For the first time this week, Jeston took an overnight trip without the rest of the family. He went on a field trip with his sixth-grade class to Camp Greenville. Jeston and his classmates got the wonderful experience of participating in an outdoor learning lab for three days and two nights. To be honest, the thought of not having Jeston in the house for a few days was very difficult to comprehend. There was a certain degree of difficulty seeing the vacancy of his seat at the dinner table and not having him in his bedroom at night. What made the situation more challenging was there was not a cell signal at the camp. Therefore, we had to anxiously wait for Jeston to call us on the landline.
As I reflect on these days, it reinforces the fact that parenthood is a part of Christian stewardship. God entrusts our young people to our care for only a little while so that we can show them love, teach them lessons, and prepare them for life. This responsibility is articulated in the wisdom of Proverbs when it says, “Train children in the right way, and when old, they will not stray” (Proverbs 22:6, NRSV).
As we gather on this Youth Sunday here at Morris Brown, let us renew our commitment to raise up our young people in the wonderful ways of our Lord because their faith will determine their future.
As we find ourselves with this unanticipated “stormy sabbatical,” it gives us time to reflect on the different storms that will come our way. Storms are a part of life. Sometimes, we are able to see them coming like hurricanes that travel across the Atlantic Ocean from the western coast of Africa. There are other times, however, when storms come out of nowhere like an unpredictable tornado that creates chaos with different twists and turns. Storms can be frightening and unpredictable. Even with this reality, God did not promise any of us a storm-free existence. Therefore, Morris Brown, the question that we must ask ourselves is what will we do when the storms come?
The drive back to Georgia, while evacuating from Hurricane Florence, gave Leslie and me a great opportunity to revisit some of our fondest memories of growing up in the Peach State. Every time we come home, it sparks conversation about the way things used to be. We talk and laugh about the things we did as children with our parents and siblings. One of my favorite things to do with my father, James, Sr., was going fishing. A fundamental lesson that he taught me was how to bait my hook. I have always been fascinated by the different kinds of bait that people use to catch fish. Some people use the traditional worms, other people use minnows and crickets, and yet there are some that even use chicken livers. All of these people use bait, in an attempt, to catch fish.