Welcome Nova!

Yesterday was a very special day in the Söderberg family. My middle son Justin and his wife Taylor welcomed their first son – my first grandchild – into this world. Renée and I are pretty ecstatic! His name is Nova Michael Söderberg. 

I am now officially a “Papa” and Renée a “Gram.” I am immediately thought of Psalm 139. With my apologies to David, I have “modified” his psalm for this occasion.            

You [God] made all the delicate, inner parts of [Nova’s] body

and knit [him] together in [his] mother’s womb.

Thank you for making [him] so wonderfully complex!

Your workmanship is marvelous – how well I know it.

You [God] watched [Nova] as [he] was being formed in utter seclusion,

as [he] was woven together in the dark of the womb.

You saw [him] before [he] was born.

Every day of [his] life was recorded in your book.

Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.

How precious are your thoughts about [Nova], O God.

They cannot be numbered!

I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand!” (Psalm 139:13-28)

I know God has a plan and a purpose for Nova. Just as He has for me, Renée, Justin, Taylor, and you. Will he be a doctor, lawyer, artist, brew master, mechanic, soldier, chef, teacher, pastor, President? God will reveal His plan over time. Right now, like the rest of us, He is just so excited to welcome Nova into the world He created.

I do not know what Nova’s future will hold, but I know who holds his future. The one who created him. The one who knit him together in his mother’s womb. God knew him before He formed him in his mother’s womb. I look forward to Nova meeting his Papa this weekend. Over time, I want him to learn how much I love him. How much his parents love him. How much the God who created him, loves him. I want so much for him, but right now, along with the LORD, I just want to celebrate!

Is this a fallen world, full of fallen people? Sure, but, a newborn baby, is a reason for hope. The name Nova is of Greek origin and means “New,” or “the newcomer,” and like all the babies who were “new” yesterday, he too is a reason to hope for the future.

As the American three-time Pulitzer Prize winning poet, Dr. Carl Sandburg once wrote, “A baby is God’s opinion that life should go on.” I could not agree more. So, welcome my little “Super Nova.” May God bless you and use you mightily for His purposes. And I pray that we all see hope in the faces of our children.             

----------------------------------------------------- 

Remember to email your praises and petitions to southchurchprayer@gmail.com. We lift them up every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, at 4:00 pm on Facebook Live.