The secret to a successful once in a lifetime Sunday....
Tomorrow my family with be attending church as usual, only we will be missing our normal service for a 10 minute ceremony to dedicate our 2 year old daughter Isabella. As a father in today's world how do you successfully stand in front of a congregation of people, whom you hardly know, and promise to teach your daughter about all of God's love and marvelous wonder?
You see I met Jesus when I was 19 after years of struggle and a life that was in shambles. It took me almost 10 years to truly recognize what it means to "claim" to be a Christian, and folks i'm about a 1.2 out 10(thousand). But tomorrow I get the opportunity to stand in front of lots of people and make a promise that I will do all I can to be a full time father, full time husband, full time provider, and a full time Christ follower. That's a lot of hats to wear, good thing I don't need a comb. I do know this though, if it were not for the Grace of God I would have nothing, he knows I am a failure because he has been with me always. The good thing is that he loves me anyways, and will always love me. I know first hand with my girls that there is nothing they could ever do to make me love them less, granted I get pretty angry when my kids do things; but at the same time should I get upset that my 7 year old left the pizza box out and the dog ate the leftovers? I once got out of my wife's van and didn't realize it was still in drive until it was face planted or should I say hood planted into the garage door(sorry honey). We all fall down, and that is the beauty of life. Because I know I can have confidence in knowing that I can stand in front of a bunch of people and not be worried because I'm sure i'm not the only one who has filled the dishwasher with hand soap causing it to overflow! I think the whole point of the dedication is to affirm that i'm not going to leave church tomorrow and forget or completely neglect that my sole purpose in life is to make sure that my baby girl grows up knowing that God loves her no matter what happens, and Jesus Christ saved us. I think that alone puts me one step ahead of the game and all I have to do is "my best."
Stumbles will come and so will heartache and pain. But love will always come at the end and that is the secret to a successful once in a lifetime Sunday....
"so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." Isaiah 55:11
You see I met Jesus when I was 19 after years of struggle and a life that was in shambles. It took me almost 10 years to truly recognize what it means to "claim" to be a Christian, and folks i'm about a 1.2 out 10(thousand). But tomorrow I get the opportunity to stand in front of lots of people and make a promise that I will do all I can to be a full time father, full time husband, full time provider, and a full time Christ follower. That's a lot of hats to wear, good thing I don't need a comb. I do know this though, if it were not for the Grace of God I would have nothing, he knows I am a failure because he has been with me always. The good thing is that he loves me anyways, and will always love me. I know first hand with my girls that there is nothing they could ever do to make me love them less, granted I get pretty angry when my kids do things; but at the same time should I get upset that my 7 year old left the pizza box out and the dog ate the leftovers? I once got out of my wife's van and didn't realize it was still in drive until it was face planted or should I say hood planted into the garage door(sorry honey). We all fall down, and that is the beauty of life. Because I know I can have confidence in knowing that I can stand in front of a bunch of people and not be worried because I'm sure i'm not the only one who has filled the dishwasher with hand soap causing it to overflow! I think the whole point of the dedication is to affirm that i'm not going to leave church tomorrow and forget or completely neglect that my sole purpose in life is to make sure that my baby girl grows up knowing that God loves her no matter what happens, and Jesus Christ saved us. I think that alone puts me one step ahead of the game and all I have to do is "my best."
Stumbles will come and so will heartache and pain. But love will always come at the end and that is the secret to a successful once in a lifetime Sunday....
"so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." Isaiah 55:11
You did what to my car???? :-). It's ok. Because I love you any way.
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