Dear people of Bethlehem,
Greetings Dear People of Bethlehem,
As many of you know, my wife Alissa and I recently announced that we are expecting a new addition to our family – we’re having a baby boy! He’s due at the end of December, and we couldn’t be more thrilled. We are especially excited that we get to move into this new chapter of our lives within the context of this incredible congregation. The outpouring of congratulations, support, and babysitting offers that we have already received have filled our hearts, and we feel incredibly blessed.
This past week, while we were on the summer mission trip to Flagstaff and the Navajo Nation, I shared our pregnancy news with the youth as a part of my evening devotion one of the nights. I asked them for parenting advice – after all, they are actively being parented, so I figured they should have some good insights into what works and what doesn’t! They gave me some incredible advice ranging from the importance of modeling empathy, to allowing kids to make their own mistakes so that they can learn from them, to buying your kid as many Lego sets as possible, to the importance of trust and the value of family traditions, and last but certainly not least, saying “I love you,” as often as you can.
They gave me a lot of good advice, but more than that, they gave me a renewed sense of hope and excitement about the kind of world and future that they are already helping to create. Their compassion, empathy, wisdom, humor, and thoughtfulness were so encouraging and filled me with great confidence. On numerous occasions I found myself thinking, “If these kids are our future, we really are in great hands.” It’s the kind of future that I look forward to bringing a child into, and for that I am incredibly grateful.
Blessings, Pastor Sam