Ascent Conference

Man this conference has been SO good. It has been three years since I have been to anything like this. I have been impressed. There is much I could write about. So much good stuff.

The one thing I feel led to try to unpack right now though is this one truth (amongst the many truths/challenges) that Pastor Boyd shared. I'm not even sure which session it was. Doesn't matter.

His challenge went something like this:
"You have to learn to be a good son before you can learn to be a good father."
When he said that, my heart both leaped and hurt at the same time. I think he's right on. My first thoughts naturally went to my relationship (or lack of) with my own Dad. It was not good. It wasn't violent or anything like that. Just more of the "two ships that pass in the night" and never speak to each other about things that really matter, kind of thing. He was always there but never there, if that makes sense. And YES it mattered. And I did not know how to be a good son. I wasn't horrible just not good. I did not know how to be a good son or father. So....when I took that to pain to God, it mattered. But guess what, My Heavenly Father has healed me. I have shared with very few people exactly how that conversation with God went. Just trust me, He took the pain away and taught me how to be a "son". And then HE taught me how to be a father to my boys. And HE can do the same for you, if you'll just let Him.


And then I thought about my two boys. "Have I been a good Dad"? I like to think so. Perfect? NO! But, doing the best I can, with God's help and with the help of my awesome wife? I hope so.

It has SO blessed my heart this week to see my son Morgan (which, by the way, was sitting in the same room as me when those words of challenge were spoken by Brady). To see the man he is becoming blesses my heart. And to see how much the other students look up to him--and not just because he's tall. He is definitely one of the leaders of his class. SO cool!

I can't wait to have my other son ,Nathan, down here next month at Desperation Conference. It's going to ROCK! I couldn't be more proud of him also. I am blessed.

Have there been tough conversations with each of them? Absolutely! Worth it? Yes.

Has God had tough conversations with me? ABSOLUTELY! Worth it? You better believe it.

Why does God discipline his children? Because He LOVES us!