Some may not know it, but my wife experienced a near-death incident.
Her fallopian tube ruptured this past Monday. Never in my life was I as scared as I was.
I rushed her to the hospital and it really hit me seeing her legs shake from the pain.
My wife went into shock and temporary hyper-ventillation.
Later that afternoon we found she had to undergo emergency surgery.
Michele almost died from the ectopic pregnancy.
Every couple expecting should educate themselves on this.
It can happen to any woman, any age, and at any time.
Our doctor said they don't know why it happens, but it does.
It's when the fertilized egg doesn't implant in the uterus, but inside
the fallopian tube. When that happens the baby will not survive, but
it puts the mother's life in danger because of massive bleeding when
the fetal tissue grows larger than the capacity of the tube.
My wife lost half her blood supply because the fetal tissue grew
around the a blood vessel and during the operation they couldn't
stop the bleeding.
Thankfully, and miraculously she came out ok. It has been a long
two weeks, but it gave me some insights.
1) Tell others about ectopic pregnancies - it's serious stuff
2) Life is short, and I almost lost my wife and it made me cheerish moments more
3) When death is at your door, you find out what your values are
4) God has blessed us with great friends, a terrific family and a
awesome home church
6) Buy yourself a strobe light, it'll help you get to emergencies faster.
It's legal and people respect the strobe.
Apr 24, 2009
Apr 23, 2009
True Love Story
The girl in the picture is Katie Kirkpatrick, she is 21.
Next to her, her fiancé, Nick, 23.
The picture wastaken shortly before their wedding ceremony,
held on January 11, 2005 in the US. Katie has terminal cancer and
spend hours a day receiving medication.
In the picture, Nick is waiting for her on one of the many sessions of chemo to end.
In spite of all the pain, organ failures, and morphine shots,
Katie is going along with her wedding and
took care of every detail. The dress had to be adjusted a
few times due to her constant weight loss.
An unusual accessory at the party was the oxygen tube that Katie used
throughout the ceremony and reception as well.
The other couple in the picture are Nick’s parents.
Excited to see her son marrying his high school sweetheart.
At the reception, Katie had to take a few rests.
The pain does not allow her to be standing up for long periods.
Katie died five days after her wedding day.
Watching a woman so ill and weak getting married and with a smile
on her face makes us think…..
Happiness is reachable, no matter how long it last.
We should stop making our lives complicated.
Life is short
Break the rules
forgive quickly
kiss passionately, love truly
laugh constantly
And never stop smiling
no matter how strange life is
Life is not always the party we expected to be
but as long as we are here,
we should smile and be grateful.
Apr 18, 2009
..goodbye my child
That's why I know a heaven exists.
One day I will see you again, but today I say goodbye to you, my child.
You were so small, just beginning life - conceived and wonderfully made - and now you're gone. I think I am missing you so much because mom and I were looking so much to holding you, feeling your little fingers wrap around our finger, and looking into your eyes.
I was even looking forward to changing diapers, just a bit.
I will miss the opportunity to hear your giggles, to see your smile, and cradle you in my arms as you fall asleep.
I will miss so many opportunities seeing you...but you have to go now.
Go now, I will always love you. Play in the clouds, chase the angels, fly high, listen to the music.. I know God is waiting for you.
Go now, but..remember I will always love you.... my child.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4AtDCVa5xE&feature=related
Daddy
One day I will see you again, but today I say goodbye to you, my child.
You were so small, just beginning life - conceived and wonderfully made - and now you're gone. I think I am missing you so much because mom and I were looking so much to holding you, feeling your little fingers wrap around our finger, and looking into your eyes.
I was even looking forward to changing diapers, just a bit.
I will miss the opportunity to hear your giggles, to see your smile, and cradle you in my arms as you fall asleep.
I will miss so many opportunities seeing you...but you have to go now.
Go now, I will always love you. Play in the clouds, chase the angels, fly high, listen to the music.. I know God is waiting for you.
Go now, but..remember I will always love you.... my child.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4AtDCVa5xE&feature=related
Daddy
Apr 15, 2009
Susan Boyle
Ok it's been 24 hours, and Susan Boyle is still on my mind.
Why?
• It woke me up from cynical thought. A frumpy, single, and unabashed woman with a voice like an angel.
• Bravery. At 47 to be putting yourself out like that - with little pretension - and blowing away people like that takes courage.
• Still dreaming. Against all the pundits, Susan still dreams her dream.
• Gift. To hear her sing, was a real privilege and honor. I don't care how she looks - in this packaged society of always opening the best looking package we are truly misled and shortchange our lives.
• Weighing our hearts. You see her, and you're surprised. What does that tell you about your bigotry, or presuppositions?
If you didn't see it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY&feature=bz303
Why?
• It woke me up from cynical thought. A frumpy, single, and unabashed woman with a voice like an angel.
• Bravery. At 47 to be putting yourself out like that - with little pretension - and blowing away people like that takes courage.
• Still dreaming. Against all the pundits, Susan still dreams her dream.
• Gift. To hear her sing, was a real privilege and honor. I don't care how she looks - in this packaged society of always opening the best looking package we are truly misled and shortchange our lives.
• Weighing our hearts. You see her, and you're surprised. What does that tell you about your bigotry, or presuppositions?
If you didn't see it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY&feature=bz303
Apr 14, 2009
The case for beauty disguised
I saw her.
Susan Boyle, this frumpy, unemployed and ordinary 47 year-old on the television show of 'Britain's Got Talent'.
All the judges, and audience members with me oozed a cynical nature. Then Susan opened her mouth. Jaws dropped as beauty rushed out of the lungs of this woman giving her rendition of Les Miserbales. Even Simon Cowel, the sarcastic Brit, was literally enraptured with the beauty of this woman's voice.
It got me thinking of beauty disguised. How long was Susan overlooked because she failed the standard of beauty in this world? Did not her parents recognized it? Did not her classmates, teachers or neighbors see it?
Then it got me to thinking about beauty and bigotry. If it doesn't meet our standards then we simply write it off. Christians write off people who 'don't measure to their morality scale'. School boys write off girls who don't look like the pop star they see on television, and society writes off our elderly.
This world forgotten about true beauty and that beauty echoes pass time.
The beauty of bravery: the legend of the battle of Spartans who defended against the Persians. It was an ugly battle but the beauty of nobility echoes. You don't hear about stories of cowards, you hear about men who gave their lives for freedom.
The beauty of a wrinkly nun called Mother Teresa who embedded herself with the poor and ugly - serving and loving. When she died heads of states came out to honor her. You don't see heads of state come out to a model's funeral.
BEAUTY DISGUISED
Jesus was just as ordinary. The scriptures said he would have been easily overlooked because there wasn't any beautiful about him, but if you looked hard and have your eyes opened...what a discovery!
Jesus saw you as beauty disguised because he turns our ashes into beauty. He chases the 'Susan Boyles' of today - you and I - except you and I don't even have a voice to draw Him to us.
Susan Boyle, this frumpy, unemployed and ordinary 47 year-old on the television show of 'Britain's Got Talent'.
All the judges, and audience members with me oozed a cynical nature. Then Susan opened her mouth. Jaws dropped as beauty rushed out of the lungs of this woman giving her rendition of Les Miserbales. Even Simon Cowel, the sarcastic Brit, was literally enraptured with the beauty of this woman's voice.
It got me thinking of beauty disguised. How long was Susan overlooked because she failed the standard of beauty in this world? Did not her parents recognized it? Did not her classmates, teachers or neighbors see it?
Then it got me to thinking about beauty and bigotry. If it doesn't meet our standards then we simply write it off. Christians write off people who 'don't measure to their morality scale'. School boys write off girls who don't look like the pop star they see on television, and society writes off our elderly.
This world forgotten about true beauty and that beauty echoes pass time.
The beauty of bravery: the legend of the battle of Spartans who defended against the Persians. It was an ugly battle but the beauty of nobility echoes. You don't hear about stories of cowards, you hear about men who gave their lives for freedom.
The beauty of a wrinkly nun called Mother Teresa who embedded herself with the poor and ugly - serving and loving. When she died heads of states came out to honor her. You don't see heads of state come out to a model's funeral.
BEAUTY DISGUISED
Jesus was just as ordinary. The scriptures said he would have been easily overlooked because there wasn't any beautiful about him, but if you looked hard and have your eyes opened...what a discovery!
Jesus saw you as beauty disguised because he turns our ashes into beauty. He chases the 'Susan Boyles' of today - you and I - except you and I don't even have a voice to draw Him to us.
Apr 10, 2009
Prison row
Found pages from a diary...
Tuesday - September 1
I'm bored, and mad. Sitting in prison here. I hate the guards. They look at me with their condemning eyes and sneer when they hand me the meal. Prison guards come to that place where they look down on you even more with each passing week and they treat you like an animal. So I act like one: one day one of them dropped my meal of slop and I jumped him. I pounded my fists into him and used his helmet against him - I lost it that day. It was building up. Got a good beating for it, and the straw is caked in dried blood from me lying on it - passed out for a week.
Saturday - Sept 15
The beating still hurts, but the guard said something to me that made me want to pull his sword and gut him like a fish: "...good news - you're leaving soon. You got a date with death next year." I cursed him and screamed all sorts of vile things against his family. He laughed it off as he lifted his beer in a mock toast to me.
April 1
Life sucks. I was so angry the last few months. My date with death is coming. I now go to sleep lying in my filth, and recently my tears. I feel bad - what life have I lived? Alone and crying silently in this cell waiting death.
April 3
Not a good day. I just blew my top - cussed everyone out, got the prison all cursing me - even the prisoners. Three guards had to come in and they beat the crap out of me. I managed to pull off a small knife and really jacked one guard in the thigh. One guard took off his hemet and sent some teeth flying out of my bloody mouth. The blood on the stone wall is my reminder...looks like the pattern of a crow with a broken wing.
April 5
I don't want to die. It's scary to be alone. You could beat your chest pretending the world can't hold you down, but I confess I'm really scared.
April 9
New prisoner came in, heard of him. Only stories, but has caused quite a stir in prison. Heard he has special powers....
April 10
The crowds look at me while the sun bakes my skin. Strangest thing, they keep coming back to really rail and just jack up the guy near me. He must have done something bad to really piss off so many people.
April 10 - two hours later
Yeh, religious nut. I'm pissed off too. Crazy religious people have hurt us more than helped and this Jesus is making me mad. I join the crowd and yell with the crowd as they keep up their railing and spitting. It only feels good because I'm scared, I'm all alone and if I'm doing to die....I'm going to die angry and pissed off.
April 10 - one hour later...
The crowds don't stop. Even the people who were there to see me trailed away for dinner, but the crowds kept it up on this Jesus. I see the eyes of some women - they look to him with either lust, or love. Standing there weeping and looking at Jesus.
Can't tell...sweat, blood is clouding my vision.
I hear bits and pieces...miracles...healings...no possible way...
April 10 - minutes later...
I see them, their nice clothes, their self righteousness...their eyes pass over me like a dog, and they stand under Jesus.
They question him, and I sense...they just hate him...and the words they say...I hear nothing that would cause this man to be crucified. No murder, no rape, not gambling...nothing..............
April 10 - one hour later...not one crime. God, here's a man next to me who has done nothing wrong...why is he here?!!!
April 10...
Jesus scares me..he's talking. He's talking to someone about forgiveness...he's talking like an attorney....he's talking like he still cares...even against the bastards who are making his last hours miserable....
April 10
...I can't take it. I'm feeling things I never thought I would. My lost humanity, my heart is doing something. It was after I saw Jesus lifting his head and muttering, "Woman behold your son....behold your mother." It was his own mother here!!! I'm dying alone....my mom died a long time ago because I hated her and broke her heart, and no way is Jesus a criminal. Not the way He says things. He's loving them to his death....
April 10
...no way is Jesus deserving to be here. No way. I've been with him, and he's not dying like me. He's not screaming. He's not begging. He's not cursing. He's nothing like me. I'm crap, I've done it and I passed it around like the devil, but this man...is not a man I've ever met.
...those rumors, those stories....man, can they be true? Jesus, the Son of God? I've given up on religion a long time ago....but Jesus scares me. When you face death men pee, crap in their pants or they fight it like any animal. I'v watched men, children and animals die, but this man is dying like a ....lamb.
A quiet lamb...
April 10..
...Oh God, I'm so jacked up. I'm so lost. I'm scared...I don't want to go out like this. I know I hate myself....and I'm an angry man......I cry silently....
...I find comfort here next to Jesus...the other thief breaks my thoughts...he's yelling at Jesus.
The thief's eyes as are if full of white hot anger, and he spits and judges Jesus. He's just the same eight-year old bully who never grew up and he's just laying it on Jesus. My blood begins to boil...it's so wrong! He's done nothing of death! Can't you see how He is? He loves! He forgives! He actually goes to the mat for those who rail against him! Now you do the same?!!! I can't stand it!!!
I yell at the thief, "WE DESERVE THIS! This man has done nothing wrong! Look at him! He said nothing in his defense! He even tells his mother that she's going to be watched by John! Our mothers are gone! We broke their hearts! We DESERVE this!!!!"
I cry, my tears streak down....I have made a mess of my life and it's almost over.
I turn my head to see if Jesus is surprised by my defense, his eyes tell me something different: love of God. I weep like a baby in my heart and am astounded: in a place of blood and death, in a place of hell.....I find hope.
Hope is next to me. I believe.
I make a request, I want to be where Jesus is...
Strange thing, he answers, "Truly you will be with in paradise."
His answer sends chills down my body: every word soft, but spoken with the authority of the ruler of my day.
Then it hits me: I am dying next to a God man.
Tuesday - September 1
I'm bored, and mad. Sitting in prison here. I hate the guards. They look at me with their condemning eyes and sneer when they hand me the meal. Prison guards come to that place where they look down on you even more with each passing week and they treat you like an animal. So I act like one: one day one of them dropped my meal of slop and I jumped him. I pounded my fists into him and used his helmet against him - I lost it that day. It was building up. Got a good beating for it, and the straw is caked in dried blood from me lying on it - passed out for a week.
Saturday - Sept 15
The beating still hurts, but the guard said something to me that made me want to pull his sword and gut him like a fish: "...good news - you're leaving soon. You got a date with death next year." I cursed him and screamed all sorts of vile things against his family. He laughed it off as he lifted his beer in a mock toast to me.
April 1
Life sucks. I was so angry the last few months. My date with death is coming. I now go to sleep lying in my filth, and recently my tears. I feel bad - what life have I lived? Alone and crying silently in this cell waiting death.
April 3
Not a good day. I just blew my top - cussed everyone out, got the prison all cursing me - even the prisoners. Three guards had to come in and they beat the crap out of me. I managed to pull off a small knife and really jacked one guard in the thigh. One guard took off his hemet and sent some teeth flying out of my bloody mouth. The blood on the stone wall is my reminder...looks like the pattern of a crow with a broken wing.
April 5
I don't want to die. It's scary to be alone. You could beat your chest pretending the world can't hold you down, but I confess I'm really scared.
April 9
New prisoner came in, heard of him. Only stories, but has caused quite a stir in prison. Heard he has special powers....
April 10
The crowds look at me while the sun bakes my skin. Strangest thing, they keep coming back to really rail and just jack up the guy near me. He must have done something bad to really piss off so many people.
April 10 - two hours later
Yeh, religious nut. I'm pissed off too. Crazy religious people have hurt us more than helped and this Jesus is making me mad. I join the crowd and yell with the crowd as they keep up their railing and spitting. It only feels good because I'm scared, I'm all alone and if I'm doing to die....I'm going to die angry and pissed off.
April 10 - one hour later...
The crowds don't stop. Even the people who were there to see me trailed away for dinner, but the crowds kept it up on this Jesus. I see the eyes of some women - they look to him with either lust, or love. Standing there weeping and looking at Jesus.
Can't tell...sweat, blood is clouding my vision.
I hear bits and pieces...miracles...healings...no possible way...
April 10 - minutes later...
I see them, their nice clothes, their self righteousness...their eyes pass over me like a dog, and they stand under Jesus.
They question him, and I sense...they just hate him...and the words they say...I hear nothing that would cause this man to be crucified. No murder, no rape, not gambling...nothing..............
April 10 - one hour later...not one crime. God, here's a man next to me who has done nothing wrong...why is he here?!!!
April 10...
Jesus scares me..he's talking. He's talking to someone about forgiveness...he's talking like an attorney....he's talking like he still cares...even against the bastards who are making his last hours miserable....
April 10
...I can't take it. I'm feeling things I never thought I would. My lost humanity, my heart is doing something. It was after I saw Jesus lifting his head and muttering, "Woman behold your son....behold your mother." It was his own mother here!!! I'm dying alone....my mom died a long time ago because I hated her and broke her heart, and no way is Jesus a criminal. Not the way He says things. He's loving them to his death....
April 10
...no way is Jesus deserving to be here. No way. I've been with him, and he's not dying like me. He's not screaming. He's not begging. He's not cursing. He's nothing like me. I'm crap, I've done it and I passed it around like the devil, but this man...is not a man I've ever met.
...those rumors, those stories....man, can they be true? Jesus, the Son of God? I've given up on religion a long time ago....but Jesus scares me. When you face death men pee, crap in their pants or they fight it like any animal. I'v watched men, children and animals die, but this man is dying like a ....lamb.
A quiet lamb...
April 10..
...Oh God, I'm so jacked up. I'm so lost. I'm scared...I don't want to go out like this. I know I hate myself....and I'm an angry man......I cry silently....
...I find comfort here next to Jesus...the other thief breaks my thoughts...he's yelling at Jesus.
The thief's eyes as are if full of white hot anger, and he spits and judges Jesus. He's just the same eight-year old bully who never grew up and he's just laying it on Jesus. My blood begins to boil...it's so wrong! He's done nothing of death! Can't you see how He is? He loves! He forgives! He actually goes to the mat for those who rail against him! Now you do the same?!!! I can't stand it!!!
I yell at the thief, "WE DESERVE THIS! This man has done nothing wrong! Look at him! He said nothing in his defense! He even tells his mother that she's going to be watched by John! Our mothers are gone! We broke their hearts! We DESERVE this!!!!"
I cry, my tears streak down....I have made a mess of my life and it's almost over.
I turn my head to see if Jesus is surprised by my defense, his eyes tell me something different: love of God. I weep like a baby in my heart and am astounded: in a place of blood and death, in a place of hell.....I find hope.
Hope is next to me. I believe.
I make a request, I want to be where Jesus is...
Strange thing, he answers, "Truly you will be with in paradise."
His answer sends chills down my body: every word soft, but spoken with the authority of the ruler of my day.
Then it hits me: I am dying next to a God man.
Just so wrong
Injustice.
That's a word that really grips me. Maybe that's why I get into Law and Order. You will find some case that involves a life where justice is not served and it just works you up big time. Fairness can be in a grey zone: Someone gets a job, and another doesn't. That's not justice - it's just life. You can't whine about it.
But injustice, that's something to get worked up about. Sixty Minutes, the television program did a profile of this African American who was imprisoned, by an overzealous Texan district attorney. The D.A. had an impeccable record, until research found out 'he cut corners'. That African American lost years of his life in prison for a crime he didn't commit. He's not bitter, but he got injustice.
Today, in history, there's a theme that happens without anyone saying too much about it: a man condemned to die - even though the court ruled him innocent. The judge sent this man to another fellow judge with the power to release him, and two judges concluded this man should be freed.
Even those dying with him, one of them said, "He doesn't deserve this. We got what was coming, but not him."
It didn't happen that way. The crowd demanded this man die and they got their wish. But it wasn't the crowd that sentence this man to death - it was all of us. That's the amazing part: pure holiness, pure innocence and not one defense by this man on his behalf. He took it all simply because justice had to be paid. He paid the price for something he didn't do so I might be absolved of my failings - my foolishness - my rebellion.
Yes, if I'm really honest it was me, us - why we have a holiday called Good Friday.
The Beatles wrote about the world needing love, but I like to add one more word to that need: forgiveness.
That's a word that really grips me. Maybe that's why I get into Law and Order. You will find some case that involves a life where justice is not served and it just works you up big time. Fairness can be in a grey zone: Someone gets a job, and another doesn't. That's not justice - it's just life. You can't whine about it.
But injustice, that's something to get worked up about. Sixty Minutes, the television program did a profile of this African American who was imprisoned, by an overzealous Texan district attorney. The D.A. had an impeccable record, until research found out 'he cut corners'. That African American lost years of his life in prison for a crime he didn't commit. He's not bitter, but he got injustice.
Today, in history, there's a theme that happens without anyone saying too much about it: a man condemned to die - even though the court ruled him innocent. The judge sent this man to another fellow judge with the power to release him, and two judges concluded this man should be freed.
Even those dying with him, one of them said, "He doesn't deserve this. We got what was coming, but not him."
It didn't happen that way. The crowd demanded this man die and they got their wish. But it wasn't the crowd that sentence this man to death - it was all of us. That's the amazing part: pure holiness, pure innocence and not one defense by this man on his behalf. He took it all simply because justice had to be paid. He paid the price for something he didn't do so I might be absolved of my failings - my foolishness - my rebellion.
Yes, if I'm really honest it was me, us - why we have a holiday called Good Friday.
The Beatles wrote about the world needing love, but I like to add one more word to that need: forgiveness.
Apr 5, 2009
True religion
I think it's true.
I thought about it long and hard and it's true.
'Christians' have hurt the message of Jesus as much as the next 'heathen'.
Why? I think simply: we forgot to be the FIRST to love. Some of the worse people on earth are 'Christians' - not the sincere person of faith who makes a mistake, but the religious, self-righteous nut who is no fun. It's that person who is the huge bible thumper and is quick to tell you what's wrong with you before loving you. Case in point: I knew one man who worked with me at company and he was a Christian who was very brash and 'bold'. One day he was in the kitchen talking to another female co-worker who was overweight a bit. Somewhere in the conversation he said, "You're fat, and you should accept that. It's how God made you and you can't change." That female co-worker left the room in tears.
I was appalled and challenged him, "How could you say that?"
His arrogant remark was, "It's the truth, and Christians tell the truth."
Way to go. That'll win the world. I went to the co-worker and wrote to her, and tell her all men were not such numbskulls and told her "God made you beautiful...don't let the world tell you otherwise. P.S. I wouldn't hold much regard for a man who is still single and can't find a lunch partner if his life depended on it."
Jesus clearly stated, "The world will know you are my disciples by your love for one another."
What if you had a cause, but you were the first to comfort? The first to encourage? The first to nurture? The first to listen? The first to cheer? You are the first to LOVE. Instead of getting 'truth' out, or showing the world doctrine, how about being the first to serve?
Most people, including Christians forget early TRUE Christianity was the first to heal: hospitals were started in that manner. Universities were started FIRST in that regard: the first to educate. It was for the benefit of humanity regardless of their spiritual beliefs, their values, their political affiliation...it was simply being the FIRST TO LOVE. Instead you have religious nuts running around soiling the gospel more than helping. The one example that infuriates me is this one church that went to the funeral of a gay soldier who died in Iraq serving his country. That church protested the funeral because of the sexual orientation of that solider. That soldier was more noble to me than those so-called Christians. I guarantee you this: that 'evangelical effort' didn't do anything to win anyone. If they were the first to come along side of the family to comfort and help pay for the funeral - maybe that would be more winsome.
Christians should once again be the first to LOVE. Be the first to buy a coffee for a discourage co-worker. Be the first to help your neighbor or invite them to dinner.
I thought about it long and hard and it's true.
'Christians' have hurt the message of Jesus as much as the next 'heathen'.
Why? I think simply: we forgot to be the FIRST to love. Some of the worse people on earth are 'Christians' - not the sincere person of faith who makes a mistake, but the religious, self-righteous nut who is no fun. It's that person who is the huge bible thumper and is quick to tell you what's wrong with you before loving you. Case in point: I knew one man who worked with me at company and he was a Christian who was very brash and 'bold'. One day he was in the kitchen talking to another female co-worker who was overweight a bit. Somewhere in the conversation he said, "You're fat, and you should accept that. It's how God made you and you can't change." That female co-worker left the room in tears.
I was appalled and challenged him, "How could you say that?"
His arrogant remark was, "It's the truth, and Christians tell the truth."
Way to go. That'll win the world. I went to the co-worker and wrote to her, and tell her all men were not such numbskulls and told her "God made you beautiful...don't let the world tell you otherwise. P.S. I wouldn't hold much regard for a man who is still single and can't find a lunch partner if his life depended on it."
Jesus clearly stated, "The world will know you are my disciples by your love for one another."
What if you had a cause, but you were the first to comfort? The first to encourage? The first to nurture? The first to listen? The first to cheer? You are the first to LOVE. Instead of getting 'truth' out, or showing the world doctrine, how about being the first to serve?
Most people, including Christians forget early TRUE Christianity was the first to heal: hospitals were started in that manner. Universities were started FIRST in that regard: the first to educate. It was for the benefit of humanity regardless of their spiritual beliefs, their values, their political affiliation...it was simply being the FIRST TO LOVE. Instead you have religious nuts running around soiling the gospel more than helping. The one example that infuriates me is this one church that went to the funeral of a gay soldier who died in Iraq serving his country. That church protested the funeral because of the sexual orientation of that solider. That soldier was more noble to me than those so-called Christians. I guarantee you this: that 'evangelical effort' didn't do anything to win anyone. If they were the first to come along side of the family to comfort and help pay for the funeral - maybe that would be more winsome.
Christians should once again be the first to LOVE. Be the first to buy a coffee for a discourage co-worker. Be the first to help your neighbor or invite them to dinner.
Baby!
Well, it was a long time coming. I'm finally going to be dad.
Michele and I found out we're having a baby - now we're just praying for the next 12 weeks to safe.
We are praying for a healthy child, and it's been an emotional roller coaster of ups and downs.
I do know this: I am looking forward to holding my child. Aside from the cuteness of children, the great responsibility and trust given to me as a future parent puts me in a place of humility and awe. I pray that I will be an ideal father, and a good father.
It's with this writing I want to write to my child: I am looking forward to your birth. You are a gift from heaven, and both your mother and I love you very much. We talk to you even when you're the size of a jelly bean, and we prayed for you. We prayed that we might be the parents every child deserve: loving, supportive, wise and encouraging.
We want you to know this life as we see will have it's ups and downs, but there is more to this life than what we see. Look into your heart when you're quiet and away from the distraction of life and you know your life is meant for a purpose. It's meant for dignity and inspiration. Search for it, find it, and do it a passion. You're no accident and not a chemical accident, but woven in love with wonder by God Himself. Do not look for your purpose with people they will disappoint you, but look to the heavens, to the bible and ask God there. Don't seek wisdom from men, or guidance from men, but rely upon God.
Both mom and I await your arrival, but most importantly know this: you are own, and we love you for who you are.
Michele and I found out we're having a baby - now we're just praying for the next 12 weeks to safe.
We are praying for a healthy child, and it's been an emotional roller coaster of ups and downs.
I do know this: I am looking forward to holding my child. Aside from the cuteness of children, the great responsibility and trust given to me as a future parent puts me in a place of humility and awe. I pray that I will be an ideal father, and a good father.
It's with this writing I want to write to my child: I am looking forward to your birth. You are a gift from heaven, and both your mother and I love you very much. We talk to you even when you're the size of a jelly bean, and we prayed for you. We prayed that we might be the parents every child deserve: loving, supportive, wise and encouraging.
We want you to know this life as we see will have it's ups and downs, but there is more to this life than what we see. Look into your heart when you're quiet and away from the distraction of life and you know your life is meant for a purpose. It's meant for dignity and inspiration. Search for it, find it, and do it a passion. You're no accident and not a chemical accident, but woven in love with wonder by God Himself. Do not look for your purpose with people they will disappoint you, but look to the heavens, to the bible and ask God there. Don't seek wisdom from men, or guidance from men, but rely upon God.
Both mom and I await your arrival, but most importantly know this: you are own, and we love you for who you are.