Dawson's Dedication

This coming Sunday Dawson will be dedicated. One of the things our church ask you to do is write a letter to your child. The following is a letter to my son, Samuel Dawson Bradley.

Dawson,

From the time I was a little boy I have been thinking of you. Although I had no idea who you were or what you looked liked I thought about you before you were ever here. In my own innocent way I developed a love for you even though you did not even exist. I thought about things that we might do together like hunting, fishing, or working on cars. I dreamed of teaching you all the things my dad had taught me.

Your Mom and I were married really young and right away we knew that more than anything else we wanted to have children. I remember early in our marriage we began to pray for you. We began to pray that God would send you to us. Although we prayed very hard, it seemed like the day I dreamed of as a little boy would never come. It seemed like I would never be a Daddy. After praying very, very hard for a long time your mother and I decided that God had a plan for getting you to us and that however that would happen and however long it would take we would trust Him.

One day I was telling a lot of teenagers about how Mommy and Daddy had learned to trust God and how He had a special plan for them. A very special person heard that story and told us about how God was bringing you to this world and eventually to us. You see Dawson most children are brought into this world through their Mommies’ belly. You came to us a different way. God sent you to us through a wonderful young lady named Maria. She was very young and loved you very much; she loved you so much she decided to give you to us. This made Mommy and Daddy very happy. We did not know that this is how God would send you to us so it was a big surprise. The best surprise I have ever had.

Every night I look at you before you go to sleep and I come in and kiss you on the head before you wake up every morning. You are getting bigger and I am amazed at all the things you are learning. You my son are my dream come true. I love you so much and my desire for you is for you to become the man God created you to be. Your mother and I know that you are perfectly created to be our son and I will tell you the same thing I told those teenagers so many years ago. It is a verse from Jeremiah and I love it so much. “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Dawson, God has a great plan for your life and your Mommy and I are trusting God to make those plans a reality. You are perfect and I am proud to call myself your Father.