Douglas Young

I am deeply moved by the comments posted here, on Facebook and through private emails concerning the letters that I am writing. I am finding that they are speaking to people of all walks of life and in various ways. It’s encouraging to hear of others desirous of doing the same thing. Some are  finding the strength to simply tell others how they feel about them. It’s the power of a letter.

This morning, I strolled into my office to find an envelope on my desk with my name on it. Inside was a two-page, hand-written letter on beautiful stationary. It was left there by a dear friend, who is also a believer in the power of a letter. His first paragraph states,

Please forgive the outdated mode of communication, but I have been thinking lately about some of the simpler pleasures we miss out on in our hectic 21st Century life. For me, a penned, heartfelt letter is an object of beauty, and something far too rare.

I could not agree more. His letter was unquestionably “an object of beauty” in my mind. I feel fortunate to be the recipient of such a gift. It’s something I will forever cherish. Thank you Les! But most of all, thank you for your friendship.

Over the years, letters like Les’s have made a tremendous impact on me. Will Smith, dear friend of mine, too, is skilled in the art of letter writing. His come like Les’s, in handwritten form and on fine paper. He, too, knows the power of a letter.

There may be someone in your life who is hurting; a well-timed letter may be what they need to begin to turn the corner. There may be someone in your life who simply deserves a “thank you” for all they do. Embrace the power of a letter today!

Dear Dad,

I am writing you this letter for a number of different reasons. This is actually the second of a number of different letters that I am writing to family and friends. The first letter was to God the Father. You can read it by clicking here. The most important reason that I am writing these letters is to personally express my thoughts about the people who mean so much to me.

Dad…I love you. I am honestly not certain if I have ever expressed that to you with those express words. I don’t think I have. It’s just not the kind of thing we’d say to each other. I think our handshakes carry with them the suggestive, subliminal undertones of such, but verbal expression along such lines has never been our thing. At least until now.

Dad, you have been amazing in your own unique way over the last several years. What you have done for Julie, in particular, in the midst of her turmoil has been wondrous. We (Julie, Jennie and myself) all see it for what it is. It’s easy to take things for granted. You might not think a lot about the work you have done, but I know I do. I think Julie and Jennie do to. That’s who you are. You have found a way, through what to some might be menial, insignificant chores, to display genuine love. Thank you!

I think I’ve told you before that my kids tend to be my people barometer. All three have the gift that their mother possesses. I think we both know that Tisha cannot be duped. Well neither can my kids, especially Aby.

When we are down there for a visit or when you are up here, I soak in your interaction with them. They don’t see you as much as they see BooBoo, but when they do, they know what they are going to get to do and they are PUMPED about it. Those are memories that I wouldn’t exchange for the world. To see them respond to you in the ways they do tells me that you have a deep sense of love within you that is particular to you. For that I am tremendously grateful.

I think both of us know that the last several years have been special for both of us as well. Your visits, phone calls and the times that we have spent together have been immensely powerful for me. What we’ve done together, whether here, there, or in between (Remember the day at Sea World?) are things I will never forget. The fact that you even went to that madhouse blew me away.

The confidence you’ve shown to have in me in various areas has been monumental in my own personal development. I haven’t always felt this way, but today I don’t need to be validated by anyone. Your confidence in me has done that nonetheless.

I recently heard an author speak about his national, best-seller The Shack. He writes about a man’s struggle with life and God. Disturbed as to why God takes on the persona of Father when so many children struggle with their earthly father figures, he said, “It’s because God knew that fathering would be so much more difficult.” By way of personal experience with my own kids, I think he was right. Looking back, I sense that fathering probably wasn’t the easiest thing for you either. So we do what we can to try to get our father’s approval. Maybe it’s baseball, hunting or whatever, but in the end it should be that unconditional love wins out.

So I close this letter with the same words I mentioned early on. I love you. Unconditionally. Thank you for responding in the ways that you have!

Yesterday was a wonderful day. It started off with an early morning work-out and visit with a dear friend who’s been devastated by startling revelations in his life. But he’s moving on. I got an upbeat email from a friend who is turning the corner on some life struggles that have devastated her. She, too, seems to be movin’ on. Over lunch, I found myself thinking about an extremely gifted friend of mine who has found a preaching work about which he seems genuinely excited. Good for him! He seems to be movin’ on. My oldest sister, who’s life has been turned upside down in the last two years, called to talk for a while. She, too, is movin’ on and by the appearances is loving being a witness to her world as it turns right-side up. I am simply elated to see that people in my life are movin’ on in so many ways.

Yesterday I also read through the book of Luke. There the “movin’ on” theme continued. I was struck by Jesus at Capernaum. The crowds for whatever reason were captivated by Jesus. They wanted him to stay, but Jesus said that he was movin’ on (Luke 4:42-44). He had a purpose to keep.

I guess the point is, sometimes you just have to move on. Things happen to us in life, both good and bad, that catch us off-guard. When they do, we’ve got to deal with them and then move on. We especially can’t afford to allow the stench of horrible experiences to linger with us. We will suffocate ourselves in the process.

The past is what it is, but we don’t live there.  Each breath we take is one in the present.  The past is simply no place to dwell (Phil. 3:13-14). Reminiscing about “the old days” aren’t going to bring them back. Longfellow wrote, “Look not mournfully into the past. It comes not back again. Wisely improve the present. It is thine. Go forth to meet the shadowy future, without fear.”

You may be turning the corner yourself. It may be that you are about to graduate high school or maybe even college, closing one chapter in your life and moving on to another. You might be starting a new job, moving into a new house, or hopefully letting go of a painful past. In whatever way you might be movin’ on, may God bless you as you find it within yourself to do so!

This first letter is going to be difficult to send via the USPS. I am going to trust that God of all people doesn’t need the postal service to get it from me!

Dear God,

I am only now really coming to know you for who you are. You know infinitely (no pun intended) a lot more about me than I know about you. You’ve known I was coming. I’m sure you’ve probably wondered what took so long. Not that you didn’t already know this, but sometimes the haze takes a while to lift. What I would like to do is offer a couple of expressions of thanks, a few apologies and then ask for your help in a couple of areas.

Thank you, immensely, for being patient with me. You’ve removed my doubts, my fears and have permitted me to end my quest for validation from others. You found me when I needed you most. I was helpless and hurting, yet very much hungry from my own lack of spiritual feeding myself, but you became my provision. Finally, Jesus’ words are making sense.

Thank you, also, for opening my eyes to the joys of life. You have given me friends and family for which I am so grateful. These relationships are teaching me about you in unimaginable ways. Thank you for giving me the joy of marriage and fatherhood. I am still trying to figure both of them out, but it feels good to know I am on the right course.

Thank you for the offering in Jesus. It had to be painful to behold. I can’t imagine letting my son experience what to me is unthinkable, but what he did has made a difference. With the resurrection you sealed the victory. I can’t repay you. I can’t thank you enough, but I can give my life in the only way you want and I know how.

I am sorry that for so long I resisted what you really wanted from me.  You wanted my whole heart and I only gave you only a part of my mind. I was scared of being vulnerable. It was wrong. It was extremely shallow.

I am sorry that I have not been an answer to Jesus’ prayer in John 17. It pains me, that of all the prayers that Jesus uttered, that is one of the unanswered ones. That has to hurt.

I am sorry that my level of communication with you has been infantile. For too long I uttered words thinking you would never respond. I don’t know what I was doing, but I am certain it wasn’t what you envisioned for prayer.

Look God, I know you don’t need me to tell you this but because we are friends I know you don’t mind. Things are really messed up around here, both in the world and in the church. Shake things up down here please. Help us to come to our senses. Help us not ignore the pain people are experiencing. Help us to quit being wrapped up in ourselves. We need to be shook up in a bad way.

It’s time for me to get to work, so I need to draw this to a close, but let me close by asking that you continue to be patient with me and my family. I began the letter by thanking you for your patience with me and I want to close it by requesting the same. I am trying to do what’s within my power to work out my own salvation with fear and trembling, so that you can work with me as you see fit. Please, just be patient with me as you do!

Hope to hear from you soon!

Doug

P.S. Did Adam and Eve have bellybuttons?

I will resume posting on Monday with letter #1.

Doug

A sublimely rich quality of the New Testament is the fact that the books themselves are in the form of letters. Some were to churches, others were to individuals in particular, but the fact that they are letters means they carry with them an immensely personal touch.

For example, consider Paul’s letter to Philippi. His personality and love for a church that loved him is obvious from the first few lines. “I thank my God in all my remembrances of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership with in the gospel from the first day until now” (Philippians 1:3-4). That says it all for me. I think it would have been no insignificant thing to have been such an intimate part of the prayer life of Paul. His love for his Philippian family was able to be expressed through a sentimental letter and in more ways that just one he conveys his thoughts about them.

Consequently, I have a desire to use “letters” to express sentiments to some to a few of my family and friends. I am in the process of writing each a letter that will be posted on this site, but also printed and mailed to each one. My prayer for those about whom I write is that they know how I feel about them. My prayer for other who might read them is that they find the desire to let those they really care about know it too!

I mowed the grass for the first time in months the other day and along the way I noticed something; my mower blades need sharpening. Good thing I have a grinder that my father gave me a couple of years back. All they need are nice, new edges and they’ll be back to cutting grass blades, instead of shredding them, in no time. I just need to remember to shut the grinder off when I’m done.

You see, for a while now I’ve been subconsciously grinding away on another grinding wheel. In the world of idiomatic expressions, having “an axe to grind” is to aim at something either selfishly or with ulterior motives. Mine, without question, has been selfishness.

I’m no longer the person I use to be. I’ve parted company with a mindset that use to define me and apparently this hasn’t set well with some. I’ve lost friends over it, which in turn doesn’t set well with me. I don’t like what has become of my situation. But it is what it is.

I want badly for people to understand, but I’ve come to believe that this isn’t necessarily what people want. They want to know but not understand. They want facts but not comprehension. Knowing facts and comprehension simply aren’t the same thing. 

Reaffirmed is the fact that no one, especially me, can make people understand. I sense that such is what I’ve been trying to do, but today I am shutting down the wheel. I’ve grown weary of the sparks that fly all over the place. I am tired of the sounds of the grind itself. I’ve pulled the plug on the grinder.

His real name was “Joseph,” but the apostles nicknamed him “Barnabas” (Son of Encouragement). Barnabas had sold a piece of property and gave the proceeds to the apostles that they might help the needy (Acts 4:37). Generosity of that sort must have been a tremendous source of encouragement to the apostles.

Later he would appeal to the same apostles in defense of one Saul of Tarsus, a Jewish enforcer and persecutor of early disciples (Acts 9:27). While traveling to Damascus to carry out orders, Saul was confronted by the Messiah, struck blind, and told to locate a man by the name of Ananias who lived in Damascus. He does and there Saul puts on Christ (Acts 9:1-19). This brings us back to Barnabas. It was Barnabas who made the case before the apostles for Saul to received into their fellowship. Though God had forgiven him of his past, the stench of death and persecution would follow him in the minds of others. Barnabas going to bat for Saul had to have been a great encouragement to him!

It seems to me that Barnabas’s confidence in Saul allowed them to forge a relationship conducive to the advancement of the new covenant cause. They do indeed join forces. They travel and work together establishing and encouraging churches.

Unfortunately, shortly after the Jerusalem conference, Paul (formerly Saul) and Barnabas get crossways over Barnabas’s cousin, John Mark (Acts 15:36-41). Apparently, John Mark deserted Paul and Barnabas while at Pamphylia (Acts 15:38). Paul had lost confidence in John Mark, but Barnabas, for whatever reason, hadn’t. Paul and Barnabas are so at odds with each other that they choose to go their separate ways. Eventually, Paul would have a change of heart with respect to his opinion of John Mark (2 Timothy 4:11), but Barnabas is never mentioned again in the Scriptures.

I don’t know whether Paul was misguided and Barnabas was right about John Mark to begin with or vice-versa, but I am certain that Barnabas’s willingness to stand behind his cousin had to be a confidence booster to John Mark. For whatever reason he had deserted Paul earlier and he might have been a lost cause for the rest of his life had someone not shown confidence in him. Thankfully, the “Son of Encouragement” was there for John Mark to supply the need!

Many of us have a lot to say, but what is it that we are going to say? Are we going to use our voices to be a source of encouragement to those who need it? Are we following the mold of Barnabas?