Some of Terri's and my greatest hopes and heart-felt prayers for our oldest three children (Luke, Lisa and Sam) have been met and answered by our heavenly Father in a most gratifying way. As they entered into their serious dating relationships with the three people who would ultimately become their spouses (Rebekah, James and Caitlin), they welcomed us (and the other sets of parents too) into their romantic journey's in a very meaningful way. What a mind-blowing honor that has been. They sought out our counsel and advice, they prayed with us, they were humble, vulnerable and transparent with us about their romantic growing pains and they shared with us their relational joys and triumphs. What more could parents ask for?
As a result, each couple now has the wholehearted support and blessing of both sets of their parents and all the good will and relational resources in the extended family that have naturally flowed back to them. All of the parents involved (the Swift's, the Hoskins' and the Merwin's) know what a blessing this is from God and do not take credit for this. We all know great parents who have not experienced this particular blessing. I guess all of us get our "special kisses" from the Father. On our end, I do think back on how our kids substantially "bought into" our philosophy of how to engage in and pace a potentially romantic relationship long before the "real one" came along--not that there weren't any bumps in the road for them.
Today, I'm thinking back on how James and Lisa approached their romance with intention and principle, at every stage...from a special mutual attraction...to getting to know the other as friends...to deliberately entering into a year-long "steady" relationship to see if there might be a future together...to James asking me if he could ask Lisa to marry him with my blessing...to a joy-filled six month engagement...to their walking down the aisle to say "I do, 'till death parts us" on a extremely romantic snowy night last January. They did this with a wonderful and graceful cadence that was full of divine rhythm and endorsement at every turn. (Luke & Beka and Sam & Cait have similar love stories to tell.) How glad they all are now that they embraced the loving wisdom and disciplines of Christ's ways and kingdom that initiate, govern and guard healthy romances and happy marriages.
Now we only have two sons left to "marry off"...but not yet! Say some prayers for us and we will for you.
Following is a excerpt from an email James Hoskins, our son-in-law sent out yesterday. Maybe you'd enjoy seeing some of the stuff he's been writing and an interview with him on a recent podcast.
"On that same note, I have been doing more writing in the Philosophy of Science area; particularly concerning the "evolution vs. intelligent design" debate. The website that featured my story "Confession" a few months back has asked me to become a regular writer/blogger for them. You can read two other things I've written for them since then here http://www.arn.org/_idarts/wordpress/. In addition to that, the Discovery Institute, a think-tank based out of Seattle, interviewed me for their weekly podcast on Intelligent Design. You can listen to the interview here http://www.idthefuture.com/. I felt greatly honored (and a bit out of place) to be given that opportunity since they usually interview only scientists and doctors."
No comments:
Post a Comment