Jamin Bradley

I’m a third generation Free Methodist pastor and I sometimes wonder where I’d be today if my grandpa hadn’t started that tradition long ago. Likewise, I wonder if the tradition might continue with my own kids. My son already has plans to be a pastor and video game developer when he grows up, and my daughter’s smarts would go a long way in ministry. Once, while worshipping in tongues for a bit, someone heard the translation, “Reign on my heir.” I don’t know if that translation was for them or for me, but it got me thinking about my kids and ministry.

It’s possible for the decisions we make now to have a lasting impact on our kids. We know this to be true when it comes to parenting in general, but sometimes there can be something spiritual to it. For example, God told Isaac, “in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.” How strange that Isaac’s promise was dependent on his deceased father’s actions, rather than his own.

In this sense, we are like the stars. When we look at the night sky, we aren’t seeing things as they actually are, as some of those stars are dead and burned out. Because light reaches us at a certain speed and all stars are trillions of miles away, the light we are gazing at now is the light they let off many years ago. But from our perspective even a dead star shines beyond its lifespan. May we, too, live the kinds of lives that shine onto our children and others long after our passing.