Sunday was a great day for our church to receive five couples as they dedicated themselves to the sacred task of parenting their children. We were blessed to pray for, and commit to walking with, Justin and Amanda Ayers and their son Dylan, Justin and Tracy Harper with their daughter Harmony, Trevor and Lucy McDaniel with their son Harrison, Michael and Alexis Pruitt and their son Thomas, and Trey and Tara Warrick with their daughter Kesson. The sight and sound of these children was truly a thrill to our hearts and a blessing to our worship yesterday.
I love this photo snapped by a Grandpa, Skip Warrick, which captures Miss Kesson’s look into my eyes. Not real sure about who was taking her, she gave me a look like, “What’ya talkin’bout, Pastor Tony?” Her eyes were big and bright and I was glad to pray for God’s direction to make her eyes always bright and eager to learn from Jesus.
That look was the right kind of look for a minister to see, “What’ya talkin’bout, Pastor Tony?” Just as I read the scripture’s challenge to the parents, so the challenge is shared back to all of us in the church as well, viz. to clearly impress God’s command to love upon the hearts of children in ways that are clear and obvious and meaningful. We need be very intentional to make sure all our children are understanding God’s call upon their lives through Jesus. We have to accept the challenge to make sure all God’s children know “what we’re talking about!”
The people of Israel heard it first and the people of First Baptist Church heard it again yesterday: