A Letter to My Newborn Grand Daughter

My Dearest Faith, (Faith Marie Ainsworth)

I’ve got to get used to calling you that. This is your Grandfather, Dan Wiley Ainsworth. You can call me Dan Dan. (I’ve got to get used to you one day calling me that.) I wanted to write you a letter and welcome you into this big, big world. It’s a lot bigger than where you’ve been dancing around the last few months. Ha! You are a pretty special young lady, I want you to know that. You are and always will be surrounded by love.

When you get older, I’m going to find out from you first hand why you waited so long to be born. Were you already showing the world that you are always going to be late for everything? …. Just like your Dan Dan! Or maybe just a little princess in the making. Your Mother was in labor for over 36 hours! Either way, there was tremendous excitement when your grandmother (Tay Tay) and I found out you were born. Over the last few days, I’ve sensed all kinds of emotions. Love, anxiety, excitement, love, hope, nervousness, longing, love, not knowing, concern,…… did I mention love? Without a doubt, baby girl you are being surrounded with love.

How would it be in this big world without love? Well, take out the love that exists in your first two days of life? Here is the above list (without the love). Anxiety, excitement, nervousness, longing, not knowing, concern…… Now throw in an extra dose of hate, divisiveness, anger, and people being mean and you have what is going on in the world around you. Not the most pleasant place to get to grow up in is it? Nope, not unless you have LOVE.

If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres…………. And now these three remain; faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13: 3-6, 13

My precious granddaughter, you have been blessed with some extremely loving parents. They will protect you from this unloving world. They will show you how it’s possible to love others even when it seems difficult.

As time goes by, you will learn about this Most Holy Loving God that I worship. He will give You His Love to share with others. It’s a great mystery, but well worth the adventure to follow Him.

You’ll also learn about love and how to love from your Dan Dan and Tay Tay! We can’t wait for our turn to show you love. How to love ice cream! How to love a tree swing! How to love fishing! Woohoo!

AI, (Artificial Intelligence) will be an all too common thing in your generation. While it may make things more convenient, just remember…… you have to search for the real things in life. The greatest thing in your life even now at just a couple days old? LOVE! It’s a real love! Keep this love going and growing in your life.

I’ll be behind the scenes watching as you start a life of your own. Come give me a hug. I’ll probably have something in my pocket for ya! A dollar bill, a piece of candy, a bag of cheetos. (to share of course!)

I LOVE you Faith! Signed Dan Dan wilderness preacher (stocking up on Cheetos!)

I’m not Worthy

Not Being Worthy does not come from bad following, but from no following.
Not Being Worthy does not come from bad following, but from no following!

Meet Kylo! He’s a blonde Border Collie. He’s a great dog! He loves his Masters/owners. That would be Jamie and JM, my daughter and son-in-law. They love their dog without question. Kylo loves them like no other. He is also obedient, he does what they say. He is smart, affectionate, friendly beyond measure. But,…….

But, yep you knew there had to be a but in there somewhere. We talking bout a big ole “Bertha butt”. And here it is. Kylo will go anywhere Jamie and JM are going. He wants to be WITH them no matter where. You name it and he is there with the two that he loves, and lives to follow.

BUT, he will NOT follow them into the water. He is AFRAID to swim. That means he will not follow them if he has to swim. As the picture shows, he will follow around the edge of the pond consistently keeping the shortest distance between him and the ones he loves. But he will not swim. He will pace back and forth until they bring the boat back to shore. Once his owners are back on dry land it’s like the greatest reunion and lovefest you’ve ever seen between dog and man.

If Kylo won’t overcome his fear of water, then does that means he is not following? Does it mean he is UNWORTHY? Is he is no longer wanted, no longer loved? STOP! I can’t keep writing…. This is not the truth!

Matthew 10:38 New King James Version And he who does not take up his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.

Well, there it is in scripture. Jesus is saying if you don’t “take up your cross” then you are not worthy of Him. Understand what I’m getting at here. Take up your cross means to die to one’s self. Take up your cross means to let Jesus and His teachings of how to be a Christian be the driving force in your life. You follow Him, not your own thinking, planning, and living based solely on you and what you think is best for YOU! He becomes front and center in your life. See, if you choose to make Jesus your Lord and Savior, then you have “died” to your old self and become a new person through Him. He makes you worthy!

You get to pick. Choose to love Jesus more than everyone else—or not. Choose to die to yourself and live for Him alone—or not. To choose “not” is to become unworthy of following Him. Jesus does not declare them unworthy for following Him badly. Whoa! Say that again! You cannot say that you are unworthy because of following Him Badly! Those who will “not,” who refuse, make themselves unworthy because of their lack of complete and total commitment to Him.

There is a saying that is prevalent in religion. “God is good. I’m not. I need to get better”. That saying may be in man made rules and religion, but it’s nowhere to be found in a true relationship with Christ as a Christian. Follow, even if you’re afraid. Follow. Follow, even when you want to quit because this world is making you think you are not worthy. Follow. You are Worthy! Because of God’s Grace. Because of God’s mercy and forgiveness. You are worthy because of God’s Love! It’s nothing you’ve done. It’s because of who you are now following and what He’s done for you and me.

1 John 4:16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in Him

See There? You are Worthy! Share God’s Love!

See Ya! Dan Ainsworth wilderness preacher. “Loving cause God Loves Me!”

The Prodigal Son/Dog

Dudley/wolf

(Sharing this story from a few years ago)

Dudley, our sissy house dog is terribly afraid of thunder..  Just ask our Ole Miss friends, the Parkes.  While we were gone, a large and loud thunderstorm came over our house.  Dudley, I call him “the Big Dud”, went berserk, crazed, wild.  Because he was so scared of the thunder and lightning he decides to leave.  First, he goes upstairs and chews and claws the door trying to get in.  No luck.  He then pushes open the front door, chews a hole in the dogproof wire of our backyard………. He gone!!!

Now when we drive up and see the door open, and then no Dudley, our hearts are in our throats because we know how he gets in a storm.  We call, yell, honk horns, everything.  We call out the cavalry/family.  We are out riding the country roads while it’s still raining.  I get on the 4-wheeler riding the back pastures.  Nothing. Nada. Zip.

Staci and I go to bed but there’s no sleep.  Not for me especially.  I’m mad because I didn’t lock the door behind me when I left earlier in the day.  If only I had locked the door, then he would still be in the house.  I’m fearful because I know what’s in the backyard and woods.   Also, I’ll admit to this.  I am sad.  The thought of losing this dog has saddened me.  I’ve always had manly dogs. A Lassie Collie, then a brown Lab, then a bloodhound.  This dog is the only dog we have now.  He is Staci’s pet.  A shih-Tzu…….but he’s my little wolf!

Look it up.  What dog is the most closely related to a wolf.  You would think it would be a Husky, or a German Shepherd.  But the guys at Mission Wolf told us that the Chinese breeds like the Shih-Tzu are closest kin.  Now it makes sense to me.  I’m attached to this little fellow because deep down he is a wolf.  I can relate to that!

At 2 am, it’s unusually quiet. Spooky because it’s so quiet  There’s fog and no wind.  The rain has finally stopped.  I go outside and call.  I can hear sounds from the 4-lane highway a couple of miles away, the trucks and their gears shifting.  What’s so bad is that I can also hear the owls, the coyotes, and all the other predators that roam the nights.  What’s good is that I promise you I hear a little dog howl.  Immediately, I wake Staci (she’s not asleep).  “Get out here and call for Dudley” I’m telling her and rushing her outside.

Staci comes outside and calls for her puppy. She yells, “Come get a treat, let’s go to Mimi’s, want a puppy cup?”  All these phrases are things that get the Big D to respond when he’s at home.  I thought I heard a howl off in the distance.  But nothing.  Staci goes back in, I walk around in the woods for another hour.  Mad, fearful, saddened, now dreading what the outcome of this will be.  Why?  Well, if I did hear a small dog whimpering somewhere in the night, so did all the predators.  As I walk in the woods, the howl of a coyote only a short distance away raises the hair on my back, but at the same time lowers the feelings in my heart.  My dog is gone.  Where oh where can he be?

It’s morning now.  The search party of kinfolks has arrived.  We start asking neighbors, riding the roads, and searching.  We get a call that he was seen over a mile away at a neighbors driveway.  Off we go.  It’s rather comical now, but you would think that we had lost something special.  Well, we have.  Dogs become part of our lives, part of our own being.  If you have never experienced the loyalty and love from a dog, then you must have a cat.  Or either you have a huge hole in your heart that has never experienced a companion with 4 legs.  I feel a bit sorry for you.

The search party spans out over the area.  I get a hunch that maybe the little wolf may be trying to get back home on his own.  He’s a house dog, spoiled, can’t walk on grass ’cause he gets stickers.  There’s no way ……….well, except somehow God gives these creatures a sense of where home is and how to get back.  While everyone is searching this last place he was seen, I begin the mile long trek back towards the house.  Halfway home, in a sandy road bed I see little dog tracks, along with fresh deer, turkey……….. and coyote tracks.  They are fresh, too fresh.  I start running and calling as I go.  A quarter mile from the house I am on top of a large hill.  I let out a holler for my little wolf.  And he answers! boo woo woof.   I take off running.  I’m trying to call the search party on my phone as I run.  “Get home.” I yell, “He’s close to the house”.

As I run to the backyard, I see the prodigal dog.  He’s scared of me.  I guess he’s been through a lot.  Now he won’t even come to me.  I kneel down and wait.  Suddenly he bolts to me whimpering and jumping into my lap.  His whimpering sounds as if he’s crying, the little wolf pup.  The daddy wolf is shedding a tear or two himself.  Why?  Because Dudley has come home.

All the search party celebrates.  We eat Pizza!

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.” Luke 15:20

But this story was about a dog.  He left on his own. He’s done it to himself. Doesn’t matter what caused him to leave.  He may have been scared.  But even if he had been rebellious, disobedient, or well, think of whatever reason YOU can think of to leave home yourself.  The point is that there was love waiting for him when he returned.

We have a Loving, Living, Heavenly Father who waits with open arms for me and you to return to Him.  Why do we run away when we’ve got it made where we are?  We get scared.  Or maybe we get rebellious, disobedient, or well, think of whatever reason YOU can think of to leave God yourself.  The point is our Heavenly Father’s love is waiting for your return.  You’ve never experienced His love?  Well, you must have a huge hole in your heart (and soul) that has never had this experience.  I feel a bit sorry for you.  He’s waiting….

See Ya! Dan Ainsworth wilderness preacher, on a journey with a “little wolf”

dudley