They Love Jesus More…

I remember her baby dedication so clearly. Hannah was wearing a sweet little yellow embroidered gown and bonnet. The pastor reminded us that God had entrusted us to raise her in the “nurture and admonition of the Lord” and that she was not really ours, but rather, on loan from God.

Hannah’s heart was always tender toward the things of God. I remember one time after church she came home and began tearing down a sweet little poster of Tara Lipinski that was hanging in her pink bedroom with kitty-cat border. Apparently, the preacher had made a comment about parents allowing children to hang inappropriate posters in their rooms.  Hannah took it straight to heart. Of course, we explained Tara was just fine.

But it went further than that.  When she was in 2nd grade, she came home and told me about classmates she had talked to about Jesus. In high school and college, I would often see her reading her Bible and praying a whole lot more than her mama.

So when she married a man whose heart was warm to missions it was not a surprise. From the beginning of their dating, God knit Hannah and Jordan’s hearts together to serve Him in missions. For the past 4+ years, they have been saving and preparing and praying.

A huge chunk of my heart is currently 35,000 feet in the air going to to do what God told her to do. Today, we drove Hannah and Judson to Nashville International to begin their journey to Tok, Alaska. Jordan went ahead over a week ago to relocate all of their belongings and Rosie, their dog.

I am sad, no doubt, not having my sweet girl and even sweeter grandson, Judson, within 2 miles of my home.  Our weekly routine of Sunday lunch will not be the same without them. And although I didn’t see them every day, just knowing I could was nice.

But my husband and I have said over and over we’d rather have our children in God’s will living in Alaska than out of His will living next door.

I am beginning to understand Jesus’s words about following Him more and more by watching Hannah and Jordan Rowe.

 “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.  And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.” Matt. 10: 37-38

The word worthy in the Greek is axios, which is a measure of weight in reference to balance scales. With that image in mind, read the verses again. Imagine your love for family is on one side of the scale and your love for Jesus on the other side. Which way does the scale tip? To be counted worthy of the high calling of Christ, it must tip toward Him.

All her life, it is almost as if I could see Hannah’s pan balance tipping…tipping…tipping toward Jesus. She has picked up the cross of Christ and is bearing it to the other side of North America because of her weighty love for Him.  It is not that she and Jordan do not love me and her daddy, they just love Jesus MORE.