(The following is from a note I wrote to chandler several years ago…)
Chandler,
Today you shared your first orange with me. We sat in the car waiting for your mom as she talked inside church. I was ravenous after preaching the Sunday sermon. I opened the first thing I could find to eat which was an orange rolling around in the backseat. I gave you a little bite, and you sucked the juice right out of it. I loved sharing that orange with you. It was refreshing in more than one way; while the orange filled my physical hunger, your companionship re-hydrated my soul.
Today was a hard sermon to preach. The passage I preached was in John chapter 2 where Jesus cleansed the temple. Preaching to people about the need for repentance is never easy. The call to repent weighs heavy on the preacher’s heart because he knows the need for it and the people’s resistance against it.
So thank you for sitting with me after a hard sermon. Thank you for your 7-month-old smiles. Thank you for making all my worries of offended people go away as you smiled with each bite. I love you so much, buddy. You do not (and perhaps never will be ableto) understand the important role you have in my ministry.
I love you.
Dad.
