Tuesday, July 11

I'm pretty sure I cried...

I'm pretty sure I cried at the births of each of my children. I don't actually remember for sure, but how could I not weep when all three of my beautiful children, Michael, Matthew & Meghan, were born.

I do remember, however, very vividly, other times I cried when seeing my kids...

…dance recitals for my daughter Meghan. My little girl, up there on that huge stage. Every time she looks so beautiful, so grown up. It’s all coming too fast.

…every time that adventuresome spirit comes out in my son Matthew….running through the other team’s soccer tunnel, realizing at the age of 8 that losing a soccer game is definitely not the end of the world.

… that first day, of Michael’s first baseball practice, at the age of 6 as he whacked pitch after pitch into the outfield wearing #10 (my old number), and I just sat in the bleachers and cried like a baby (of course I pretended I just had something in my eye).

And then yesterday...as I dropped off Michael, now 16 years old, in the Pilsen community on the southside of Chicago to help with a weeklong soccer camp…and as I saw him jump in with a team of college players there to run this camp for neighborhood kids…I thought about the prayer that Monica and I have prayed for our kids since the days of their births..."May Jesus be real to our kids"...

And I realized, once again, that ‘Jesus becomes real to my kids' when they understand what it means to give their lives to Jesus, to be Jesus where they live everyday, to be fully engaged in the difference Jesus is making in our world.

And as I drove away from the park…I'm pretty sure I cried...again.

As Monica and I feel called to this ‘new thing’ in Knoxville, we believe, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that being a part of this church plant, ‘trusting an unknown future to a known God’...is an incredible way to ‘make Jesus be real to our kids’.


shalom

Mark Nelson at 9:34 AM 4comments

4 Comments

at 9:30 AM  Anonymous said...

If you're trying to make us cry...well...crap. It worked.

 

at 1:00 PM  Mark Nelson said...

Sorry Jephry...not trying, but tears are good cleansers of the soul...

 

at 3:19 PM  Anonymous said...

Guess you could say I had a good "soul cleansing" the Sunday morning you announced your departure from West Towne! I wasn't ready for that. However, finding this web site made me happy. Count me among the folks who are excited about your "new thing" in Knoxville!

Amy H.

 

at 6:57 PM  Mark Nelson said...

Amy...

I'm glad you found my blog...
Sorry 'bout that surprising 'soul cleansing departure'...but it was going to be too hard to argue with God on His direction for us...

Thanks for your excitement and your prayers for this 'new thing'...

mark

 

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