Sundays at Starbucks

The father of a righteous man has great joy;

he who has a wise son delights in him.
~Proverbs 23:24

Dear Davis,

Last Sunday we were so exhausted from our Fourth of July pool party that we decided to skip church and sleep in. Once we got going that morning, we decided we could go do our book study (we’re reading a father/son devotional book called Boyhood and Beyond by Bob Schulz, and each Sunday the two of us go to Starbucks to discuss the chapters we read that week) in the morning rather than our traditional afternoon time. We got to Starbucks around 10:30 am and we ordered our usual drinks. When we got to discussing the questions from the first book section we read. That’s when this Starbucks visit went from being typical to very, very special…...

The section we began to discuss was about the topic of education. The theme of our reading was that the main purpose of education is to prepare you for life’s situations. The last question in our reading was “What is the most important situation you will face?” and you correctly answered, “Judgment before God” as was discussed in the reading. In the follow up question, though, you got hung up. It read, “Are you prepared for it?” You responded, “I don’t know.”

I’m going to stop right here and say that one of my daily prayers is to ask God to use me to lead you and your siblings into a relationship with Him….to raise you knowing Him and believing in Him and mostly, trusting in Him. Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it”. I have seen this work in my life as well as in others’ lives. I know that you will make your own decisions when the time comes, but the Bible tells us that if your Mom and I can get you on the right path early when you are young, you will ultimately come back to that path later in life. Not to mention that salvation is eternal and can NEVER be lost…but back to the story…

I then probed you about Jesus, to which you said you believed He was the Son of God, that He died for our sins and that He is the Christ, the Messiah. I asked you if you felt there was some sin that hadn’t been dealt with, to which you said, “No.” But you still said that you weren’t sure if you died today that you would go to Heaven. After some discussion about differences between churches you’ve attended and some discussion about how I came to Christ, I told you that you can be sure today that you will go to Heaven…and asked if you would be willing to pray with me. Right there, at approximately 11 am on July, 2009 inside the Starbucks on Pike Street in Lawrenceville, you prayed to make Jesus the Lord of your life. AMEN!!

In Matthew 19:14 Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” I am totally in awe of the sincere faith you demonstrated at Starbucks that day. To see you mature enough to admit that you weren’t sure about your salvation, brave enough to say that aloud to me and then be willing to turn your life over to the care of God in Christ was pretty amazing. I wish I had more of that childlike faith at times -- that unconditional trusting that God will always be there for me – that He will hold my hand across the street of life, and I don’t have to worry. And so I pray for you, Davis……for your new journey as my brother in Him…..that you grow strong in your relationship with The Father….that you trust Him completely and unconditionally, and that you continue to have the peace you can ONLY know when Jesus lives in your heart.

I am so proud of you and I love you so much, my son……and now my brother!

Love,
Daddy