Potential
On May 7, 2012, my household received a new resident. It happened at the snap of a finger… or more accurately after some painful hours of labor and a series of forceful pushes. At 6:47pm, all we seemed to have was some extra body weight centered on my wife’s abdomen, and at 6:48pm we had a living, breathing human being in our hands. The world will never be the same again. Certainly not the Poock world.
Our new resident is a boy, and we named him Micah Thomas.Micah is a variation of his maternal grandfather’s name, Michael. On top of that, the Bible records the words of the prophet Micah in a book that bears his name. Micah the prophet spoke about matters of justice and honest worship of the Lord. He had low tolerance for preachers who only said what the people wanted to hear.
My son’s middle name honors his other grandfather, Thomas. Also, a man named Thomas was one of the first disciples of Jesus, the one who asked honest questions, had a keen mind, and wanted to see for himself the risen Jesus.This 1st century disciple Thomas later traveled from Israel to India in order to spread the church and tell others of Jesus’ love, death, and resurrection.
With only a month under his belt, Micah Thomas Poock has a future that spreads out before him full of tremendous promise and potential. Who will Micah Thomas be and what will he do? We look into his face and imagine the possibilities. Maybe he’ll be like the prophet Micah, caring about peace and justice in the world, or critiquing his preacher-dad’s sermons. Perhaps he’ll follow grandpa Mike’s lead and teach Sunday School and be a reservoir of knowledge. Maybe he’ll be generous and servant-hearted like his grandpa Tom. Or he’ll be a disciple of Jesus who spreads the good news of the Gospel near and far.
Some of Micah’s new clothes offertheir own commentary about who Micah Thomas is. We hope sayings like “best brother” are true and “troublemaker in training” are not. “Mommy’s new man” has a bit of truth to it. And I promise that I did not purchase the shirt with my favorite saying: “handsome runs in the family”.
Most of us can see lives of promise and potential when we look into the face of a child. Do we see that future of beautiful opportunities when we look into the faces of those of us who are a bit (or a lot) older? Are we able and willing to see hope, strength, courage, and possibility when we look into the mirror? These are ours through Jesus Christ.Are we able to see the potential in each week, each day, each hour?
God gives each of us life every day, so that we may live well and fully. Through Jesus Christ, you have great potential, no matter how young or old you feel. With the power of the Holy Spirit, you have the life and ability toimpact your neighbor and make a difference. We share God’s life and love, God’s peace and promise with family and friends.
This St. John’s Lutheran Church also has all the potential a congregation could have. Will we seize the day? How will we be known to our neighbors and community? Will we be a generous church that gives, a people who move forward on God’s promises? Are we going to be a church that really welcomes people and speaks into the joys and pains of our lives? Will we be quick to worship God, eager to forgive, ready to help, slow to condemn? Yes, by God’s grace!
Our 2012 St. John’s newborns – Dawson Dennis Reese, Aaliyah Marie Bergum, Irene Carol Stokstad, and Micah Thomas (plus more on the way) –aren’t the only ones with great potential. We are renewed every day by God’s Holy Spirit, filled with all the potential in the world to love, to live, to grow, and to give.
With potential,
“So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” (2 Corinthians 5:17)