God and Family
by Ricky Doc Sauceda
Ephesians 3:14-21
A Prayer for the Ephesians
For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
Life has been changing so much since the mid-nineties for me. I have endured the loss of Daddy, Momma, a beloved classmate, a divorce, job/income loss and have endured all of it with my Christian faith. I know that the LORD peeled me to the core to get me back to Him.
These past few years I have been intently focused on my life as a Christian. I rely solely on the LORD to guide and carry me each day. There have been other events that have shaken me up a bit in this time. Because I am faith-centered I have rebounded.
I was enjoying daily runs until I was forced to use a bike as a mode of transportation for five months. After getting into my 1973 Volkswagen Superbeetle, I only ran occasionally. Ongoing problems at work and with a long distance relationship going south caused me to get a bit complacent.
I have never veered from my Christian path. This alone is the reason that I am whole as a person. I know better than to ever go off my path of faith again.
The one concern that I have is the welfare/well-being of my three children. They are not little but they are still the beings that I fathered into the world. I am forever bonded to them by flesh and blood. I take this very seriously.
Chris is my youngest at 23 years of age. He is doing well. He began a new job with a well respected company in his industry this week. He is now engaged to be married as of last week. He is very prayerful and devoted to living as a child of God.
Teri is now 29 years of age and living in Arlington. She is finishing her Art degree, working and living a good daily life. She is hard working, loving and very happy in spirit. Her focus is to be productive and caring as a person.
Ricky Jr is now 30 years of age and my eldest child. He is a peaceful person who is working and living as a single man in this world. He is also a productive and caring person.
I received a call from Ricky Jr yesterday. He revealed that he is going to have some procedures done in order to discover the root of a personal health problem that he is undergoing. One that he battled as a child and is now reoccurring. This is of great concern to me.
This issue is so significant that my ex-wife told him to call me. I was surprised by her instruction. He favors her greatly and obviously responds to her prompting. I know that she has cried over this.
We can carry out our lives without regard to God, but He has a way of shaking us. I am pointing out that being without Him daily is like living out in the wilderness. If we get attacked by something we are so weak and vulnerable. We can be left in a deep level of misery.
As children of God, we still go through the attacks but can endure them through spiritual faith. Even though we may be ravaged or roughed up, we are in His light and His hands. This makes a great deal of difference on a daily basis.
I reminded Ricky Jr to be praying in this time. He had stopped in the recent past due to his feelings about the things happening around him, including the divorce of his parents. We have met and talked only a few times in the past few years. Each of those times was happy and joyful.
I will not let this situation destroy my faith, but I will be prepared to respond as a child of God. I love my son and would gladly trade places with him right now. Any loving parent would.
If this situation settles out in a favorable way, I am going to suggest to him that we work-out together on the weekends. I am available to do this with him. In the past we were always doing this. I kept him in shape for football seasons year round. He loved being with me to play basketball or to go out and run.
Today I have God as my first and foremost focus. Second is my family, as it should be. God and family. That is how to live in the Christian faith.
Amen.