Category: family

As much as I enjoy being a father, I remember I am also still a child. My dad turns seventy today. As I wish him happy birthday, I think of how often I have had my eyes on him. More than he knows, I still keep my eyes on him. Perhaps that’s the way it should be. I think that’s what gives God pleasure as a Father… seeing our eyes on Him. We obey Him because we love Him… and we love Him because He first loved us.

I found something I wrote a little over two years ago. I was quite weak then, but I was still a father. May God help us keep our eyes where they need to be.

Karlyn, our seven-year-old first grader, performed this morning for the younger children at her school. In my car, from a distance, I watched my little girl as she stood in the midst of fifty other first graders with jump ropes in hand. Karlyn spotted me and waved before her routine began. As the music started, Karlyn eagerly waited for her time to run out with five other classmates and jump rope for the audience. How I smiled as she did things with a jump rope that I can’t do these days. But it was more than performance that brought such emotion to my heart. When she finished, I was the one she turned to find. She didn’t seem to care what her friends thought or even what her teacher thought. She just wanted to know what her dad thought. I was too far away for her to see the tears streaming down my face, but I made sure she saw me clapping my hands above my head. Little Karlyn smiled, waved, and happily ran off to join her classmates. Though I knew her day was just beginning, there was a part of me that couldn’t wait for her to get home that afternoon so I could tell her how proud I was that she was my little girl.

I don’t know that it is to be any more complex for the children of God. We’ve all been given something to do. Whether it is a giant task or something simple, let’s just do the best we can. Make it a habit to look to the Father in Heaven. Smile and wave and watch the Father clap His hands for His children. And if we look very carefully we just might see the glisten of a tear in His eyes, for there is a part of Him that can’t wait to embrace the children that He loves.

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. Colossians 3:23-24

Seeing what God had done, after returning with Taylor from West Africa, I decided that if I ever got to go on another such trip, I wanted to take my entire family. I wanted all of our faith to increase! Soon we were invited by a dear friend to visit Siberia (of all places). So during spring break, all five of us took a trip to Russia.

If you pray for God to build your faith, how does He answer? He puts you in positions where you have the opportunity to trust Him! Within minutes of leaving Atlanta, I discovered the friend accompanying us, who knew the language and had the money, did not get on the plane. He was flying stand-by, and the plane filled up at the last minute. For the first two hours of the flight I did anything but trust. How could God let such a thing happen? I worried; I fretted; I tried to figure out what to do. All I knew was that I was going to a foreign country with my wife, a 12 year old son, a 10 year old daughter, and a 5 year old daughter. We were to be met in Moscow by a Nigerian man named Israel, and we were to spend the night with an American missionary family named the Jacksons. I told God this was insufficient information.

Now for some this might not be such a test of faith, but I had to answer a fundamental question on that plane: Is God really in control? Peace is only found when we trust that He is. The Father wants His children to be confident in the truth, but sometimes such trust flies in the face of human logic. Israel met us in Moscow, our friend caught a later flight and joined us, and we had a great visit to Siberia.

The end of the trip presented another test, however. (Perhaps God wanted to see if a father on earth had learned anything.) Due to a long delay in Siberia, we were late getting to the Moscow airport to fly home. Israel met us again, and we all ran as fast as we could, pushing our two large carts of luggage. When we arrived at the terminal, a Russian official informed us we were too late. The plane had finished loading and was preparing to take off. I had been praying the whole time, but it looked like the answer was “Nyet”. (The word the Russian official kept repeating when we begged for mercy.) At this moment in life, I came to understand the meaning of “intercession”. Our Nigerian friend, Israel, started pleading in a way I had never seen and can hardly describe. He made fervent pleas while pointing to this forlorn American family. He spoke with passion and authority. He would not relent until finally the official picked up the phone and made a call to stop the plane. I knew one thing was certain: without Israel’s intercession we would have never boarded that flight.

If a Russian-speaking, Nigerian brother, who barely knew me, could get such a result from his pleading, what should I think about the One more powerful than Israel? He knows us perfectly and He knows the One to whom He prays. We not only have a God who is in control, but we have a Savior who lives to intercede for us. What confidence we should have!

“Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died – more than that, who was raised to life – is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.” Romans 8:34 “Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.” Hebrews 7:25

I met a wonderful family in the Czech Republic. After serving as missionaries for ten years, this father, mother, son, and daughter are moving back to the United States. As I sat at their kitchen table, I realized afresh the beauty of a family dedicated to God. Peace and love were in the home. These parents loved each other and knew for certain that God had blessed them with a beautiful son and daughter to raise in the Lord. As we talked about the changes a move would bring, I prayed the pace and distractions of our culture would not change the priorities already established in this home.

I’ve had a most amazing year. I’ve been able to teach and coach and travel. But do you know the moments most precious to me? Meals around our table… family devotionals… prayers before bedtime… No blessing outshines the blessing of family. I am so thankful for Susan and my three children and I want to spend my time with them in the wisest of ways.

As parents, we know many things are valuable, but we must determine what is most important. No matter what this world may say, the most important thing for any family is to sit at the feet of Jesus. He is the source of peace and love and wisdom and truth. And He loves our families.

“She (Martha) had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, ‘Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!’ ‘Martha, Martha,’ the Lord answered, ‘you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.’” Luke 10:39-42