One of my favorite hymns of all time has part of its root in Psalm 71:17-18:

¹⁷O God, from my youth you have taught me,
and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.
¹⁸So even to old age and gray hairs,
O God, do not forsake me,
until I proclaim your might to another generation,
your power to all those to come.
¹⁹Your righteousness, O God,
reaches the high heavens.
You who have done great things,
O God, who is like you?

The hymn is “How Firm a Foundation.” The sixth verse reads:

Even down to old age all my people shall prove
My sovereign, eternal, unchangeable love
And when hoary hairs shall their temples adorn
Like lambs they shall still to my bosom be borne.

Thanksgiving is always an interesting holiday for me.  This year, I graduated to “adult” status at the dinner in Elwood, IN, because the coordinator asked me to pray before the meal started.

But being single at a big get-together isn’t necessarily the easiest thing in the world, especially when Grandpa and Grandma have their first great-grandchild to dote on this year.  She’s a cutie, too…has the same eyes her mom had when she was just a little tyke.  And now I’m old enough to say that to her because I remember when she was in a playpen or a pumpkin seat.

Anyway, it’s challenging because I don’t even necessarily want kids…especially not right now.  But that doesn’t mean I don’t feel like I’m letting my grandparents down just a little by not having a kid already.  A couple of the other cousins are married now too…and I’m the oldest who isn’t.  My brother will probably be married in a year or so…and that will pretty much be everyone.

I just don’t really know what to do…not that there really is anything to do.  It’s just something that comes up in my thoughts every now and again.  Maybe I’m not called to have kids…if I am, God’s got His work cut out for Him.  But y’know, if God wants me to have kids, He can do that.  He parted the Red Sea and paid my huge sin debt…and gave Abraham a child in his old age when he was as good as dead.  Getting me to have offspring will be a snap for him.

But if I don’t have any physical offspring, will I be a godly man to my extended family?  What will that look like?  Will I be able to proclaim the Gospel to the next generation in my family?  I don’t really know.