Pop Pop Epistle # 151 – Welcome to the World Judah

 

Dear Grandkids,

#9 has been added to the clan. Judah was born yesterday. We can now officially field a cousin’s baseball team. Here are the deets:

Name: Judah Reyner
Parents: Tucker and Danielle Reyner
Siblings: Asher and Ezra
Born: July 23, 2021 @ 2:17 PM
Specs: 9 lbs, 3 oz., 21 ¼ inches

Just for a historical frame of reference, here are some of the things that are going on in our world as Judah makes his appearance:

  • The Coronavirus still abounds worldwide. Over 4 million people have died worldwide and over 600k in the US since it began. In the US we are currently dealing predominantly with the Delta variant.
  • The 2021 Summer Olympics kicked off in Japan yesterday… with no spectators due to Covid. Weird!
  • Joe Biden is President of the US. Kamala Harris is Vice-President (first woman VP)
  • The DOW is at 35,061. The S&P 500 is at 4,411.
  • Forest fires are ravaging the western part of our country
  • The New York Mets sit precariously in first place in their division

And here is my birthday prayer for Judah – grandson #6, grandchild #9…

Father,

Your Word says in 2 Peter 3:18,  But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” 

I pray that Judah will very early in His life begin to understand the concept of grace. May he recognize how amazing your grace is – that you would give the life of Your Son so that Judah might have Life as You created him to enjoy it. And may you fill him with your abundant grace – grace that overflows in him and through him so that he becomes an instrument of grace and a testimony of Your grace to others. And may you also fuel him with Your sufficient grace so that Your power is made perfect in his weakness and so that when life is hard and this world seems unbearable that he will lean on You knowing the incredible promise that You will be with him every step of the journey.

I pray also that Judah will grow in the knowledge of Jesus. But not merely a knowledge where he just knows a lot about Jesus but rather a knowledge that reflects knowing Jesus. A knowledge like Paul talks about in Philippians 3:8-11,  “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—  that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,  that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”

And would you also use Judah’s mom and dad and sisters to create an home where he feels securely loved all the days of his life. May he be used mightily, as his name suggests (Judah means “praise”), to bring praise and honor and glory to You all the days of his life. Amen.

Never forget that you all are very loved,

Pop Pop

 

 

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