He Sees Him in You - Chris Kimmel

Facebook Note by Chris Kimmell on Monday, 23 July 2012 at 08:00 ·

I remember the day my son was born. It was a glorious day. The nine months of struggle was worth the glory in that day. I doted on him from then on. God put so much love in my heart for him it was amazing to me. I hated going to work knowing that something would be missed. My son's smile could brighten my day like no other smile. His laughter brought joy to my heart like I had never experienced.  As my boy grew he would mimic some of my behaviors, the bad and the good. I began to see myself in him.

The marriage between his mother and I broke apart and the trials continued. With both parents having to work to support two households the grandparents became heavily involved in his raising. Ever changing shifts came into play and often it felt as though the grandparents were raising him instead of his parents. He spent a lot of time with his granddad. I noticed my son mimic some of my father’s behaviors, good and bad. I began to see my father in him.

His mother kept him for several summers. It was hard to be away from him for those couple of months.  They took vacations together and went on trips. Often times it was in only in phone calls that I could share in his adventures. If we could talk long enough, I could hear a hint of the little phrases his mother would say. Happy memories of time long gone would come back to me. The joy of that first Christmas, with the three of us, would flood my memory. Then upon his return I would notice that he mimicked some of her behaviors, good and bad. I could see my wife in him.

My father died in November of 2005 after a week-long hospital stay. I waited for my son to come home from school. He was not caught off guard by the number of people at the house as it had been common during the my father's abscence. I grabbed him by the hand and took him into the back bedroom to give him the news. As I began to tell him, the knowing in his eyes struck me, and I could see my father in him once again.

My son is uniquely him and uniquely all of us that have influenced him, good and bad. He is even a more glorious creature now than I ever imagined on that wonderful day of his birth. He no longer mimics behaviors, they have become his own. The good and the bad have blended to become that which is my son. His speech patterns are an eclectic conglomeration of all that have been a part of his life. His dreams and hopes have been formed by the dreams and hopes of parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends, over the last 18 years. I can see us all in him. When the part that my father gave him, comes out, memories come flooding back in a glorious way. I love my son all the more, because I see my father in him.

You are the product of all those that have come into your life. We are all an eclectic conglomeration of the influences of those that have been a part of our living, the good and the bad. It is a perfect blend. You are the product of a special recipe that was created specifically for you. The influences of the people in your life were specifically designed to create that person that is uniquely you. There is so much consideration and deliberate thought that has gone into you. When God looks on you He sees more glory than anyone could imagine. God is so very proud of the gloriousness that is you. He loves you all the more, because He sees His Son in you.

illustration is not Chris Kimmels's son but the then 18 year tennis player Devin Britton in 2009

How good is God? by Chris Kimmell

 Facebook on Wednesday, 20 June 2012 at 16:38 ·
Sometimes I look back at my life in wonder and awe. The scenes play through my mind as a movie. Examining what I was and all that I have been through. I see the interactions with my parents and siblings. I view my mother through the eyes of a child that hides behind a clothes basket as the wicked witch in The Wizard of Oz, laughs evilly. I laugh with my father as I sit on his lap while we watch The Flip Wilson Show. I see my sisters slinging their purses at my adversary in my first schoolyard fight. The scenes glide past to High School and I view my first encounter with alcohol, and the joys and pain of social acceptance. College life moves into view and my experimentation with drugs. My first love is smiling at me and then I am crying in my mother’s arms for a love that is lost. The scenes fade to a four year stint in the Marines and to the unbreakable bonds that were formed in adversity and sharing of life. Suddenly I am viewing the birth of my first child and then the pain of divorce.



The emotions become all too real yet again. The faces and the connections swell in my heart. Joy and pain, laughter and tears, all the moments of my life come back in quiet recollection. The joy has become magnified now, and the sorrow has become more bittersweet, as I view the goodness that God imparted through it all. I see the boy that once hid, grow into a man that moves forward and faces adversity. The heart swells with thankfulness for all of my life, not just what was then perceived as good.



A new chapter in my life has begun. Again what I thought was adversity and heartbreak, has become the greatest gift of all. As the clouds of another divorce give way to the brilliance of the blessing contained within, I fall to my knees in praise. As God brings me back together with my first wife in a wondrous relationship, I again see the goodness He has given me in all of my life. As I collapse to my knees and look to the heavens, I am impelled to exclaim;



Daddy, how unbelievably good you are!

Psalm 34:8 (The Message)

Open your mouth and taste,

open your eyes and see,

how good God is.

Blessed are you who run to him.