The older I get, the more I realize how blessed I am. From a very early age, I was given a grid, a God-context, for interpreting everything. As far back as I can remember, my family was taking me to church, reading Bible stories to me at night, praying with me before bed. At the age of 4, I decided I wanted to be a preacher. I wanted to tell other people about God. I can’t remember a time in my life when God wasn’t part of the equation.

This God-context became my worldview. Everything — every decision, every action — was directly connected to God. When I was punished for disobedience, my parents made me aware that disobeying them was disobeying God. When my mother would drive 20 minutes out of her way to take students home from the school where she taught, she told me it was because that’s what Jesus would want her to do. When times were good, I was taught to give thanks to God who gives us every good and perfect gift. When times were bad, I was taught to seek God out because those are the times when we need Him the most. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade my mother was fond of saying. Even this pithy saying revealed our family’s firm belief in God’s redemptive ability.

God’s fingerprints were all over our family. My parents knew of each other growing up, but as adults, they reconnected at a church in Nashville. 10 years after the birth of my sister — and in spite of being told she’d likely never have more children — I was the answer to my mother’s prayers for a son. Her prayer was the prayer of Hannah. Give me a son, she prayed, and I’ll give him back to You. God took her up on the offer. Years later I watched as my father (in 1987) and my mother (in 1994) each faced death with grace and strength and faithfulness. Even in those darkest hours when I lashed out at God in anger, I did so as an act of faith. For who else was there to scream at? My God-context dictated that God be a big enough God to handle even my anger. Despite my best efforts, I could not shed this grid for interpreting even the most senseless pain of my life. Looking back, I don’t know what I would’ve done without His faithful presence during those days. If you’ve ever lost a parent before, you’ll understand what I mean when I say God has truly been both father and mother to me over the years, sustaining me with the discipline and nurture that are respective to those parental roles. In short, He’s been everything to me. I realize that my life has been, is, and always will be about Him & His purposes. He drenches my life.

Now I hope to impart this same God-awareness to my own children. We share Bible stories together at home. We hold hands and pray before each meal. We say individual prayers with both children before tucking them in. I know they’re still very young. I don’t know at what point they’ll start to remember or develop memories that last. (Seems like I once read that a child is unable to retain memories prior to age 3 or so.) But whatever age that is, I want their first memories to be God-centered. I want to reciprocate by providing them with the same God-context my parents gave to me. That is perhpas the greatest thing I will ever do for them.

It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. — Ephesians 1:11, The Message