This will be on more of a personal note than most of my posts. I write this blog each week as an effort to steward the gifts God has given me and discipline myself to get thoughts out of my head and into a clear (hopefully helpful), shareable format. However, there are days like today when it is simply an overflow of my heart and emotions. Today my heart is full and I simply want to tell you why.
I am an unusually blessed person because of the parents God gave me and their story of saying ‘yes’ to Jesus on so many occasions. They could not have known how much their obedience to God and their self-sacrifice in certain moments of their lives would impact and set the course of my life years later. This weekend I have been reflecting on that a good bit and my heart is full. My dad just retired from 38 years of ministry this past weekend. It coincided with his 67th birthday so my siblings and I pulled together to throw a celebration in his (and my Mother’s) honor. It was such a joy. There was a bitter-sweetness to it as my Mother is in heaven and was not here to have us celebrate her faithfulness and hard work as well. However, my Dad never misses an opportunity to remind everyone that my Mother, Shirley, was the one who lead him to Jesus while the two of them were in high school and is the one who helped him reach this milestone. I love him for that. (Click here to read my post “How Honoring Others Blesses You”)
It Is Part Of My Heritage
My Dad still has the scars on his knees from the night he walked out of the little Methodist Church she and her family attended because he was too afraid to respond to the alter call so he fell to his knees in the oyster-shell parking lot to repent and ask Jesus to be his Lord and Savior. That night changed his life and subsequently set the course for my life (though I would not be born for nearly ten years later). Later, he would marry his high-school sweetheart, feel called to preach, and move to Wilmore, KY to attend Asbury College (now university) to be trained for ministry. I was born during that season of their lives. My parents have pictures of me in a baby carrier sitting on my Dad’s desk in class as he did his course work while my mother was working as a nurse in Lexington to help pay for my dad to go to school. Life and ministry was always a team sport for my parents and my family.
Now, after 38 years of beauty and heartbreak, wonderful times of ministry and horrible times of hurt and despair, my Mother is in heaven and my Dad is retiring. It is a strange feeling to watch it all happen. I am the oldest of the four kids in our family. I was at my Dad’s graduation from college and seminary and was old enough to remember his first ministry assignment in Mobile, AL. I have always been proud of him. I still am. I’m sure, at times, that pride had to do with the fact he was ‘in charge’ of the little churches we served. But overwhelmingly it has always been about how much he loved Jesus, made people feel special, and how much he loved my Mom. That is a gift I wish every child could experience. There is something powerful about watching your father spend himself for the cause of Christ and watching him publicly bless and honor his wife (my mother) every opportunity he had. It does something to you. There is a security it creates in your heart and there is a deep inspiration it puts inside of you to want to do and be the same. (Click here to read my post, “Birthing Babies And Birthing Adults”)
The Vision You Can Create For Your Kids
I always knew I wanted to be married and have a family. My parents were both virgins until their wedding night and I had made a commitment to God, myself, and my unknown future bride that I would be too. As such, I never dated many girls because I was on a mission. There was no sense in dating someone I didn’t genuinely feel I would be interested in possibly marrying one day, and since all relationships either end in getting married or breaking up, I didn’t see the point in constantly putting myself in tempting or empty situations. I certainly didn’t do this with perfection, nor am I trying to shine a light on myself. I am simply reflecting that the only reason I feel I had any of this sort of direction in my life was because of the example of my parents. It mattered then, and it still matters today. They helped me guard my own heart in ways they never could have fully understood. Your example matters, as well. I promise you.
Some will criticize me for my idyllic thoughts. Others will feel I am being cruel to those who have never had such a family nor lived with the example I had growing up. My only goal is to honor what was done by my parents and recognize you and I get to choose our decisions every single day. We can either make life easier for our children and grandchildren or harder based on how we choose to live our lives and if we will choose to surrender to the love and leadership of Jesus. Of course, there is no guarantee nor is there a magic formula that ensures a certain outcome. But our proactivity in submitting to God’s leadership certainly clears the path in a way that can make things easier for ourselves and those coming behind us.
It has been said that a man with an experience is not at the mercy of a man with an opinion. Many will have their opinions. I will continue to live with my experiences. My encouragement to myself and to all of you reading today… choose this day whom you will serve (it has significant consequences), as for me and my house, we are going to serve the Lord. Selah. (Click here to read my post, “Those Who Dug The Well”)
From The Bible
But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord. – Joshua 24:15 NIV
Direct your children onto the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it. – Proverbs 22:6 NLT
Remember your leaders who taught you the word of God. Think of all the good that has come from their lives, and follow the example of their faith. – Hebrews 13:7 NLT