So Do Not Fear...

I was just sitting here wondering, “What is my life coming to?” I am presently married (to an amazing woman!), a seminary student, a school bus driver, a mattress salesman and a father-to-be. Who could have imagined? This certainly is not how I would have predicted things to turn out. I am married to a beautiful, lovely woman named Julie. She is the love of my life. We are in our second year of marriage and I am so thankful for her. Julie is due in August and the prospect of being a father is daunting to say the least. I feel completely inadequate to “train up a child in the way he should go.” I rarely know which way I should go, so I am at a loss for how I should teach somebody else. Fatherhood is an enormous responsibility. While I am certainly not really qualified to raise a child and a strong sense of fear crosses my heart when I think about myself as a future father, I know that “His mercies are new every morning” and that His “grace is sufficient.” That is exactly why Jesus tells us not to worry about the future, but to trust God and his promises. Isaiah 41:10 is the most precious promise for me and what I continually preach to myself throughout the day:“So do not fear for I am with you. Do not be dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.”Promises like this are designed to overcome our fear of what may occur in the unknown future and drive that fear away. They are designed to give us a “peace that passes understanding” and a deep sense of joy in the God that is sovereign over all things, even the tiny cells that are dividing and forming the baby that will be my son or daughter. Please pray for Julie and me that we would learn to truly trust God in this time of uncertainty and excitement of the birth of our baby in August.