Christine and John, just a little over two years ago, I was standing with you when you shared your marriage vows with each other. Look at you now! You don’t have time anymore to prepare those gourmet dinners and eat quietly in your Pottery Barn designed home. Before everything was in their proper places, but now you have to make room for baby bottles, diapers, and mounting piles of toys. The love that you committed to each other can now be seen in the life of Jake Kai Houng Raymond Leon.
Christine, you have blessed your “golden boy” son with a strong name so that he may become a protector of the people. From your father’s name, “Kai Houng” means “Hear ye, hear ye, here’s a strong leader!” And John’s father’s name, “Raymond” means “protector.” Jake will grow up to become a “strong protector of people” and he will also protect you as his mother because he knows that you love him dearly.
John, after a long day at school, I heard that the first thing that you do when you come home is to pick up Jake. There’s a little story that I would like to share with you.
“A little boy was helping his father move some books out of an attic into a more spacious room downstairs. It was important to this little boy that he was helping his dad, even though he was probably getting in the way and slowing things down more than he was actually assisting. But that boy had a wise and patient father who knew it was more important to work at a task with his young son than it was to move a pile of books efficiently by himself.
Among this man’s books, however, were some rather large study books, and it was a chore for the boy to get them down the stairs. As a matter of fact, on one particular load, the boy dropped his pile of books several times. Finally, he sat down on the stairs and wept in frustration. He wasn’t doing any good at all. He wasn’t strong enough to carry the big books down a narrow stairway. It hurt him to think he couldn’t do this for his daddy.
Without a word, the father picked up the dropped load of books, put them into the boy’s arms, and scooped up both the boy and the books into his arms and carried them down the stairs. And so they continued for load after load, both enjoying each other’s company very much. The boy carrying the books, the dad carrying the boy.”
As new parents, you need to be wise and patient like this father in the story. For Jake to grow up and become a “protector of the people,” he will need to learn how to help others. He can learn that from the ways you help each other, the caring and service you render to others in need, and the partnering with your church community to bring about a peace-loving world.
The father in this story also represents Christ who carries our burdens so that we may know him as our Lord. When Christ carries us through life, we are then better able to share in the joy of doing God’s work—just like the little boy was helping his dad.
Christine and John, my hope and prayer for you and Jake are that God continues to bless you with joy and happiness as you dedicate Jake and yourselves to God.