{"id":6111,"date":"2018-02-23T10:30:54","date_gmt":"2018-02-23T16:30:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/?p=6111"},"modified":"2018-02-23T10:30:54","modified_gmt":"2018-02-23T16:30:54","slug":"nothing-more-important","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2018\/02\/23\/nothing-more-important\/","title":{"rendered":"Nothing More Important"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Michael Whitworth<\/strong>
\nLast Christmas, my mom gave me the best holiday gift I had ever received\u2014a photo album covering my dad\u2019s life.\u00a0It\u00a0was so meaningful\u00a0because\u00a0Dad passed away in 2004, and my wife and I were expecting our first child in the\u00a0spring (our son ended up being\u00a0born on the first day of\u00a0spring!). It was hard to keep my composure as I flipped through\u00a0that photo\u00a0album, one that held pictures of my dad I\u00a0had\u00a0not previously seen. I now had a photographic\u00a0record to share with my son about\u00a0the grandfather he would\u00a0never meet.\u00a0<\/span>
\nWhen my wife and I learned we were having a boy, my excitement level\u00a0registered\u00a0on the Richter scale. I daydreamed about the camping trips and football games we would enjoy together. I thought of all the things he would surely do to make me proud: become an Eagle Scout, win the Heisman trophy,\u00a0graduate\u00a0summa cum laude<\/i>,\u00a0and kill wild animals with his bare hands.\u00a0<\/span>
\nBut these are not the greatest desires of my heart.\u00a0My own dad had a profound impact on my life, one I continue to feel every single day. My dad taught me there is nothing more important in life than one\u2019s relationship with the Lord.\u00a0Nothing was more important than being in Christ.\u00a0It was the driving force of his\u00a0whole\u00a0life. Because of his influence, this has become my driving force as well, and I want to pass the same on to my son.\u00a0<\/span>
\nI pray every day that\u00a0my son\u00a0will observe my example\u00a0and obey my instruction, and in so doing will come to know Christ as Lord. I hope my son is smart like his mom. I hope he makes good grades in school and is acclaimed for his scholarship. But if he is little more than a \u201cC\u201d student yet lives a life worthy of Jesus, he will be a success in my eyes.\u00a0<\/span>
\nI\u00a0hope my son is physically strong and athletic. I hope he is able to\u00a0climb mountains, navigate the wilderness,\u00a0lead the Dallas Cowboys to the Super Bowl, and leap tall buildings in a single bound. But if he can\u2019t even hit a Whiffle ball to save his life yet is known as a man of the Word, he will be a success in my eyes.\u00a0<\/span>
\nThat is why his mom and I pray over him every night. It\u2019s why we read\u00a0the Scriptures to him\u00a0before he was even a day old. It\u2019s why being with the Lord\u2019s people will\u00a0always\u00a0be a priority\u00a0for us. It\u2019s why I asked the Lord\u00a0at\u00a0his birth to give him David\u2019s strength, Solomon\u2019s wisdom, Abraham\u2019s faith, and the fervor of Peter and Paul. It\u2019s why I tell my son every night he will become mighty in Israel.\u00a0<\/span>
\nIn late\u00a0summer 2004,\u00a0Dad wrote a newspaper article about the unexpected passing of a beloved\u00a0Christian friend. He concluded, \u201cLet us all be reminded that death is certain for all of us and that we ought to live in such a way that we can \u2018die in the Lord\u2019 for our family\u2019s sake!\u201d\u00a0Only the Lord knew that, in a few short weeks,\u00a0Dad would pass from this life.\u00a0When I preached\u00a0Dad\u2019s funeral, I openly lamented that he would never know his grandchildren. But if\u00a0my son\u00a0comes to trust and obey Jesus, he will know his grandfather in the life to come.\u00a0<\/span>
\nDad died in Christ for his family\u2019s sake. Nothing is more important than being in Christ.\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u00a0<\/span>
\nMichael Whitworth preaches for the Church in Bowie, Texas. He blogs regularly at\u00a0<\/i>Start2FinishBlog.com.\u00a0<\/i>In his spare time, Michael enjoys drinking coffee, watching sports, and spending time with his wife and son.<\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Michael Whitworth Last Christmas, my mom gave me the best holiday gift I had ever received\u2014a photo album covering my dad\u2019s life.\u00a0It\u00a0was so meaningful\u00a0because\u00a0Dad passed away in 2004, and my wife and I were expecting our first child in the\u00a0spring (our son ended up being\u00a0born on the first day of\u00a0spring!). It was hard to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[59,66],"tags":[58,755,1051,1375,1386,573],"class_list":["post-6111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian-living","category-think-excerpts","tag-children","tag-father","tag-feature","tag-june-2013","tag-michael-whitworth","tag-parenting","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nNothing More Important - Focus Press<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2018\/02\/23\/nothing-more-important\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nothing More Important - Focus Press\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Michael Whitworth Last Christmas, my mom gave me the best holiday gift I had ever received\u2014a photo album covering my dad\u2019s life.\u00a0It\u00a0was so meaningful\u00a0because\u00a0Dad passed away in 2004, and my wife and I were expecting our first child in the\u00a0spring (our son ended up being\u00a0born on the first day of\u00a0spring!). 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