Baby Girl

So if you haven't already heard the news, Jenn and I found out on April 27th that we are going to be having a baby girl. I'm so ecstatic about finding out about her. I have always wanted to have at least one boy and one girl, and God has blessed me with both. But as I have had some time to reflect upon having a girl, I've began to wonder what kind of a father I will be for her. I truly believe that raising a boy is different from a girl. My main worries about Peyton are will he know how to be a man, will he stand for what he believes in, will make it to adulthood without to many major injuries, but with a baby girl, I haven't different worries or concerns. I know exactly what teenage boys think about teenage girls, and it makes me angry, sad and concerned to know that one day a teenage boy is going to look at my little girl and think impure thoughts about her. I don't know if other father's feel like this happens or will happen to their daughters or not, but it makes me upset in my stomach to know that what God has beautifully created will one day be looked upon in an unclean manner. I know this is true, because I have looked upon His creation in this manner. My heart is filled with pain and sorrow to know that there is nothing I can really do to keep this from happening. The encouraging thing though is that I know that my son and daughter have a creator in the Father who looks upon them with love. All He sees is His beautiful creation. So it has become my prayer for my son to grow up with the integrity to look upon women as creations from God and for my daughter to embrace the way the Father looks upon her. For her to know that no matter what some teenage boy says about her looks, that what truly matters is that her earthly father, and more importantly heavenly Father will always look at her and see the woman of God that she is created to become. This if for all you fathers out there who know or will experience the same things I am right now.

Remodeling

So for nearly a month now we have been working on a remodeling project here at the church. What I thought was going to take a week tops, has now been ongoing for almost 5 weeks. Of course this hasn't been a continues 5 weeks, it has been here and there kind of a thing. But I began to think this morning about remodeling and my spiritual walk. I feel as if there is some remodeling that needs to take place in my soul, but when it comes to the actual work (prayer, confession, listening, etc...) my soul becomes like the room at the church. I have been treating it with the attitude that it can wait, or I work on it here and there. I often wonder why it is that we as Christians are like this. We think that if we attend church or do something for the church that is all we need to connect with God. Maybe that is all we need, but I can't help but feel there is something more, something deeper. So I ask that as I begin to do the "remodeling" of my soul and spiritual connection with God that you help to hold me accountable, but most of all, that you would be willing to ask the Lord to give me direction and wisdom of His will for my life.

Much thanks.

Brandon

Character

So over the last week I finally finished reading Donald Miller's Book, "To Own a Dragon". This was an amazing book and a great read. I recommend it to anyone. Any way, I want to talk about a scene that takes place in the movie Family Man. I have never actually seen this movie, but the book I read talked about it. In the Movie, Nicolas Cage's character, Jack, is in a convince store. Behind the counter is Don Cheadle's character Cash. A girl buys a pack of gum from Cash. He tells her that it will be 65 cents and she gives him a dollar bill. He then purposely gives her change for a 10. You can see in her face a moment where she realizes that she got the wrong amount of change back, but turns to walk out of the store. As she is leaving, she pauses and he ask her if everything is ok, she thinks for a moment then says yeah and leaves. Cash then tells Jack that it was a character issue and that she just sold her character for nine dollars. As I read this in the book, I was just blown away by this concept of selling one's character. I began to think of all the times that I have sold me character for something as measly as nine dollars or even less. I think that's whats wrong with America today, especially those of use who claim to be Christians. We are not afraid to sell our Character. We do whatever we want, we will hurt who ever we have to to get a head, all that matters is that we come up first. I want you to take a moment and think about it. What have you sold your character for? Maybe you told a girl you love her so she would sleep with you, maybe you stole somebody else's work and claimed it to be your own. It makes me sick to think that I have sold my Character, especially as a Christian, for something that was insignificant. Because when we are willing to sell our Character, the things that we hold true, then what else is there worth living for. If we aren't even willing to stand for what we believe in, How are we going to be able to stand for Christ. Hope you find this as intriguing and eye opening as I have.