Wow: There's Grace for that

One saturday morning I was laying there sleeping in. I don't get too many opportunities to do that, so I was just enjoying it. I heard Sarah get out of bed, and I didn't think anything about it. A few minutes later I heard Sarah yell for me. 

Sadly, this isn't that rare of an occurrence. Sometime I will write on here some stories about Sarah scaring the daylights out of me when we lived out in the country. 

Okay, so Sarah yells for me and I slowly get out of bed and meander into the bathroom. There sits Sarah balling like a baby. I am like, "what in the world is wrong with this woman, waking me up from my dreams of candy and of a Rangers World Series..." 

Then I look on the ground and there sits a pregnancy test...positive...Time instantly slows down. All of the sudden I am having an out of body experience. I am physically there still, but my mind seems to be floating somewhere in the clouds. I am having a million different thoughts...Sarahs pregnant...wow...How am I going to afford this...Will my kid look like me...Boy or Girl...wow...Whens this baby going to be born...Man I hope we have a cute kid...wow...What if my kid grows up to play for the Rangers...Am I going to be a good dad? 

All of these thoughts happen in around 1.37 seconds. Then I realize that Sarah is still sitting there, still crying, and I am still standing there looking like an idiot. I reach down, put my arms around her, and begin to cry. We talk for a little while, then I tell Sarah, why don't you go take another test, just to make sure. (Yes, I realize how dumb this sounds now) She does, and its still positive. 

All throughout the rest of the day I am wrestling with that last question. Will I be a good dad? Anyone that knows Sarah knows that she was made to be a mom. She is the most patient, loving, kind, and comforting person that I know. Me on the other hand? Lets just say those adjectives are rarely used to describe me. For weeks internally I struggle with that. I know God told us the time was right to start having kids. I know that He is the author of all life, and if we weren't ready it wouldn't have happened. I know that He say's that he will never give us anything that we can't handle. 

Yet still internally I wrestled.

A few months later we find out that we are having a baby girl. 

Then all of the sudden one day the fear was gone. I didn't do anything, and I couldn't figure out what had happened. 

Finally it clicks, my excitement about becoming a daddy had beaten my fear into submission. My fear had been overtaken by a joy that I had never known, and I felt grace in a new way. I know there are going to be times that I do the wrong things, there's grace for that. I know there are going to be times I say the wrong things, or I say things I don't fully mean, there's grace for that. I know there is going to be a time where I don't say enough, there's grace for that. 

I am going to do everything I can to be the best dad possible. Yet, the reality is that I am human. I will make mistakes. I will do dumb things. All I can do is love my daughter as best I can. I am going to have tea with her, braid her hair, tell her she is beautiful, probably let her braid my thinning hair, tell her I love her, wear my shirts to bed, buy her clothes, encourage her, watch veggie tales with her, take her to school, one day give her away at her wedding, and do so many other things with her.  

Words can not express how much I love her. I can't wait to meet her, and you know what? I am going to be a great daddy to Berkley. She already is my baby girl. Whatever fears I had about my fatherly abilities have been washed away with the excitement of the journey that Sarah and I have embarked on. 

                                           Here's my Baby Mama and my Baby Girl

Sarah Beth Poetry

Okay, I know I haven't blogged in a while. Sorry! AND this blog is going to be a pretty short one. I just wanted to tell you that you MUST check out

Poetry from a Prisoner of Hope

She is a phenomenal and inspirational writer, and I didn't want you to miss out!

The Summer

I am really looking forward to summer. Which is actually pretty weird, because I am such a winter guy. I am looking forward to the summer for many reasons. I love my youth kids, and the summer gives me a lot more opportunities to hang out with awesome kids like this... 

This summer like most summers will find me traveling a ton. To start off the summer we have our amazing youth camp. This year we are actually doing our own youth camp, which we have never done before, and it is going to be awesome. Check out the video that shows the campground, it is phenomenal 

Then after that I get back and have one week before I lead a local junior high mission trip. We then come back from that and have a week before Sarah and I leave for the great country of Ireland! We will be going back again this year, and I will be leading a youth camp over there. 

Another reason my summers are awesome? Disc golf. We get extra time in the day now so that I can play the awesomest game in the world (yes, I know awesomest is not a word, BUT any sport that is that awesome deserves its own word). 

My Wife = obviously the main reason that my summers are awesome. We bought a house last summer that has an awesome front porch, and I am planning on spending many a night just hanging out with that super amazing wife of mine. 

All of the above reasons are awesome...BUT...Spring Break, and Summer brings about one of my favorite times of year...SNO CONE TIME!!! We have a really good friend who opened his own Sno Cone stand last year (Insert shameless plug...Shaved Ice Shack on Rebecca Lane in front of Betty Roses & on South 14th in front of Hastings). His sno cone stand makes me happy. Joel and I went to that Sno cone stand at least 5-14 times per week. (Sarah would go a lot too, but she is slightly more healthy-minded than Joel and I, so she would limit herself to at most 3 times per week). There were many times that Joel & I would call our friend Mike right before he was closing and ask him to make us one for the road. He created the most amazing flavor of Sno Cone in the world, Blue Eagle. However, Blue Eagle has some...well, interesting side effects to a persons....

Okay, so it doesn't give you any of those awful ailments (I just always look for a good reason to throw in a good Scrubs clip). It just turns thing more...green than they normall are. But its so worth it, its amazing. Go there, thank me later, and have a great summer 

Skiing and Brobee

This week Brenton, Brady and I are headed to Colorado for a little Skiing action. It has been a crazy couple of weeks, and I am so excited to be hitting the slopes

Take the saying "hitting the slopes" very literally, because most likely I will spend most of my time on by bum. 

A few weeks ago, one of my awesome youth gave me a little dude named Brobee (thank you Ty). He is, well heck I will say it, he is the star of the Nick Jr. television show Yo Gabba Gabba 

(If you have never seen any Yo Gabba Gabba stuff click here...you WILL NOT regret it) 

We decided that he should be the new mascot for our Youth Ministry. So, we decided that we would take Brobee with us to Colorado (he hasn't traveled very much, he was born in China and then he ended up here in Texas).  So, here are some awesome pics of Brobee on the Ski Trip. I will update more pictures as we take them. 

Demanding God

Daniel 4:35 

All the people's of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the power of Heaven and the peoples of earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: "What have you done?" 

I am in the process of reading Francis Chan's "Crazy Love." I am really enjoying the book so far. It is pretty challenging, and I am not even too far into it. I will say, this line from the first chapter has been hard for me to shake off: "Can you worship a God who isn't obligated to explain his actions to you?" 

Wow. That is a challenging line. He goes on to say that it is our own arrogance that demands explanations for God. He is the God of the universe. Psalms says that "Our God is in Heaven, He does whatever pleases Him." I will be completely honest with all of you (the 3 people who read this), that is incredibly challenging for me. When stuff happens in my life, there are times when I feel like God owes me an explanation. Yet, that couldnt be further from the truth. Our God created everything. He loves us, but he never promises us that he will explain himself. It is good that he doesn't even attempt to explain everything to us, because our minds couldn't even comprehend it. 

However, that isn't the most challenging line of the first chapter. He says this....

We keep on questioning Him: "Why did you make me with this body instead of that one?" "Why are so many people dying of starvation?" "Why are there so many planets with nothing living on them?" "Why is my family so messed up?" "Why don't you make Yourself more obvious to the people who need You?" 

The answer to each of these questions is simply this: because He's God. He has more of a right to ask us why so many people are starving

Far too often we as Christians are frustrated with God and ask him why he is doing this or that, when really we have no right to demand an explanation. 

I will end with this last quote from Chan...Colossians 1:16 tells us that everything is created FOR God....Don't we live instead as though God is created for us, to do our bidding, to bless us, and to take care of our loved ones?" 

Sometimes it is hard for me to remember in my prayer time to just praise God for who he is. For all that He created. For everything he decides to do in my life. For everything. Instead, I usually spend my prayer time asking God why he is doing this or that, or asking him to do something. And that isn't bad, we are told in scripture to present our requests to God...The problem is, is that sometimes that is all we do, and we don't just spend some time praising God for all that He is and all that He has done oris doing. I guess If I can leave a challenge for you this week let it be this...In your prayer time just thank God for all that He is. 

This whole post is kind of a endorsement for the book I guess..It seems pretty awesome so far...You can buy it here. 

Disc Golf

Today was my day off. On my days off I really like to play a great little game called Disc Golf. The picture below is of me when I made my one and only hole in one.

It definitely isn't as easy as it sounds. You are throwing a 6 inch disc 250-800 ft into a 2.5ft diameter basket. I am actually (NERD ALERT) a member of the Abilene Disc Golf Association. A few months ago I actually broke my finger, and was unable to play until just a couple of weeks ago.

That really had nothing to do with what I was saying, I just think that x-ray of my finger is really gnarly. And yes, I know that me even using the word gnarly makes me even more nerdy than being apart of the ADGA (I even abbreviated it HA).

The main point of this post is to say that there are 4 main reasons why the 2.5 people who read this should start playing Disc Golf.

1) It's Awesome and Relaxing. One of the main reasons that I like to play disc golf on my days off is because it is so relaxing. It is usually quiet. When I play alone I will listen to some good chill music, but even when you are with people it is still pretty quiet out there. You just walk around, throw your disc and relax, that is pretty awesome.

2) It's Easy to understand. It is the same rules as regular golf. Almost everything is a par 3 (there are a few exceptions). The goal is to throw your disc into the basket (or pin). Pretty simple.

3) Its cheap. Once you buy your discs it is actually free. Buy a couple of cheap discs, throw them in a backpack, and you are good to go.

4) All the cool kids are doing it. Okay, I know that this logic never worked with your parents. And usually when this line is used something illegal or immoral is going on. Not this time though, look  at these cool kids that are doing it...

(Okay these pictures may refute my "Cool Kids" theory but....whatever).

Here is what you need to do. Go buy some cheap discs (email me if you want to know where to get some). Find a disc golf course, we have 3 of them here in Abilene. Then have yourself a merry little time. You can thank me later.

The Naivety of the Female Mind (at least some of them)

Allright I will be honest with all of you (the 2 1/2 people that read this blog). This  a rant/frustration thing with me.

Let me start off by saying this. I am all in favor of raising awareness for Breast Cancer (and any other kinds of cancer for that matter). I actually feel like one of my main frustrations with the church of America is that we too rarely support worthy causes. Finding a cure for cancer is MORE than a worthy cause, it is something we should all strive towards. So, whatever you read below this, DO NOT HEAR that I am bashing raising awareness for cancer, because I am ABSOLUTELY NOT.

That being said, the recent "Show Your Color" nonsense on Facebook frustrated me to no end. If you don't know what I am talking about here is the gist of it. Last week  a campaign started where girls would post a one word status, a color, it was supposed to be the color bra they were wearing. The purpose was two-fold. First it was supposedly to raise awareness for breast cancer (more on this later), and to see how long it would take guys to figure out why the girls were posting colors as their status.

I could probably give you a hundred reasons why this frustrated me, but I will spare you and only give you a couple. First, I am amazed that so many women would participate in something where one of the main purposes was to see how dumb guys were. Really you think that you can just post a color and people are not going to start trying to figure out what in the world you were talking about? Seriously? I know that it is a big joke to say guys are dumb, but this is ridiculous. I started asking what the color thing was and the first person I asked told me. Girls, please stop generalizing men into the one big glob of idiotic-ness. I know there are dumb guys out there (I have met a few of them), but there are dumb girls too! However, this was not even close to the main reason that this whole dumb thing frustrated me.

Girls, let me drop a big heaping cup-overfloweth bucket of reality on you here...Take a deep breath, and trust me on this one, because I am not joking at all. Facebook is a social-networking site where hundreds of people can see your profile. When you post your bra color on there 99.999999999% of guys who saw your status immediately thought of you, without a shirt on, in that color bra. We as guys are extremely visual creatures (you can thank God, he is the One who made us that way), and when you put stuff like that on there most guys immediately think of you in that. I talked to some of my youth guys about it, and they absolutely agreed with me.

Can I just beg one thing of all the women on here? Please, please, oh please with a giant stinking cherry on top, help protect our young men. It is said that a majority of men will look at pornography at some point in their life. Is this their fault? Absolutely. I am not taking any blame away from them, because it needs to sit right on their head. However, we live in an extremely over-sexualized culture. It is impossible to watch a football game and not see some smutty commercial (thank the Lord for DVR). You, as Christians sisters, have to help protect our young men.

That is the main problem I had with this whole color movement. I know that the Susan G. Komen foundation came out and said that it raised awareness for breast cancer, but just because something is a good cause does not mean that we as Christians are supposed to act inappropriately. Thats like saying that as a missions fundraiser we should open a bar and only sell hard liquor so that everyone gets trashed and gives great tips (hey, it is for missions!) The end does not always justify the means, and it definitely didn't in this situation. Thousands and thousands of Christian young men lusted in a movement that, in my opinion, raised less awareness than it did seductiveness. It just didn't have to happen. You really want to raise awareness? Wear a breast cancer awareness t-shirt, put something productive on your Facebook status (such as a statistic about cancer), or (and here is a shocker), actually talk about breast cancer instead of putting the color of your bra. No one needs to know that, I promise.

Geoffrey

(For those of you that want to rebut my "No one needs to know that with",  "guess what, I am married, and my husband may want to know"....I will say this as delicately as I can, as a husband....It isnt the bra that he cares about.........)