“Come aboard this rocking ship for a most memorable voyage.”

Oh, it was remarkable all right.

I’m still remarking about it after 40 years.

Those were the words, painted on a sign that greeted our family before we climbed on board The Dragon Swing at Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park, California. It was the first (and last) ride of the day for my youngest son and me. Seated in a long, narrow, boat-like vessel with a dragon’s head and tail was like riding on the pendulum of a large clock.

Dathan and I share a susceptibility to motion sickness. The older I get the more easily I can experience motion sickness. A recent Peanuts cartoon in the local newspaper described me. Peppermint Patty is talking to Charlie Brown at the gate of an amusement park. Charlie is seated on the ground with a pathetic look on his face as Patty obsreves, “Some kids even get sick on the merry-go-round but you’re the only one I know who gets sick going through the turnstile.”I was aware about my battle with motion sickness but, for whatever reason, we chose that day to walk on the wild side. I started repenting less than one minute into the ride. As the dragon rose higher and higher, it began to swing wider and wider. Taking a seat in the dragon’s belly had been sheer folly. Somehow, we held ourselves together through the ride. When the reptile finally slithered to a complete stop Dathan and I—both red-haired and fair skinned—were even whiter than usual. The rest of the day at the amusement park was not amusing. Pie-lover that I am, I couldn’t even be tempted with a bite of the famous Knott’s Berry pie.

It strikes me that sometimes the church resembles that long-ago Dragon Swing. (Hopefully, without the nausea.) Like a pendulum we tend to swing from one extreme to another, emphasizing a biblical truth such as God’s holiness and justice in one generation only to swing the other way focusing almost exclusively on His grace and mercy.

That is the focus of my forthcoming book: Fear and Wonder: Celebrating the Kindness and Severity of Our God. (Working title.)

Each of us must face two vital questions in this life: Is there a God? If so, what is God like? The book doesn’t spend much time with the first question, since I’m writing to people who already believe in Him. Great books by men and women with brilliant minds have addressed God’s existence down through the years. One that I can particularly recommend is Tim Keller’s The Reason for God.

The question of God’s existence ought to affect every area of our lives. If there is no Deity—no God or gods—then why be good or kind or loving? Just be strong and rule your own personal micro kingdom. If there is no God, then there could be no heaven or hell or final judgment. No right or wrong, and no ultimate accountability. So why not eat, drink and grab for all the gusto this world has to offer…no matter who gets hurt into the process. Let the most fit survive. Forget about the vulnerable.

But God’s existence is a game changer, isn’t it?

We are created beings, not simply the latest edition on an evolutionary calendar. Knowing this, we have a very strong and viable reason to be good. We want to please our Creator. And beyond that, we know there is life after we gasp for a final breath on earth. There is a judgment with eternal consequences. If we have been created in God’s image, every life has value, whether it is hidden in a mother’s womb or abandoned and forgotten in the back hallway of a nursing home.

Assuming God exists (and when I consider the evidence I don’t have the faith to deny it), the question about what is God like becomes vital. That is the central point in Fear and Wonder. God, of course, is out-of-this-world indescribable. Mighty and mysterious as He certainly is, how can we ever hope to figure Him out?

I can’t.

And neither can you.

I am a blind man stumbling through a field of landmines searching for something or Someone who may just happen to be somewhere out there in this vast universe. Sounds like Vladmir and Estragon in Samuel Beckett’s play Waiting for Godot.

Left to ourselves we will create a god in our own image, since that is all we know. And let me assure you, a god just-like-me would be pathetic being indeed. Such a god would be weak and unpredictable at best and cruel and malevolent at worst. Such a deity isn’t worthy of our notice, let alone our worship and devotion.

Next week, here on the Front Porch Swing I want to consider the challenge of “figuring out” this amazing Person we call God.

Oh, yes, back to the Dragon Swing. The God I heard about as a child was holy and fearfully righteous. A Cosmic Cop. The threat of His anger and wrath brought me to my knees as a child. Not in wonder but out of overwhelming fear. That’s quite a contrast to the God I read about or hear presented by church leaders and television preachers today.

Has the pendulum swung so far toward God’s kindness and mercy and grace at the expense of His severity and holiness?

Let’s talk about that.

Last week I shared that I have authored a book to be released

June 2019. Here’s the back story on how and why I wrote a book.

I have taught the importance of knowing God in a Protestant church in Ireland and at a Bible College in western Uganda. The most important questions we must face in life are “Is there a God?” and if so “What is God like?” I discovered the topic was relevant both in Roman Catholic Ireland and in Uganda, where most people claim to be Christians but many still practice native religions.

So why write a book when I could just slouch in the recliner waiting for the evening news and weather? To be honest, that’s not my lifestyle. I volunteer at a local faith-based recovery ministry where I teach every Thursday. I also preach in a rotation at a church in a resort community here in Central Oregon. Meeting with men one-on-one is a highlight in my retirement years. I also mentor a pastor of a small church where I served as the interim pastor.

So, no…my life isn’t boring. Not at all.

The passion and gift to teach God’s Word remains deeply imbedded in my soul. It was this passion that led to me to minister in Ireland and Uganda. The material I shared in these two extremely different cultures became the building blocks for Fear and Wonder. A biblical view of God is as vital in secular America as in Europe and Africa.

I shared a rough draft of the material with my dear friend, Larry Libby. Larry has been the editor for several Christian authors. Upon reading the material, Larry felt it had potential to become a book. So, I began writing the manuscript that has become the book I never intended to write.

Getting published as an unproven author can be next to impossible unless you happen to be the pastor of a mega church or have a big-time TV or radio ministry. Neither applies to me.

I assumed the book would need to be self-published. Testing the water I sent the required information about the book to two Christian Publishing Houses.

One publishing house liked the manuscript—but said my “platform was too small.” Platform is their word for the sphere of my influence.

After no response for over a month from the second publishing house I was preparing to self-publish the book. Within a week I received a response from Moody Publishers saying they were interested in the book. I am in awe and deeply humbled because Moody will provide extensive promotion that I could never have achieved as a self publisher.

Over the next few months I want to share a few concepts from the book and invite your response. Hopefully it will also tweak your interest in reading the book.

After 50-plus plus years preparing weekly sermons and Bible studies for both the local church and in academic settings, I trust God will continue using my gifts through these blogs. I may no longer be preparing a sermon every week, but I will do my best to offer food for thought and spiritual nourishment.

I invite you to join me on The Front Porch Swing. Pour yourself a cup of Joe—or a frosty glass of lemonade—as we consider these two vital questions: Is there a God? If so, what is God like?

I’m looking forward to it!

The very words release a flood of warm memories. Our first parsonage in rural Ohio was an old farmhouse with a porch swing where Mary and I could watch farm tractors and rusty old pickups pass by. We could wave to the neighbors who lived catty-corner across the road.

My all-time favorite memories of a front porch swing was in Portland, Oregon where I attended Western Seminary and served as pastor of Powellhurst Baptist Church. The house was a fixer-upper for sure, which we obtained for a pittance. Mary, bless her, saw potential in the old unkempt house—easily the worst property on the block. I saw an exterior that hadn’t tasted a coat of paint for decades. It reminded me of an old rusty pickup truck languishing behind a barn, with weeds creeping over the running boards.

In those days, Mary was Joanna Gaines before there was a Joanna Gaines in the HGTV series Fixer Upper. Too bad she was married to Syd Brestel instead of Chip Gains. Even so, I muddled through all the restoration until the home regained its original charm and—quite honestly—became the nicest house on the block.

Houses in old Portland neighborhoods have a charm most modern track homes lack. Today we want a back yard with a fence to provide privacy from neighbors we may not know (and don’t really care to know) by name. Older homes had small backyards but a nice roomy front porch. Neighborhood homes may not have had air conditioning or flat-screen TVs with Netflix, but they did have front porch swings where neighbors could watch real life in real time—both comedies and tragedies.

On summer nights Mary and I often sat on our front porch swing on Grant Court and hollered at our neighbors about how beastly hot it was. We could watch all the kids from the neighborhood playing catch, tag, hide-n-seek, or whatever happened to be on the menu. Often in heat of day the neighbor kids would gather on our front porch and ask, “Whada ya wanna do now?”

I don’t believe we have ever experienced true neighborliness to the extent we did on Grant Court, and a lot of it centered around the front porch swing.

So that was my inspiration for launching this blog site.

I invite you to join me here on The Front Porch Swing. Sure, I may do most of the talking, but I invite you to interact with the blogs. You may want to say a hearty “amen.” Then again, you may want to take me to task. Either way, let’s just be neighbors and enjoy getting to know each other. More importantly, let’s celebrate both the kindness—and fiery holiness—of our awesome God.

It is my desire to release a fresh blog each week.

See you next Monday? Oh, and invite your friends to join us on The Front Porch Swing.

It’s the neighborly thing to do.

—Syd

P. S. I have written a book with the working title Fear and Wonder: Celebrating the Kindness and Severity of Our God. Moody Publishers have contracted to publish the book and has the right to change the title.

Because I’ve never been the pastor of a mega church and don’t have a television ministry (nor desire one) I am seeking to promote the book through my Website and weekly blogs. Next week, we’ll take a closer look at all that.