what if i suck as a dad?

oh well...at least its not stopping me from trying!

life changing

Last nite had our antenatal class. Watched a video of a Father looking after his newborn baby girl. It made it more real to me...if the baby knew just how inexperienced her Father was, how it was just as new for him as it was her....how much he was making it up as he went along...i doubt she would have come out of her mother's womb.

Our baby is going to turn my world upside down. No longer will I be spending my days alone. I will have this permanent companion with me every moment of my day. My day will revolve around our baby. Feeding, clothing, bathing, entertaining him, and washing everything he spews or pees on, or dirties during the day.

I am about to go from one extreme to the other...and this will be my life for the next few years. Next year I'm doing it all over again except with the added responsibility of looking after a little boy at the same time. Two children under 2 is going to be one crazy fulltime job.

I will be just like that Father in the video, making it up as I go along. Sure I would have done classes, read books, but these all go out the window when faced with a baby who's only means of communicating with you is crying. Hungry, tired, wet or sick - they cry.

Everyone thinks Myles and I are going to be great parents. What if we suck??? What if we end up raising brats from hell that we can't control or even worse can't love???

Oh well, we can always send them to their grandmothers in New Zealand :-)

my future?

if i sow anger, mistrust, selfishness, judgement, apathy, disobedience and destruction

I will have no future

if i sow love

mercy

trust

hope

and faith

my future will be eternal

What can I as a christian learn from Steve Irwin

I dont know if Steve was a christian - though I did hear that Australia Zoo had a Chaplain which suggests that he did appreciate a spiritual element to things. However , I get distracted.

My main question is: what can I learn from him. I can learn from him what the Bible already tells me.

That what God wants us to do is follow our passions - our gifts. To not just mingle in church groups. But to get out to the world and do what we are passionate about. And while we do these things - be like Christ. Show people Christ.

If we only do christian ministry programmes etc which we are not passionate about - then we will give less than 110%. We will give as little as we can. And we will not be getting out to the world.

So, if I am in to playing rugby - play rugby. Mingle amongst other rugby players. And at the same time, show them Christ through me.

Honour the un-honourable

It's been a while since I have blogged and a reason is that I have been pondering the 'post that has stopped me from blogging'.

I have been reading the Bible story of Saul and his son Jonathan (read: 1 Samuel 9 onwards).

The main lesson I learnt was that God wants us to honour the un-honourable. Specifically - "honour your father". It says this even though the father may not be very honourable. There is no condition on this statement.

This made me reflect HEAPS on my Dad. I know my Dad is not perfect - but I was not honouring him - when I should be. God wants me to honour my father - and to make sure my Dad knows it. So I am going on a trip to my father's place - at a time when I should be at home with my pregnant wife. But I feel compelled to go.

But why was this so hard to post? Because I wonder how it reflects on me. I have done some un-honourable things - we all have - and while I am ok to admit it - I dont like the fact that I have been un-honourable. It makes me feel like I have no integrity. No authority. No validity in anything I post on.

But I know that I dont need to be perfect in God's eyes...and I have pushed through the barrier and posted. That's what studying God's word does for me...helps me know where I should be and push through barriers to get there. All praise to God.