Aria is dedicated to the Lord.

Aria in her century old, heirloom christening gown

Well, Today was Aria’s dedication. Pastor Matt and many in the congregation had a chance to pray over her and it was really an encouraging event. One prayed for Rachel’s gentle beauty to be passed on to Aria. Another prayed for her to be filled with fire and passion for the Lord. These things are our heart for her.
We’re very excited about today as it had great meaning to us. I was reminded of our previous car, which seemed like it was always in disrepair. At one point, we were so frusterated with the constant (at this point, I had to rescue my daughter who just farted like a grown man and then pooped the amount you’d expect from a small cow. Anyway…) We were so frusterated with the car and all of the stress of not knowing if would work or not, we came to an impass. We had to say, “Lord, this is your car and we’re using it to accomplish your work. If you want to take it from us, so be it. Otherwise, we will steward it as best we can, but it is your car.”
For us, that decision meant that repair and overall maintenance of the car, was ultimately God’s responsibility. Some might say, “yeah right! Like God’s gonna change the oil. Ha!” God’s probably not going to supernaturally do that, no. But, He could if He wanted to. He could also use me to do it, or a friend, or a stranger. The point is not that I will neglect my duty or responsibility. The point is that by handing something over to God, I can accept it if He lets me keep it or if He chooses to take it away. I still care for it well because I know I will be held accountable for how I care for His resources.

Aria’s smile caught on camera

I want to treat Aria as best as a father can treat a daughter, raising her up in God’s ways. But, I know that I’m flawed and not able to protect her from everything. Therefore, for her sake, and for our own peace, we dedicate Aria to God. He is able to keep her as He is able to keep us and we will continually make this decision to trust God with her life. Please pray for us as we go through this new thing called parenthood.
As long as you are praying, you can also pray for our 9 month overseas internship plans. We have just gotten some things started but, we’re really a little behind schedule to leave Bethany by Jan. Well, God bless,
John

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 23rd, 2005 at 7:44 pm and is filed under Updates. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.