(A short letter to my son… the heart of a young Christian dad in this era)…

Jackson Henry Moe, my son,

Though you’re too young to understand now, please be attentive to my wisdom, my heart for you as I sit here before the Lord and listen to His Word (Proverbs 5).

I feel so inadequate to write a letter to a life so precious as yours. Your mom and I have longed for the day of your birth for seven years, and now in our ninth year we have you and you are nearing two years old. Your life is greatly prized and your presence is so deeply enjoyed. Your mom and I truly do cherish and delight in you as our son.

Expectations and Hopes: We lean on the Lord as we daily pray for you and your future. What you can expect is great opportunity to glorify God but also great temptations to take from this world what your sinful lusts want and then be gone and a waste of a life. This sounds cold and hard, but it is wisdom. God gives us wonderful opportunities to live lives that reflect His grace and His glory to the world, and that is where I have the expectation of looking to Christ and believing for your future that He will provide the grace sufficient to raise you in His joy and aimed at delighting in His favor and glory.

Women and the Woman: Live your life, my son, finding your delight in God consistently, and the challenge of being a one woman man will be more and more a joyful challenge. Fight for joy in the Lord, and don’t give in to your fleshy lusts to take from women (plural) or even from your future wife. Taking from others will never satisfy. Follow our Savior’s example and give. Give to your sisters in our surrounding circle of friends in Christ. Give to the girls you grow up with. Be a friend they can’t forget because you pointed them to the Savior through your actions and then words. Live like a one-woman-man and you’ll likely be a one woman man.

I hope to lead you by example in this last area, my son. You mom and I could get pride from this, but instead we are humbled that God would give us the opportunity to be an example for you. We never slept with anyone else, never kissed anyone else, never dated anyone else than each other. I’m not promising you a future of perfect purity, but I’m encouraging you to celebrate the vision of saving your body and heart for your future wife. Love her in your visions of your future marriage. Don’t idolize her, but dream of how you hope to love her and lead her as Christ leads His Bride. Look forward with a glint of deep hope in your eye as you envision laying down your life for your wife. Don’t waste your time fantasizing about her body. Instead dream of being a part of shaping her character as she becomes a part of shaping yours, both of you pointing each other to the prize, which is Jesus Christ Himself.

These words don’t come to me just off the top of my head. They won’t come to you that way either. You’ll likely learn most of this from your mom as I did from my mom. I hope, however, to also be a source of wisdom for you as I sit before the feet of our Savior in His Word and pray for you. I hope, like my Dad, to lead you into paths of understanding, wisdom, grace, hope, endurance, and faith in our Savior.

Thank You, Lord, for my son Jackson. Thank You for my friends’ sons as well here in our county. May we raise our sons to be godly men who are first humble, then loving and deeply gracious. May we raise men who envision true Christ-like husbanding for themselves, Father-God-like fathering, with patience and endurance, Spirit-like shepherding of their children and mentees. May we plant truth with grace and love deep in our children’s lives through our examples and our consistency. We lean on You for the answer to all of these requests as men. We fall so short, and we are deeply in need of Your gifts of grace to endure in this world of temptation.

I love you so much, Jackson.

Your Pop,

– Torrey