Being a father

This time last year, I didn't really know what it meant to be a father. Sure, my little girl had already been born, however, she was just 20 days old. I was definitely a father but as each day has passed since then and I have had the privilege of watching my little one learn and grow...I'll be quite honest, it scares the crap out of me!

When we left for CIY last Monday, she couldn't stand up on her own and wouldn't take more than about 6 steps before she would fall down. When we picked her up on Saturday, she was standing herself up and walking/running all over the place. How did all of this happen in just a weeks time?

I know that there is still so much for her to learn. Soon she is going to be talking and soaking in every single thing that I say and do. On the one hand, I'm looking forward to it. On the other, again, it scares me to death.

Not having a dad growing up, I don't really have the best example to draw from. I just have to do my best with what I DO know and let God take care of it all.

When it rains...it pours

Normally, when you hear that phrase, it is someone talking about all of the bad things happening in their life and how they just keep piling on.  Well, not so with me.  

As I wrote about in my previous post, God took His hands and wrapped them around my little girl as she went through a very tough day of her life.  

Today, we got some pretty incredible new as well...though nothing could top the health of my little girl.  My wife had a message left on her phone today that our house in California has finally sold and will close escrow next month!  Praise be to God for how He continues to heap the blessings on.  Many have been praying for us and with us over the last several months in regards to this and God has proven faithful (as He always does!)

A Change In Perspective

All too often, I can get wrapped up in to my own little world at work and lose perspective of everything that is great going on outside of my little office. Yesterday brought about a change in perspective for me.

I was sitting at home eating lunch when I got the call. My wife was on the other end and she was hysterical. She proceeded to tell me that my little girl had a seizure yet again. She had been fine all morning but had jumped as if she were scared while she was sitting at lunch. After that, she was very lethargic and unattentive. 911 was called and Lily once again got an ambulance ride to the ER.

Once she was there, they poked, prodded and jabbed her little body over and over trying to find out what might be wrong with her. They seem to believe that the two seizures that she has had now are a result of a spike in a fever that she had. This one came as a surprise to us as she had not been sick.

As all of this went on, I just kept thinking to myself how thankful I was that she was still alive. When you get a phone call saying that your little girl has just had a seizure, all of these different thoughts raced through my head. I couldn't imagine my life without her nor do I want to.

Thanks be to God that He kept His love arms around her the whole time and now she is home resting with her mommy on the couch watching cartoons :).

Book Review: Choosing To Cheat

Andy Stanley writes an INCREDIBLE book about keeping our families the #2 priority in our lives.  Assuming that God is #1 in your life, we have a tendency to put other things in the #2 spot in our lives when that was never God's intention.  Stanley challenges to go to the utmost extremes in making sure that our families not only know that they are #2, but that they truly see that they are #2 by the amount of time that we spend with them.

This book couldn't have come for me at a better time.  I was already at a point in my life where I was feeling the pull between my career and my job.  This book landed in my lap as a result of a men's leadership group that I am a part of and I am so thankful that it did.

Maybe the most important question (and also probably the most difficult) that was asked: (Ask your spouse) What is one thing you would change about my schedule?  I dare you to ask your spouse that question and then be prepared to change whatever they suggest.

Passing the Baton

Last night, we held our annual Graduation Celebration in which we honor our graduating 8th graders and seniors.  Last year was real tough for me because I saw some students graduate that had been with me since I started at the church.  What was interesting about last night was that, even though I have only been at Crossroads for 6 months, I still found myself getting choked up a bit when it came time to say goodbye to my seniors.

Possibly the coolest thing we did all night was when we brought up a respresentative from the graduating senior class and a representative of the now senior class.  I talked briefly about the Apostle Paul and his "athletic-type" writings.  I wrapped up by using the illustration of track runners running a relay race.  Without being a track runner, even I know that the most important part of the relay is the hand-off.  If you don't get the hand-off right, how fast you run won't matter.  So our two seniors exchanged the baton and, in essence, passed off the responsibility of leadership.  It was a real emotional time for me and for some of the students.