Jackson!

As the sole surviving son of a sole surviving son, the importance of my family name and the mortality of it have been ever-present companions that have served as major sources of motivation compelling me to live my life with the greatest degree of honor and righteousness possible. From my earliest days, the name “Jackson” has provided the heartbeat of my identity, the soundtrack of my daily stride and the backbone of resilience I have often needed when facing the toughest circumstances of my life. Of course, my faith in the Jesus Christ and living for the glory of His Name ultimately define me and shape all I am and all I do. Nevertheless, in His sovereignty, He gave me the heritage of the name Jackson and I have done my best to advance and protect it!

Then I became the father of daughters – only daughters. With that great blessing and tremendous responsibility I knew that I would have to live beyond the superficiality of the syllables of my name, because the name in which I took such pride in cultivating, guarding and promoting would die. Instead, I had to focus on the Foundation under the name, the Power behind the name and the Substance that actually made the name a source of beauty, honor and goodness. I had to live a life before my wife, daughters and the world that demonstrated what the Bible calls the fruit of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control”. In other words, I had to live for God to bring glory to His Name realizing that there is no glory apart from Him. I had to let “Jackson” go. BUT GOD…

God had a surprise in store for me! What an unimaginable blessing it was to learn that the daughter of my heart, the daughter of the love of my life’s flesh, the little girl Luz and I raised together who is now a godly, honorable, strong woman navigating the course of life God has appointed for her was bearing our first grandchild. What an unexpected honor it was to learn that she and our son through marriage, Mike, had decided to give their son a name that would serve to carry on the legacy of our family name to the next generation!

It is with the utmost joy, and almost uncontainable pride that I share with you the name of our first-born grandchild:

JACKSON BRANDON COHODES!

God is truly good regardless of our circumstances! I thank Him for His mercy in giving us such wonderful gifts in our children who have internalized and actualized the values we have shared and who are now blessing us by passing the baton of our heritage to the next generation! Go get ‘em Jackson! You’ve got a great name with which to live and the Greatest Name with whom to walk! Your adventure has now begun! Until Next time…

Sam.

New Blog Post Faith In Living Color - 22 years of Friendship

On a hot December afternoon at the Balut Base of Youth With a Mission, Philippines, I expressed my love and devotion for Maria-Luz Bautista de Jackson y Roda to the entire world and took her to be my lawfully wedded wife. The emotions of the day are powerfully etched in my mind, though some of the details are blurred together as the enormity of the commitment I was making blended events, sights and sounds into a giant collage that makes details difficult to distinguish years later. Nevertheless, I clearly remember the beauty of my bride, the innocence of my children and my eagerness to live with and love my new family for as long as the Lord allowed me to live.

The 22 years that have followed have been sweet and blessed. Of course, we as a family have experienced the full span of human drama and challenge that life in this world brings. Nevertheless, we have seen the faithfulness of the Lord in every circumstance and trial and count ourselves blessed to have experienced much deliverance and mercy through the hands of our friends. It is in the context of community that our marriage has been able to grow, mature and endure. We are not islands unto ourselves neither as individuals nor as families. We need friends and loved ones to encourage us, to rally us and to lift us up so that we can face life’s challenges with confidence and courage.

It is for that reason as Luz and I celebrate 22 years of marriage, we want to especially celebrate your friendship us. We thank you for standing with us, standing for us, and cheering us on as our family continues to grow and as we press on in the service of the Lord. We give God the glory and praise for 22 years of marriage and we salute you for helping to make such a celebration possible through your love! We prayerfully look forward to more years of walking with you and glorifying God together in all of life’s celebrations and challenges! What would we do without you! Thank you for being our friends! Until next time….





Sam

7 years of Victory I just can't ignore!

Almost exactly 7 years ago to the very minute I find myself recording this precious memory, our youngest daughter, Victoria, was born prematurely at St. John Hospital in Detroit, Michigan. She weighed in at a tiny 1lb, 13ounces and with the loudest cry she could muster, let out a victorious squeak to announce her arrival to the world. We were comforted by the confidence and skill of an amazing NICU unit and by an ultimate confidence in Our Lord who would see us through this challenge whatever the outcome might be. As we gazed on our newest family member, Luz and I were full of awe at her tiny, yet beautiful frame and looked on with wonder that someone so small could survive such an ordeal. After her first day of life, the reality of the situation was made clear to us. We were warned to not necessarily expect a great outcome. We were briefed on a number of complications that might cling to her for life - if she continued to live. The bleak news was not really news to us as we suffered the loss of another daughter under similar circumstances less than two years before. After having our parade of joy thoroughly soaked with the rain of troubling news and the reality of a painful past what could we do? We did the only thing that was possible and sensible for us to do - we trusted in the Lord. We would cherish this victory for as long as possible and in the midst of great angst, we would somehow enjoin His comfort and presence according to the admonition of Philippians 4:6,7
...do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Jesus had proven Himself faithful to us in every situation we had ever faced - horrible and wonderful - and we were compelled by the knowledge of His faithfulness to trust in Him and walk in His peace regardless of outcomes or circumstances. We hurled ourselves in our weakness on the Everlasting Arms, and experienced the Lord's strength and sustenance over a 3-month period that saw Victoria venture perilously near Death's Door and that saw us exposed in our helplessness, fearfulness and complete powerlessness over our circumstances. God does not help those who help themselves, but rather delights in upholding those who realize they bring nothing to "the table" – His strength perfected in our weakness.

At one point of our struggle, we were running on “emotional empty” and we were the absolute portrait of pitiful. Luz was confined to a wheelchair in her healing process as I bumped her along on crutches having severely sprained my ankle trying to blow off some steam on a short run. As we made our way to the NICU, eyes dropped and the pity people felt towards us was almost tangible. I thought to myself, "I know there are lower lows, but this situation feels absolutely subterranean." Yet somehow, as we watched our brave little soldier fight on for her life, the power of God was manifested in her struggle and we became comforted and encouraged.

The battle would rage for 3 long months. There would be highs and lows, setbacks and gains, and most frightfully a condition that nearly killed our lovely Victoria in a pitched, 72-hour fight for life. In the end, our Savior prevailed and mercifully pulled her through. One surgery and a short period of healing later, the Victory was won! We were beside ourselves with praise and thanksgiving! We had felt an undeniable urge to see God's Victory in this most challenging situation and the Lord had mercifully extended His grace to us and given us the blessing and benefit of bringing our Victoria home!

I have shared this story many times, but feel compelled it share it over and over again. When I'm tempted to feel as if nothing is going my way, I'm forced to remember this monumental God-moment in my life. I can’t help it – He’s so good!

Some of you walked with us during those trying and terrifying days. Many of you have only heard us recount the story of our youngest miracle. In whichever category you are, I thank you for standing with us! Your love and support then and now through new adventures of faith will never be forgotten! Nevertheless, I challenge you to take the time to remember all that God has done for you and to give Him the glory while you still have breath. Furthermore, I urge you to thank those who have walked with you in the tough times and challenge you to make the effort to walk alongside others who need to experience the comfort you yourself have received. As for me, I cannot help but cry out with gratitude: Thank you, Lord, for 7 years of Victoria and for the living testimony she provides of your mercy, faithfulness and love. Thank you for faithful friends who shave stood by us, prayed for us and walked with us through every trial. Thank you, Lord, for your loving presence when all else fails and when even our best friends seem nowhere to be found. Lord, I thank you for everything! To You Lord, be the Glory! Blessings on you my friends! Let’s just praise the Lord! Until next time...


Sam.

Letting Go and Trusting God

I had never seen her look more beautiful. My second oldest daughter, Maris was in her bridal suite alone. All the attendants were gone, while her bridesmaids, her mother and sisters were all lined up and ready to begin the wedding procession from the church foyer. I was alone with her enjoying the special privilege the father of a bride has in seeing the woman of honor in all her splendor before she is presented to the world and her groom. We shared a few funny thoughts and a few serious ones as well before we received our cue to begin our regal march down the aisle.

As the familiar strains of the wedding march piped through the organ, Maris and I began our trek towards the altar. As we stylish strode forward, it almost seemed as if all the major scenes of her life as a little girl, adolescent, teenager and young adult flashed through my mind. When we arrived at the end of our short journey, my dear friend Dr. Ken Render opened the ceremony reminding us of the sweet but solemn purpose for which we were assembled and eventually asked the question every father dreads to hear: “Who gives this woman to be married to this man?” The question rattled around in my head for a moment, resting on the eventuality of an answer that was as obvious as it was succinct – “Her mother and I.” I answered. With that answer, I gently took her hand and placed it directly into the hands of Stephen, the man destined to take the lead in standing for her and by her in all of the varied experiences in life. My role had changed. My life was changed. My daughter was now in the hands of another whom I had to trust. Nevertheless, as I looked up at the altar in front of which my friend stood and remembered what it represented, I knew where my ultimate trust was placed.

The Lord in Whose presence they changed vows was the same Lord Who had sustained our Maris in an amazing assortment of tests and storms. He was the same Lord Who had guided her mother and I through periods of seemingly unbearable anguish and upheld us in unbelievable times of challenge and difficulty. This same Jesus had never abandoned us in our most desperate despair and I knew as I initially watched and later myself officiated my daughter’s marriage ceremony that He would prove just as faithful to her and her groom. This “great and terrible” day that I alternately loved and hated was a potent reminder of the eternal being of our God and the imperative that rests upon all people to depend on Him and Him alone.

Just as the nature of my relationship with my daughter Maris has changed, life in general changes and continues to present a never-ending cavalcade of new situations, circumstances and dispositions with which all people must cope. In the midst of such fluidity, I take great comfort in this unshakeable truth: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). Malachi 3:6 reaffirms this truth with the Lord God’s words, “For I am the LORD, I do not change.” As we approach the end of another year and face the uncertainty of 12 unseen months ahead, take confidence in the steady, unchanging hand of the Lord. He is faithful. He is trustworthy. He is dependable. He can be counted on! Hard times may await you, and trials may rage against you with the intensity of a pounding surf, but take heart in the knowledge that a good and gracious God will uphold you and supply you abundantly with His grace and comfort if you will only trust Him. Because of this, I can let go of my daughter’s hand, knowing that the Everlasting Arms will ultimately provide all the strength and protection needed for every situation that awaits her. Are you ready to let go? Put your trust in the Lord and let Him lead you to the next step and beyond for His glory and His Kingdom. Until next time…

Sam.

Ichabod U: Glory, Righteousness and College Athletics

“Upon the fields of friendly strife are sown the seeds that, upon other fields, on other days, will bear the fruits of victory.” Douglas MacArthur’s matchless prose explaining the heart of collegiate athletics at West Point drives home the guiding principle that most college sports programs have long abandoned in pursuit of gold and glory: Collegiate sports must exist at the core for the purpose of bearing fruit that will benefit the rest of society as a whole. Athletic excellence is not an end unto itself, but a pathway to a profound understanding of strength and weakness and victory and defeat leading to the development of character for the benefit of the nation and the world. The processes that produce athletic glory are pointless if they do not at the same time develop consistent moral courage, uncompromising virtue and committed sacrificial leadership.

As the Penn State scandal unfolds, it is undeniable that the purpose of College Athletics at Happy Valley has been hijacked, corrupted and sold to the highest bidder. Nevertheless, as I level those charges, I feel the need to inspect my own soul, and the soul of our nation’s entertainment driven culture. It is far too easy to point fingers lambaste Penn State’s football program as an Evil Empire, when in truth it is a powerful reflection of how our culture as a whole has elevated the achievement of athletic glory as the penultimate indicator of success and accomplishment. When winning athletic contests and heroics on the fields of play serve as the best indicators of manhood, leadership and public service, all other measures of behavior and social contribution will suffer, no matter how many poster-sized checks with large numbers written on them are held up as indicators to the contrary.

Innocent young children were lured in under the pretense of trust and protection for the primary purpose of unspeakable violation and victimization. These crimes occurred under the umbrella of the Hero Status athletic victory affords. Even when the crimes were exposed, the need to win and protect athletic records spoke louder than the need to seek justice, love mercy and to walk humbly before God. This hellacious flip-flop did not occur overnight. It has occurred slowly, subtly and gradually. What began as educators seeing a need to ensure that students weren’t only exercising their brains at College, but learned to develop as whole persons physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually has been obliterated over time as the love of money has choked out any direct connection between education and athletics. If Joe can make touchdowns and draw the crowds, who cares what happens behind close doors? The families that have been devastated by an unhindered sexual predator, that’s who, and anyone who hasn’t bowed down and compromised themselves and their very souls to the idols of athletic entertainment.

In the Bible, a sad historical account is given of the prophet Eli’s failure to address the evil committed by his own two sons, even as he served as Israel’s prophet with the direct responsibility of speaking into the nation’s well-being on all matters, especially those relating to righteousness and justice. His sons were also members of the nation’s spiritual leadership, and possessed full knowledge of the responsibilities and burdens their positions carried. Nevertheless, they chose to live lives of debauchery and self-gratification at the expense of others. The justice God meted out was swift, leading to the deaths of Eli’s sons and his own death as well. When Eli’s daughter-in-law heard of the violent deaths of her husband and father-in-law and of the capture of the Ark of the Covenant she went into labor and gave birth to a son she named Ichabod which means, The Glory Has Departed.

There are parallels too close to ignore between this tragic Biblical account of the abdication of leadership and the parades of failed leadership we see in United States collegiate athletics. Moral failures are being exposed nation wide and people once considered heroes are being more rightly identified as frauds and charlatans. But lest we take satisfaction at these discoveries, we must remember that these people did not elevate themselves to such grandiose and perverted levels of stature – WE DID! It’s time to revisit the purpose and goals of College Sports. Jesus said no one can worship God and money. One will be served, the other neglected. As long as money-making is the chief end of college sports – and it is – the glory will never return. The question is, are we more concerned about the people God has placed in our care to develop into leaders of tomorrow, or are we more concerned about being entertained by them? The right choice will contribute to the richness and vitality of our nation. The wrong choice will engrave ICHABOD on our goalposts for decades to come. Until next time…

Sam.

Still Amazed!

I’m always amazed that in spite of having read through the Scriptures numerous times, my re-reading of familiar passages can touch me again and again in fresh and powerful ways. I experienced this “fresh touch” from the Word this morning when reading the very familiar account of David’s adultery with Bathsheba and his continued sin in murdering her husband, Uriah. As I read, it seemed every detail jumped off the page, with the concluding paragraph of the chapter gripping me in its intensity and bluntness. I consumed the page detailing how Uriah’s uncommon and superior commitment to his duty exposed the extent of David’s consuming and unholy passions. I was aghast as I read of David’s effortless launching of the plan that led to Uriah’s demise. I was stunned as I recounted how David wasted no time in capitalizing on the opportunity to take Bathsheba as his own immediately after his treacherous plot of betrayal and murder had been carried out. More than any of this, I was stopped in my tracks as I read the last sentence of the chapter – a chilling phrase that serves as the greatest indictment any human being can experience:

“But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD” (2 Samuel 11:27).

Why was I so shaken by this verse? Simply this: I recognize myself in David and know that like him, there lies within me the ability to displease God without batting an eye merely for the sake of my own convenience. I could easily replace my name with David’s:

“But the thing that [Sam] had done displeased the LORD.”

It was at that moment I found myself at the point of realization that the Apostle Paul expresses in Romans 7:22-25,

“For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

I am so very aware of my frailties and how much I really deserve God’s justice, but I am absolutely overjoyed with gratefulness because of the forgiveness and cleansing that comes through faith in Jesus Christ! Not only am I overjoyed – I’m amazed!

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

Free "Bird"!! or Choosing to be at Peace

Earlier today, as Luz and I were traveling down the road casually, basking in the first alone time we’ve enjoyed in quite a while, a driver took us by surprise, zig-zagged in front of us and during the whole escapade, shot us “a bird”, “the finger”, the single-digit salute of the offended and highly displeasured of our society. He continued to flash his displeasure towards us as we continued down the same road until we took a turn towards our destination as he punctuated his silent rant with an elevated thrust of his animosity, laying hard on his horn as he continued through the intersection and in a direction opposite our own. It was almost comical, made even more so by the fact that Luz and I have no idea what set him off. We were driving along with the flow of traffic, which was well over the speed limit and passing many other cars, so I don’t believe it was our speed. Luz wondered if he didn’t like our pro-Army/pro-West Point auto decals. I chimed in that I suppose that could be the case, but I’m not sure that even the Chief of Naval Operations has that much venom towards West Point! Could it have been the “ICHTHUS” or Christian Fish emblem on our tailgate?

We were stumped. We pondered, postulated and considered the situation arriving at no satisfactory answer. I finally said in resignation, “Well, this is America, and you’re free to give someone “The Bird” if you want to! Luz responded, “Isn’t there a song about that?” I almost wrecked the car with my laughter. “Oh, you mean “Freebird” by Lynard Skynard?” I answered. I had never thought about it that way, but I guess one could! As I calmed down from my laughter, I actually considered something more important. Luz and I also had freedom in this situation that, by God’s grace, we exercised in a totally different manner than our highly agitated friend. I considered how many terrible incidents have resulted from someone making a gesture towards someone else, which then escalates into harsh words, which then escalates into a situation that turns ugly and on occasion tragic as the level of anger explodes into a violent confrontation that leaves all parties involved violated, injured and scarred.

The Scriptures command those who aspire to follow Jesus to be “Quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger”. I’m not sure of our level of intentionality, but by merely attempting to understand what was upsetting the friend in the truck and to see if there was something we could do to lessen his displeasure, we were obeying the spirit of this verse. We weren’t focusing on what was being done to us, but rather on how we should conduct ourselves and what options were ours to improve the situation. The result was a mysterious encounter, but not an ugly one that left us at its end, confused, but very happy and totally at peace.

If you find yourself in one of those situations where you’re facing someone who is so at odds with something you’re doing or something they imagine you’re doing that the recipient of your displeasing behavior feels obliged to exercise their freedom of expression, DON’T ENGAGE THEM! Rather, step back, take a moment, sort out the situation, don’t respond with harsh words and don’t allow yourself to be sucked into an angry response. “Quick to hear. Slow to speak. Slow to anger.” And, if you’re a Lynard Skynard fan, dig out your old collection, crank up “Freebird” and have a good laugh. You’ll feel better and there’s a chance you’ll have the opportunity to pass your chosen joy on to others as well. Until next time…


Sam.