In thy might

And the Lord looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might. Judges 6:14

"For the might of a look of the Lord is enough for anything. Only we must meet His look; our eyes must be ever toward the Lord, and then we shall not miss it, for He says, "I will set Mine eyes upon them for good." Francis Ridley Havergal.


The scene was at the Lake City Veteran's Affairs Serenity Place Hospice Unit. My father, the Rev. Luther Ray Stokes, having suffered a massive stroke a few weeks earlier, was on his death bed. He had never seen his first great grandson, Nathaniel Manoa Stokes, born to my son Landon and Amber in January.
In a miraculous turn of events, my father woke from his stroke and had recognition and limited speech for a time. It was during this time that we took Nathaniel to see my father. As Nathaniel was lowered to the eye level of my father, they gazed long at each other, in a kind of knowing bond. It was a touching moment. My father died about a week later on March 12th of this year.
Today, October 16th would have been my fathers birthday.
And so we carry on, Nathaniel at his beginning of natural birth and Jordon, our son, at the beginning of his spiritual birth. The birthday of my father gone on, the baptism today and the spiritual birthday of Jordon Curtis Stokes.