From an earlier chapter . . .

Life is like a book. Days are like pages. Each day we wake up and scratch out our markings on the page. Our schedules are templates that push us toward making the same type of markings each day. That’s why it feels like Groundhog Day sometimes. Every once in a while a chapter comes to an end and that is when we recognize how far we have gotten through the book.

My son Jeremy is getting married in a week. His wedding will mark the beginning of a new and exciting chapter in his life and the end of a chapter in mine.

The section of my life that is about Jeremy started thirty years ago when I was still a student in college. Karen and I got married while still in school and I found out the result of her pregnancy test while working the breakfast shift at the dining commons. Nine months later I staggered around the halls of the hospital like some ancient Indian chief mumbling, “I have a son. I have a son.”

This has been a wonderful section of my life. Jeremy has added joy at every turn of a page. I could not have asked for a better son.

Next Saturday he will begin a new chapter of his life. Perhaps he will have a son of his own. I hope so. I would love for him to have the chance to experience what he gave me.

During this week’s sermon I will mention the relationship God the Father has with God the Son. It will only be a short comment but considering the timing of Jeremy’s wedding it hit me pretty hard.

There is a time in the first chapter of Mark when Jesus is being baptized. God the Father can hold it in no longer and shouts out, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” The Son was a sheer delight to the Father and the Father shouted for all the world to hear. “That’s my boy. That one. I love you son. I’m so proud of you.”

There is something inside of me that feels like that now with my son. Shouting those words would bring me to tears. There is a sadness that comes with that kind of love especially when the shout comes when the Father can see the end of the chapter coming.

And that’s the point. God the Father could see the end of the chapter coming too. The Father was saying goodbye in a way. It was the end of a chapter but the beginning of a new one for all of us.

Life is like a book. God made it so. He is the author who determines the chapters. And he wrote the very best chapter the world has ever read. Don’t forget it as you turn a page today in your own life.