We’re writing a new book…

I was standing in Hobby Lobby the other day, attempting to get the creative juices flowing, looking for a picture frame to hold a collage of our family.  It is a gift for Seph when we [Jillian and I] take him to college on Tuesday.  Thousands of parents will take their kids to college in the next couple of weeks.  Thousands did it in 2011 and again in 2010 and so on and so on.  My parents did it in 1986 – in which I never looked back.  I watch those who attend our fellowship and see and sense their struggles and disconnect to let their children go.  Not only their first child, but those children who come after.  I have learned many things from the people in our fellowship over the years.  You would think – you would think it would be easy seeing it year after year.  I would be more than willing to admit this ranks up there as one of the top three most difficult things I will have to do thus far in my young life as it pertains to my family.  Maybe because it’s our firstborn; maybe because it’s our oldest; maybe because it’s “just” Seph or a combination thereof.  Whatever it is, it is new, it’s fresh and it’s a first time experience.  We teach our kids and instill in them Godly principles, to release them, to go into the world and to make an indelible impression and a lasting impact for those who will come behind them.  This is what we have taught our children and reminded them of again and again.  We continue to pray for this.  But, it is also our opportunity to begin to pray for something new.  On this journey, this new adventure, we pray God would radically grip Seph’s heart to go out and accomplish some great opportunities for His honor and His glory.  As with any child, raising Seph, a firstborn son, has not been without challenge.  He would fit into James Dobson’s paradigm, “the strong willed child.”  But this strong will, has and will play to his advantage as he has turned it into being a very passionate, caring and driven young man.  The last two days I’ve been reading the “Liberty University Parent Guide.” It is not very thick, 55 pages in total, but I’ve poured over every page multiple times, looking up the various websites – analyzing and re-analyzing.  All I can say is what an opportunity Seph has before him.  I can’t even begin to describe what this university has to offer.  If I could, I would time-warp back to a 17 year old young man and re-do college – in a heartbeat.  This time, embracing everything Liberty has to offer which is certainly dramatically different than when I graduated from college in 1990.  There are many things which encourage me about this university.  However, what encourages me the most is – everyday…everyday, Seph will be prayed for by name by those who have leadership over him.  He’s not just another number or another student, he is a valued student by this university and placed in a position to succeed, to do some great things for God.  We could not be more proud of Seph and Jillian.  As I was discussing with someone even today, we have experienced so much as a family, especially over the last seven years – and each new adventure and each step of faith has been taken as a family.  We have lived life to the fullest, being stretched and used by God in so many different ways.  Seph adds such a unique aspect to our family dynamic.  It goes without saying, his presence, his passion, his laughter, and his love will be missed.  But, now it is time to start writing a new book and the first chapter having “adult children.”  Whoa…that is a scary thought!  We know God to be faithful, as we have been eye-witnesses of this fact over and over again in some incredible and phenomenal ways.  So again, we take a new step of faith trusting God, once again to reveal Himself in real and faith-stretching ways in our lives and in the life of Seph – “Not to us, O LORD, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness [Psalm 115:1].”

 

All because of “I do…”

Twenty-two years ago, on a day just like today, Jody and I got together with about 250 family and friends, from both near and far, to celebrate a special day – the day when we said to one another, “I do.”  Next to graduating from high school, I believe this is parallel in terms of the most strategic day in your life as it shapes the rest of your years.  Hands down, on this day, I… I…hit the jackpot!  But together, we have created, what can only be defined as a lasting legacy for years to come.  Jody, who said she would never marry a “preacher,” and me, who was looking for a “southern bell” not a construction worker’s daughter, met the first day on the campus of Liberty University through mutual friends.  Over the next two years, we became best friends until we began officially dating in September of 1988.  After Jody graduated from college in three years, while I still had my senior year remaining, I brought her to New Hampshire to spend a long weekend and to meet my parents for the first time.  It was then, I made the second most important decision of my life – asking my best friend to marry me as she sat on the rocks at Wallis Sands State Beach, looking out at the Atlantic Ocean – a place where I had gone many times growing up.  This was the beginning of what has developed into being nothing less than a phenomenal journey.  And who would have ever thought…twenty-two years, three different cities, six different households [three apartments and three homes], five kids [two biological and three adopted], one master’s degree [which Jody worked full time so I could go to school full time] and one ministry [18 years at the same church] would define the vast majority of our lives today.  We have gone from being a young couple who desired to embrace the “American Dream” of the biggest and best – latest and greatest, to a seasoned couple who desires to do nothing less than sell most of what we have for the sake of others.  Our lives which was once defined by selfishness, is now defined, most in part by selflessness – seeking to use what God has given to us and be good stewards in giving to others who have much less than we do.  Rather than live a life which is all about us and our aspirations, we desire to look beyond ourselves to make an indelible impression in the lives of those who surround us, who we can influence each day.  In a day and age where change for selfish reasons defines much of the landscape not only in America but the church of Jesus Christ, we seek to be a husband and wife, pastor and pastor’s wife whose life is best defined by the words resiliency, fortitude, love and passion.  Where once we did ministry, too often overshadowed by ourselves, we now do ministry for the faithful [and others…] who have weathered the storms and still remain a part of our fellowship after all these years, many of who are our greatest encouragers some 18 years later.  All of this…all of this because of two simple but most profound words – “I do.”  And, we did and we will continue to do as we open our lives up to being used by God in some phenomenal and amazing ways – not for our own self-worth, self-indulgence, self-gratification or for any other selfish reason; but all for His honor and His glory.  If the above is an accurate portrayal of what our lives have looked like and have been shaped by in the first twenty-two years, all I can say is whoa!!!…we better hold on tight because the next twenty-two years has the potential to be a wilder ride than the first.