Al Mohler writes about an elderly pastor who died two days ago:

. . . My indebtedness to Dr. Kennedy is very personal. I was a young Southern Baptist who as a teenager had serious questions about the big issues of the Christian faith . . . He was kind to a Baptist teenager, introducing me to Francis Schaeffer and dignifying my questions. He clearly enjoyed talking theology and he was the first person I had ever met who demonstrated this joy. He was kind. I was hooked. In no small way my own calling as a theologian can be traced to Dr. Kennedy’s influence. . .

I do not know anything about this good pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church. The only reason I have quoted Al Mohler’s words is because the words ‘dignifying my questions’ caught my eye.

This immediately reminded me of our son Tim who these days is excited about his new-found interest in the things of God. He asks questions and comments about theological matters with a depth that deserves our full attention. However, if we are careless, we could miss them altogether because of the way he words them. He has only just begun reading Christian books and so lacks adequate theological vocabulary to clothe his sentences with the dignity they merit. It is up to us to dignify his words until he learns to do this for himself.