Today, we’re having our baby Abigail dedicated to the Lord. We’re not really dedicating her as we are dedicating ourselves to be good parents and to train her in the way she should go.
As we dedicate her, we wonder about our own walks with the Lord, whether we’re really walking with Him or not. I’ve felt distant the last few months, closer to His blessings and protection than close to Himself. I don’t like that. I’m sure I could find happiness in the blessings, but it’s more a relational desire to have communion with my Blesser, than some false humility.
I’m been thinking about about desiring God and how He should be our greatest joy: To have life with Jesus and to know Him, talk with Him, eat with Him, worship Him. I read graphic design magazines all the time. I read one where an designer had wasted his time and talent making a poster calling Jesus our “imaginary” friend. At first I felt a bit angry over the blasphemy, but then sorrow over this talented young man who turned his back on the Lord Jesus. He said that he grew up the son of a pastor, and I wonder and consider what went wrong. Did he see Christians as hypocrites? I praise the Lord that he was merciful to keep me in His flock, though I saw nothing but hypocracy and corruption in many churches and denied and blasphemed His name to His face.
I wonder what Abigail will think of us as Christians. Will she admire us or hate us? My parents were sinners, yet I give them credit to their example, being better than most “righteous” people out there.
I’m reading, or rather, re-reading a book entitled “They’re Gentiles For Christ’s Sake” by Ken Loyd. I got this book when a girlfriend and I drove up to Eureka to check out the place and visit a church plant from another church called The Bridge in Portland. I never met Ken. I don’t agree with everything he says. But I feel like I know him on a personal and spiritual level. Maybe it’s because we share the same fellowship in the Lord Jesus. But I wanted to reread his book. I love what the Bridge is doing up in Portland, or better, what God is doing through the Bridge. I never even visited the Bridge. I wanted to when Liz and I visited Portland in May, but she was ready to give birth so we couldn’t get out much.
I’d like to someday take my wife and my little girl to The Bridge. But for now, I’m going to reread Ken’s book and comment on it.