Andrew's 13th

Yesterday was a busy and special day for the Mauldins. Sundays are alwas that way, but yesterday was even busier and more special. Yesterday was Andrew's (our yongest son) 13th birthday. My baby is now officially a teen-ager.

As I reflect on his life I can't help but smile and shed a tear all at once. I remember life before Andrew. Allen was almost nine when we found out Andrew was on his way. We had basically reconciled ourselves that Allen would be an "only child". Well, that wasn't God's plan. During Berni's (my wife) pregnancy with Andrew, we received word that some tests did not look good, so more were ordered. There was a chance that Andrew would have Down's syndrome. Before the final test was done, the doctor asked if termination of the pregnancy was an option. It was not! the doctor then advised not to do the test. We prayed the intire pregnancy for a healthy baby, but let God know that we would love and care for this child no matter what.

Well, March 19, 1993 came and we went to the hospital early in the morning. After a long hard labor, this beautiful 6 pound baby boy entered the world and changed our life forever.

I remember how cute he was at his grandmother's wedding. I remember his relationship with his grandpa. They were so much alike and were just meant to be grandfather and grandson. I remember his school activities. I smile when I remeber the play when he was the prosecuting attorney trying the case of "Jack and the Beanstalk". "Did you do it? Did you? Did You?" He was persistent. I remember the sun shining through the window so brightly each time Andrew had a line.

I think back on his baseball career. I remeber the game where Andrew started the game pitching, then played first base, then, when the game was on the line, his brother, Coach Allen, went to Andrew to close the game out as pitcher. We were ahead with winning run on base. I remeber my pride in both of my sons when we won that game. I remember a couple of years and several mile later andrew playing baseball in a different state and with different coaches. He had not pitched or played much that season. Before the game, the coach asked if Andrew though he could pitch some that game. Andrew said sure. The end result of that day was a "no-hitter". His first phone call--his brother.

I could go on and on about his accademic achievements and many other things in his life. but I guess the day I remember more than any other is the Sunday afternoon when he woke me up from my nap and said "Dad, I want to be baptized tonight." We talked and I was sure that he was very well aware of what he was doing. After we talked, he went down-stairs and told his brother. A little while later, Allen came up-stairs and said he wanted to be baptized that evening also. What a privilege for a father to baptize both of his sons into Christ on the same day.

I am so proud of his leadership at church. He is developing to be quite a song leader and truly loves to sing. I could go on and on (I know, some of you think I already have, but this is my BLOG about my son), but as we conclude the celebration of Andrew's 13th birthday I look forward to many more great years with both of my precious sons and their wonderful and lovely mother.

Seeing Jesus

In John 12 we read an account of a group of people coming to Philip and the apostles saying, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” (John 12:21) Just a short time later, in John 14, as Jesus was talking with his disciples preparing them for His death, He talked with them about The Father. In verse 8, Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.” Jesus wanted them to understand that seeing Him as seeing The Father.

Now, move forward several weeks. Much has happened. Life and priorities and understanding have truly been changed. Consider this assessment of the disciples as recorded in Acts 4:13. Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.

The world still needs to see Jesus. Some are asking; some don’t know that they need to see Jesus. But everyone needs to see Jesus. He is their only hope! As Christians, disciples of Christ, it is our job to show Jesus. However, we cannot show Him to others if we haven’t seen Him ourselves. We cannot get bogged down in the routine and miss seeing Jesus. Our constant prayer must be, “Open our eyes, Lord, we want to see Jesus.”

On Sunday mornings, currently I am preaching a series from Isaiah 53. I am striving above everything else to present Jesus. This week, we will consider “The Man Of Sorrows”. We realize that sorrow is a part of life. Christ came to bear our sorrows and experienced sorrows in His own life. May we truly see Jesus, the Man of Sorrows, and understand that His sorrows can result in our everlasting joy.

“Open our eyes, Lord, we want to see Jesus.”

The simplicity of prayer 

Reflecting on Prayer

I was really enjoyed Mike Cope's BLOG this morning. I enjoyed the pictures of his family. His comments on prayer caused me to reflect on my own prayer life. I remember a poster I saw once that said, "If you don't feel like praying, talk to God about it." When I first saw it, I thought it was rather silly and pointless. As I have grown, however, I have come to understand that there really is alot of truth and wisdom in that statement. It seems that we often develop this "formalistic" attitude of prayer. We feel we must be gramatically correct and use all of the right words. For me, sometimes that is really difficult. Sometimes what I really need is to just talk to my Father. sometime I really need to just forget about getting the words right and just "spill my guts" to God. I don't know about you, but sometimes I don't feel like praying, I just need to talk to God.