I don't Know Nuthin' 'bout Birthin' no Babies.

I love that line from the classic "Gone With the Wind" A movie more famous for the stunning line, "Frankly, Scarlet, I don't give a damn." First time a curse word found it's way onto the big screen. Now you can't make a movie without a stream of cussing. A couple of years ago I was going to use clip from the movie Field of Dreams, while the clip ran in class, the cuss words kept jumping out at me. It was like the cuss words all of a sudden were three times louder than the rest of the dialog. I wonder why we aren't at that church anymore?

Anyway, I digress. I call my dad about once or twice a week. We visit about the livestock at the farm, the wildlife (currently the big news is trapping wild hogs, since they are tearing up his fence-line) We visit about people that I don't know, and catch up on extended people that I do know, but don't interact with all that often. Recently we seem to be talking about funerals, who he is going to, which ones he is serving in, etc.
But yesterday, while sitting in Dallas traffic, he told me the most amazing thing, "We have five great-grandchildren on the way." FIVE! Of course one of them is my D-i-L, with the incomparable name of Isaac (meaning laughter) then two daughters from my sister, Dad's wife's granddaughter, and finally my nephew and his wife. They have been married for ten years, and frankly we had just assumed that they were not going to participate in this event.
But FIVE?!? I told dad we needed a scorecard to keep everyone straight, he commented that at his age he could get away with mixing up all the names. Actually, I keep calling my youngest grandson Eli, instead of Lincoln, so I'm following a great tradition handed down by my father.
So while the number is stunning, it is a great comfort to me that this is occurring. Since the great-grandparents are long-time kingdom residents, and every grandparent is as well, and the kids (the parents-to-be) are all believers, then my mind is little more settled about our future. Faith is handed down from generation to generation, recrafted to fit the times, but true and effective for all times. As church leaders fret and moan and fidget..FAMILIES carry forth the mission of God, organic, honest, and durable.
God in his infinite wisdom gave the Divine Love quotient to parents, not organizations. Parents will sacrifice all for their babies, organizations will sacrifice all the babies for their continuity.

To quote another movie, "The sacrifice of many for the good of the one."
I love movies, they are the cultural language of our time. My apologies to my children, I could not think of a way to use, "As you wish." in this blog, perhaps next time.

Godspeed out there. We are gathering quite a crowd behind us.
Don