My son turns 13 today

Well it just doesn't seem like it was 13 years ago that God blessed Tracy and me with our son. Time really does go by so quickly and that is so much more than a cliche, it is reality.  Tracy had a lot of difficulties during her pregnancy with Luke so we should have known that all the pain would be a foreshadowing of someone great in our lives. We knew we were having a boy but once his little life was crying in my arms there was such a feeling of love and responsibility that I knew was going to be different from what I had experienced with my daughters. It was going to be my responsibility to train him and teach him to be a man of God. That is a bit overwhelming. 

Luke has grown to be a very handsome young man (his sisters will disagree) and he has proven to be quite the hunter this year. He killed his first and second deer this year and will constantly remind me that I got none. He is a fan of the LSU Tigers and the Dallas Cowboys and we enjoy going to the games together. He is 100% boy from deer hunting to pestering his two older sisters. He definitely adds so much to our family and I am thankful to God that he gave me a son to enjoy life with.

Today he turns 13 years old and I feel the weightiness of the responsibility like never before. I was reading in Proverbs today about a fathers' responsibility to his son and Proverbs 4:1 is where God landed me for meditation. The verse says, "Hear , O sons, a father's instruction, and be attentive, that you may gain insight." If God is instructing my son to listen to me for instruction and insight then I have a HUGE responsibility to make sure my instruction is sound and my insight is meaningful. I know the struggles that he will face and I know that my relationship with him must be strong enough to withstand the weight of the instruction and insight that I am responsible to give to him. I must understand his gifts and strengths in order to "train him up in the way he should go." I must train him on how to respect young ladies and treat them in a way that he would want the future love of his life to be treated. I must teach him to be strong in the LORD and to depart from evil. It is my responsibility to give him insight into Scripture. If God tells him to listen to me I better have something worth listening to. 

These next few years should be very adventurous for us as he develops into the man that God has called him to be. I just pray that God leads me and helps me be the father with the instruction and insight that my son needs.

A Snow Day in March

It is really an odd thing to get a snow of more than 4 inches in China Grove, NC and even more rare to get it on March 2, but nevertheless it came. God knew what we needed even when some of us were praying that it would stay away.  It actually turned out to be exactly what my family needed. Tracy enjoyed the relaxing day at home (she did cook three great meals). The kids and I along with Justin and Chris did some sledding and just really had a very good day.  

What a beautiful sight it was to wake up to. Looking out into the back yard from my bedroom window it looked so peaceful. Occasional snow just does something for me. It has such a calming effect on my mind and spirit. Have you ever walked through the woods in the snow? I can remember the occasional snow that we would have back in LA and how it would be to walk through the woods in the snow. Things were so peaceful and everything looked so different. Once, I remember this time that it snowed and we didn't have to go to school that day and instead my brother and sister and I went for a walk in the woods behind our house. My brother and I used to set traps along the creek back there and would check them early in the mornings before heading to school. Well on this particular day we headed out and took Rachel, my sister,  with us. We were walking along the creek and Rachel screamed, "Look, a porcupine!" Now we have lots of different animals in LA but a Porcupine is not one of them. We looked over and in one of our traps was a small raccoon.  We didn't kill the little guy, but instead we got him out of the trap and decided to play with him until he tried to attack our friend, Shannon, who had came over to check out our snow-day catch. 

Well when snow is a rare thing we have great opportunities to make some cool memories with family and friends. We can do things like: make the snowman, sled, make snow angels, snow cream, cut donuts in the lower church parking lot.

I couldn't help but think about Isaiah 1:18, "though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow." How can something so dark and as dirty as sin become so pure and clean as snow? Well it is only by the power of God and through the work of Jesus Christ. There is no possible way that I could have done that on my own because my life is still dark and dirty but through the cleansing of Jesus Christ I am make as pure as snow. I don't fully understand how that happens but I trust the words of God and am so thankful for that truth.