It's a new era...

Yesterday afternoon, at about 3:30 pm, I found myself in a place doing something I never thought I would do. I have never been one to cry at movies, I don't cry for much of anything truthfully. But yesterday, I was sitting at, are you ready for this? You could lose all respect for my in this moment... I was sitting at the Hannah Montana movie, and found myself in tears. It's true, I can't go on living a lie, the world must know, I am a pretty little girl. 

The truth is, I left that movie believing that every father should go see that movie with their daughter, and I dare you to hold back the tears that will be fighting to get out. 

I think the largest cause of the tears was the constant theme of a father watching his little girl grow up and become independent. As fathers we want to see our kids learn to make their own decisions, and we pray with all our might they will be the right ones. Decisions that will keep them safe, pure, and protected. At the same time when we begin to see them making decisions on their own, it is one of the scariest things on earth. When those decisions are the right ones, there is this very strange mix of emotions that vary from pride all the way down to fear and even anger. 

From the day our kids are born it is a slow, yet consistent movement toward losing them. All of life grows continually closer to independence. It's natural, it's right, it's God's design. So I ask myself, how are we supposed to let them go, at what age, when is it a good thing? The answer, I am convinced, is from day one. 

I have another daughter on the way, and all I can cling to for hope in a world that seeks to destroy innocence and purity at the earliest possible age, is that the God of the universe who formed my children in the womb, knows each by name, and tends to the smallest details of their lives, is in fact always keeping them as His own. I can't always be there, I can't always know everything, yet He can... He does... at all times. He never turns a deaf ear, nor does He ever turn His back. as the Psalmist say, 

"Where can I go to escape your presence? I go to the depths of the sea, you are their..." 

In this moment, I am even slightly choked up simply because I am so amazed by the majesty of my God. His providence is perfect, His arms are love, and His hand is steady. I can attempt to control my children, stress over their decisions, do everything in my power to protect them from the world, and in the end, are they any safer? 

No, instead, I will put them each in the hands of my faithful, loving, magnificent God, and I will rest easy knowing that He is able. 

Yes, my God is able.