Your children will be taught of the Lord...

There's an Old Testament verse that speaks of your children being taught of the Lord. I may be pulling it a bit out of context, but it certainly is the hope of every believing parent that their children move from being taught at our tables to being taught of the Lord, that they will make the Lord their trust, that they will walk with the Lord and bring glory to Him in their personal walks. We have that great blessing in our children. They have made the Lord their trust, and they are taught of Him. It's wonderful to watch His plan unfold in their lives. Adult children are as fun as little ones. In fact, our next event is waiting for the birth of our next grandchild that Andrew and Julia are expecting any day now!

We had the privilege this weekend to watch God unfold some of his plan in Daniel, our eldest. All 4 of the grandparents (Daryl, myself, Dave, and Linda Pait) were at the "Grand Opening to the public" (not the best term but descriptive) of Bethany Community Church. This is a church plant from the parent church, Bethany Baptist Church in Peoria, Illinois. The plant is in Washington, Illinois. I can't begin to describe the emotion of the day, and didn't want to head to bed until I get some of these thoughts in type. I guess it was sort of like the birth of a grandchild, in that you are so overwhelmed at God's grace and work in your children, and that something of great joy has been born. Daryl and I were both overcome and found our eyes leaking, but I'm not sure quite what the emotions were. I think it was just the joy of seeing God's Hand working in our children.

As the service began, I had to fight being proud of Daniel...I knew it isn't his church, it's the Lord's church, and His mighty grace at work. However, I confess to some initial parental "pride". As I battled that, I realized that I was with fellow believers, and was there to worship God, not honor Daniel. The wonderful thing was, it was easy to make that shift. The focus was not on the leadership, the newness of the church, or even the 596 people in attendance. The focus was on the Lord. He didn't distract from that by saying, "I want to introduce...or I want to thank" anybody. No focus on who did what, or on what hard work went into the day. Daniel just led his flock into worship and the teaching of the Word.

It was a wonderful time, and I'm glad to have been there for it. Thanks, Dave, for the work you did getting tickets for us that were economical, and Thanks, Daryl my love, for letting THIS be the weekend we went. I wouldn't want to have missed this for anything!