Meet Philip

Meet Philip. He was born a few days before Christmas, a beautiful and blessed Christmas gift indeed. His mother, Amber Austin, lost her husband Sean Austin, Philips dad and my dear friend, this past year to a tragic car accident. Sean had experienced the new birth a few years prior to my arrival as a family member at Clement Baptist Church. Sean and myself quickly bonded as we were in the same Sunday School class. Sean was a kind, gentle spirited young man who was maturing in Christ as he and Amber read and studied Scripture together, as well as, faced the challenges of life together with Christ as their Lord. In fact, only hours before Sean lost his life, Sean, Amber, and their daughter Georgia were reading Acts 8, which we had been discussing in SS, when they were struct by Philip the Evangelist's boldness to preach the gospel. It was then they decided to name their son Philip, after the "global missionary" Philip in Acts 8. I cannot describe for you the blessing I experienced when I was finally able to hold this beautiful young boy that we had prayed for and anxiously awaited to arrive. Philip, I wish you would have had the privilege of meeting your daddy, Sean Austin. He hungered for intimacy with the Father like few men I have met. He longed to understand the Scriptures with a great fervency. He would be one proud "papa" to hold you and then to teach you to follow the Lord he loved dearly. My prayer for you Philip is that you will quickly meet and embrace the Savior your daddy knew and that you would pick up where he left off, seeking to proclaim the greatness of King Jesus to the nations. I look forward to seeing you grow into a fine young man :)