Leaving Cloud 9Egzanp

     Every   Sunday, the games would come on and watching John Elway as quarterback was like magic for Rick. Another big, strong man he could aspire to be like -- reinforcing some idea of what manliness was in his mind.
 
    For those who grew up with Dads, even no-so-great ones, it’s hard to imagine trying to piece together an archetype of a father. It was John Elway paired with Transformers, Michael Brady and the A-Team, faceless military warriors and an uninterested grandfather.
 
    You don’t just become a man because you were born a boy. It requires role   modeling, teaching, advice giving, action -- and it’s not found in 5-minute TV soundbites, breathless touchdowns or impossibly strong cartoon characters. He had a lot to learn and hardly any way to do so.
 

    Looking back, he can see the ultimate Father – God -- role model, was walking by his side and leading him slowly in the way he should go through the scraps being handed to him along the way.  As a child, there was no perspective but when the whole act plays out in his memory, he find that the smallest bits of love and wisdom stayed with him like pieces of paper mâché glued together to eventually form something beautiful in the end. It would take many years for the transformation to play out but all the while, God was writing the story of His ultimate glory in Rick’s life.