The Father of Israel knows Freedom

Abraham about to sacrifice his only son Issac.

The following blog post comes from Scott Kindberg.

   Every parent has big dreams for their child. When he/she is just a baby all of those dreams are just that - a dream. Hopeful words and prayers someday become a part of your son or daughters life. 

   This year the dreams and aspirations I had for Zechariah came full circle. You see, our family left Madison, WI in August 2010 for the Twin Cities of MN. Zechariah was only 4 1/2. He was beginning to learn how to throw the baseball outside and really hit a baseball that summer. I mean really. He had some of the best hand-eye coordination for a preschooler I've ever seen. He had a preschool plastic bat and ball set that he and I would practice with a few times a week. There was one time towards the end of July where he was able to hit the ball close to 55' plus over my head. It goes with saying that I was a very proud daddy to see him learn this game so well and so quickly. When he and I would play ball Ali would be in the outfield to run after the ball and them bring to back to me. We all had a great time. During this time I was talking to Zak about Little League Baseball and T-Ball. I really said a lot.

   When we settled in our new home in Minnesota the kids and I quickly found some time to bring out the ball and bat and hit few. Zak really did enjoy this time! Ali did too. Again I was back to talking about Little League and T-Ball and I even found out that two neighboring towns Coon Rapids and Plymouth/New Hope had Little League teams that qualified for the Little League World Series. This made me think about how to get Zak on the fast track to Major League Baseball success and maybe be the next hometown hero, Joe Mauer.

   I had the date set for the first T-ball meeting in March. I was ready to see Zak's new dream fulfilled. He had a  somewhat of an idea of what T-Ball was as we usually played pitch baseball, but that did not matter. Zak loved to play and I loved watching him play. Then this one thing happened.

   We had a scheduled pediatric cardiology appointment. At this appointment we received our first wave of news that told us Zak was on course for a heart transplant. After hearing about Zak's health I asked our pediatric cardiologist this question. 

   "So, do you think his health the way it is now will limit his ability to play T-Ball?" 

Simply, she said, "He can hit the ball, but he eventually would not be able to run to first base." 

Now, right or wrong she definitely caused me to begin thinking about my son and the type of son I was raising. Over the next few days, God began to challenge me to lay down my dream for my son to be a dedicated baseball player. Hindsight is 20/20, but as you are staring your dreams eye to eye the most difficult thing to at that moment is to give it up. 

That is when the Holy Spirit shared the story with me how Abraham obeyed God to go through it all to sacrifice his only son, Issac. Why? Not just because he had to! Because Abraham had more love in his heart for the greater dream God put in his heart. Abraham loved God he would even give up his own dreams, his own future. As I gave God my dream to see Zechariah play T-Ball that day. God gave me a promise.

That promise I am to fulfill with him and with Alexandria for the rest of their lives. This is promise was to EXPERIENCE MY KIDS. As their father, it is easy (and necessary at times) to be the instructor, the disciplinary, and other more, but this was a new one. Now, instead of trying to push my goals and my dreams and what I see for my future on their life I simply need to take the time to spend time to get to know them and in return they will get to know me as all of the above. 

We saw this first had when our family went to Florida the last week of February into the first week of March. I told Kathy about the experience I had with God and how am to experience the kids. She definitely agreed. The twelve days away gave our family a great time to connect and reconnect by making sand castles and splashing in the ocean.

   Today, spending time with each of my kids is very rewarding and only God knows what the future holds for them. I thank God every day for them. And I tell them how proud I am of them and how much their dad loves them.