Samson and Mathias

Parents have enough pressure when it comes to raising kids. In laws, friends and family all hold expectations on what our kids should be. If a parent is intelligent, then the child must be a great student. If a parent is athletic, then the child is raised with the expectations of being great athlete.

In the book of Judges, Israel has been floundering as a nation because of disobedience. They (like us) never seemed to learn from their mistakes.

Now enter a couple who had never had any children. One day, an angel of the Lord appeared and dropped a bombshell. Not only were they going to have a child, but he would be responsible for starting the process of setting Israel free.
  
JUDGES 13
Manoah from the tribe of Dan lived in the town of Zorah. His wife was not able to have children, ^3-5 but one day an angel from the Lord appeared to her and said:

You have never been able to have any children, but very soon you will be pregnant and have a son. He will belong to God^[a] from the day he is born, so his hair must never be cut. And even before he is born, you must not drink any wine or beer or eat any food forbidden by God’s laws.
Your son will begin to set Israel free from the Philistines.

Wow, talk about parental pressure. Imagine the proud parents with little toddler Samson playing on the playground. They KNEW what was in store for their little boy. Manoah, I am sure, had some sleepless nights hoping he made the right choices.

Then the rest of the story of Samson in nutshell: He became the absolute baddest man on the planet, took his responsibility lightly, fell to temptation, suffered for his mistakes and then redeemed himself in one big grand finale. Seriously, read the story as my shortened version does not do it justice.

Samson had strength beyond comprehension and that came directly from God. God blessed this mighty man and he no doubt inspired so many around him. Samson gave his people hope.

The picture here is of my son Mathias. I took this on Sunday morning as he preferred to stay in the sanctuary instead of going to his class. He is standing in the aisle as he is too short to see the pastor from his seat. Yes, he stood for the whole sermon. An angel did not come to me to tell me that God had plans for Mathias. Mathias has Prader Willi Syndrome which is the polar opposite of Samson. Mathias has very poor muscle tone and very poor strength. But Mathias loves God like no one I have ever seen and I can not explain it. He plays church, he already understands and can explain salvation, he praises God and Jesus freely and often, and I have seen him witness to grown men in line at Taco Bell. 


I would like to sit and share a cup of coffee with Manoah. I would talk dad to dad and ask him one simple question: WHAT DO I DO WITH THIS KID?


God has entrusted this boy to ME. The kid looks up to ME. But, I know ME and I know my struggles, my shortcomings and my quirky ways that sometimes may not be too "godly". I fight a good fight daily and I know I come up way short daily.


So, I can tell you that daily I tell Mathias that we are to love others as we do ourselves and that we need to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. I think God is happy with me when I share that with my boy.