My Son

I am absolutely fascinated and amazed by my 4-month-old son, our first and only child thus far. He has such a wonderful spirit about him, besides being opinionated! He is constantly "talking" about his thoughts on everything from the dog, to food, to the Christmas tree, to his outfit, to Daddy's sports teams and more! I am so amazed - every day - with how he learns new things. He has recently started grabbing objects and trying to roll over from his back to his stomach. My favorite time of day is when I get home from work and he gives me the biggest smile, as if to say "You're home!" It fills my heart with joy and love every single day.

Since the day he was born, I have come to the realization of God's BIG, amazing love for us that he demonstrated through His Son. My heart is full of love for my son, I beam with pride when I'm out with him, and I ache when he hurts in any way. But how much greater is God's love for us?

I can only imagine the pride and love that God our Father had for His Son, our Redeemer. He was God's creation - man - in perfect form. And I can't fathom the pain He felt when He watched the very sinners that Jesus died for crucify Him brutally. I could not make such a sacrifice with my precious son. But I thank God every day that He did.

Thank you Father.

A Simple Life

I've been trying to simplify my life, lately. After the birth of our son, I realized how busy I was and have always been. This was leaving virtually no time for family time, which I treasured more than ever after his arrival. Since he was born, I've been "trimming the fat" as they say: not saying Yes to everything and everybody, cutting some things out of my schedule that weren't necessary, and just trying to be less-busy in general.

I just started reading the book The Overload Syndrome by Dr. Richard Swenson, more as an affirmation than anything. In the book, he talks about our Savior and how simple His life was. Jesus' priority was always the person or people in front of Him at that moment in time. He wasn't in a hurry to get to the next city or to eat or to do anything else. He cared about the situation He was in at that moment.

Too often I'm taking care of what's at hand in order to get to the next thing, or get somewhere else: my tasks at work so I can go home, my nightly prayer so I can sleep, my conversation with someone so that I can [fill in the blank], the list goes on. What I should actually be doing is taking in the moment, living in the moment, slow down, especially with regard to people.

More to come as I read more, and lose more of my busy-ness...

Sad News

I was bothered by the news that the senior pastor and our brother, Kyle Lake, at the David Crowder Band home church, University Baptist in Waco TX, died on Sunday while baptizing a brother or sister into Christ. I find joy in that he went out welcoming another soul into the Kingdom, and I'm encouraged by the words of CCM artist Shaun Groves, who remembered his friend:

" My greatest memory of Kyle was him teaching me how to tell others about Jesus. He couldn't have been more than nineteen and I was just a couple years younger, in the youth group of FIrst Baptist Church in Tyler, Texas where we both grew up. His enthusiasm for talking about Jesus and his knowledge of scripture inspired me. I'd never seen anyone so close to me in years so far ahead spiritually, so brave and wise. We younger kids worshiped Kyle, the good looking soccer player everyone wanted to be, standing before us not to draw attention to himself - though there was plenty to admire - but to focus our desires on Christ. He pointed us in the right direction, a life of building Heaven on earth...

We know today that Kyle is seeing God clearly now, face to face, his view unobstructed by the haze of this life. He's missing none of us. He's lacking nothing. His days are infinite and his heart whole. His tears gone. His hope realized. His company is a crowd that will only grow with time, a multitude of men and women lead to citizenship in Heaven by his words and laughter, random stories and worshipful listening, prayers and preaching of thirty-three years spent well."

Praise the Lord for Kyle's legacy and ministry! I hope that when my time has come, that I can leave a legacy such as this: he loved the Lord with all of his heart, and led others to the saving grace of Jesus Christ. And I hope that "others" = a lot of people!