Feathers in Our Nest

My dear sweet Vera,

Happy one week birthday! I can’t believe how much you’ve grown and changed since you were born. You are so beautiful, and I fall more and more in love with you every day. You’ve already passed your birth weight (you weighed 7 lbs., 13 oz. at the doctor’s today!) and you are filling out everywhere. You’re a great little nurser!I love your sweet newborn softness and your adorable baby hair. I love when your hair sticks out everywhere like a little birdie. I love nursing you and sharing special moments together, like when you curl up and fall asleep on my chest. I love to rub the soft little spot at the back of your neck. Everything about you is sweet: your lips, your nose, your ears, your toes…

You have such pretty eyes and I love it when you look at me. Your little baby cry is so cute! I love that when you need me at night you know that a soft little “eh” noise is all it takes to get my attention. You love to stretch and you are such a strong girl already. We have to watch you closely so you don’t roll yourself off the couch or propel your body off our laps!

Your Daddy adores you too. He is so tender with you and loves to hold you and speak softly to you. He has done such a good job taking care of you and Mommy this week.

We look forward to continuing to watch you grow!

We love you so very much, little Vera!

I was recently reading a great blog post entitled “Teens Want More than Pizza.” The post was written by a high-school pastor from Chicago, but it just as easily could have been written by my husband! (Their philosophy of youth ministry is essentially the same.)

The author’s three main points are:

I cannot compete with my students’ culture in the area of entertainment.
I can offer high school students the real gospel of Jesus Christ—and they can handle it.
Growth happens not by entertaining, but by equipping.

He states:

Some youth pastors can keep up much better than I can. Still, even the savviest, coolest, most-in-touch youth pastor around will find himself unable to entertain students in a way that will keep them coming to his youth group. The competition is simply too stiff.
The gospel—the objective reality that “Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,” which is received by faith alone—is what high school students really crave. The amazing (and constantly humbling) thing about continually offering the gospel to students is the response it brings. The response is not: “Wow, Jon, you’re cool,” or “That music was off the hook!” It’s actually a much more biblical response: repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. High school students crave the real, true, life-changing, not-watered-down gospel of Jesus Christ. Woe to us if we give them anything less. (Emphasis added.)

Read the rest of the post here!

image source: sxc.hu