Hello hello, and welcome back to another Short and Sweet! I am writing this blog post as my brain is still recouping from shift work and dispatching. Yes indeed, I certainly look forward to my days off; being surrounded by my children and having our mini adventures.
And what ‘adventures’ we’ve been having! My house has been like a late night comedy show mixed with a Mexican soap opera. Laughs abound and drama unfolding.
Isaac has been honing his facial expressions and dramatic escapades. Ava has upped her vocabulary significantly, along with her incessant knack for whining. The bedrooms are slowly piling up with toys and I need a street sweeper to get into their rooms. This week has been nuts-o!
Today however I won’t be talking about my higher then normal stress level, or my inability to speak a full sentence without saying the wrong child’s name. Instead I will be sharing two short stories: the Twins talking possessively (not like demon possessed) but like possessive pronouns. I’ll be sharing an encouraging Bible passage, especially applicable I think during these tough times. Lastly we’ll end off with exciting news for the new Short and Sweet illustration that we now have!
So sit back and relax, have a cup of coffee or tea, and enjoy another post from The Eason Clan.
“My Isaac. My Ava.”
Ahhhhh, the wee hours of the morning.
Silence = Beautiful.
It’s a rare moment in our home.
Everyone is asleep (which I would like to mention that all of our children have been sleeping about 10-12 hours a night since 2-3 months old) but yet early risers they are.
The thunderous bangs on Isaacs’ door aren’t happening. No toys are fighting or battles raging in Benaiah’s bedroom. Railene is sleeping like Anna from Disney’s Frozen movie.
What about Ava?
Sweet sweet thumb sucking Ava…
The quiet is interrupted by a tiny voice calling through the darkness.
“Dadddddyyyy.”
Followed by a long drawn call, “Daaaaadddyyyyy.”
So it begins.
Her soft but yet authoritative voice transforms into a possessive battle cry in moments.
“DADDY! MY AWAKE!”
I jump from my bed -realizing the consequences of my inactivity- and race down the hall to her room. I quickly open the door to see my 3 foot daughter by her chair, illuminated by her pink wall light.
“Ava, what are you doing?”
“My awake, Daddy. I go downstairs.”
“Ava it’s only early…”
Then I hear it. Boom, boom, raboom.
Drums. Drums. Drums in the deep…(thank you The Lord of the Rings).
He has awoken.
Isaac.
The boom of his fierce fists echo as the door groans under the blows.
“Isaac is that you banging your door!?” I said.
“Yesssss! My Isaac! Open the dooooorrr.”
Suddenly another door opens…followed by another.
My lord they are all awake…and emerging from their rooms. Picture the Goblins in The Fellowship of the Ring in the mines of Moria.
Benaiah steps out, rubbing his eyes followed by Railene stumbling into the hall, its as if they’ve been called by the drums.
I am all alone.
My wife went to work at 6:00AM.
I got this.
I think…
Running for Refuge
A couple of weeks ago, I dropped the older kids off at school, drove back home and got the younger two dressed for the outdoors. I was alone –totally alone I might add, which don’t happen often- reading my Bible with my morning coffee, and I read something quite interesting.
“Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!”
Psalms 34:8 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/psa.34.8.NLT
I began to break down that Bible verse and look at it more closely. I saw two things: 1) The first part is an action, “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” You have to try it. You have to make a move. The author of the Psalm, David, never wrote “Taste and see if the Lord is good.” Rather he said “Taste and see that the Lord is good.”
It’s almost like a dare. You know when you tell someone to try something that they feel uncertain about, but yet you know them well enough to know that they will actually like it? As a parent, I do that all the time. I am constantly telling my children that the spaghetti on their plate – with tiny cut up mushrooms and red peppers- is not going to come alive and choke them if they eat it. It will taste good. Why? Because I made it. (You can ask my wife, my new spaghetti recipe actually is good!)
So that was the first thing I noticed about that verse; the author is writing as if daring the reader, Come on, try it. Taste and see that the Lord is good. Experience him, put him to the test and see what He will do.
The other thing I saw was this: 2) There is joy for those that take refuge in Him (God). This point really stood out to me, especially when I did some research on it. Here’s what I found.
The word refuge is defined as:
a condition of being safe or sheltered from pursuit, danger, or trouble.
Oxford Languages
If we take that definition and apply it to the Psalm 34:8, we get a deeper meaning for that scripture and what the author is trying to convey. That those that trust the Lord as their refuge (sheltered from pursuit, danger, trouble) they will experience joy! That is good news for us today. That even in this crazy world with wars, terrorism, COVID-19, or your personal struggles of depression, anxiety, fear. All of them fall short; yes all of them can’t even compare to the joy for those that trust in God and make Him our refuge.
With that said, I needed to read that scripture a few more times. I had to let it sink down into my being and let it shake up my mindset. In fact the scripture shook me so much I looked up the original meaning in Hebrew, because thats the language King David used.
Refuge in Hebrew means Hasah, ‘to seek refuge or flee for protection.’ Wow! What a difference in translation from English to Hebrew. Now if we look at that scripture:
“Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!”
Psalms 34:8 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/psa.34.8.NLT
We see it in a different light. ‘Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge (flee to Him for refuge, shelter). When you flee, you are not going at a brisk walk. You are sprinting with all you got because you know, if you don’t make it, you’re toast. During Biblical times and during the Medieval period, if the outer defences of a city were breached, the people would flee to the Keep, a heavily defended tower.
If someone was running through a gate with a sword with your name on it, you wouldn’t be walking. You’d be ⬇️
Let us remember that today. During these crazy times, let us taste and see and run to the Lord as our refuge. I need it. We can’t do this life on our own. Many things are completely out of our hands. If that wasn’t the case, all our present issues would be solved. However there is nothing that God can not handle.
A Fresh Look
I have been meaning to get an illustration for the Short and Sweet posts that focus on my children and tell funny stories that we experience. Well I can say with certainty that I found an amazing artist who is very professional and did an excellent, in fact fabulous, work for the blog.
I am talking about XerxesInEaster https://twitter.com/xerxes_in. She asked me what I wanted, background on the kiddos and boom, every step of the process she kept me in the loop and brought to life the character of my children. Her prices are great and affordable for the blogger like me, so check out her other work on the Twitter link above and the YouTube Link below.
Also if you wanted to give to The Eason Clan you can do so on my main page just hit Donate/Support.
I hope you have a great week and see you next time!
Christian
The Eason Clan 