Dear James, Darcy, and Ellie,

Welcome to the world, Darcy and Ellie!  Today, September 18, 2017, you took the miraculous and brave journey to leave the protection of Momma’s womb and breathe the air of earth.  It is a gorgeous day in Huntington today, 64° with blue skies when you were born; and you just made the world even more beautiful!  We have anticipated your arrival with great joy, just as we did your entrance, James, four years ago!

But if I am completely honest with you, my precious grandchildren, I am so concerned about the world in which you are growing.  Problems in the world are nothing new.  From the moment God’s first creatures surreptitiously stole the fruit, the world has faced the consequences of sin.  Even the pain that your Momma endured by carrying each of you and then delivering you into the world was a direct result of the Garden’s sin (Genesis 3:16).  However, your Momma would have gone through ANYTHING to bring you here!

Here’s some of what is going on in the world right now, my three young loves.  Computers and the internet have changed everything.  People began to use them regularly when your Momma and Dadda were in elementary school.  They had to learn how to use them quickly.  What a big adjustment that was!

Thanks to that, the world is in a constant state of changing, and it’s changing so fast that I’m not sure we have kept up with it morally or spiritually—at least, not very well.  Before we have adapted to one paradigm shift, it all changes again.  Your Momma uses computers brilliantly to write articles that people read all over the world.  She is an excellent writer, earning awards for her writing; and I can’t wait for you to realize that one day!  Your Dadda also is a genius, but he prefers to use computers for drawing engineering designs.  It’s so complicated, that I don’t even understand it; but he is a vice-president of his company, and I can’t wait for you to understand what that means one day!  For fun, your Dadda and Uncle Preston play video games with people from all over the world with their computers!  I can’t imagine what the computing world will be able to do as you grow up.  And your brother James continually amazes us with his bright mind, how quick he is to learn and remember anything we teach him.  It will be fun to watch him pass his knowledge on to you two girls!

Another big part of the world today is how small it has become.  Not physically, but relationally.  When I was growing up, people read about events happening around the world in newspapers.  The funny thing is that the news might appear several days following the actual events.  Today, people can watch news twenty-four hours a day, and it is in real time.  We know instantly what is occurring on the other side of this planet you just entered.  For those of us who can remember our first black-and-white television, topped off with rabbit ears wrapped in tin foil, this instant news in full living color is amazing in itself!  But sadly, the news is not always good.  Actually, it seems something is newsworthy only if it is bad news.

Today, the news is filled with difficulties around the globe.  In Huntington, where all three of you were born, the news is all about the problems created by people using things — meant for good — in a bad way.  For example, sometimes they use drugs in a bad way.  They become addicted to drugs, and then they do bad things to get money to buy more drugs.  Or they overeat the wrong foods and instead of nourishing their bodies, they become slaves to obesity and bad health.  I pray that solutions are figured out before you get much older.

In the United States, we are reeling from two recent, massive hurricanes that have devastated parts of our country.  You have relatives who are still recovering from their destruction in south Texas from Hurricane Harvey.  We also are having ongoing battles from a sin that our country committed a long time ago. Kids, I’m sorry to tell you that we had slaves in our country, where one group of people mistreated another group of people as less valuable than themselves.  I remember when I was a boy that there were curfews in my town because the struggle had become very violent.  You will read about the Civil War in history class.  Today, about 150 years later, we still have a lot of disagreements; now our turmoil is over whether statues of the Confederacy should remain in place.  Again, I pray that such problems are resolved before you get much older; and even more than that, I pray that you grow to live in a world where people treat each other with dignity and respect.

There are a lot of children your age all over the world who are hungry.  I pray you will always have plenty of food as you grow up.  When you cry as a baby because it’s time to eat, you will be comforted.  Not all children are so blessed.  Your Momma and Dadda went to Nicaragua — one of the poorest countries in the world — many times.  They went to show God’s love to some hungry children in an orphanage there.  Your Momma and Dadda love you with everything they have, and I pray that as you get older, the world has figured out how to share resources so that no one is hungry.

The world is also in constant talk of war.  A big change in the world occurred on September 11, 2001.  You will read about it in history class in school as well.  Your parents were in school when it happened, so be sure to ask them what it was like.  The United States was attacked and thousands died.  It started a different kind of war, and even a different kind of world.  Fighting is happening in many parts of the world today, and threats of nuclear war with a country called North Korea is all over the 24-hour news.  I pray that you grow up in a world where people love each other, instead of fight each other.

I wanted to tell you about the world today.  It may sound like it’s all bad, but not really.  Your Momma and Dadda’s generation have learned to use computers in a good way, especially by bringing people together for good causes.  Many people your Momma and Dadda’s age are helping to teach our country and the world that we must treat each other with love and respect, not hate and violence.  I pray that they can make a change, not only in our country, but all over the world!

With all that is happening in the world during your infancy, your being born is one of the greatest signs that God is still in charge.  The greatest moment in the history of the world occurred when a Baby was born.  I believe that God created each of you with a purpose to continue what that Baby started 2,000 years ago.  No one knows yet what the three of you may grow up to become, but I believe that within each you is the possibility to heal the sins of people who lived before you and to bring the world together in love.  You, James, Darcy, and Ellie, are the hope of God Himself.  Within you is the breath of God Himself.  Welcome to His world, and to the world that You may change to look more like Him.  You three give me hope.

I love you,
Grandad
September 18, 2017

• Letters to My Grandchildren