This is a very special day. Every day is a special day. But for April Forrest and David, today is special. And for our daughter, Sherry, and her husband, Bob, today is special. And for their daughter and son-in-law, Cameron and Shel Ray, this is special. And for a newborn, Amelia, this is a special day. We’re going to be having a special few minutes after a bit, just with baby Amelia.
And I’ve got to get over my fear of holding babies. I’ve never been good at it. They’re either fairly large. Some people don’t bring their baby to you until they’re six months. They’re capable of grabbing you by the glasses, by the eyelashes, or whatever else is not tied down. I’ve had them grab my microphone and try and lick it like it’s an ice cream. But then there are tiny things like this.
When they’re born, they’re weighing about eight ounces. And you’re holding an egg, and you know that there’s two ways to hold an egg. So one way where you can’t crush it, and the other is you can crush it without even thinking about it. And what did this baby weigh when she was born? Six pounds? And she was born premature. She now weighs eight pounds.
I weighed nine when I came out screaming. I want to talk to you today about successful parenting. What does that look like? I might rock your world a little bit this morning as to what is successful parenting. I remember standing in a courtroom in the city of Montreal. I was involved in a ministry very much akin to David Wilkerson’s ministry. David wasn’t a part of our ministry, but our ministry had been launched as a result of his ministry.
We’re called Teen Challenge in Montreal. And I was there as a volunteer for the summer of 1967, volunteering in a house where we would go out in the middle of the night, find young people who were runaways, find young people who were strung out on drugs, homeless. We’d invite them back to our home. And it was a home for guys and girls. The girls were up on the top floor, second floor. The guys were in the basement. And so I was working with these two young guys and discovered that summer that that’s not my calling, but I stuck with it for the summer.
It was a very grueling test of my patience. Just about the time you thought you’re making some headway, they’d pull a stunt on you, like two of these guys that I really had hoped for, went down to a bar and got thoroughly drunk. And then of all the vehicles that they could have stolen, they stole a mail truck. So that became a federal offense. I went to the court when John was being tested in the court of law. And I remember the judge was not impressed.
He said, you could have stolen a Volkswagen, John, but no, you had to take something that belonged to Ottawa. And John was sent to jail. And I remember speaking to his father out in the lobby and saying to me, I don’t know where I went wrong. This is on me. This is terrible. I don’t know where I went wrong. And I blurted it out. I never should have done it.
But I did. I said, maybe if you hadn’t been feeding him beer instead of milk when he was five years of age, things might have turned out a little different. I felt so ripped off because this John was raised with alcohol. Was it any wonder he’s going to jail for it now? Was that man a successful parent? I know nothing about the home life except that daddy was an alcoholic. So I would suggest he was not successful.
Based on the alcoholism, not based upon the fact that this kid had to go to jail. But clearly this kid was going to jail because the dad was an unsuccessful parent. But what guarantee is there that we’re going to be successful? So I’m going to read scripture in just a moment. But there’s another person who’s still alive. I think his name is Orton. He attends a church in Hamilton called Bethel.
Very special friend. I’ve known Orton since I was probably six or seven years of age. Wonderful man. He and Charlotte, successful farmers out in a place called Binbrook. Wonderful dairy farm. They had several children. I could name them all for you just now. And I remember sitting down with Orton one day and he started sharing somewhat of a complaint, if you would. I can’t figure out, he said, where I went wrong. I sat there listening to him. I heard the breakage of his heart. I remember going out to their farm in Binbrook. On one particular day, it was noon hour and they were just finishing up their lunch. I wasn’t there to cash in on lunch.
My timing is sometimes terrible. But when they finished up the lunch, Orton reached over and right behind him, the kitchen counter was, and there was a big, fat, well-worn Bible. It was literally within his reach. He didn’t have to leave his chair. Pulled down the Bible and he said, Pastor Dave, he said, we always eat our meals together. Morning, noon, and evening. We always eat together and we always conclude with the reading of scripture and prayer. I’d like you to read something for us, please. And like a 12-year-old, I just plopped the Bible open and started reading whatever was there. Psalm 119, there’s about a thousand verses in it. And pretty soon everybody’s chuckling, poor Pastor Dave. They read the Bible morning, noon, and night, and they prayed morning, noon, and night over the meals plus. Where did I go wrong? Where did I go wrong?
Was Orton a successful parent? If you’re going to gauge his success by the outcome, now see, I just charged that guy in Montreal, the outcome, I say, I lay it at his feet. But can we say at all times that the outcome is a reflection of the intention? If the outcome is surely dependent upon how the child was raised and what you as a parent, and sometimes as a grandparent, tried to do. His kids were wonderful kids. I had them in my youth group. Couple of them pretty near drove me to distraction. I remember the one that I was teaching a Bible class for all the young people up in the balcony. We had a large balcony in that church. I never went to Orton in Charlotte about stuff like this. I just left Steve.
But here’s their son, their eldest son, sitting barefoot up there, and he had a pair of nail clippers and he was clipping his toenails. Disrespectful. Somebody would say, well, you got to give kids a little bit of space.
I know that, but somebody would have said, tsk, tsk, Orton in Charlotte, whatever goes on in that house, no, no, no. This guy was trying to make a point to all the young people. He was a born leader, and that scared the liver out of me that people, young people would follow him. I want to suggest to you today that a successful parent is somebody like Orton, who did everything that he knew how. He was successful in his own right, and the outcome did not turn out in the early day according to his wishes, his desires, and their family habits. But I can tell you, as far as I know, all those kids today are serving the Lord. I helped with, I oversaw a wedding of one of those, David, and he’s got, he’s got, Debbie is a wonderful gal, and they’ve got a wonderful family.
They’re serving God to the nines, they’re wonderful. So I could tell you all kinds of stories of parents, the stress of being a parent, a mom and a dad, taking your kids to church, seeing that they get in every Sunday school class. You do everything right, but there comes a time when you can’t legislate. I used to go to church, I used to go knowing that if I didn’t go on my own, I’d get help at my rear end. I was going to get to church one way or another. There was no such thing as staying home. And so, you know, I lived with that kind of bureaucracy in my house, and for my brother and I, it turned out fine.
My sister was raised in the same house. My mom said to me, not long before she died, where did we go wrong, David? We fed her the same food, and we took her to the same church. David, she was in your Sunday school class when you became part of our pastoral team. What did we do wrong? And I had to say to my mom, my sister has a mind of her own. I said, you know the old story.
You can lead a horse to the water. You can’t make them drink. Humanity, even much more. Start children off on the way they should go. And even when they are old, they will not turn from it. Do you love that verse? Proverbs 22 and 6.
And you want to cash in on that one, and I just want to let you know, that’s not a guarantee. Start children off on the way that they should go. Even when they’re old, they will not turn from it. That’s not a guarantee. That is a beautiful package where the Lord says, this is the privilege that I’m giving you. But at the end of the day, your children always have their own options. Some have to go, some have to go the difficult way before they find their way back to where they belong.
Some really have to go to the bottom before they realize that’s where they are. And I just don’t lay the charge at the parent’s feet. Where did you go wrong? I believe that that’s unfair. Children are a heritage from the Lord. Offspring a reward from him. I’m prepared to allow somebody to come down here if they want to and help me with what’s happening or can you, the people who are listening in on the internet, I hope you’re still seeing the feed. But it’s not happening in the house here. And I don’t know if you want to come down and mess with this computer. I can keep on going. But somebody gave me a thumb. I don’t know if that means they want to ride down to Tim Hortons. Will we just leave it like it is? I’m sorry.
Oh, there we are. Jerry, as soon as you left. Okay. So my plans are going a little sideways here. So but that’s okay. Think on your feet, Dave. Children are a heritage from the Lord.
The offspring a reward from him. This little one this morning is part of my heritage. This is my offspring and this is hard to conceive of when April said yes. I took her in a Volkswagen. Now I’ve told you about my Volkswagen. It was my prayer closet. And I took her in my prayer closet and it was just about 200 yards from our house out in the country.
I pulled into a farmer’s field, sat there, gave her a little kiss and popped the question with a ring. She grabbed it as though she’d been waiting for six months for it. No, no. She said yes. She said yes. Graciously, she said yes. But who could have ever imagined that? Yes, Sherry Bob. Who could have ever imagined that that was something that would bring us to this moment? I got to drop a point in here. This is just for fun. This is not in my notes. April was a nurse. I married her, of course.
And she went with me for my second year of Bible college. And in that college, there were 300 other students. And one of them, his name was Bill Prankard, Prankard. And his wife was Gwen Prankard. Gwen was with child. And she didn’t have to go to Bethlehem to have her baby. There was room in the hospital for her. It’s so intriguing that April knew Gwen just a little bit, not very well, because we lived over in the married residence, and I forget where they lived, but we weren’t in close quarters at the college. But April at least knew Gwen somehow amongst all of these students. Gwen was with child. She’d been taken to the hospital. And when Gwen was rolled into the delivery room, there was a doctor waiting and April. And when the baby was born, it was named Bob, my son-in-law. April was there.
April saw Bob, got the fright of her life. April saw Bob before Gwen. She saw you before Gwen did and said, Gwen, prepare yourself for this. Then the story goes on that Bill and I sort of in a way worked together in our church in Toronto. We became friends. We went on little holidays. And Bob and Sherry, well, Bill said to me when they got engaged, he said, if we want to be upset about this, Dave, he said, we got nobody to thank but ourselves.
He said we took them on that holiday. We let them get close. And they got married. And at the reception, Bob takes the microphone. He wants to make a little speech and he says, Mom Forrest, you have a unique way of showing up at every major event in my life. Oh, how sweet to hold a newborn baby and feel the pride and joy he gives. But greater still, the calm assurance this child can face on certain days.
Because he lives, sing with me, because he lives, I can face tomorrow. Because he lives, all fear is gone. Because I know he holds my future. And this life is worth a living just because he lives.
These are uncertain days. Who in his right mind would bring a baby into the world when it’s upside down and backwards? We do because we don’t let what is happening in the world dictate our walk with the Lord or our walk with each other. We can face uncertain days. And this little child, Amelia, I won’t be around long enough to see her wonderful future. I won’t be there for her wedding. I won’t be there for any of that. That’s why I say this day is so special. I’m surprised I’m alive to see another great grandchild. This is so special.
I don’t know what the world’s going to offer. I don’t know if Carney is going to go through with his plan to dissolve Canada and give us over to the World Economic Forum. He has clearly stated he’s going to do it. I don’t know if he’s going to kill our country and close down our gas wells or oil wells and make life miserable for us. But I know in the uncertainty that is coming, by faith, little Amelia is going to do more than survive because she will have Jesus guiding her. Family planning. Sherry’s dropped her head.
Family planning. In the middle of the little blue dress, that’s Sherry. She’s sitting up here. I was going to call you and tell you, wear a blue dress today. Family planning. I hate to disappoint you, Sherry, but you were a total surprise. You were not our plan. But that’s okay. It runs in the family. This little one that’s being held down the way, the day that that baby was born, I’m told that the doctor said, well, here we have another honeymoon baby. Hello? And then there was David. He’s the little guy. He lives down in Brantford.
Dave, if you’re chiming in today, we haven’t learned our lesson. You were not planned. But then there was little Melanie Jane who lives today in Edmonton. You’re in the same category, young lady. You weren’t planned. Family planning is a good idea if you’ve got the brains, the wits, and the discipline to follow through. This is what we as a family looked like in 1973. ‘73 was a great year. I wish I could blow this picture up so that you could see April. She was something special and still is. There are spiritual dividends, not only to being parents, but being grandparents, to being great-grandparents. Proverbs 17, 6, grandchildren are a crown to the old guy and his young wife. And parents are the pride of their children. But there’s a solemn warning specifically to the dad.
It doesn’t talk about the moms in this particular verse, a very special warning to dads, and a lot of dads have failed to listen to this warning. Do not embitter your children or they will become discouraged. Colossians 3. High expectations not met. I remember being in the home of my mom and dad’s very special friends. I won’t name them. I remember his name was Ray. He spoke to my dad and he said, Reg, how’s David’s school marks? My dad said, straight C’s. And that was a good year. And I remember Ray saying, if I had a son like that, I’d beat him till he got better marks. And I thought, if I lived in this house, I would hate him and I’d hate his God. Don’t embitter your children.
So Cameron, be careful. Don’t upset her. You say to your wife, yes, dear. And you say to Amelia, whatever you want, sweetie, I’m the candy man. It’s all yours. There’s a joy. This child is going to change your life. The apostle John, speaking not of babies, but of his children in the kingdom. But it’s appropriate to read this today. This is appropriate for Sherry and Bob. She married a Christian boy. Thank God for that. Thank God Cameron’s the guy. I have no greater joy. Nothing tickles my heart more than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.
And for people like my mom and dad, their hearts are broken because their one child, you know, wasn’t good enough. Well, two out of three, that’s pretty good. No, my mom and dad both died not knowing where my sister would end up. And she’s not with it today. She’s living her own life. And we are locked out of the family because we’re Christians. My brother’s locked out.
We’ve all been disowned because we’re following the ways of the Lord. No greater joy. And Sherry and Cameron, the greatest joy you can have is not if this little girl becomes a doctor or a lawyer. They could become, Amelia could become a great doctor and not live for Jesus. Could become the next prime minister, not live for Jesus. The greatest joy you could have is to know the old Western song, the circle will not be broken. The circle will not be broken.
I spoke at a funeral for my buddy, George, some years ago. I had been responsible. I had helped George to find the Lord. I took him to a service. He gave his heart to Jesus. And he and I were buddies till his final day. When we were chumming around in our teenage years, I didn’t have a car, he did.
And I always was known to be the guy that sat in the front seat with George. Dave always rode with George. And when I heard of his demise, the Lord provided for me instantly within a half an hour. The Lord provided me a free airplane ride to Toronto by way of Air Canada. And I got to the funeral service two minutes before it started. His wife broke into tears, said, David, you came. And so I got to speak at George’s funeral. But when the service got over and I walked out into the lobby, all of the people were heading out to the hearse and you know, you’ve been to these funerals.
And there was a man there from the funeral home and he looked at me and he said, you weren’t in the list, sir, but I saw you have a part in the service. He said, all the cars are full. I don’t know what to do with you. Do you have a car? I said, well, no, I just, no, I don’t. Well, he said, would you mind riding with George? And that was the fun that day when they came back to the church for funerals are about egg sandwiches and celery, you know that when we got back to the church, the fun thing was Dave had to have one more ride with his buddy, George.
George gave his heart and his life to Jesus. And it was a joy for me to be at his funeral and to have a little speech afterwards and to say to his kids, I said to his daughter, to his son who were in that service, I said, you kids need to know something. Your daddy, your daddy passed with a hope in his heart that the day will come in heaven when your chair will be occupied by you. Don’t you let your daddy down, fulfill his joy for eternity. A promise that was written by Asaph, who was the music director for the Psalmist David. Isn’t this interesting? We will tell the next generation.
This is a command for Cameron and Shelray. We will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power and the wonders he has done. We will tell our kids, this is what the Lord has done. Discipline your children and they will give you peace. They’ll bring you the delights of your desire in everything by setting an example by doing what is good. What constitutes success? I won’t go over that road again now.
Start your children off on the way that they should go and hopefully, but it’s not guaranteed, they will follow through. I need to have little Amelia up here. Is it possible for you to bring that little dumpling up here and I’m going to overcome my fear. They brought her to me the first time I ever laid eyes on her. Come on, Cameron.
They brought her to me at our house and I’m sitting in the living room and they said, Sherry came over and she brought this little one and she said, okay, you can have a seat if you like, be comfy. You want to stand? She’s going to wake up. I don’t like that. So the first born in their family couldn’t pronounce grandpa. So to this day, all of them call me Gampy. And she’s Bummer. Okay, I’m going to try this. Please don’t wake up, darling.
I don’t care if you fill your pants, just don’t wake up. I have a message for you. She’s smiling. That means she’s got gas. Amelia, I want to talk to you today. I want to tell you that although this little ritual that happens in churches all over the world is called a baby dedication, I want you to know, Amelia, that this is more a dedication of mom and dad. I can make any kind of proclamation over you that I would wish to do, but it’s really incumbent upon mom and dad to do the things that we’ve read about in the scriptures today.
Start Amelia out right, and very possibly the stakes are in your favor. She’ll turn out to never break your heart. She’ll turn out a wonderful soloist in church. She’s starting to sing now. Amelia, I want you to know that there’s a nature in you and probably the first word that you’ll ever learn to speak to your mommy and your daddy, the first word that you may come out with. It may not be mama, it may not be papa. It’s probably going to be, well, because I raised three of them with April, the first word that our kids came out with was no.
Amelia, you have a nature that’s bent towards rebellion, and that’s just a fact of life. It’s not that you’re a bad person. You’re just like all the rest of us. We’re all bad, capital B. We all have, the word is sinned and comes short of the glory of God. Don’t fuss, honey. You’re going to mess up my plan. Have you got something to stick in your mouth? Oh, good. I’m glad for these little things. Yes, shush, yes, please. Dinner’s on the way, but not now. Yeah. So Amelia, I want you to know this is going to be an important word for you.
The word is calvary. Calvary is a hill just outside the walls of the city of Jerusalem, you see. And that’s where they nailed Jesus to the cross. I hope and I pray that the word calvary will be part of your vernacular, and that you’ll always appreciate that word, and you’ll take advantage of it frequently. You need to live at the foot of the cross of calvary. You need to let Jesus come into your heart, and you’re going to mess me up royally. I can see it coming now.
So I’m going to skip towards the end, if you can just hold on for a minute. I want to tell you, I want to tell you about Jesus. I’ve never done this before. I never sang to Sherry, I never sang to any one of our kids. But this morning, she lost it, hon. She lost it. Oh, my goodness. Okay. So I have to do it this way.
Jesus loves me, this I know, cause the Bible tells me so. Little ones like you, to Him belong. You are weak, but He is strong. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. The Bible tells me so. And Amelia? Oh, how He loves you and me. Oh, how He loves you and me. He gave His life, what more could He give? Oh, how He loves you. Oh, how He loves me. Oh, how He loves you and me.
Now, Jesus, I pray for this cantankerous little baby right now.
I pray, Lord, that mom and dad will be truly faithful to you. I know that’s their desire, and I pray that that desire will not wander. I pray, Father God, that they will never give up on attendance in the house of God. Losing attendance in the house of God is a clear signal.
We’re walking away from Jesus, which is to walk away from heaven, to walk away from the family in heaven. So, Lord, I pray that this little one will learn to love Jesus. I pray that every sermon that she hears, even as a youngster, a little one, I pray that those messages will have a glorious impact on her life. We dedicate mom and dad today to nurture and love and teach this little one the ways of Jesus. Amen. I intended to bring Bob and Sherry up, but they, you know, sorry. Why don’t you come now?
Because there’s one more thing I have to do. If you have to take her somewhere, it’s okay. You can go through that door and disappear if you want to, but you’re welcome to stay. I think you want to stay. You better come on over here, mom and dad. Because, oh, here we go. You have another daughter by marriage.
And she lives in a place called Sylvan Lake, Alberta. And I think she’s watching right now through a camera that’s mounted on that wall. And this girl’s going through some challenges right now. I had an extended visit with you this last week. And I feel this song is as much for you as it is for Amelia. You are my grandchild by marriage. Oh, how he loves you and me.
Oh, how he loves you and me. He gave his life. What more could he possibly give? Oh, how he loves you. Oh, how he loves me. Oh, how he loves you and me. Remember the word Calvary?
Jesus to Calvary did go. His love for sinners to show what he did there brought hope from despair. Oh, how he loves you. Oh, how he loves me. Oh, how he loves you and me.
Forgive my blubbering. My brother said to me on the phone 48 hours ago, you’ll never make it.
I did make it. Heavenly Father, I thank you for this family. How could this possibly be? I thank you, Lord God. In a very selfish way, I thank you for allowing me to still be alive on this day, in this hour to hold little Amelia to pray over her as we did today. I thank you for our Bob and Sherry who are walking with God, who are in tune in every which way to walk with you. They’ve never wavered.
They’ve never stumbled. Lord, that’s such a privilege of joy upon mom and dad Prankerton and upon mom and dad Forrest. How glad, what joy, what thrill we have in knowing that our closest kin are walking with you. I pray your blessing again upon Cameron and upon Shelray and that beautiful little bundle. I pray, oh God, that you will bless them and keep them, keep them from all harm. And may Jesus be the rising star in their hearts. Always, forever.
Amen. I love all of you. God bless you. I’ll hug you later. These people are getting sick of all this. I hope this found an okay place in your heart today. I hope it did. Thank you for being patient. Heavenly Father, I pray for all of these wonderful people. My goodness, they’re special. I do love them. I love them because you love them. And I pray, Lord, that grandmas and grandpas today will not take it upon themselves to experience guilt over what they perceived was failure.
What did I do wrong?
Lord, so many of us have done everything that we know to show our kids the way. And when they determine to go another direction, we must not beat ourselves up for that. We’ve got to just continuously pray. And I know the prayer works because we have a grandson that calls. He calls his grandma. And he says to her, Grandma, I know you’re praying. Please don’t stop praying for me.
Lord, that’s a sunrise every time we hear those words. Because nothing else matters to us. Everything pales in comparison to knowing that our kids, our grandkids, and now our great-grandkids will hopefully walk with the Lord. Thank you for your graciousness to us. In Jesus’ name, amen. Thank you, guys.
