This is a pastel painting Jim did of his son and two buddies praying before they went out on a mission.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>I didn\u2019t learn how to fully trust my children to God until my son deployed to Iraq.<\/p>\n
When I learned that my son was going to deploy, a huge knot formed in the pit of my stomach.<\/p>\n
It was a long time before that knot would loosen.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not like it was a surprise. From the moment Chris left for basic training, I knew it was a strong possibility, but I still hoped that maybe he\u2019d be sent somewhere else.<\/p>\n
Somewhere safe.<\/p>\n
After all, he was training to be an MP (Military Police). The army needed MPs at all of its bases around the world. Perhaps he\u2019d get sent to Germany or South Korea. Maybe he\u2019d fulfill his entire tour of duty here in the U.S.A.<\/p>\n
Deployment to Iraq wasn\u2019t inevitable\u2014I hoped.<\/p>\n
But eventually the orders came through and he was set to deploy. If that weren\u2019t enough, he was going to be sent to one of the few areas in Iraq that was still \u201chot.\u201d<\/p>\n
And did I mention that he would be the \u201cgunner\u201d in the turret of an assault vehicle? (That\u2019s the lucky guy whose head gets to stick out in plain view where everybody can shoot at it.)<\/p>\n
It was going to be a long year.<\/p>\n
So, how did I get through it?<\/p>\n
Sometime in the midst of my worry\u2014I don\u2019t remember exactly when\u2014God reminded me of something. I didn\u2019t hear an audible voice or anything like that, but it was as if He whispered something in my ear.<\/p>\n
\u201cJim, I don\u2019t need to send Chris to Iraq to take him home. I can do that right here.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was then that I realized my error in thinking.<\/p>\n
I was hoping the Army would send him somewhere \u201csafe.\u201d<\/p>\n
There is no such place.<\/p>\n
We are fragile people living in an incredibly dangerous world. Safety is an illusion.<\/p>\n
I began to think about just a few local tragedies that had happened in the last few years.<\/p>\n
A sixteen-year-old dropped dead while he was jogging.<\/p>\n
A Marine who had returned safely from a tour in Iraq was gunned down in a robbery.<\/p>\n
Several people were killed in a random shooting.<\/p>\n
I realized that I have no control over whether my children live or die, particularly once they\u2019re out on their own.<\/p>\n
I can pray for them.<\/p>\n
I can worry about them.<\/p>\n
I can lose sleep over them.<\/p>\n
But I am powerless to protect them.<\/p>\n
So how did I keep from worrying about my son when he went to Iraq?<\/p>\n
I learned to trust him to a sovereign and good God. I learned to rephrase a prayer from the Psalms. As David faces those who want to kill him, he prays:<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I trust in you, O Lord;
\nI say, \u2018You are my God.\u2019
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>My times are in your hands\u201d (Psalm 31:14-15a, NIV).<\/p>\nDavid recognized that his \u201ctimes,\u201d i.e., his life, death, and everything in between, were in God\u2019s hands. And he was willing to trust God to do what was right.<\/p>\n
And so I learned to pray every day concerning my son: \u201cLord, you are his God, and his times are in your hands.\u201d<\/p>\n
Did I pray for his safety?<\/p>\n
Yes.<\/p>\n
But I also knew that even if he didn\u2019t come home safely, he was safe with God.<\/p>\n
Now that both of my children are grown and on their own, my greatest cause for worry is that I am not able to protect them. And my greatest peace comes from realizing that I can commit them into the care of a heavenly father who loves them.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I didn\u2019t learn how to fully trust my children to God until my son deployed to Iraq. When I learned that my son was going to deploy, a huge knot formed in the pit of my stomach. It was a long time before that knot would loosen. It\u2019s not like it was a surprise. From […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1103,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-parenting"],"yoast_head":"\n
Learning to Give Your Children to God, pt 1<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I didn\u2019t learn how to fully trust my children to God until my son deployed to Iraq. When I learned that my son was going to deploy, a huge knot formed in\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/2012\/09\/learning-to-give-your-children-to-god-pt-1\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Learning to Give Your Children to God, pt 1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I didn\u2019t learn how to fully trust my children to God until my son deployed to Iraq. When I learned that my son was going to deploy, a huge knot formed in\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/2012\/09\/learning-to-give-your-children-to-god-pt-1\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"A Few Grown Men\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-09-18T06:01:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-09-18T02:58:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/files\/2012\/09\/BeforeTheMission-231x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"jamespence\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"jamespence\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/2012\/09\/learning-to-give-your-children-to-god-pt-1\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/2012\/09\/learning-to-give-your-children-to-god-pt-1\/\",\"name\":\"Learning to Give Your Children to God, pt 1\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-09-18T06:01:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-09-18T02:58:36+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/#\/schema\/person\/9e0f32f112e305458725303095fca670\"},\"description\":\"I didn\u2019t learn how to fully trust my children to God until my son deployed to Iraq. When I learned that my son was going to deploy, a huge knot formed in\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/2012\/09\/learning-to-give-your-children-to-god-pt-1\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/2012\/09\/learning-to-give-your-children-to-god-pt-1\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/2012\/09\/learning-to-give-your-children-to-god-pt-1\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Learning to Give Your Children to God, pt 1\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/\",\"name\":\"A Few Grown Men\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/#\/schema\/person\/9e0f32f112e305458725303095fca670\",\"name\":\"jamespence\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88724da6eaa0fd012ab864a390adcbad?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88724da6eaa0fd012ab864a390adcbad?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"jamespence\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/author\/jamespence\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Learning to Give Your Children to God, pt 1","description":"I didn\u2019t learn how to fully trust my children to God until my son deployed to Iraq. When I learned that my son was going to deploy, a huge knot formed in","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/2012\/09\/learning-to-give-your-children-to-god-pt-1\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Learning to Give Your Children to God, pt 1","og_description":"I didn\u2019t learn how to fully trust my children to God until my son deployed to Iraq. When I learned that my son was going to deploy, a huge knot formed in","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/2012\/09\/learning-to-give-your-children-to-god-pt-1\/","og_site_name":"A Few Grown Men","article_published_time":"2012-09-18T06:01:23+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-09-18T02:58:36+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/files\/2012\/09\/BeforeTheMission-231x300.jpg"}],"author":"jamespence","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"jamespence","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/2012\/09\/learning-to-give-your-children-to-god-pt-1\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/2012\/09\/learning-to-give-your-children-to-god-pt-1\/","name":"Learning to Give Your Children to God, pt 1","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-09-18T06:01:23+00:00","dateModified":"2012-09-18T02:58:36+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/#\/schema\/person\/9e0f32f112e305458725303095fca670"},"description":"I didn\u2019t learn how to fully trust my children to God until my son deployed to Iraq. When I learned that my son was going to deploy, a huge knot formed in","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/2012\/09\/learning-to-give-your-children-to-god-pt-1\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/2012\/09\/learning-to-give-your-children-to-god-pt-1\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/2012\/09\/learning-to-give-your-children-to-god-pt-1\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Learning to Give Your Children to God, pt 1"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/","name":"A Few Grown Men","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/#\/schema\/person\/9e0f32f112e305458725303095fca670","name":"jamespence","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88724da6eaa0fd012ab864a390adcbad?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88724da6eaa0fd012ab864a390adcbad?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"jamespence"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/author\/jamespence\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1103"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}