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.