"Dear Grandpa"

Dear Grandpa,

I thought that I would write to you,

Since you’ve been gone so long,

You were born, 1901,

We’ve changed, and much is wrong.

You left in 1984,

At the age of eighty-three,

If you came back to visit,

It’s amazing what you’d see.

Since you died six presidents,

The last won’t run again,

A father, son, and our first black,

A billionaire contends.

Nowadays the genders two,

Have all but been thrown out,

Some say there are seventy-four,

Not sure what that’s about.

Men can marry men today,

And women do the same,

It’s legally been redefined,

Unsure who takes which name.

We talk on phones that have no cord,

Watch shows and movies, too,

It serves as camera and a map,

Even more that it can do.

We are all connected up,

By something called online,

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,

And Tick-Tock all the time.

There’s no need to drive to town,

To get your shopping done,

You just make your order known,

They’ll bring it on the run.

And when you turn on TV,

They show everything and all,

Hundreds, maybe thousands,

Too many channels to recall.

A virus nearly closed us down,

We had to stay inside,

And some would like to keep us there,

There’s no doubt that they lied.

It’s over twenty years ago,

Since terror came to kill,

Thousands in our homeland,

And they would do it still.

So, Grandpa, when I think about,

The country that you knew,

I sometimes wonder how much more,

Can happen ‘fore we’re through.

I’m going to work and vote and pray,

Just the way you taught,

And hope our freedoms are preserved,

By patriots’ blood hard bought.

O Lord, please bless our country,

Thank God for Grandpa, too,

Help us all in Jesus’ name.

To live for what is true.

“But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.” (James 1:22, NLT)

James calls us to do God’s word. The delusion of not hearing and doing the truth leads individuals, families and cultures astray. People end up doing what is right in their own eyes, and following their feelings. If there is emotional or physical gratification, they can justify their lifestyle as good and appropriate, no matter what God’s word says. On the other hand, those who recognize God’s claim on our lives spiritually discern the blessing of obeying God’s will, which is revealed in God’s word. It is not our job to judge or police the morals of our culture, but to simply do the word ourselves and point people to Jesus through words and deeds. We speak and show the truth in love.

Lord, help us speak and show the truth in love, in Jesus’ name.

Art by Alfredo Rodriguez, used by permission. Thanks, Alfredo, and God bless you.