My 17-year-old son, Brady, and I celebrated his high school graduation by making a three-hour drive down Interstate 35 and going to see our beloved Texas Rangers play.

We sat eight rows behind home plate one night and 10 rows behind first base the next afternoon.

“I have the best dad ever,” my son wrote on his Facebook page.

Hurrah!

Dad hits a home run!

Honestly, though, I have struck out way too often in raising this incredible young man. On too many occasions, I have been too distracted, too short-tempered, too selfish.

As Brady prepares for the next stage of his life, I pop straight up in bed and wonder if I have done my part to fulfill Proverbs 22:6: “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”

Fortunately, I have not had to raise my firstborn child alone. I am blessed with a remarkable Christian wife. Tamie is, in many ways, everything I am not: nurturing, patient, focused on the tiniest details of our three children’s lives.

Yet she, like me, is far from perfect. If we were the only influences in Brady’s life, I am afraid he would not have grown into the fine young Christian he has become.

“How do those who aren’t Christians and don’t have their faith or a spiritual family get through times like these?”

You hear well-meaning people say that all the time when individuals endure a health crisis or grieve the tragic loss of a loved one. The same rings true for parents.

If it takes a village to raise a child, how much more does it take our heavenly father and a church family to raise that child in faith?

And how do parents without that spiritual support system keep their sanity through the sleep deprivation, the decision-making and the unqualified love that we pour into our children each day?

Brady is first and foremost God’s child.

As his 18th birthday approaches, I can’t help but think of the Sunday school teachers who helped teach Brady about Jesus from his earliest days. I can’t help but think of the Leadership Training for Christ coaches who worked with him on song leading, Scripture reading, sermon delivery and even puppets. I can’t help but think of the youth ministers who organized Bible studies, mission trips and service projects.

I can’t help but think of people like children’s ministry director Brenda Gordon, minister Kent Risley and many others at our home congregation — the Edmond Church of Christ in Oklahoma — who never missed an opportunity to greet Brady with smiles and hugs and make him feel extra special.

I can’t help but think of the elders at the Greenwood Church of Christ, the rural congregation near Decatur, Texas, where my father, Bob Ross, ministers. The Greenwood elders gave Brady his first opportunity to preach. And they keep inviting him back!

As Brady dons his cap and gown, I can’t help but thank God for the wonderful Christian family — serving Jesus all over the world — that he has given all of us.

I’m writing this the day before the Edmond church honors its graduating seniors. That’s probably a good thing, as I’m not certain I’d be able to type for the tears if I waited until the elders presented Brady with a Bible and prayed for him and his future.

I’m so proud of Brady as he prepares to enter Oklahoma Christian University, his parents’ alma mater, and pursue a double major in preaching and youth ministry. Yet Tamie and I know that he’s going to face many obstacles.

Seldom, if ever, is ministry easy.

My wife and I don’t want to see Brady hurt by the world. We especially don’t want to see him hurt by the church.

“I think about Samuel’s mother, Hannah, and wonder if she had the same fears,” Tamie said. “I think about Elizabeth, raising a child she knew would go out and proclaim Jesus and baptize many in his name. And, of course, I think about Mary. All were women of deep faith, unwavering trust in what God had in store for their sons. Surely I can allow him to use mine for his plan, too.”

Tamie and I pray that God will watch out for our child — his child — as Brady endeavors to serve him.

“I have the best dad ever,” Brady said.

Indeed, he does. Just not the one he was talking about. Praise God for that.

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