Nomination for Grandmother of the Year

Last spring I was listening to a series of podcasts about raising kids from my old church in Richmond, West End Pres. One of the few things that pastor Steve said that all of us should be doing is praying every day for our kids to know the love of Jesus and for their future spouse.

There goes my father-of-the-year candidacy. I felt like I'd been occasionally catching but mostly missing the boat for much of the past five years.

Better late than never to cover those things I suppose. But still, I realized that I'd been mostly mired down in praying for survival (for us and for them) rather than praying important, long-term prayers for my kids.

Then I went to see my parents for a weekend early in the summer. My mom and I were talking about how great her grandkids are (a topic she rather enjoys discussing, crank her up and you'll have a hard time shutting her down).

And then she gave me a tremendous gift: "You know," she said, "I pray for them every day. That they'll know the Lord and that they'll have spouses that do, too. Just like I used to pray for you guys, and look how well that worked out!"

I realized at that moment that I am a part of a community of faith, a family of faith. I have a unique role and responsibility to raise my kids as faithfully as I can. But it's not all on me to pray, teach, and lead my kids to Christ. If I step back and look at it, there's a ton of folks doing this alongside Kelly and I.

I'm speaking on "A Community of Faith" this week at our large group meeting. Mom's gift/story won't make the cut--college students don't quite connect with the intricacies of the whole parenting thing. But in my own life in the past couple months, it's been one of the most palpable experiences of being a part of a community of faith.

Thanks, Mom. If I can't get father-of-the-year, you're still in the running for grandmother-of-the-year.