Holding His hand

"See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands......."

Isaiah 49:16

My father past away before I got married, so when I meet my wife, I asked my mom if I could have my Dads wedding ring. I often find my self fiddling with my ring and thinking about how intimately I knew my fathers hands. I think I knew his hands as much as I knew his face. There is something about a fathers hands. There have been times when someone has held my hand to pray with me and their hands reminded me of my Dads, I can almost melt with just the touch of a fatherly hand.

It's amazing that even though my Dads hands had spanked me, and caused me pain, I had no fear of his hands. They were beautiful to me. I must have spent hours and hours just holding his hands looking at every detail playing with the ring that I now wear on my finger.

A fathers hands have so much power in them. They can bless, they can comfort, they can pick you up when you fall. They can also cause much pain. A hand is a tool of the heart.

I have been thinking about how many times I have seen Gods hands in my life, always waiting to pick me up when I fall, always full of kindness and love. Sometimes ready with discipline. They are forever reaching out to us.

I know that His hands have always been there for me, but, do I take the time to just hold His hand, to marvel, do I know them intimately? Father, I so want to know you like that.

Fear aint no friend of mine

God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble. Psalm 46:1

Just listening to the news can send me into a tailspin. I hear reports of the dollars value dropping, banks closing, unemployment rising. On top of that, I am part of what they are reporting. Being self employed in an industry that has seen a huge slow down, right now things are tough.

I think I'm starting to get it. All this fear (whatever its source), is not very good for me. Fear only make me feel abandoned, sort of like an orphan, who has been overlooked and forgotten, left alone.

Hey, wait a minute, I'm adopted! I have a Father who loves me! So why do I sometimes feel afraid? Why do I run to fear and not my Father?

Over the past few months my family and I have been learning to chose to run to our "ever present help". Doing this has been amazing. God really is our refuge and our strength.

Jake, my 8 year old found this scripture the other day in Habakkuk 3:17-19 "Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vine, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The sovereign Lord is my strength."

We have been choosing to rejoice in the Lord, even when we don't feel like it. What a difference running to the the answer has been. Each time I inch farther away from fear, I see more clearly, he ain't no friend of mine, and that makes me run faster to my wonderful Daddy.

How long will I keep running to God? Look at the rest of the scripture I started with: "God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea." I guess that means till the end.

I'm actully starting a blog!

I'm asking myself, why am I doing this? Do I really have something worth saying? I love to talk and tell stories, My dad was an amazing story teller. He always had stories of God's incredable faithfulness and I always loved hearing them. In many ways those stories are part of who I am today.

I think it's time. My story cup is full and about to run over. I am a husband to a wonderful amazing woman of faith, a father to 3 sons (who have more boy in them then 300) and a beautiful daughter that happens to have down syndrome who has won my heart and changed my world. God is at work in the Dilley house and there is lots to tell. So here is my attempt at letting the world know the stories of my life.