passion, his art, and his purpose, and in the end, he lost his heart. The result was not a pretty thing to behold. In losing his purpose he lost his compassion, his touch with beauty and creativity, and his zest for life. His heart shrank, and no one benefited.
Hugo, himself full of pain and questions, finds his purpose in bringing joy back into the life of this miserable man, and his wife. Hugo begins to heal, himself, even as he seeks to bind the wounds of another, another who, in fact, sought to wound Hugo.
What the movie most profoundly and creatively reminds viewers of is the deep and abiding truth which resonates with all human beings; we were intended to live with purpose. Purpose, embraced and pursued, gives us something to live for, and when we have something to live for, we are better mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually, and relationally.
What the story of Hugo conveys, splendidly, is that when we fail to find our purpose, we are like the watch that does not work, we are broken, something is missing. We can set, re-set, and set the hands again and again, yet, the “fix” is always temporary. Not until we have purpose does the thing work as it ought. Like the watch, whose gears are missing, rusted, and uncooperative, so go our hearts, minds, and emotions, when we don’t know what we were created for and for whom we were created.
Augustine said it well, “Oh, Lord, our hearts shall know no rest, until we find ourselves in thee.” Our “fix” is in a relationship with the One who placed us here and has a purpose for us. There is no way around it. Until we own this truth we shall be ruined by pettiness, crude interests, meanness, selfish pursuits, and banal trivialities.
Just look around you. Look what is on our television screens, movie screens, radios, and in our schools. Does this look like a culture that knows its purpose? We shoot each other up, rage on each other, cheat on each other, beat on each other, abuse each other, deceive each other, and believe the lie that some pleasure quest or experience will suffice to make us whole amidst all the dysfunction. We are broke. The gears are locked up. It will never work. And, mind you, time is short. Further, we don’t even know what time it is personally, culturally, spiritually.
The Invention of Hugo Cabret is a lovely reminder that we can be fixed, that life can be renewed, that beauty does exist, and that redemption can be found. Dreams can be recaptured, and healing can take place. Do we dare leave the land of fantasy and walk into the greater adventure of purpose and passion? Do we dare to live the dream of God again? Dare we take God up on the majestic journey of truth, and abandon the small life of common pursuits? Do we dare? We had better, if we want to really live.
God loves us. He, unlike the angry masses around us, longs to offer us a place of rest and tenderness. His aim is to sweeten our souls and lift our hearts. His hope for us is that we might know Him, walk with Him, and enjoy Him forever. This is the fix which sets our internal clocks right. This is the fundamental purpose of our being here on this planet. From this reality all good things and virtue does flow.
Do you feel as though something is missing? Is there a gear inside you that feels stuck? Are your ongoing attempts to set the hands on the dial leaving you weary? Do you feel as though time is running out? Are you missing a purpose? Is there anything you love to live for? Do you spend your days passionately pursuing something bigger than yourself?
The Father of Time, the Keeper of time, the One who set time in place from the beginning, longs to make us new. In His hands the moments of our lives have purpose, and our hearts beat with a rhythm formerly unknown to us. Like the cruel, miserable, and broken shop owner in the story of Hugo, no matter how lost we may be, no matter how hardened our heart, no matter how long ago the dream died, we can be resurrected. Our life can be made new. Our hearts can beat again. Our dreams can be rekindled. We can have a purpose. Who among us, deep down, does not want this above all?
Find your purpose. Embrace the adventure.
Bruce Smith
www.bruceleesmith.co
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22. November 2011 by BruceSmith.
For those afraid
by Bruce Smith on Tuesday, November 22, 2011 at 12:03am
I was afraid…
I was afraid of failure,
So I won at all costs.
I was afraid of loneliness,
So I was never alone.
I was afraid of thought,
So I never engaged my mind.
I was afraid of truth,
So I made it up as I went along.
I was afraid to cry,
So I hardened my heart.
I was afraid of real love,
So I settled for lust.
I was afraid to care,
So I ran away.
I was afraid to win,
So I laughed through loss.
I was afraid of pain,
So I drank myself happy.
I was afraid to be happy,
So I drank myself mad.
I was afraid of my anger,
So I became the clown.
I was afraid of tenderness,
So I perfected my rage.
I was afraid of attention,
So I went into isolation.
I was afraid of being neglected,
So I joined every party.
I was afraid of my father,
So I liked every boy.
I was afraid to marry my mother,
So I did just that.
I was afraid of God,
So I worshipped myself.
I’m afraid of what I’ve become,
So I’m trying to find my way.
I’m afraid to look in the mirror,
So I’ll compare myself to lesser ones.
I’m afraid of going back home,
So I’ll keep running wild.
I’m afraid of the wilderness,
So I’m looking for a cave.
Is there any escape?
From all this being afraid?
I’m afraid.
I’m just afraid.
1 John 4:18 “There is no fear in love. Perfect love casts out all fear”.
If fear drives your emotions, your relationships, your professional aspirations, your love life, your anything or everything. Remember, that train will not stop and wait for you to get off. Jump. Leap for your life. Fear will sink you, bury those you love, crush all you hope for. Fear, the foremost dart of the enemy of your soul, will pierce you through and through. It will keep you from enjoying the progress of others, it will cause you to smother those close to you, it will restrict every dream you have, it will severe every relationship you begin, and it will choke the life right out of you. Fear, unchecked and unsumitted to God will consume you like a cancer. God has not given us a spirit of fear, but one of power, love and sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:7)
If you are not walking in peacable power, love and sound mind, you are not walking in the spirit of God. Your escape is found in keeping in step with the love, rest, and character of God.
Bruce Lee Smith
www.bruceleesmith.co
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15. November 2011 by BruceSmith.
Link and a Prayer
When your day starts out bad and gets worse by 9am, its easy to hang it up and just go back to bed. I’ve had “one of those” starts this morning. I woke up not feeling well, weak, tired, flu-like, and checked on my daughter who is home ill from school with similar symptoms. After taking the other two to school, I arrived back home to take care of the dogs. Upon opening the garage I was knocked over with a smell so fierce my nose hairs burned. Getting closer to the kennels I realized the pup, who was sharing the kennel with the Lab, had somehow exploded internally with such ferocity that both dogs, once white, were now brown, and covered in a stench so strong it was hard to believe. Good morning!
With my back reeling from a tennis tournament over the weekend I had a choice to make. Option one: pull two dogs and kennel out of garage, thereby setting off the back even more. Option two: let them out of the kennel, catch them in the yard, and hose them off outside somehow. I opted for option two. I’m not sure why.
After “cleaning” the dogs, the kennel, the driveway, and the garage, I came inside, only to walk down the hall to the bathroom to wash up a bit. On the way, seriously, I stepped in two piles of cat vomit. Seriously. Good morning!
Ready to ship off the animals to an island and go back to bed, my mind began to race with all the stuff of life I am behind on. With the phone ringing, deadlines calling my name, problems with publishing, work, family issues, and more, all in overdrive this morning, before 9am, I was not exactly ready for the day. Good morning!
Ever had a day begin that way? Ever had a day stay that way? Ever had a day stay that way longer than a day? A week? A month? A year? A decade? A life?
How do we gain perspective and press on amidst the tough stuff, and amidst the challenges of life? How do we win, even as loss, frustration, and failure look eminent?
My help today, and our help, always, as we attempt to navigate this journey called life, is to place ourselves, in total humility, before a God who cares more for us and our issues than we do. And so, for your help, and mine, I offer the prayer below. As David did, let us, each of us, standing in the face of the tempests of life, as we struggle, fail, succeed, and press on, simply offer everything we encounter, and all we are, to God.
“Father, I have no sure resolution but you. There are no guarantees aside from your love. Life gets messy. At times it really stinks. I’ve done some things well. I’ve dropped the ball too often. Its a tough start to this day, and it feels as if the waves are growing larger. Even if the seas of my life do not calm, Lord, calm the raging waters of my heart and mind. Teach me to find your will, pursue your path, and run after your plan for me. Help me to focus on that which you have called me to, and not be distracted by lesser things. In my frustration and fear, please, oh God, be my provider. Please, though I don’t deserve it, be faithful in your unfailing love, and meet me in the backroads of my life’s detours, wrong turns, and dead ends. Help me, Father, to trust in the love of a God who loves me. Remind me, that unlike so many around me, you love me, true, constant, pure, and full. Therein lies my peace and purpose. Father, today, as I seem off track, and its early, conduct the affairs of my day, and when I lay down to rest tonight, may I be able to say, “God. He was faithful again. Thank you.” May I walk, struggle, and take up residence in your presence today. Secure me in You today, oh God. In my own mess, may I be mindful of the plight and struggles of others, and offer compassion and care as I make my way through this day. Amen.
I hope and pray your day, this day, is a moment in life to remember. I pray that God speaks to you and reaches you in tangible ways and assures you of His love and plan for you. Don’t lose sight of Him amidst the chaos, don’t hide amidst the failing, don’t put Him aside as you take pride in what you think you accomplished. He is the reason you breathe.
On another note:
Please, go to amazon.com and buy the paperback or Kindle version of my new book, Life in 3D! The Superhero’s guide to the Galaxy. As you read, please, post a review on amazon as well. Thanks for your support, encouragement and ongoing feedback on the writing and initiatives. Check out all we are doing at www.bruceleesmith.co
Life in 3D! Its on Kindle and in Paperback now!! Below is the link.
Bruce Lee Smith
www.bruceleesmith.co
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9. November 2011 by BruceSmith.
We Want Joe!, We want Joe! Icon worship, football, and moral games in America
I am stunned tonight. I am stunned, not by news that Joe Paterno was just fired. In my opinion, a mournful one, it is what should have happened, he should have been fired. I am stunned tonight as I hear the chants, read some of the commentary, and hear some of the Joe supporters, who chant, “We want Joe! We want Joe!” Really?
Like so many, as a sport fan, as a follower of college football, and as a long term fan of “JoePa”, I am deeply saddened by the developments of the last few days. However, and this is what is so profoundly disturbing, it seems that many are more distressed over Joe’s departure than they are over the gruesome crimes which took place, and the lack of leadership and failure from the man Joe Paterno. Kids were molested! He knew of at least one incident. He did not go to police. Why? I don’t want to try to venture into Joe’s mind, but did he think he or his program were “too big to fail”? Did he feel his “reputation” or that of his legend would be marred? Did he fear the impact upon recruiting? Did he fear the impact upon the school? Whatever combination of these or other realities were in play, a massive failure took place. And people are more concerned with football at this time? God, help us.
When we see things like this take place in our nation we cannot just watch the clips, view the opinions, and hear the sqwuak-boxes and move on. This type of crime and this type of massive neglect should shake us to our souls. Who are we if we cannot be moved by these heinous acts involving children, as a result of our all consuming lust for a game? Its a game for goodness sakes! A game. Lives are now altered forever, and someone in leadership, perhaps the one person in leadership who could have stopped it, did not. A predator’s actions were hidden, and hearts were broken, forever. I cannot help but wonder if those screaming for Joe right now have anything really worth living for. Can anyone be so callous as to allow football to overwhelm the human call for compassion and concern? As they often say on ESPN, “C’mon, Man!” Really?
There are two realities we should, perhaps, literally weep over at this moment. Joe is not one of them. The realities we should be rocked by are our cultural addiction to pleasure, icon worship, and games, and of course, the heart-breaking nature of these crimes. What is taking place at Penn State right now, as the news is reporting, as kids, students, supposedly future citizens and leaders, are chanting for Joe to remain, is grief inducing. Students are chanting in the streets calling for a man to be kept in place, a man, mind you, who at a minimum did little to end massive criminal behavior, and who, perhaps, the facts may show, is culpable of much more. All across our country young people have lost the ability to think clearly. We have lead our young people to embrace the cultural, political, and academic falsity that suggests no absolute truth exists, individual rights trump everything, morals are up for grabs, games are life-defining, and pleasure trumps all.
Sport can offer us so much that is good. As a college athlete myself, as a coach, and as a true fan, I love what sport offers us. In so many ways, and I have written on this, sport is a metaphor for life. Yet, we must realize, people are far more important than sport. Truth is certainly bigger than sport and its icons. Icons are merely what we perceive them to be from afar. Legends are largely constructed. We should be reminded, also, we are all capable of being less than we ourselves truly desire to be. But for the grace of God, we all are moral failures. We should not be pointing fingers at Joe. We should hold him to the call of leadership, for sure. He should be gone. Yet, we must also maintain a sober awareness which pulls us toward compassion for him as well. More than anything, however, our hearts, prayers, and compassion should be directed to those young people subjected to such pain.
My prayer, as we watch these kinds of events, and so many others in our culture, is that we might wake up to the reality of truth, the call to live our lives in keeping with God’s call and standard of love and grace, and that as individuals and a nation, we might be more like people created in the image of God, for relationship with Him.
This is so much bigger than football. This is so more important than how we will spend three hours on Saturday. This is about the heart and soul of our culture more than we apparently realize. Students are turning over vans, pulling down light posts, starting riots, because a football coach is no longer employed after more than four decades? They are chanting for more Joe while the families of kids exposed to a pedophile are screaming “Why?”, “How?”.
If we, as a culture, continue to make a game of morality, we will continue to see a decline in our national experience, a further marring of our political structure, and a continuing demise of our cultural soul. Our universities, our grade schools, our public square, amidst the reduction of all things to the least common denominator, have weakened in frightening ways. Our entertainment, our dialogue, our media, our societal cravings, have run away from anything resembling what God has for us.
May God help us to see through the veneer of “legend”, long for more than the sport of pleasure, and move toward a deeper sense of biblical orthodoxy. Right thinking, Godly living, is what we have greatest need of. We don’t need another coach, we need Godly leaders. We don’t need another legend, we need the ledger of our failures to be set right by a God of grace and truth.
Joe, JoePa, an impressive coaching resume for sure, and yes, a compelling sport media figure for some time. Yet, there is more to all of us than our resume and our personality. There is more than media fanfare which defines us. There is more than human recognition that tells our story, our full story. And there is much more to the human story of which we are a small part than our small part. Life is bigger than us. It does not all begin and end with us. Our part is to ensure the goodness of those around us and others in our world.
The real story, we should all be reminded here, is that a number of boys have had their lives altered forever. Only grace, truth, forgiveness, and God’s love will heal them and all involved. Can we cover that story, please?
Bruce Lee Smith
www.bruceleesmith.co
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8. November 2011 by BruceSmith.
A word to ponder over a “cup a Joe”…
Joe Frazier, gone. Joe Paterno, on his way out. We climb high, fight so hard, protect so much, and in the end, it ends. The bigger question of our lives concerns how we live them. Is the Hall of Fame for any sport bigger than God’s agenda for us? Greatness is not measured by a statue, acclaim, image, or iconic human status. Greatness, true greatness, unfolds before an audience of One. It ennobles others, protects at all times, calls people to chase the vision. May we be truly great.
www.bruceleesmith.co
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4. November 2011 by BruceSmith.
“I know you are, but what am I?” Bum theology and the doctrine of Grace.
My wife and I had the pleasure of traveling to New York City this past week. I was there to attend a book event for my recently published book, Life in 3D! The Superhero’s Guide to the Galaxy (www.bruceleesmith.co). While there, I was overjoyed to be able to take time Sunday morning, before leaving, to join Redeemer Presbyterian and Tim Keller during their worship service. I have often read Tim’s work, and have wanted to hear him speak and see the ministry there firsthand. Just the idea that a church, centered upon the Word of God, not show, is thriving in a culture of performance and “show me”, profoundly inspires me. The fact that they meet on at least five sites, at five different times, throughout the city, is all the more impressive. In a city filled with so many distractions, thousands gather every week to hear the transformative message of grace.
As we took time to enjoy the arts, walk the museums, gorge on the food, linger in the bookstores, and drown in the all the sensory options, it was refreshing to wind up the trip, quietly, simply, hearing and meditating on the work of God in us, and His longing to reach a people caught up in the boastful race of self-fulfillment.
Tim’s message, based on Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, was the message of redemption and transformation offered to bums like me, like all of us. Does that suggestion make you cringe? Don’t like to consider yourself a bum? Well, before you get to bummed out, consider with me, for a moment, what Grace is all about.
Surely, we can all remember those moments on the schoolyard, as children, after a verbal zinger had been let off, and the refrain was shot back, “I know you are, but what am I?!” Some still use the line as adults, though perhaps, with different words. The phrase, emotional and cutting, is of course, an attempt to re-establish our place in the world, reduce the embarrassment that results from being called out in front of others, and ultimately, an attempt to brace ourselves against the charge that essentially confronts each of us, a piercing charge that proclaims, “You are a bum!” Am I?, we think to ourselves. And then we kill the idea, mercilessly. No, the other guy may be a bum, but not me, I will not entertain this idea! Honestly, the idea haunts us all, its our background music, its why we run so hard, strive so long, and squeeze our fists so often.
It hurts when we know that others don’t view us as special, unique, and of value. Insults force us to consider who we really are and what we are really made of. This shows up in the bruising interplay of struggling marriages and in the seemingly trivial realities of road rage. As Tim Keller pointed out in his sermon on this New York Sunday morning, its all about the Rocky Balboa complex. Rocky, driven by his own inner longing, fear, and questions about himself, lying next to Adrian, offers the most honest and unsettling of truths about each of us. Attempting to justify himself before his girl, and in his attempt to justify his place on this planet, he tells Adrian that his desire to fight Apollo stems from his yearning to know he can “go the distance” with the champ. Such a stand, Rocky says, will finally assure him, “…I am not a bum.” Rocky, with those words, honest, deeply open, reveals what drives us all in our quests for success, sex, accomplishment, moral achievement, religiosity, reputation, money, grades, fame, pleasure, and so much more. We, like Rocky, fear we are bums. And here is the real news…we are. Every last one of us…we are bums. Ouch.
Bum theology. What is this about? Where is the good news?
You came to this reading, no doubt, in hopes of some bit of encouragement and direction for your life. You did not, I presume, take time to read this rambling with the expectation of getting beat up more than life has already pounded you. Well, hang on. Steady yourself against the ropes. The bell of grace is coming to save you soon enough.
Paul, a man we consider Saint of Saints, proclaimed himself a bum. He suggested, remember, “I am the chief of sinners.” Paul knew he was a bum. It was the second pillar that supported his life along with the pillar of grace. Paul understood, came to understand, what we don’t like to acknowledge, apart from God, we are nothing. In his former life, jew of jews, educated, respected, a scholar of scholars, a mocker and killer of God’s people, Paul boasted. He came to see how reviling such empty boasts were. God, as it were, literally stopped him in his tracks, knocked him off his horse, blinded him, exposed him to the truth that God could end him in a moment, and he was then blinded, splendidly, by the brilliance and radiance of God’s truth, grace, and calling. All he had boasted about, he came to see as a vulgar projection of falsehood and empty living.
Yes, we are created in God’s image, as the scriptures tell us. It is also true God loves us beyond degree. The deeper, precious, and fundamental truth, in this mix, however, is that we are loved not because we are innately lovable, rather, we are loved because God is a lover, and He longs to see that which He created walk with Him in relationship. Jesus, the perfect man, God in the flesh, sent to us to restore the gap between God and human beings which resulted from our disobedience, is God’s personal message of Grace amidst our “bumness”. Because we have a bum nature, God intervenes, reaches those created for relationship with Him, now estranged by sin, transforms our bum nature by His nature, and gives us a new heart and a new life. We can only truly boast, as Paul discovered, in God’s marvelous work in us, amidst our vileness and comedic distortion.
The truth of the Gospel is not that we deserve goodness, that we are splendid, talented, and deserving of blessing. It is not that we earned enough, accomplished enough, gained enough degrees, spoke in front of enough people, won enough elections. No, as Paul writes to the Ephesians, we have no reason to “boast” in anything. In fact, what Paul is really saying, and what Tim Keller pointed out in his message, is that the boasting spoken of by Paul is actually a vain attempt to instill confidence in ourselves. Like men going into battle, like a woman readying herself for another date, like a man attempting to secure his waning confidence in his ability, like a politician waxing gregariously about his leadership resume, the boasting Paul was referring to, is an empty jest. Its our attempt to tell others, based upon some dubious scale of human crafting, that we are worth time and effort, we should be the center of attention.
We try to rally ourselves into a stupor of confidence, based upon some worldly standard of measurement, and all the while God looks down in compassionate laughter, saying, “Is he serious?! He really believes that!” God knows the truth about us. He sees our weakness and inability to direct our lives. He sees what we think, what motivates us, and has a front row view of our darkest thoughts and actions. He knows, also, that He alone is our beginning and our end. He alone is our story. Without Him it all falls apart. What have we to boast about in ourselves, really? Nothing. Anything “good” in our lives is a byproduct of His extending grace to us. He graces us with intellect, drive, provision, personality, open doors, and so much more. Yet, at the slightest bit of success, we boast in our selves. We take the gifts He has placed in us and we corrupt them and use them for our own name and gain. We mismanage the artistic potential for heroism, implanted in us by God, for good, and we become the anti-hero. Like the devil, we disdain the Creator for being the Creator, and in our self-worship we cut ourselves off from the fountain of life, the source of life’s spring.
Such an approach to life, in reality, is like the petal boasting in itself, free from the branch, detached from the stem, removed from the soil. The boast of men and women, even as it relates to moral achievement, is like the violin boasting in its sound, though no sound can come from even the finest Stradavarius without the touch of the musician. Indeed, the instrument would not exist were it not for the creative genius which brought it to life. The instrument can be beautiful, and its potential for melody astonishing, yet, without the direction and execution of the player, no lasting good can result. A violin with no context, no score, and no touch, is merely an ornament of futility, however aesthetically attractive it may be. What makes all Strads so valuable, beyond the artistry of the design, the varnish, and the lines, is the sound. That sound, unique, full, luxurious, and transcendent, arises from the instrument and makes its way into the ears of hungry listeners only as a master does his work. The grace results when the instrument moves in a musical dance with the one who tunes and strokes its strings. The majesty fills the concert hall only as the instrument is subject to the precision and artistry of the violinist.
Grace is like this. As God’s own creations, we are created with an eye toward detail, beauty, and glory. Yet, only as we allow Him, our maker, to direct our score, craft our notes, perfect our pitch, and conduct it all, do we find the one thing worth boasting in, His grace. Just as the real genius of a Strad lies in its maker’s hands, so too our greatness is found in the Great One who put us together while we were yet in the womb, as the scriptures make known.
Bum theology. Its an accurate depiction of biblical truth. Grace, the crown jewel of God’s composition. Bum theology, self-focus identified, leads us to the truth that in ourselves we implode, we strive for a place to be known. Grace, our re-making, points us to where we already belong, in who we belong, and where we are loved, regardless of what we bring to the table. We are loved because we are His. Our boast, if we are to boast, is in our Father. The boasts of this world, attempts to define ourselves for others, and a groping to hide our own fear of not measuring up, will suffocate us emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually. When we make our way to that place where we can say with Paul and with the Psalmist, “…our boast is in the Lord!”, we will find rest and joy for our souls. Such a boast, a profound understanding of who we are in Him, embraces the truth of bum theology, and lavishes in the theology of Jesus, Grace in flesh and blood.
Here, in getting our proper boast on, we can relax, and approach all our efforts as one more shot to go the distance, run the race, and win the prize, for God’s purposes. THAT is something worth fighting for. We have already been made champions in being restored to Him, in being granted intimate relationship with the One who controls the stars and galaxies. What more could we ask for? What more could we boast in? What more could offer our souls anything bigger and of more consequence? We all like sheep (not so bright bums) have gone astray, the bible reads. But the Good Shepherd has gone on an all out search for each and every one of His lost sheep. He has turned the house upside down to find that one lost coin (Luke 15). And He stands atop His hillside estate, looking longingly for those who have run off and squandered their lives, waiting for the day we return, so He can run out toward us, take us in, and boast in the restoration of His children!
Get your boast on, bum!
Bruce Lee Smith
www.bruceleesmith.co
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