A Father's Job

In mid-to-late May my first child will be born.  My wife's belly is growing, I'm getting to feel the kicks, she's having her first baby shower on Sunday, we've painted his room with my mom, we're getting closer to the day when I get to hold him.

I'm excited for that day.

And terrified.

My parents did a good job raising me and I got to see from them a bit of how it's done, but I'm still so terrified.  I know nothing about keeping a baby alive.  I know nothing about functioning off little to no sleep.  I know nothing about child development.  To put it succinctly: I know nothing.

Keeping my son alive as a parent terrifies me, but something else scares me, too.

I can't make my son believe.

I've seen good, godly parents have children that want nothing to do with Jesus and that scares me.  I could do everything right in raising my child and he could still reject the Gospel.  I've spent years teaching other people's children the Gospel and my child could miss salvation.

This terrifies me.

So, I pray.  I've prayed many times that God would choose to save my son at an early age.  I pray that my son doesn't waste any of his life not knowing Christ.  I pray that my son will have a beautifully boring testimony.

I also plan on doing something about it.

"Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.  These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.  Impress them on your children.  Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up."  Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.  Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates."  Deuteronomy 6:5-8

I want my son to fall in love with my God, so I will expose him to the goodness of God, I will saturate our home with His Word, I will talk about my faith, I will try my best to live out God's commands,  I will pray with my son, I will try to make Jesus the center of our life not merely a part of it, I will not let my son miss the Gospel because he never saw Jesus in our home.

I am praying for my son and I'm sure the intensity of those prayers will grow when I finally get to hold him.  I'm praying for myself and Christine that we will do a good job of raising him.  Please pray for us, too, and if you have children, I pray that you work hard to make Jesus known to your children today.