father, son time

liz has been wonderful this last few days with our sick little man, so i decided to get up this morning and take care of him. i am not feeding the bottle cause with his throat the way it is he is not wanting a bottle. we got up, he ate "rice and lentil" and i am gonna eat over at the briscoe's house because today is the draft day for fantasty football. so josh, the greatest commish around, is gonna make omelett's for those coming over to his house for the draft party. josh is excellent at most things, but one of the greatest is having parties. but this morning when i was feeding dutch i figured a little tube wouldn't hurt anyone, and what do ya know predator was on. this is that one movie where arnold is the biggest and baddest dude around. he shoots the bad guy and defeats him while up against incredible odds. it really is a break out role for him...hahahahahah, i can't do it anymore. ok this is like every other movie, but it still is different. why? because this is the movie i got the idea FOR the name my son. let me repeat, he is not named AFTER arnold but the idea for him. so only natural as father and son hang out that they watch his "should be" favorite movie. if you haven't seen it, your not missing much that you wouldn't find in terminator, commando, and every other movie arnold does, but it is good to know if we were ever attacked by predator's from another planet arnold, the governor of california, would do these very things to remove their presence.

is it that bad?

i know any sickness is miserable. i certainly don't want to be sick. i don't want anyone to be sick. dutch is sick right now with congestion in his chest and he has a sore throat. he'll crawl around for about a minute or so then sit up and start to cry or try to cry. he is miserable right now. as his parents, liz and myself, we didn't have any kids before dutch so this, having a baby that is sick thing, is relatively new for us. he had a cold this last may but that was stopped up nose stuff and so, sure, he couldn't drink from a bottle and all that but at least it didn't hurt him to swallow. i know i can only do so much as his parent in this situation. i HATE seeing him in pain. i can actually hear his pain, as he coughs that cough that sounds as though he doesn't have any vocal chords. part of me believes that this is something he must go through in order to develop a proper immune system. if he were to never get sick and then be introduced one day to a virus that is foreign his body would not have the experience to fight this foreign substance. does god heal? absolutely. does god wish anyone to be in pain? ummmmmm, i don't think so. but this body we have been blessed with must under certain circumstances go through things in order to be strengthened to its fullest capabilities. this bout that dutch is enduring only makes him stronger. i think it makes me a stronger dad too. next time i am not so worried about the slightest sniffle or hacking cough. i will continue to pray, and believe god is gonna heal my son. my prayers are for the elimination of the pain. please join with me and pray for all the sick kids of america. kidding. but i want ultimately for my son to get stronger in his body, and there is an ole marine saying, how does it go? oh yeah "pain is weakness leaving the body." if my kid is gonna be the next mr. usa then he is gonna have to let go of some things.

thanks...thats what i've always wanted

i have realized now that god has been preparing me for this next season. 3, 4 years ago if you would have told me i am leading a discipleship training school i would have said, please yes, oh yes please. thought i was gonna say, no way, huh? i realize now that i am built for discipleship. it is where i get my groove on (in a christian way of course), it is where i find joy, where i find fulfillment. i love the aspect of living a life of teaching unto others all for the sake of christ's glory. it is all gonna go there anyway. thinking about a faith jesus intended one to live, that's the one i want, full of perseverance, full of endurance, full of attack, AND full of rewards. so many of us hear about the rewards we will get after we die. i truly would love to have those rewards, and i believe i will, but you wanna catch my attention then share with me the rewards and fulfillment god has for me while i am living on this earth. i think many could turn to christ as their lord and savior if they were to be taught on the rewards god intends to give one here on this earth, in this lifetime. i wanna make christ my treasure while i am living in this grotesque bodily form. when i was a child i would anticipate the christmas presents over at my grandmas the same way i would anticipate a meal in the jungles of africa, not to eager buddy. and when the next year seem to reveal the same surprise under the 70's christmas wrapping paper i would just accept, from then on out, that my grandmother never got my list to santa. we live in a world where not only does god care about what we care about, but that he is wanting to reward us with things we need and want, in that order. god knew, as a kid i would subconsciously wear the policeman's badge for a reason. god knew that i would develop into a lover and not a quick tempered fighter. god knew that every bad habit i picked up, he would be able to eventually speak to me at the right time to let that go in order to follow his direction. am i bragging on myself, yeah maybe a little, but the ultimate credit is god's. i would change it to confident, i am confident in my god, and because i can remember this confidence in my life time i am now desiring to pursue him more than ever. all the more reason to allow faith to be expressed in a manner that everyone knows what your all about. 

This Morning

TBS has become my friend on the occasions that I wake to feed and care for my son. Beginning at 6am, and lasting til 8am, TBS has managed to catch my eye with re-runs of "Saved By The Bell." Granted, lately, they have been showing the earlier episodes, you know, with Miss Bliss (Hayley Mills) and these are not as entertaining as the latter episodes with the really cool gang. But as I was watching, it was actually the earlier episodes that I realized seem to be the audience grabber. This gang which includes, Zack, Lisa, the fun loving Screech, a girl named Nikki, and a nobody named Mikey, is the group I guarantee the average teenager across America identifies with more than the latter version of the group. The group in the "Miss Bliss" episodes is a group that has personalities that are real, in my opinion. I see the group that contains the characters of Kelly, Slater, and Jessie as a group I wish I could be more apart of but not a group I see as identifiable to my life as a secondary student. Zack is amazing in the latter years but yet still unrealistic when it comes to a high school student, Slater is so tough and yet refined, Jessie has the "green" attitude everyone wishes they could think of, and Kelly is the girl that only a "Zack" could get. I definitely love to watch the latter episodes more than the earlier one's but the reasoning is the romantic idea of me living the life they lived in High School. No one wants to be what they know they are, so many think of the fictitious life they might be able to lead. I would like to take this opportunity to thank TBS for showing my favorite show during the early nineties. Thanks TBS, keep it up. You make feeding my son that much more enjoyable.