An
open letter to Chris Wallace,
Dear
Chris,
A
couple weeks ago you gave your son an amazing gift. I bet you didn’t even
think all that much about it.
It
was at the first communion class. I gave each kid a Bible to call their
own. Your son Mitchell started to flip through the book, amazed at the
sheer size of it (I mean, when has a second grader ever held a book that
big??). You took the Bible into your hands and got Mitchell’s
attention. I remember your words clearly:
“Mitchell,
I want to show you something. You know the tattoo on my arm, the one that
says Matthew 5:9? Let me show you where that comes from.” You found
the verse in his Bible and read it to him, “’Blessed are the peacemakers, for
they will be called children of God.’ A lot of police officers like me
have this same tattoo. It’s an important one for us. It’s subtle,
but it says what we want to say.”
Chris,
that simple action will have an enormous impact on Mitchell’s life. It
may not seem profound, but he saw you open a Bible and heard you share a word
of faith. You modeled the faith for your son. You let him know that
it matters to you. Well done!
When
Mitchell came back for his last class on Sunday night I heard him turn to Kathy
and say, “Mom, let me show you the verse dad has on his arm.” He
remembered and wanted to share!
You
may not have said much, but I truly believe that Mitchell learned more in those
two minutes with you than he did from the rest of the hour of hearing me talk
about Jesus. You’re his dad and he looks up to you and learns from you.
In that moment you hit a home run!
At
Peace we are going to work hard to provide more of these low-stress
opportunities for kids to see parents and other adults opening Bibles and
talking about faith. This is essential to God ministry here. You’ve
shown how it can be done. Thank you!
Sincerely,
Pastor
Pete
No comments:
Post a Comment