Today we are celebrating our son Luke’s 8th birthday. Luke is a high-energy, tender, comical joy in our family. As with every birthday, particularly with the children, I am amazed at how fast each year goes. The life of Luke has been a great reference point of sanctification for me.
I remember the day Luke was born, it was like Africa hot in Omaha and my wife was far too pregnant (translation: I have never seen a belly this big). We were ‘going natural’ this pregnancy so that meant everything short of having the baby at home. Christie progressed quickly that afternoon and it resulted in me driving with hazard lights on at nearly light speed down the road to the hospital. It was nine minutes from check in that he was born. And he wasn’t just born…he jumped out. Literally, the doctor came running and knocked me out of the way as I had a notion of being an OB-dad for a minute.
In reality Luke never stopped moving from that initial leap. His first nine months were full of crying and very little sleep (for everyone involved). To make matters more complicated I seemed to be the only one who could get him to stop crying for extended periods. I remember holding him and just feeling bad for him but at the same time getting frustrated that he was inconveniencing me. At this point in my life I was a brand new Christian and I remember this as some of the first real struggles with the flesh. I just went to war on my heart and held him, realizing that he is not my child first but rather he is the property of Almighty God, I am just a steward, and with my bad attitude I was proving to be a pretty poor one. This was such a great time of growth for me and I thank God for using little Luke in my life to make me less like Erik and more like Jesus.
Luke’s life could be illustrated well by an event that happened when he was five. There was a mild confusion in his mind as to whether or not he was in fact Spiderman at this point and time, I think we have cleared this up, but there are occasion which cause me to wonder. Well, he had climbed a pine tree to the top, which was about 35-40 feet up. One of his buddies had tried to join him but unfortunately he fell from about halfway up (he was not hurt). We came running outside when we heard what had happened and I tried to climb up but the combination of weak and congested branches made this impossible. So we called the fire department. They came out with a beautiful red truck and with full sirens. They moved the ladder over and he climbed down the arm. The whole neighborhood clapped and Luke charmed the firemen as he made jokes and shrugged the thing off like no big deal. In many ways this is what Luke is about, high energy, loving challenges, making jokes and providing great fodder for stories. He is great to be around.
It is so exciting to watch Lukey grow up and prayerfully anticipate what he will become. With his high intensity, motivation and relentless persistence I of course would love to see him be a great preacher (he has a killer vain in his neck that bulges when he gets excited, this could be useful in the pulpit :/). However, even if he never preaches a sermon, I know that God desires that he be godly. And I understand that God must, by his grace and good pleasure, make him this man. It is my earnest desire and prayer though that God would make him a great man of God how fears and loves Jesus with heaven-sent joy and that he would make a tidal wave sized splash of the glory of God that would dwarf any pebbled splashes that I could would muster.
So, here’s to Luke on his 8th birthday, he is an enduring gift of God to Christie and me. We, and his brother and sisters love him so much and aim to be thankful and faithful stewards of such a gift from God.
I have to go, Luke wants to sword fight…:/