God: "I looked for someone to take a stand for me, and stand in the gap" (Ezekiel 22:30)
To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin or your selfishness. But in that casket—safe, dark, motionless, airless—it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable...The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers...of love is Hell.
Consider the impact of one godly father, Jonathan Edwards. This famous early American pastor, writer, and one-time president of Princeton University had 11 children. Of his known male descendants:
More than 300 became pastors, missionaries or theological professors
120 were professors at various universities;
110 became attorneys;
60 were prominent authors;
30 were judges;
14 became presidents of universities or colleges;
3 served in the U.S. Congress;
1 became vice president of the United States.
