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Like
Father, Like Son!
Gabriel is definitely into role playing. He spends
a lot of time pretending to be some kind of animal or
super hero, acting out characters from his favorite
movies or trying to be like his big brother, Bryson, by
playing musical instruments and singing. (Just a
side note: While Gabriel was recovering from the
stomach virus, he was missing Bryson who was in
Louisiana. When he was trying to eat supper, he
complained about his stomach still hurting a little.
Then he said, "I think my stomach hurts because I miss
Brycee so much." He was ready to see his big
brother again!) But one in awhile, he tries to be
like his dad.
On Sunday,
Sonny had a headache and scratchy throat. This
brought up the conversation between us about what would
happen if Sonny got too sick during a speaking
engagement to preach. Gabriel overheard this and
volunteered to preach in his place. Of course, we
smiled and told him that it might be possible someday.
Well, the rest of the afternoon was spent drawing
handouts to give to everyone as they came to church that
night. Then Gabriel moved on to preparing his
sermon. As he wrote (drew) his sermon, he
practiced on me. He did a great job of telling
about the parable of the "Good Samaritan". But he
didn't stop there, he also wrote a lesson for the kids.
He was all prepared to preach and he couldn't wait!
During all
of this preparation, Sonny was resting and trying to
feel better for his sermon that night. When he got
up, Gabriel immediately showed him the sermon he had
written and the handouts the he had made. He had
no doubt in his mind that Sonny was too sick to preach
and that he needed to fill in for him. However,
Sonny told him that he was better, but, not wanting to
squash Gabriel's enthusiasm, he thought it would be a
great idea for Gabriel to preach first. This
satisfied Gabriel.
Gabriel
was so excited about preaching that he could hardly
wait. He followed Sonny around the auditorium and
sat in his lap during the singing. He could hardly
sit still. As the singing and praying continued
on, I could see Gabriel's face change from excitement to
distress. He was growing impatient and wanted to
get on with the preaching! Finally it was time to
stand up with his dad. As Sonny explained the
whole situation, Gabriel leaned up against his legs.
I really thought he was going to back out, but he
didn't. He got a shy smile on his face when Sonny
told him it was time to preach. The first words
out of his mouth were, "I can't remember." I
started sinking in my seat because I knew he would be
reduced to tears if he didn't preach his sermon, but he
slowly started to remember. As he looked at the
pictures he had drawn, he remembered the story he wanted
to tell and everything was alright. Everyone
smiled and encouraged him with their applause and kind
words.
When he
came to sit on my lap, I asked him if he forgot his
sermon because he was nervous. He said, "No, it
was because it took so long before I got to preach!"
Now I understood what the distress was all about.
He was starting to forget what he had prepared.
He had
tried so hard to be like his dad and he had accomplished
some of his goal by writing a sermon, making handouts
and standing before an audience to present his sermon.
Unlike his father, however, he doesn't have the maturity
to present a sermon that's more than 2 minutes long or
to depend on the Holy Spirit to help him remember what
he has prepared.
Even
though it was fun to watch Gabriel try to be like his
dad, it made me realize the struggle that we go through
each day as we try to be like our Heavenly Father.
As Christians, we strongly desire to be just like Him in
every way, but our attempts fall so short of His
greatness. He is beyond our reach because we are
so immature. But, just as Gabriel will keep trying
to be like his dad and will become more like him through
the years, we should not let go of our desire to be more
like God. We know we can't be Him and even be a
carbon copy, but we can become more like Him if we just
hang in there and not lose sight of our goal.
I just
wonder....does God take pride in our attempts to be like
Him, just like we enjoy watching our children try to be
like us? It's a pleasant thought!
Summary
of the Week
What a
week! It started off with Bryson and Cathie in
Louisiana while Sonny preached at our home congregation
in Arkansas. I went to the doctor on Monday
because of the pain in my face (as Sonny explained last
Monday) and Gabriel had a stomach virus (as Sonny also
explained last Monday). We had planned to leave
for Louisiana on Tuesday, but due to illness we stayed
home to recover and finish packing.
Sonny,
Gabriel and I left early Wednesday morning for his
speaking engagement in Pine Prairie, LA. We met
Cathie just inside the Louisiana border where we traded
vehicles and swapped luggage. Then we joined
Bryson in Turkey Creek, LA, where the fifth-wheel is
parked.
Sonny
spoke Wednesday through Saturday at the Pine Prairie
Church of Christ. He began his revival at the
Turkey Creek Church of Christ on Sunday. It was
great to see our brothers and sisters at both of these
congregations and make some new friends! Please
continue to pray for Sonny as he speaks at least once a
day for the next 9 days.
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