What A Blessing To Grow Older In The Lord
Today is my 40th birthday. I can hardly believe that I am writing those words! I feel like I was graduating high school the other day (you can’t convince me 2004 was 22 years ago!) It was beautiful and moving to see so many of you surround the place Pastor Valerie prepared for a little birthday celebration for me on Sunday. I looked around and saw the loving smiles on your faces as you sang, and I can still feel the warm embraces and kind words. I think on it now and I feel this phrase bubble up in my spirit: What a blessing to grow older in the Lord and as part of a community of faith.
My entire life has been spent in and around the family of the faith. Every birthday, from my first to my 40th, has been celebrated in some way by not only my blood family, but by my church family. I am truly blessed beyond measure! The beautiful thing is that the faces have been different over the years. My first 13 birthdays were in New Jersey, all in the same church my parents pastored. It was the church that prayed for my parents to even have a baby after 9 years of infertility. It was the church that saw me take my first steps and play my first notes on the piano. It is the church where when I visit that region and they see me, they still call me “Little Javier” or “Javielito” in Spanish. They, like my parents, still see me as their baby. Valerie gets the same treatment when she goes back to the church where she grew up in Canada. I have seen for myself when she goes back and the church mother's literally call her "their baby".
My next 18 birthdays were spent in Puerto Rico, with a new COGOP community. A church that saw me grow into my own as a musician and encouraged me as I finally found “my voice”. It was where I learned to play guitar as a teenager and where I learned to lead God’s people in worship. It was the church that loved me through my awkward and confusing teenage years. It was the church that taught me about my roots and history as a Puerto Rican. It was that same church where I accepted the call to pastor alongside Valerie. It was the church that loved us and had patience with us as we made mistakes but gave everything we had to be faithful pastors to them.
My last 8 birthdays have been spent with you, Bridge. A church that welcomed us with open arms in August of 2018. A church that became family as we learned to love you and see the wonderful beauty and diversity of God’s kingdom. A church that has allowed me to lead you in worship over these years and occasionally share God’s word with you. It has been here at Bridge where God blessed our marriage with a miracle baby that so many of you prayed for and now you get to see the fulfillment of God’s promise every Sunday as Gracie runs through the lobby or dances on stage.
There is so much I can say but the point I am trying to make is this: All the above, though in different locations, and even languages, and cultures, is one family of faith where I have been blessed enough to be fostered in, starting with my parents and extending to everyone else. This does not mean that I have always been perfect, or walked blamelessly, but I have been fortunate enough to be surrounded by a beautiful family of faith and a great cloud of witnesses that have helped mold me into who I am today.
To grow older in the Lord, in the family of faith is a beautiful thing. God walks with us and carries us through each step of the way. Isaiah 46:3-4 says:
Listen to me, you descendants of Jacob, all the remnant of the people of Israel, you whom I have upheld since your birth, and have carried since you were born.
Even to your old age and gray hairs, I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.
I already have quite a bit of gray myself, but it is wonderful to know that God sustains us from birth all the way to when we are gray and even beyond the veil. We are all useful in the body of Christ. At each age and every stage, there are new ways God wants to use us for His glory. I pray that the Lord give me many more years to serve Him and grow older in Him. If He tarries, I want to celebrate the next 40 birthdays with my family of faith while impacting the next generations as so many of you have blessed me and impacted me.
“Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, my God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your mighty acts to all who are to come.” – Psalms 71:18
In Christ,
Pastor Javier
My entire life has been spent in and around the family of the faith. Every birthday, from my first to my 40th, has been celebrated in some way by not only my blood family, but by my church family. I am truly blessed beyond measure! The beautiful thing is that the faces have been different over the years. My first 13 birthdays were in New Jersey, all in the same church my parents pastored. It was the church that prayed for my parents to even have a baby after 9 years of infertility. It was the church that saw me take my first steps and play my first notes on the piano. It is the church where when I visit that region and they see me, they still call me “Little Javier” or “Javielito” in Spanish. They, like my parents, still see me as their baby. Valerie gets the same treatment when she goes back to the church where she grew up in Canada. I have seen for myself when she goes back and the church mother's literally call her "their baby".
My next 18 birthdays were spent in Puerto Rico, with a new COGOP community. A church that saw me grow into my own as a musician and encouraged me as I finally found “my voice”. It was where I learned to play guitar as a teenager and where I learned to lead God’s people in worship. It was the church that loved me through my awkward and confusing teenage years. It was the church that taught me about my roots and history as a Puerto Rican. It was that same church where I accepted the call to pastor alongside Valerie. It was the church that loved us and had patience with us as we made mistakes but gave everything we had to be faithful pastors to them.
My last 8 birthdays have been spent with you, Bridge. A church that welcomed us with open arms in August of 2018. A church that became family as we learned to love you and see the wonderful beauty and diversity of God’s kingdom. A church that has allowed me to lead you in worship over these years and occasionally share God’s word with you. It has been here at Bridge where God blessed our marriage with a miracle baby that so many of you prayed for and now you get to see the fulfillment of God’s promise every Sunday as Gracie runs through the lobby or dances on stage.
There is so much I can say but the point I am trying to make is this: All the above, though in different locations, and even languages, and cultures, is one family of faith where I have been blessed enough to be fostered in, starting with my parents and extending to everyone else. This does not mean that I have always been perfect, or walked blamelessly, but I have been fortunate enough to be surrounded by a beautiful family of faith and a great cloud of witnesses that have helped mold me into who I am today.
To grow older in the Lord, in the family of faith is a beautiful thing. God walks with us and carries us through each step of the way. Isaiah 46:3-4 says:
Listen to me, you descendants of Jacob, all the remnant of the people of Israel, you whom I have upheld since your birth, and have carried since you were born.
Even to your old age and gray hairs, I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.
I already have quite a bit of gray myself, but it is wonderful to know that God sustains us from birth all the way to when we are gray and even beyond the veil. We are all useful in the body of Christ. At each age and every stage, there are new ways God wants to use us for His glory. I pray that the Lord give me many more years to serve Him and grow older in Him. If He tarries, I want to celebrate the next 40 birthdays with my family of faith while impacting the next generations as so many of you have blessed me and impacted me.
“Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, my God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your mighty acts to all who are to come.” – Psalms 71:18
In Christ,
Pastor Javier
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