My Little Ray of Sunshine


On February 23rd, Ripley will be 15 months old. Man, where has the time gone? Just last night I was thinking to myself, how can I be so blessed with this little girl in my life? Her nickname fits her well, Sunshine. She just glows when she is doing her thing; her thing is walking laps around the living room and stopping to dance whenever she hears music. To be so young, she has some moves. Her dance moves have grown from shacking her little rear to walking fast in a figure eight with her hands in the air to now she shacks her hips. She even has some foot work; marching in place but its foot work. She is very cute when she hears music; her eyes sparkle and she has this huge smile on her face. Teresa is hoping that Ripley gets my talent to sing.

I never knew how much I wanted children until God blessed Teresa and me with Ripley Anne. We really never tried but we stopped preventing back in 2005 so it was a pleasant surprised when we found out in March 2009 that Teresa was 4 weeks pregnant. The past 15 months have been a roller coast of feelings and experiences; from learning Ripley at 10 days old had to have surgery to correct a lower intestine mal-rotation where God showed Himself faithful in ways I’ve never seen (thank you Lord!) to seeing her grow and thrive as she walked for the first time 2 days before her first birthday and now she is almost to the point she is running. My God is so awesome; I can barely contain the awe I have for Him. Who am I that He blesses me so? I know He does it because He is my Father and He loves me.

I read that people will see God (as their Heavenly Father) the way they have experienced their earthly father. The way they were treated (good or bad) affects how they think God will treat them. I’ve counseled a young lady years ago who had difficulty seeing God as a loving Father because her earthly father had abandon her. It affected how she saw God. I’ve read and saw first hand how that young ladies who don’t get their love from their earthly father find it elsewhere; most of the time by having sex with men trying to fill that void in their hearts; both lost females and even Christian females do this to feel loved. I take all this to heart when I look at my little girl knowing how I treat her and love her is how she will see God as her Heavenly Father. When I love her unconditional, she will see how God can love her the same way and understand how He came to save her on the cross. Because of the love He has for her. I take my job as Ripley’s father very seriously; both Teresa and Ripley are my first priority after God and my duties as a pastor come after my two ladies.

I could go on and on about Ripley but I will finish with on Saturday Teresa and I will take Ripley to our local zoo for the first time. It will be fun and we will take photos. I leave you with some photos of the last 15 months of me with my little ray of Sunshine.