Wrote this back on 10/1/2018 – Thought I’d restart this blog with some reminders over the past year…
As I get older… so do my kids. That’s the strange part I think for me. I just got on the plane to head back home after leaving my oldest son at college. It just seems like yesterday that we were playing ball in the living room (trying not to break anything). I really hate saying goodbye to him. We’ve done it a number of times now but I still hate saying goodbye. Every time I fight off the tears as I reflect on his life. I remember him as a child… I remember when he gave his life to Christ… I remember when he was baptized… I remember when he hit his first home-run… I remember his first girlfriend… I remember just about everything… maybe because he was my firstborn or maybe it’s that special connection that comes from the first 18 years of his life being glued to my side… who knows, I just know that I still hate saying goodbye. I pray for him daily, I ask for God’s grace on him. I ask for God’s wisdom to guard his life. I ask that God’s love will always keep him close to Him. I pray that God’s Spirit will guide and light his path. I pray that he will always remain humble, only speak when he has to, and acts with love and kindness. I pray that only truth will be on his tongue, that he will serve others first, that he will always remember the awesome acts of God. I long for him to be only and everything that God created him to be. I hope that he will never stop believing, never stop praising, and never stop proclaiming Christ!
This morning I snuck into his room (at Uncle Destry’s home) and just watched him sleep for a bit… then I prayed over him and blessed him. My heart longs for him and desires nothing but good for him and his future. He has always been my beloved son and I am grateful that I have had the privilege of being asked by such a loving God to steward him as his dad. I can only pray that I have been a faithful steward of him as well as all his brothers and sisters. Thank you Lord for Joshua! I can only ask that the Lord to take me home before He takes Joshua because I would hate having to say goodbye.