…That’s SIR Zeke to you!

ha ha! two of them are wearing red shirts! red shirts are for cowards.

Sir Zeke;

I wanted to give you a shot on this whole leaving thing through my eyes, especially the knighting.

There are mundane events aplenty in the valleys of our lives, and not very many mountain top experiences. Those mountain tops are few and far between, and sometimes so far between that we can forget that they are real. Sometimes we try to manufacture them in our own flesh, though our own efforts. I kindv’e think that’s what high school graduations are. That’s a real milestone, and one you will look back to. But then there are the ones where you can hear the angels singing. Literally. I think that’s what your knighting was, and will continue to be throughout your life. I know God will speak to you again and again about it. But also he’s talking to me, and I want to let you (and Derek) in on that.

See, I’ve always been a sucker for mythology and ritual, and want to bring that into our lives in the important moments, because in those moments the Eternal breaks through and we are momentarily revealed as more than we appear to be. Like Christ, transfigured on the mountaintop. Anyway, in 2000, as I was preparing to marry Shylo (marriage is one of those mountaintop experiences if God is in it), you were turning 12, and I wanted badly a rite of passage for you. In tribal cultures that’s where the guys sneak in in the middle of the night, steal the boys away from their mommies, take them off in the woods, do something that draws blood (like hanging from hooks or circumcision or a pop in the mouth…) and then the boy’s a man, and he lives with the men doing manly things. (like belching and scratching his crotch…but I digress…)

ANYHOW, Christ’s blood is already shed for you, so you didn’t need that. So I wanted to give you a sword: I had talked about it with Roger and for some reason it didn’t work out, but I remember he showed you his. Then when he came for the wedding he brought his to you.

Flash forward to the present, and I’m still looking for something significant I can do for you at this transition time. I had thought to myself, way back then that I could get a scripture escribed on the sword when you graduated high school. So this morning when I heard what Derek had done for you guys my first thought was how great it was that he was doing it…and then I realized God’s faithfulness to ME as well. See, I’ve been so wrapped up in the valleys of my life, and emotionally bogged down with my own failings that I feel I was failing you, too. I wasn’t really the Godly example I set out to be, lots of crap got slung my way and I kinda got stuck in it. But God knew the desire of my heart, or I knew the desire of his.

So this is sort of a mountaintop experience for both of us. Your FATHER was faithful even if I could’nt be. So I’m ecstatic, not dejected. It shows me he’s there, and he loves me, too.

What I saw as I watched, in my mind’s eye, were angels, some of them holding tethers of the past, and some holding lines that extend into your future, gathered around your solemn ceremony. So may this be my little contribution to your event, and my participation in it. May you come back to it again and again. Remember your mountaintops, and that they are few and far between. Maybe only 3 or 4 in a lifetime. May you have many. And may you remember them in the valleys.

Dad

so that was the big mission?

Well, I certainly cannot wax eloquent like your dad can, but I certainly wholeheartedly agree with it all. What an amazing God we serve, Zeke! A God that loves us when we don’t deserve it. A God that watches our every move, knows our every thought, provides our every need and shows us grace, mercy and unfailing love. A God that places within our lives the very people and circumstances that will draw us closer to Him because of the joy that it brings Him! I cannot even fathom! Why? Why would God even care about us. A Creator that was viciously turned on by the very people He created to love Him. And we continue to do so, yet He still doesn’t turn on us! When we doubt His Word, when we doubt His Ways, when we doubt HIM, He bring us the very thing or circumstance needed to remind us that He is real. Things like a stranger in need, a friend with spiritual questions, a job, a home, a friend that becomes a true pillar of strength in areas that we may be weak. So many ways. Limitless is our God!
You are so blessed Zeke. God has had his hand upon you your entire life. Even before you were in your mother’s womb, while you were in your mother’s womb, throughout your childhood, your parent’s divorce, your elementary years, your dad’s new wife ;o), your sister, brother, rough freshman year, times of self-doubt, living with a mental case step-mom (te!he!), every moment of your life He has been with you. I have to say YOU are one of the most amazing examples (in my life experiences) that God is REAL, INVOLVED and ALL-KNOWING. You have been such an example to me of selflessness, concern for others, fairness, unconditional love and spiritual maturity, that I think I might actually be envious!
I could not be prouder of who you have become. I will miss you terribly as you leave to venture out into the world. I will miss your willing spirit, your kindness, your patience, your understanding attitude, (your compliments about how cute I look! ;o), your presence.
I think I have learned more from watching you in your life than I have (unfortunately) taught you. But I am glad to have been chosen to be a part of your uprbringing. To watch you grow into the amazing young man you have become.
And so, Sir Zeke… I know you will take the challenge seriously to “present yourself to God as a living sacrifice, to allow God to transform you into a new person by changing the way you think” because I’ve been watching you do it for a few years now. I thank God for the friends you have made here, for the accountability you all have to each other, for the way you all are committed to Christ and to one another. I thank God for a leader like Derek that would take his mission seriously to see you guys through until such a time when God says it it done and to give you all a send off that you will never forget. A symbol of being a part of the army of God, sent to this world to love HIM and draw others to him.
I love you Zeke. Thank you… for all you are and have been and will be. May God guide you through these next few years as you find your way in the professional world and throughout your life. Your wife and children will be blessed to call you husband and father, just as I have been blessed to call you my son…
all my love,
Shylo (mom)