The Proudest Moments of My Life

There have been several moments in my life that have made me very proud.  I'm not talking about the kind of arrogant pride that no one really likes, but the good kind of pride that I hope you have experienced at least once in your life.

The day I graduated from Western Kentucky University was a very proud moment.  I remember walking onto the football field and the entire faculty and staff of the Computer Science department were standing on the field dressed in their full academic regalia lauding our accomplishment.  As I took my seat with the rest of my fellow graduates, I sat there listening to the college president congratulating us, the sense of accomplishment that I felt was tremendous.  A few moments later, I was walking across the stage, shaking the hand of our college president as he smiled at me.  What a moment.  My parents were in the stand, I could feel their pride and joy. Along with my parents was my soon to be wife rejoicing with me.

The next moment that strikes me as one of my proudest moments, was when my lovely wife walked down the aisle and married me.  Me!  A dorky, computer nerd!  As I took her hand and we turned to face our pastor, the pride in starting a marriage the way the Lord intended overwhelmed my soul.  I still look back to that day with amazement that such an amazing lady as Laura settled for me.

Then came the day when I graduated from Bible College.  That night brought about such pride and satisfaction in all the late nights studying; all the sweat, blood, and tears that was poured into the thesis I had to write and the many years of working a full time job, helping raising two boys with my wife, and trying to have an effective ministry.  I look at my Bible College degree with a source of amazement and pride in what the Lord had accomplished through me.

Another day that I could chalk up as one of the proudest moments of my life was the day I was ordained into the Gospel Ministry.  A group of godly men that I looked on with great respect and that I held in high esteem examined me, my calling, and my testimony and found me worthy to be ordained into the ministry.  What a moment. 

But what happened a few hours or so ago, make these moments pale in comparison.  This morning, I finished my second half marathon, if you don't know, that's 13.1 miles.  As I came around the curve in the road and approached the finished line, I saw two things:  my wife, standing in the middle of the race course with her camera (of course)  smiling and snapping pictures.  The second thing was my boys standing on the set of bleachers watching me and clapping.  Clapping for their father.  As I met the eyes of each of my boys in turn, the pride they had for their father crossing the finish line overwhelmed me.  The thought struck me, how many boys have the opportunity to be proud of their father?

It doesn't matter how many degrees I earn, or if my peers count me as one of them, or how much my wife loves me, if my children don't have opportunities to be proud of their father.  Men, take a moment and ask yourself, are your children proud of you?  I'm reminded of the verse in Hebrews 11 that says "But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city."  I want my heavenly Father to be proud of me and I want my children to not be ashamed to be called my children.  How's your life shaping up this morning--if you have any doubts, you may need to spend some time talking to your heavenly Father.  I'm sure He will give you something to stand up and clap about.