My son was confirmed in the Lutheran Church this morning. I couldn't be more proud of the essay he wrote and had to read in front of the congregation this morning. I think he really gets it and hope I can help him to further grow in his faith. I am going to post his essay to share his journey and to hope it inspires others to lead their kids in their faith journeys. My son has struggled this last year because everything has come easy to him in the past and he has met with some trials this year with people, school, and growing responsibilities. He wrote about his struggles and how it relates to his faith in Christ and the difficulties he has encountered this year better than I could have.



Good morning. (Response). My name is Trenton Weber and I chose the bible verse Matthew
6:33-34: “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things be given to you
as well. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day
has enough trouble of its own.” This verse is a reminder and an instruction to put God above all
else.

At 15, I’m one of the older confirmands in my class. While most start when they are in 6th
or 7th grade, because of our move from Georgia to Missouri, I didn’t begin my confirmation
journey until 8th grade. In a few weeks, I will be wrapping up my freshman year. This year has
been fun, but it’s also been a lot harder than I imagined. The A's didn't come as easy as they did
in years past. My classes were structured differently. The teachers were much stricter. And, my
days have become longer and longer, it seems. On a normal day, I wake up at 6:15, getting on the
bus at 6:30. That’s assuming I don’t have lifting or practice before school, which was common
during football season. Football transitioned into basketball which moved into baseball.
Throughout the year, I have had daily practice until 5:30 or 6 o’clock -- sometimes 6 days a
week, depending on our game schedule. On game days, I often don’t get home until 10 or 11
o’clock. My weekends are usually uneventful -- I’m usually sleeping, including a few too many
Sunday mornings. I’ve also missed one too many Wednesday confirmation classes, often arriving late to
others.

This verse seems to be a simple directive: put God first. I know this. I think many of us know
this. But, over the last 9 months, I’ve discovered that this simple directive is not so simple to
keep.

To me, this verse means I should prioritize God higher than sports, my family, school, and
everything in between. Now, this may sound easy, but there are other commitments as well. If I
went to confirmation, I would lose playing time, my position, I would have to run, or be
generally punished for my absence. Looking back, instead of going to basketball and baseball
games, I realize that I should have gone to confirmation class instead. I know that God and my
relationship with Him is more important. But it isn't easy to make decisions in the heat of the
moment when you have a variety of commitments and those in authority have rules you are
expected to follow.

For the last nine months, I’ve struggled to balance my obligations to school, sports, friends, and
family. Right now, it’s my coaches and school obligations. Later it will be my boss and my job.
Our lives are about balancing our commitment to God and our responsibilities to our jobs, our
families, or other roles we have. In this, we must consider the 2nd part of our verse, “Therefore
do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble
of its own.” Instead of worrying about losing playing time in the next game or other sanctions I
will face, I need to focus on today. I need to focus on putting God first, today.

But the truth is that I will always fall short. Even though I may strive to do my best each day in
service to others and to glorify God. Still, I will fall short. Thanks be to God that Christ gives me
his perfect righteousness and offers me his grace and mercy through only my faith in him.

I also would be very proud!! After reading what he wrote I can tell he is a thoughtful, responsible and bright young man and congratulations to him! He certainly seems more mature at 15 than many of our current 18-30 somethings. Thanks for sharing.

Congrats to the young man. As long as he puts God first throughout the bull crap of life, he has the right way of life thoughts.

Awesome!

Reading that, it's easy to see that your son is well ahead of most kids his age on maturity and his understanding of what being a Christian really means and what it takes. Congrats.

Congratulations on raising a fine young man.

That is great stuff!!!

I hope to hear my son saying these things when he matures. We invest a lot in our children and it sounds like you invest in the right places. Good stuff!!!

That's awesome!

What a wonderful testimony and words of wisdom for all of us to live by.

Great! 🙏🏻