the face of an angel

All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel. Acts 6:15

Doesn't that verse just make your skin tingle?!

I can't read those words without seriously experiencing the presence of the Holy Spirit.

"His face was like the face of an angel."

An angel!

Can you even imagine?!

Oh Lord, I so want to radiate your presence in the way that Stephen radiated your presence. I want to love You like he loved You. I want to give my life willingly to serve others. I want to forgive, even as he forgave, following Your example with his last breath. I want to be "full of faith and the Holy Spirit," just as Stephen was.

I am firmly convinced that in heaven, I'm going to meet Stephen second (right after meeting Jesus). He truly is my hero and I love reading about him in Acts. Here was a man, so willing to serve, who in addition to many wonderful attributes, was described as a "man full of God's grace and power."

When I didn't think that we'd have any more boys in our family, I lined up all of my children and asked them who would be willing to name their first son Stephen. "Oh, me Mama! I'll name my son Stephen," Jadon responded.

(Such a good boy...loving to please his mama like that!)

But, I guess he's off the hook now since he's going to have a brother named Stephen. :)

There was really no question as to what our little guy's name would be. When we told the kids that we were adopting a boy from China, they all knew... "And I bet his name will be Stephen," they said.

And I'm sure that I'm not too biased when I state that I'm thinkin' that our little guy already has that angel face thing pretty much down!