Maebry's Dedication to the Lord

This past weekend was a busy one. Friday was Shawn's birthday {YAY!}, so on Saturday we had a small get together to celebrate. We didn't really tell any of our friends it was for his birthday, but just a time to eat and have fellowship together. Shawn's parents, my parents and my sister came up for the weekend and celebrated with us. Here is the only picture I took! Ha! Fruit pizza...so good, an all-time favorite.

The main reason we had family come up is that we were dedicating Maebry to the Lord on Sunday at church. We were given a copy of a copy of a copy of an old letter from our pastor. My initial thought was "goodness, couldn't they have reprinted these on some letterhead?" Just being honest. But the more I thought about it, the more I appreciated the old letter. This is not something new they recently started doing at Denton Bible, they have been doing this for years and their stance on it has not changed.

Let me quote a few lines from this letter. "It {a baby dedication} is a Biblical ceremony: In Exodus 13 the first-born of Israel is given to God. Jesus Himself, a first-born, was dedicated by Mary and Joseph. Samuel was dedicated by Hannah, and Samson by His parents. Indeed "children are a gift of the Lord." There is nothing saving in a dedication. At Denton Bible we don't baptize babies because a parent cannot bring a child into covenant with God. The child alone can believe the gospel. There is nothing magical about a dedication. It does nothing to insure a child's salvation or a blessed life. So what is a dedication? It is the public accountability of a parent to model a godly life and to raise their child in the discipline and teaching of Jesus Christ and in the fellowship of His church."

The letter goes on to ask a few questions about our life and our walk with the Lord. The letter ends with the statement "the dedication of a child is actually the dedication of the parents to be the children of God they were meant to be."  This is so true. I'm very thankful for this copy of a copy letter I received and will tuck it away. We will continue to thank God for our blessings and ask Him to help us be the children He has created us to be.

This was our first baby dedication to witness here at DBC, so I wasn't sure what to expect. When our pastor was talking he told us that he was going to announce the names and for the parents to give their best "Lion King" of the baby. Meaning to hold the baby up in the air. At that moment I think I started to sweat, as I was holding Maebry. Below is the clip where Pastor Tommy introduces Maebry and we present her to the church. Too funny.

After the service we snapped a few pictures of the family!

It was a nice weekend and we enjoyed visiting with our family and friends.