A week ago, our family had the joy of joining in the celebration of our second oldest son, Evan’s, wedding. We had quite the road trip to Topeka, Kansas, where his bride, Katie, grew up (logging some 3,100 miles in all.)  It was a beautiful event, held in nearby (?) Kansas City, MO, and was a great time of celebration with family and friends of both Katie’s and ours.  The newlyweds are off on their honeymoon now, beginning what will most likely be, knowing Evan and Katie, a most joyous and adventurous life together in Christ!

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– A fatherly “charge to the couple” –

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As a small way of honoring this milestone in our son’s life, I thought I would highlight some of Evan’s writings and also concerning his mission work which have been previously published on this blog. In addition, I have a new piece that I would like to add that I came across not too long ago while listening to the CCC seminar again.  I hope that you are blessed by these offerings!

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In Evan’s late teens and early twenties he wrote some beautiful poetry springing from his sincere relationship with Christ.  One of my favorites, and the story behind it, can be found in this post: “The Image We Bear” – by Evan Bolton

I also have a permanent section on the blog under the Creative Expressions tab where more of his poetry can be found.  Check out the Poems of Evan Bolton section to find more of his inspiring pieces.

In 2012, Evan also wrote and self-published a historical fiction book centering around the birth of Christ.  This is an insightful, inspiring read at Christmas time for personal or family devotions (…and also makes a great gift.)  The post introducing this book, with a sample excerpt, and links to the publisher’s page, is here: A Shepherd’s Tale by Evan Bolton.

When Evan was 22, he started a non-profit ministry based around soccer.  He has since raised enough monies to send equipment and do soccer projects in eleven countries around the world.  I shared about this venture when it was launched in the following post: Introducing mission:soccer.  You can follow the links in that post to the mission:soccer website if you’d like to check that out as well.

Evan has had a heart for mission work since his mid-teens. He shared his experience delivering Operation Christmas Child gift boxes to a refugee camp in Montenegro in this post: “A Refugee Jesus…”

Finally, in 2013, Evan joined in one of the “Word in 3D” projects, that are a feature on this blog, along with Cheryl McGrath and me by contributing his poetic musings on John 1:14 to the post: “The Word Became Flesh” – A Collaboration of Poetic Reflection

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In closing, I’d like to share a short excerpt from an email that Evan sent me at the time I was preparing to teach the Christ-Centered Christianity seminar in our home in September, 2009.  In it he shared some spiritual thoughts on the matters of “fullness and truth” as they relate to Christ and the Church.  It was uncanny the relevance that his thoughts had to the seminar I was preparing to teach, even though we had not talked about the specific content of it with each other. I ended up incorporating his email into one of the sessions and have posted the audio section of that session for you here.

The things that he shared, though typed out quickly in an email, were such a blessing to me for it was evident that beyond what I may have ever taught Evan in regards to the truths he expressed, something had surely been caught by him!  As parents, we cannot ask for much more than that!  Evan was 19 at the time and attending Bible School in upstate NY.

“Fullness and Truth”

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It has been a great honor and blessing to be Evan’s Dad for these many years and to be a part of the work that God has done and is doing in his life. Now, as he enters into this most significant new stage of life, I pray God’s richest blessings and unfailing grace be upon him and his sweet wife, Katie.  Please join me in those prayers!