Bernard Deloach’s Blog

http://www.lifestory.org/component/content/article/52-forgiveness/66-forgiveness-a-triumph-over-vengeance.html

I think I realize today how important it is not only to be a father to my own children but to be a father to the fatherless. As usual I need to widen my vision of being a father to something greater. Usually I am not much on quotes of people, but I found a couple that really made me think in terms of this father business.

“There’s something like a line of gold thread running through a man’s words when he talks to his daughter, and gradually over the years it gets to be long enough for you to pick up in your hands and weave into a cloth that feels like love itself.” ~John Gregory Brown, Decorations in a Ruined Cemetery, 1994

If you really look at this quote it is packed with wisdom if you stop to ponder the depths in it. I necourage you to dwell on it yourself to find truth.

“Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body”. ~Elizabeth Stone

I think this is true even when you are “father” to someone who is not your own flesh and blood. At least if you are doing it right.

“Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all out, just as they are, chaff and grain together, certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and with a breath of kindness blow the rest away”. ~Dinah Craik

Hopefully I have been this to all that I have the joy to father. To my flesh and blood children and to those who I call my other sons and daughters, I love you all.

Bobby Jones was one of the greatest golfers to compete on the national and international level. Jones was ranked as the fourth greatest golfer of all time by Golf Digest magazine in 2000. Here is an account of an event from his life from the Wikipedia:

Jones was not only a consummately skilled golfer, but he also exemplified the principles of sportsmanship and fair play. Early in his amateur career, he was in the final playoff of the 1925 U.S. Open at the Worcester Country Club. During the match, his ball ended up in the rough just off the fairway, and as he was setting up to play his shot, his iron caused a slight movement of the ball. He immediately got angry with himself, turned to the marshals, and called a penalty on himself. The marshals discussed among themselves and questioned some of the gallery if anyone had seen Jones’ ball move. Their decision was that neither they nor anyone else had witnessed any incident, so the decision was left to Jones. Bobby Jones called the two-stroke penalty on himself, not knowing that he would lose the tournament by one stroke. When he was praised for his gesture, Jones replied, “You may as well praise a man for not robbing a bank.”

Are we prepared to still be honest in everything even when nobody sees and it costs us allot or is this a part of our character that we have let slide?

The USGA’s sportsmanship award is named the Bob Jones Award in his honor. Will they be naming any awards for character after us I wonder?

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream — and not make dreams your master;
If you can think — and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings — nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it.

An amazing video. All the performers are said to be deaf.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgHmSdpjEIk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSnXE2791yg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KV4PNwpqsCc&feature=related

I know tattoos are controversial in some circles but I have one. But all I want to do here is tell the story behind mine.

The tattoo story…..

The obvious is the cross itself. This is the bedrock of all that I am and all that I do.

I am really big into my family ancestry and we are of French origin from a place called Loches in France (a town that sprang up from a monastery) . I have no doubt that some of my spiritual DNA comes from there. Hence the French/gothic style of the cross.

http://www.frenchpropertylinks.com/centrevaldeloire/loches.html

The dragons that are trying to wrap themselves around the cross are a reminder that we are in a spiritual battle and that the enemy will try and oppose us as we grow into our spiritual destiny. I very much have a “combat” mentality in the way I approach the working out of the things God has asked me to do. One of the dragons is fear and the other is temptation.

The ring is from “Lord of the Rings”. When I was in my late teens I had some kind of intestinal problem that was literally killing me. I could not hold any food in my body and towards the end they were going to do surgery on me just to look around in there to see if they could figure out how to save me. I became so sick that I really didn’t want to live anymore. Somehow during that time a copy of “The Fellowship of the Ring” got into my hands and I was immediately taken up with the story. I read through the trilogy and as I did God spoke to me about my life in huge ways. I got a feel for my destiny and I could feel deep communion with God as I read it. Some days reading the books was the only reason I wanted to live and get up in the morning and I felt that God had a plan and purpose for me and it was something that touched the core of my being. After I had finished reading all the books, a short time after that the sickness just went away after 6 weeks of not being able to hold food in my body. Since then the types of things God has asked me to do have felt very much like what Frodo had to do with carrying the ring towards the enemy into Mount Doom to throw the ring into the fire. And the other part that has sprung up in my life is that I also take on the role of “Sam” and help and guide others in carrying their “rings” towards their Mount Dooms to throw their rings into the fire. There are two quotes from Lord of the Rings in my quotes section that sum up some of the essence of the “Sam” role God wants me to play:

“C’mon Mr. Frodo, I can’t carry it for you, but I can carry you.”
—Sam (Lord of the Rings)

Frodo: I’m going to Mordor alone!
Sam: Of course you are, but I’m going with you.
—Lord of the Rings

The “Lord of the Rings” continues to be a life inspiration to me and God still speaks something new to me every time I watch or read it and has become an allegory of my life.  I purposely had this tattoo placed where I could see it. When I look at it, I remember who I am spiritually and physically (the cross), what I am supposed to do (the ring) and what I am up against (the dragons – temptation and fear).

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Great lyrics by Mary Beth Maziarz

This is our life
These are our days
This is us trying to find our way
This is the love
This is the dream
This is us learning how to be who we are, who we are
Cause this is our life

This is our life
These are our friends
This is our family that grows and dances
This is our chance
This is our time
This is us making things to somehow leave behind
What will we leave behind to show
That this is our life

Cause i am so thankful
For each moment that we share
Right here is everything i need
I love our life and I love you so much honey
Thank you for loving me

Oh, this is our life
Straight or a mess
These are our memories in progress
This is our work
This is our hope
This is us learning how to cope
And laugh and cry
Cause it’s all yours and mine
This is our life