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What I've Learned About God From My Children - Intro

March 18th, 2001 was a day that changed me in more ways than I can begin to count. By starting my writing with a sentence like that I'm sure that anyone reading this is expecting some huge, Earth shattering event, and it was, but only for my wife and I and our immediate family. This was the day that our first daughter, Karah, was born. I know that there are litterally a billion stories about childbirth experiences so I won't bother to get into ours but I do want to explain a little of the emotion and feelings I felt on that day. My wife could tell some interesting stories about her experience too except for the fact that she was given a shot of Demerol and literally had no idea what was going on. For me, the experience was the most intense 18 hours of my life and I remember it like it was yesterday.

Due to some health issues I wasn't able to actually hold Karah for the first time until a couple of hours after she was born. Our family and friends had come to visit and had left when I was finally able to hold her and take her down to recovery where I could introduce her to her mother. Karah had an I.V. of anti-biotics attached that I had to drag behind us and as I held her and took the 3 minute walk down to recovery I remember being hit with the new reality that I was now a father. I was someones daddy. Later, as I was driving home, after the adrenaline had worn off, the emotions hit and I started to cry tears of exhaustion and tears of happiness.

Two years later, almost to the day, our second little girl, Lauren, was born and it has been an incredible ride ever since. For four years now it seems like everything in my life has been amplified. Everything means so much more now. Emotions are much stronger. Responsibility is greater. Hurts are more painful. Happyness is more meaningful. And love has a whole new meaning and understanding.

Recently God has been teaching me about dependance on Him. It has been a scary, exciting, and humbling experience. As I have struggled to shed my desire for self-dependence, God has been using my kids to teach me about the relationship that He desires to have with me. There is a reason that God takes on the title of Father and I have felt the need and the desire to examine my children more closely to see what I can learn in order to grow in my relationship with God.

So, my plan is to use this blog as a place to post those thoughts. This may turn into a 10 part series or it may end after one part. I don't know. But at the end of it I hope to have a better understanding of exactly what Jesus meant when he said in Matthew 18:2-4 ²He called a little child and had him stand among them. ³And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. ⁴Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."

posted by Dave @ 11:04 a.m.