MOMENT IN TIME

I have found that sometimes in life as a mother and grandmother, you experience that “moment in time” where you just KNOW it will be forever etched in the pages of your heart and memory.  Those moments that somehow stand out from all the rest, and enable you to pull the pictures of them from your mind and linger over them and dwell on them to your heart’s content for years to come.  I experienced one of those moments on Sunday and I hoping that I can “somehow” describe it to all of you in such a way that you can experience it with me.  It is one of those times when I wish I had the ability that I have seen in so many of you to express myself in such a way that you are living it with me.  I am trying (though not very successfully) not to be upset that I just took the better part of two hours typing all of these thoughts out, only to SOMEHOW lose it.  I could have just cried.  But I am NOT going to let that stop me from trying again.  It is just too precious of a moment not to share, though I know this one will be MUCH shorter, haha.    I have experienced many of “those moments” over the course of my life as a mother.  The moment each one of those babies was born for sure.  Watching them take their first steps.  The first time I watched my oldest child go off to school, or the day my youngest graduated from college.  Watching my oldest throw his first touchdown pass as the varsity quarterback, or the karate tournament where he won overall best, or the day my middle son stood in front of a large audience and did his first standup comedy performance, or the day my daughter came around the corner sitting on the back end of the convertible Mercedes in her wedding dress and veil looking soo beautiful, or was it simply the look on her face that day when she saw her husband to be for the first time?  All those moments in time….I am afraid I could go on and on as I have been blessed with so many of them.  I am sure all of you mom’s know just the “moments” I am talking about.  The moments that make all those OTHER moments unimportant, haha…All the sacrifice and hard work and time spent on your knees worthwhile. 

 As I have already told you, we traveled down to San Diego yesterday to hear my son James deliver the message to a church where he will most likely be the senior pastor to come next summer.  Now I have heard him teach many times before, and have already experienced “the moment” the first time I ever got to hear him do so.   This was somehow VERY different.  Maybe it was just the overall feel of the church.  It is a much smaller church (around 200 people) than the one he has been serving at for the last 6 years, so the “feel” would be very different to begin with I guess.  The people were warm and friendly and greeted us with enthusiasm as obvious newcomers.  The worship team was wonderful, and very quickly drew us all into a time of worship and praise.  But I think for me it really began in earnest as my son began to pray and teach.   I believe the Holy Spirit anointed him in such a way as he spoke, that it was soon very obvious that the words we were hearing were God’s words for this precious church of believers.  His love for these people is strong and flowed through the church in almost a tangible way.  I watched my son being only the vessel the Lord used to encourage and bring comfort and hope to these people.  It doesn’t really matter who the new pastor of this church is, as long he is chosen by God to do so, for the Lord will protect His people.    I am proud of my son (and all of my children) and for what he is able to do to serve the Lord and make his living at the same time, but that was NOT what this was about.  It was the witnessing of the power of God and the moving of the Holy Spirit among His people.  I have not explained this as well as I would like to, but I think you get the idea.  It was a VERY special moment in time.  How grateful I am that I was able to be there to experience it.    The rest of the day was also very enjoyable, but WAY too long to type out and now I have been at this WAY too long so I will tell it another time.  How blessed we all are by the moments that make our lives special and unique and unforgettable.  May we always be grateful to the one who makes it all possible