mikey was dedicated to the Lord at church this past weekend! 

the five covenant promises we made:

promise #1 – do you recognize these children as gifts of God and give heartfelt thanks for God’s blessing?

promise #2 – do you now dedicate your children to the Lord who gave them to you all, surrendering all wordly claims upon their lives in the hope that they will belong wholly to God?

promise #3 – do you pledge as parents that, with God’s fatherly help, you will bring up your children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord, making every reasonable effort, with patience and love, to build the word of God, the character of Christ and the joy of the Lord into their lives?

promise #4 – do you promise to provide, through God’s blessing, for the physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual needs of your children, looking to your own heavenly Father for the wisdom, love, and strength to serve them and not use them?

promise #5 – do you promise, God helping you, to make it your regular prayer that by God’s grace your children will come to trust in Jesus Christ alone for the forgiveness of their sins and for the fulfillment of all His promises to them, even eternal life; and in this faith follow Jesus as Lord and obey His teachings?

after pastor john asked us each of these questions, we were to respond with a hearty ‘we do’.  such weighty promises.  promises that i can never keep apart from God, through whom all things are possible.  that’s such an amazing, reassuring thing!

we met with pastor john before the service so that he could practice saying our names and run through the logistics of the dedication part of the service.  when he got to our names (and said ‘tsai’ right!), and looked right at us, i opened my mouth to say ‘yes’ but my voice got stuck in my throat and i ended up dropping my eyes and bobbing my head up and down.  i didn’t hear phil say anthing either.  our big chance to meet john piper and we went down in flames!  thankfully, he was looking more at mikey and trying to get him to smile.  mikey didn’t. 

even more mortifying, mikey KEPT SCREECHING the whole time!  so picture john piper solemnly asking us the above questions, with SCREECH interjected throughout.  he wasn’t scared, he wasn’t unhappy, he’s just into screeching lately.  especially when it’s really quiet.  like at church.  aigoo.

so john piper will now forever know us as those mute asian parents with the little boy who likes to scream at the top of his lungs.  i think we’ll maybe wait another three years before thinking about introducing ourselves to him.

so here’s piper dedicating mikey.  (see how the boy’s trying to squirm away?  and see how i’m trying to edge myself into the corner? heh.)

here’s the words of dedication – “Michael Kyle, together with your parents who love you dearly, and this people who care about the outcome of your faith, i dedicate you to God, surrendering together with them, all worldly claims upon your life, in the hope that you will belong wholly to God forever.”

one of the things he said was ‘as none of these parents would ever give their precious child away for a hundred million, million dollars, parents are indeed among the richest people on the planet.’  amen to that!

and here’s the certificate we got, signed by both john piper and david michael.  (who did the closing prayer and who did get choked up as he prayed.  he’s got such a soft heart for the children at our church!)