Beyond Bringing Up Boys

I didn’t expect any profound thoughts at 5:35 AM yesterday morning when I got home from my morning exercise. I planned to wake the boys and settle in a morning routine. I sat down on the edge of Samuel’s bed and began to brush the blond bangs off his forehead when the thought struck me: He looks like me. His forehead is broad with prominent bones. And his nose as much as I’ve denied this for years, does turn up at the end. Immediately I wondered, does God look at me and see the image of Christ? Max Lucado says in Cure for the Common Life, “You are more than statistical chance…, more than a confluence of inherited chromosomes and more than a walking weather vane whipped about by the cold winds of fate. Thanks to God you have been “sculpted from nothing into something” Psalms 139:15 Oh, that my outward appearance reflects the inner occupancy of Christ! Oh! to be like Thee, blessed Redeemer, This is my constant longing and prayer; Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures, Jesus,...

Born in Scottsbluff, Nebraska during a snowstorm, I've heard David's mom say "that their (his parents, Don and Glenda Balty) lives were in a flurry ever since." This morning before church I asked our boys what they imagined that Grandpa and Grandma appreciated about having another baby boy (David had an older brother by seven years who was--QUIET). David said they probably appreciated having a daughter more! Born only 16 months apart, David and Lisa were co-conspirators in most everything--David' mom told me what one didn't think of, the other did. David parents prayed extensively for him. Prayer, along with LOTS of discipline, is no doubt the reason my boys and I have such a man of his caliber to call husband and father. Speaking of discipline, one year when asked what he wanted for his birthday he said he wanted to go "one day without a spanking!" Today we celebrated David's 41st birthday (yes, I married an older man in case you are wonderin...