From a Father to a Son (a visit to my newborn nephew's house)

We're still on topic with Joseph, but I thought I'd post the latest picture of my nephew, Benjamin. He's a handsome, manly one, eh? It may be the last picture I post, too, as I don't want to invade my brother and sister-in-law's privacy by plastering their kids over the internet no matter how proud an Aunt I am! He's precious, eh? Only a couple of days old and God is already moving in his life. My brother and sister-in-law are amazing parents and the biggest reason for this is their complete dependence on God to raise their kids.
As I was singing "The B-I-B-L-E" with my neice, Grace, I was overwhelmed with joy to know that she is being taught and is truly learning the most important things in life. I played 'house' with her this week and "Grandma Con" got sick in the play house and I asked her what we should do for her and her immediate reaction was to "pray for Grandma Con" and in her 2-year-old voice, she said "In Jesus Name, Amen". I know Jesus knew what she meant. What a joy for Benjamin to get to grow up in a family that prays for him, that teaches him the most important lifeline....a relationship with Jesus. I was honored to be with them this week.
How does this apply to Joseph? Well, without Jacob's deep faith in God and the promises He had given him, Joseph would not have been able to stand when he entered his greatest suffering. As parents, Aunts, or caregivers of any sort, it is our responsibility to prepare our kids for suffering. Not in the sense of purposely giving it to them (as the Bible says to not provoke your children to wrath! My dad and I always laughed about that!), but in the sense of giving them the tools to deal with all the "unexpecteds" of life.
No doubt Jacob shared his dreams and visions from God to his sons and notice the only one who seemed to truly listen was his son, Joseph. BUT, here's where things get interesting.
After Jacob and his sons came to Egypt to live near Joseph, Jacob was nearing death. He called for his sons to come to him so that he could bless them. What is striking about these blessings is that not all of them are blessings. In fact many of them were disheartening! Genesis 49 shares each brother's individual encounter with their father as he lay dying......the passage is much too long for me to repeat here, but you might want to read it...it's pretty amazing.
What I find interesting is that the 'blessings' Jacob gave to his sons came from divine knowledge from God. You know why I know this....well, if you follow each son's progeny, you can find that somewhere, somehow, the blessings Jacob gave came true! Maybe I'll discuss that further in another post, as it is quite lengthy and has lots of Scripture references! But I think Jacob teaches us a very valid lesson! There's power in the blessing of a God-fearing father! I know that not all fathers have it together and not everything they say comes out as blessing, but as I looked at my brother with his newborn Benjamin, I could not help but be humbled by the incredible gift and responsibility my brother has to speak blessing over his son. It is a responsibility that all of us have as caregivers....when we ask our Heavenly Father for His wisdom and His blessing, He gives us the words to speak out to our children....words of their destiny, acceptance, and calling. Let us not take our words lightly as they do have power. I have no doubt that my brother will lovingly seek God for Benjamin's best and speak those blessings over him! How fun! Thanks for all the comments...more to come! ;p