June 29

Drew


Children are a gift from the LORD....

Psalm 127:3a (NLT)


A wise son maketh a glad father....

Proverbs 15:20a (KJV)


January 31st is a special day, and this January 31st is extra special. Today, my son Drew turns 20. The big 2-0! No longer a teenager. He is 20. He is a man, and I am so proud of him.

Drew was born on this day in 1988 at 11:26 p.m. in an Air Force hospital on Castle AFB, California. He weighed a very common 8 pounds 5 ounces and measured 20 inches in length. His arrival took twenty hours of labor for mom and a ton of ice chips, and for his dad it took left over nurses’ pizza and breathing exercises between Super Bowl plays. Hmm ... that doesn’t sound right! Let’s just say Kris went through a lot to give us our first son ... and we’ve never regretted the hardship that got him here.

Now, he turns 20, and I want to make this special. I don’t have a lot of money, but I have the Soderquist coat-of-arms to give him—a sort of passing of the mantle. And encouragement to be all he can be—giving his best for Christ. The coat-of-arms reflects this, I think.

The shield displays four dramatic scenes. One, shown twice in a box on a diagonal, is a powerful walking lion. To me, this represents the power and motivation of Christ, the Lion of Judah. Christ can make a difference in anyone’s life. The other picture (again shown twice in the same box on an opposite diagonal) is that of a well and a water bucket—a beautiful picture of John 4 where Jesus meets the woman at the well and changes her life forever. Again, so meaningful as it pictures Christ and His thirst-quenching gift of salvation—the water of life. A good reminder, too, of our calling to share this gift of life with others.

My gift to Drew is small, but I pray it means so much more to him. God’s gifts, you see, are the best gifts of all.


Father, help us to love our children. Help us to give them our very best—this wonderful knowledge of You. Amen.