Tonight I'm sitting here pondering all the thoughts that all first time dads must think. I like to use that term "first time dad" because I'm proud to be an upcoming father, but there is something scary about being the "first timer." There is much to learn and much to do, but in the end it is all worth the while. I think of the many women in the world who are first time mothers and sadly do not have a man to stand with them. It breaks my heart for many different reasons. It breaks my heart because of the child, the woman, but most of all it breaks my heart to see a man not own up to his responsibility to take care of his child. So often we treat sex as if it is something casual and caviler, something cheap and disposable. We throw our bodies around to whoever may come and we do not ever think about the repercussions. Now I am far from an angel in this life, I am a sinner at heart and I sin daily, but I am thankful to be married to a great woman and able to stand with her during this toilsome time. I look at her belly grow and I think of the great gift that is coming in the next few weeks.
Time is passing quickly, I honestly think it's passing quicker for me instead of for my wife. I enjoy watching the nursery come together, I enjoy seeing diapers and toys in the house, I enjoy putting his stroller and other things together, but most of all I enjoy the thought of his arrival. The day in which the nursery is not just a room that is decorated a room that will be filled with a little human life, a room that will hold a future for someone that means the world to me. It makes me think of the "Nursery Journey" in which he will endeavor. I wonder what will happen within those four walls. I already think of his little voice screaming out in the night, screaming to be fed, yelling to be changed, or just fussy because he's lonely and scared. I think further when he will be able to stand and walk in his room. I look at his blue toy bucket and think of him rummaging through it looking for the perfect day to start the day. I think even further then he sits in his room doing homework and asking dear old dad questions about math and me not having the answer! I think even further ahead to the dreaded teen age years. The years in which the animals and cute little car posters come down off the wall and up goes sport cars and professional football teams. I think further ahead into the future and we have a serious chat over why there will never be a girl allowed in his bedroom. I then dive even deeper into the day in which cardboard boxes will fill his room. Some boxes will be labeled storage, others "junk", and yet other boxes labeled college. You might think how strange it is for me to think that far ahead of his little room, but I find a joy in that thought. I find a joy because it is a great reminder to me that soon and very soon he will be out of my house blazing a pathway of his own. Soon he will go out and carry his own name and go his own "thing." I just pray that for the few short years in which my wife and I have him that we will be able to impact him for Jesus Christ. We already pray nightly that God would reach down into his little life and teach him about the great love to Jesus. We are already telling him Bible stories and praying over him. We want him to be trained in that way of the Lord. I pray for myself as a first time dad that I will be able to do one thing right, teach him that God's way is always best and that God loves him so much. I might not be able to teach him to hunt or fish, I might not be able to teach him how to be a carpenter....that's what pappies are for :) I pray though more then anything else that when my son sees me that he will see a man living for Christ daily. I want him to see a man that he wants to emulate, instead of be humiliated over. If I can do that then I think I can say that I passed the journey of being a dad! If I am able to teach him about Jesus then my heart will be a little bit calmer when I see those boxes labeled college in his nursery....opps, sorry son. I didn't mean to call it your nursery any longer, I mean your bedroom. When I enter his bedroom and see college boxes and see my son, I want to see not just Him, but I want to see Jesus in his heart. To you dads that were able to teach your children about Jesus and teach them about the Bible, you guys are the heroes in our world. To you dads that didnt' teach Jesus to your kids or take them to Church, it's not too late. Why not trust in Jesus now? Or if you already have trusted in Jesus why not tell your children and grand children about Christ! There is nothing greater that you can do as a dad then to tell your child these simple words "JESUS SAVES."
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