Husbandry and Fatherhood

I'm sitting in the sanctuary at the church listening to rehearsal, where Anne is playing keyboards. For nearly a week now she's had a bad cold and cough. Her coughing has really affected her sleep, it's the hard, loud cough where your whole body tightens up. And being 38 weeks pregnant she can't take any meds to make herself feel better. All day today, she's been having contractions, pre-labor, not actual labor, but as the day has progressed she's gotten more uncomfortable. As King Theoden would say, "And so it begins!"

I'm just really proud of her, because last weekend she came and played keyboards even though she was sick and had no voice. Here she is again, contractions and all but all about serving God and his people in worship. Our son seems to enjoy rehearsals too; ever since Anne could feel him kick, he seems to do it a lot during rehearsal and Sunday services. He definitely shouldn't have a problem hearing it, since I'd say rehearsal is running at around 110db. ROCK ON! BTW, worship this Sunday is going to be awesome!


Last night we watched Disney's "Bridge to Terabithia." While I admit it certainly was not the greatest movie ever, it wasn't as bad and as far off as I thought it would be. What I really felt connected to as I watched was Jesse's father, played actually quite well by the mercury guy from Terminator 2. At first they brought out the side of him that was a gruff, hard, and frequently absent dad who wanted his son to be a man. But as the story unfolded, and tragedy struck, he stepped into nurturing his son, guiding him through pain and sadness with comforting words and a steady hand. He ran to stop his son, who was alone and afraid in the woods, and he held him and hugged him as he broke down. It made me so excited to be a dad. I'm looking forward to every stage of his life and fathering him. I hope he and I build a great relationship and friendship. One book I plan to start over and finish this time is The Way of the Wild Heart. Very helpful to set the tone to raise a passionate man of God.

Hey, Remember the 90's in worship?

Our worship leader Chad posted a little blog on early 90's worship. Oh, how true it is was! I have some very fond memories from growing up. At the time I was in junior high and high school, and I always looked forward to Sundays at my church, Sunshine Church. There came a time where I became very interested in Vineyard worship music, which was cutting edge and in its hey day at the time. We didn't really sing too much Vineyard stuff at our church, but I began to buy their CD's. I still have at least 30 of them, the most recent dating about 2002.

Here's a list of some of songs I remember singing in church--note, we sang many hymns as well. Can I get a shout of from anyone that knows what a "hymnsing" is? Did yours always include a rousing rendition of "When We All Get To Heaven"? Anytime I want to relieve a hymnsing (which is pretty much never), I find the Gaither homecoming on one of the Jesus channels. Anyway:
-In moments like these
-(Lord prepare me to be a) Sanctuary
-Celebrate Jesus
-I Exalt Thee
-Trees of the Field
-Lord I Lift Your Name on High
-A Sheild About Me
-Blessed be the Name (There actually 5 songs of the same title in my head)
-Alleluia, He is Coming (this was too progressive for big church, only in youth group)
-Step by Step
-Awesome God (Ever done this chorus 5 times to just the organ?)
-Change My Heart, O God

Ok there's a ton I'm forgetting. But here's a great top 25 list! Does Maranatha Music even exist anymore?

Prayers of the Fathers

Last week I found myself with Mike touring the new facility of a church I used to be quite involved at. When I opened the door, the first person I saw was a good old friend named Bruce, a man who is very close to Jesus. Having survived a long and agonizing fight with terminal illness, he loves the local church, and loved me and many of the friends I hung with when I was there. As we walked through the building I caught up with him, and he happened to mention that he still prays for me every day. I've heard this statement from several people throughout my life, people who I consider to be much older and wiser in the faith journey than me. It's pretty awesome to know they care enough to lift me up in their prayers.

As we get closer to God and more intentional about time with him, and do the same with others, this is great discipline to develop. Other people need our prayers. I'm convinced that my life has been seriously impacted, that God has blessed me and directed my life, in part because of the prayers of others. What are the major things you need to pray for right now? Who do you need to pray for? Pick 3-5 people in your life whom you think could use an answer to prayer.

Kid Thoughts

So you all should know that Anne officially reached full term pregnancy status on Thursday, meaning our son could come any day now. Here's some thoughts that I been thinkin':
-Anne's stomach has grown so much in the past few weeks! That kid's grown a lot just in the last month or so, and this morning we had fun watching him kneading the inside wall of anne's uterus. So funny to see movement much like, as Anne has referenced, the movie Aliens.
-I am very excited to be a dad. The role and responsibilities of fatherhood change and morph just as much as the child--which is often, so this is going to be an adventure but I'm sure looking forward to it. I hope to really bestow a masculinity, and a heart of wisdom, that reflects the heart and masculinity of Jesus.
-Sometimes I wish our house was in better shape for having a baby, but I remember these things: When I was little, my parents were renovating homes in New Jersey, so there was sawdust and drywall dust, and I'd imagine some not-so-kid-friendly items around. And I turned out just fine! The paint chips only affected me a little.... :-) And, for all of history, kids have been born into homes without socket protectors, with ungrounded electrical systems (obviously I'm not covering a lengthy period of history so far...), with all sorts of dangers and potentially harmful causes surrounding. And most every one of them turned out just fine. In conclusion, we're being prudent on taking away those hazards, but we're not going nuts on that stuff.
-I'm very much looking forward to the labor and delivery experience. I know it's going to be quite a ride, but it will be a rewarding and enriching experience. I hope I can be the kind of coach Anne needs.
-When he's born, we're calling parents and Mike and Kelly. They can let everyone in the respective phone trees know the news. But I may twitter every now and then (I promise to keep it to a minimum, dear), and then post here when the time is right.
-There are many more thoughts, but my laptop battery is dying so I need to wrap up. Hopefully much more stories and pictures when he finally does show up!

Way to Serve Signup

I know this is a long shot, but if you happen to read this blog, and you are the one person who signed up this weekend to serve as a greeter at the new 12:30 service, please comment on the blog--we didn't get your name on the card! When people sign up to serve at Grace, we take it seriously, so we don't want this person slipping through the cracks. We want to "help you help others" take their next step toward Christ! Meanwhile, you'll be taking your own steps because some of the best growth in your life happens when you are serving others.

By the way, we could use about 12 more volunteers to greet at the 12:30 service, so if you want to join in the fun, let me know!

Generosity

This is cheat of a post, but please take a second and read Perry's blog from today. An awesome story! Generosity in the midst of our tough economy is the kind of faithfulness and obedience that pleases God!

Don't Worry

I tried to actually compose a somewhat poetic sounding post, but couldn't get past the first sentence. So here's the post-10PM thoughts from today.

My brain wouldn't shut down last night with all sorts of thoughts about the impending birth of our son! It took at least an hour longer than it should have because I, like a typical guy) refused to bother finding the instructions to the crib online; BUT, we have our crib together:



And then tonight, Anne added the bedding after washing it once. Because I'm a man and can't use the word "cute," I'll say that this bedding kicks butt!



I'm so excited to meet our little boy. He's due around a month from today!

Around this time, like most first-time parents do, we've found ourselves at times worrying about how it's all going to work out. Baby aside, how many of us worry about "what am I going to wear today?" "I need a pair of _______ shoes for this event coming up." "Olive Garden or Carrabbas?" Yesterday's sermon, coupled with my small group from this morning, really made me focus in on Matthew 6:25-34. There is SO much in this passage! And it's so connected to the passage before it about God and "mammon." Are you worrying? What significant ideas do you notice in this passage? Are there any blogs/sermons online about this passage? If you'd like to participate, write your thoughts on this passage, if it hits you in a certain way, by commenting on the blog.