I have only two sons, one named Caleb, who died in infancy, and one, Joshua, who is almost 20. As we say in our household, “We have two spies: one in heaven; one on earth.” I write this letter thinking primarily about my “earthly spy.”
My son,
Of late you’ve talked about a life of gospel ministry for yourself.
While this thought gives your Mom and me great joy, it also brings me to a place of grave concerns and trembling thoughts, so I want, first of all, to beg you…
Don’t do this, unless you are willing to be called poor and often suffer from want for the rest of your life.
Don’t do this, unless you have a clear head about the desperation that comes from being betrayed by people who at one point were your closest friends.
Don’t do this, unless you hear rumors of words which run deep and cut like a guillotine.
Don’t do this, unless you fancy yourself a walker on roads where wrecks occur daily and you are the EMT.
Don’t do this, unless you stomach the thought of putting your family on display in a fishbowl where it may appear, at times, that you are swimming with sharks.
Don’t do this, unless you’ve learned to reconcile yourself with the thought that there will be wrongs in the world of church which you will never be able to right.
Don’t do this, unless you have come to grips with how unprepared, unenlightened, powerless and uninspired you are to the task of mending souls.
Don’t do this, unless you can bare the thought of being left alone with your convictions while everyone else chooses to abandon you.
Don’t do this, unless you have internalized the thought that at times God will be the only one to whom you will be able to confide your inmost thoughts.
Now, less you think I conspire to discourage you, I also beg you…
Do this, my son,
If, for the sake of those who are lost without God, you may risk losing your grip at times.
Do this, my son,
If, for the sake of the Truth embodied in the eternal Word of God, you are willing to lose the solace of friends who have found solace in another source of truth.
Do this, my son,
If, for the sake of the poorest of the poor, you are intent on being impoverished so they can find the riches God always intended for them.
Do this, my son,
If, for the sake of children growing up fatherless and motherless, you are willing to stand in the gap, teaching and modeling to the next generation the principles of enduring love and godly leadership in the home.
Do this, my son,
If, for the sake of people who are biblically illiterate, you don’t mind toiling over ancient texts, relentlessly extracting truth that faithfully reflects the intention of those texts, while at the same time resulting in life transformation for those who hurt outside of Christ.
Do this, my son,
If, for the sake of the burned out, the offended, the disenfranchised from church, you are willing to respectfully and kindly engage in dialogue those who diametrically oppose your views, even in the face of ostracism from your fellow believers.
Do this, my son,
If, for the sake of a multi-cultural, multi-tongue, multi-ethnic throng of the disheartened, you don’t bet an eye at the thought of losing everything so they can one day worship the Beautiful Messiah you and I so dearly love.
Your father,
Ivanildo C. Trindade