My wife and I are expecting to welcome our first son, Micah Souza, on December 9th.

As I anticipate being a father, I have a whole new kind of excitement—different from anything I’ve experienced before. I never thought I’d be ready to be a father, but I know the Lord is going to be with us as we raise our son and I couldn’t be happier.

Even before our boy comes into this world, my wife Mikaela and I are devoted to being parents who raise him through prayer. As we pray, we know the Lord will prepare us to be the parents He’s called us to be, and He will also protect and watch over our son. I don’t know what God has planned for our family, but I’m so excited to see how He’s going to use this new life for His glory.

As I’ve talked with many Christian fathers in the league, there’s one thing that I keep hearing: They say that having a child gives you a greater grasp of the fatherly love and the care that our heavenly Father has for us.

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” —1 John 3:1

One thing I’m nervous about—it weighs on Mikaela’s heart and mine—is raising our child within this culture. We want to be strong enough parents to lead our child to the Lord in the midst of a crazy culture that is completely contrary to the Gospel.

It seems daunting, but I know that the Lord is able to help us. I’ve seen Him do it with many great fathers who are seeking to raise Godly children in this age. One of the guys on my team, Chase Whitley, is a strong man of God and a great dad. I see the way that he and his wife Brooklyn parent their son, and it’s so different from the way the rest of the world does it that you can’t help but notice they shine a little brighter.

Chase and Brooklyn are consistent with their discipline and unconditional love towards their son. They are honest with him, teaching him sound morals and how to love Christ.

I remember hearing the preacher Ravi Zacharias once say that we don’t drive on the other side of the road, not because we are restricted from freedom, but because if we drive on the other side of the road we will be killed.

Chase is teaching his son that Christ calls us to live lives worthy of Him, not so that He can place a bunch of rules on us, but because in life with Christ there is freedom. I really look up to Chase and Brooklyn as parents and hope to shine in the same with as we raise Micah.

“In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” —Matthew 5:16

Parenting is a huge responsibility; we need to lean on the Lord for strength and guidance in every situation as we raise our son. I know that the more I lean on what the Father wants him to be, instead of what I think I want him to be, the greater the man he will become.

As Mikaela and I step into parenthood, we also recognize that we now have a more diverse opportunity to be a light in the world. As parents, we see our ministry expanding now that we are better able to relate to and serve other parents and children.

Since we live on a baseball schedule, traveling a lot, and moving to new cities, we know that how we raise our children will look a lot different from the way most people do it. But we do not want to raise our kids to impress anyone, we want to raise our kids to serve the Lord wholeheartedly. In order to do that, we need to lean on the Lord constantly to show us how to raise children who are bold in their faith, strong in the Lord, living lives that glorify Him. That will speak volumes to others.

“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” —1 Corinthians 13:13

—Steven Souza

Steven Souza is a regular contributor of The Increase, providing monthly articles and opinions.

Check out Steven’s full profile on The Increase Baseball: http://theincreasebaseball.com/author/steven-souza/

 
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