Taggart Family Chronicles

This morning on our way to work – Cindy drives us now – I noticed that the sun was extremely bright. I really only noticed because as we dipped and weaved through the hills on our way down to the river, we seemed to dance in and out of the sun into the shadows and then back. It was actually kind of neat to notice such the contrast between light and dark, cool and warm.
In the shadows, it was cool – almost cold. It was dark and every time we moved into it, you could see the bright hillsides in the distance looking beautiful and inviting. I also noticed that even in the shadows I could still see, but things didn’t have the color as it did in the sun. The bright hues of red, and gold, and yellow of the flowers, just didn’t seem to “pop” out like they did in the sun. I also noticed that in the shadows, I could still “see” – so in reality light had still permeated the shadows.
In the sun, it was warm – and felt nice. When we were in the sun, we had to squint a little because things were so bright, but to see everything in such a light, it was so worth it. The warm on the face was comforting and felt good after coming out of the shadows. The colors were brilliant and the shadows looked almost black from this point of view.
And while I was enjoying this view -this dance so to speak – and since I wasn’t driving – I had time to think. (Unfortunately, something I rarely do anymore) I thought about how this was kind of like our life sometimes. We tend to dance in and out of the shadows – into the sun – and then back again.
What I mean by this, from my point of view as a Christian, is that we tend to leave the Son (Jesus) and go to into darkness for a while. We tend to dance in and out of His loving arms. Why do we do it? I’m not sure, but just like this morning, there is a huge contrast of being in the Son, and not.
In the Son, we have warmth, comfort and protection. We can see everything with brilliance – with clarity. We have grace and protection, and as we look at the “shadows” (Sin) we see it is very dark. We know that we shouldn’t go there. But we still do.
In the shadows, we don’t see things clearly. There is a chilling feeling as we go into the shadows of sin when we do something that we know does not bring glory to the Son. We know it doesn’t feel right and hurts inside knowing that we have done it. In the shadows, we still can “see” – so we know that the Son has permeated the darkness and we are not hidden in our shadow of sin. We could see into the light (outside of the shadows) and it looks so inviting. We know and want to be there in the Son.
I am so thankful that even though we as human beings tend to dance in and out of the shadows into the Son, that God’s grace is sufficient for us. Even though we bend and weave into bad situations through our travels of life, that the Son is still there and provides us warmth and love that we need. Am I saying that is is good for us to travel into the shadows of sin? No. But when we do, I am extremely thankful we have a God who loves us so much that he gave His Son Jesus to die on the cross for us to remove those shadows of sin from our travels when we come to Him.
So basically after all these thoughts and ramblings I just typed out that came into my mind this morning, it comes down to this. I want to be in the Son. I don’t want to be in the shadows of Sin. Stay in the Son!
Thanks God, for the wonderful trip into work this morning. (and thanks Cindy for driving me )

Not that difficult if you are friendly. I was in the back row and said it would be awesome to tell my wife that I flew first class. She told me it wasn’t worth the cost. I said probably. She said, “Let me see what I can do.” The next thing I know- sitting 2nd row in the “Business Class” – ATA’s version of “First Class”. Very nice….

Now if only my wife will believe me.

Yes, that’s right.  I said, “Go Ohio Steak!”  this morning to get my family in the mood for the football game.  Ethan repeated back to me enthusiatically, “Go Ohio Steak!”.  I asked him what he said, and again, he yelled out, “Go Ohio Steak!” even louder than before.  Cindy and I both tried to teach him how to say it properly, but everytime, he would say, “That’s what I said!”  Too funny – so today it’s “Go Ohio Steak!”  Beat Michigan.

Tonight we cleaned to get ready for friends to come over and watch OSU kick Michigan in the hind end!  WOO HOO!!   GO Bucks!

Here is our latest pictures from Halloween.  Guess what Ethan was?