A Father Gives All

My wife and I have come to realize that we are on our son's schedule. We both valued sleep, but have put our value aside because our son values eating! Now any father already knows what I am learning now, and that's getting up in the wee hours of the morning isn't fun. Being the grouch that I am in those early hours, I find myself huffing and puffing at the simple task of heating up a bottle or changing a diaper. Well, last night The Father got to me. As quick as a blink of an eye He showed me that a father gives all of himself. I whispered in my sons ear that I was sorry for being frustrated while tired and that I will give all of myself to him because of my love for him. The comforts I once valued take second when it comes to the son I love.

Our Heavenly Father gave and continues to give to us all that He is. While resting in His arms He is giving His complete self to us. He gives His time (not that He's bound by it), His energy, His love and all that He is simply because He loves us. Is there any doubt as to why He tells us to come to Him as little children? Before we could ever truly know what love is, He displayed it for us...


1Jn 4:10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

A child born into this world doesn't know how to love. Eat, sleep, poop, and cry a child comes prepared to do. A child learns love by the display of love that is around him/her. As I held my son at 3am early this morning, I couldn't help but to feel convicted for loving myself to the point of frustration. A father gives his all... everything he is and has. Looking down at my son and seeing the contentment on his face for being in my arms at 3am was a lesson well learned.

Let's face it... We don't know how to properly love God, yet when we see His love for us it pulls us into a love we have never known. We love because He first loved us. (1Jn 4:19). Now as our children grow up we must remember that we are the first display of love that they see in the morning and the last before they go to bed at night. As the Father continues to reveal His awesome love for us as His sons, so we can let that love flow out of us and into our children.

Gv's Gastro Testimony

Our son was born with Gastroschisis. That is where part of the bowel is on the outside. The doctors told us to be prepared for our son to be in the hospital for 2 months at best. We prayed diligently for God to dumbfound the doctors. God lead us to Psalm 139 and spoke to our hearts that He doesn't miss a stitch by accident. 13 days after George was born he was released from the N.I.C.U. The surgeon said in all his years he had not seen a child recover quite like ours! Sounds pretty dumbfounded to us. Gv is home now and doing well. Thanks to all who prayed with us, God is faithful.

Spiritual Arrhythmia

Arrhythmia. When the heart goes either faster or slower than it should. Now I am not in the medical field so bare with me. An arrhythmia is when the heart beats irregularly. This isn't moments of excitement or rest. The heart just doesn't beat as it should. The doctors have medical answers for these arrhythmia, but what about our spiritual arrhythmia? What does your spiritual heartbeat sound like? A fast heartbeat where you trying to do "For" God? What about a slow heartbeat where the status quo is good enough for you? Now think about what a heartbeat lined up with the Father's might sound like.

John chapter 15 sounds like the Father's heartbeat to me. He says that if we abide in Him we will bare much fruit and that if we don't abide in Him we can do nothing. If we abide in Him, we can ask and it shall be done. Now think about that one... when we abide in Him we know His heartbeat and therefore our heartbeat lines up with His. The Lord offers us to abide in His love. Then He hits us with the rhythm in the following verses;

12 This is my commandment, that ye love one another, even as I have loved you. 13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

The Father's Heartbeat, Love him with all you have and Love others as He has loved you... WITH ALL HE HAS!

My son sits with his head on my chest and listens to my heartbeat. He knows the rhythm of his fathers heart. What will he learn about his fathers spiritual heart condition as he grows and watches his father. I want my son to know and see that the heartbeat of my Heavenly Father is how I regulate my spiritual condition. Does my love for God and others show? Is it nothing but show? Is it complacent? Or does it radiate the presence of a God who invites us to abide in His love? I pray and hope the latter, so should you.

S.I.C.U.

Walking into the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (or N.I.C.U.) for the first time was an overwhelming experience. My son was not yet born and we were on a "Walk through" tour. Babies crying, alarms going off, and nurses all around. It was enough for an anxiety attack! Our son was coming to this unit and it didn't sit very well with me or my wife. Intensive care for adults is one thing, but for babies?

When our son was born and came to the N.I.C.U. our perspective began to change. We quickly saw that this was the very best place for him. The nurses are one to every two to three babies and are very attentive. They keep us informed and at ease. We truly felt that the Lord has placed our son there for the specific care that he needs.

One day I look up and see this odd machine. Come to find out, it is the machine that is feeding my son. He can't eat milk yet so he gets feed intravenously. The Lord spoke quickly to my heart. "I am like this feeding machine". What? As I listened He showed me that this machine gives my son just the right amount of nourishment to keep him healthy and stable.There are a lot of things God could do to show me about His love for us, yet He chose this machine.

Many times in our lives when we feel like we have just under went some kind of "surgery" God is there to nourish us back to health with just the right amount of Him that makes us whole. There still might be issues, circumstances and we can even feel as if we are in some sort of "Spiritual Intensive Care Unit" (or S.I.C.U.), but to know that God is our nourishment makes all the issues... well... moot I suppose.

Paul had an issue. He called it a "thorn in his flesh". Many debate over what this could have been, but it really doesn't matter. What matters is what God told Paul the solution was.

2Cor. 12:9

9And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

In context, Paul is dealing with something that kept his boast on Christ. God's grace is sufficient for us every time we need it. (which is always:) God knew we would end up in "S.I.C.U." 's of life so He provide His Son as life. Christ is the very life that is poured into us as God knows best. Not that we need more of Christ (because we don't), but in those times we "feel" we do... it is then that we need to hear God say; "My Grace is Sufficient for you". He is the Provider of our nourishment and is always on time with what we need to recover from death to life.

So Much, Yet Not Enough

As I hold my son I think to myself; "I could stay here forever". To freeze time and be able to stare into my sons eyes forever would be like heaven to me. I always knew this day would come, but now it's here and it is more beautiful than I could have ever hoped, dreamed, or expected. Snuggled in his fathers arms is my child; safe, secure and at rest.

I guess the hardest part, as I look down at him, is knowing that one day he'll scrape his knees, fall off of his bike, be called names by mean kids, fail at things he tries so hard at, suffer heart ache, and go through all that life has to throw at him only to finally meet with physical death. It's almost like I can see his days ahead. I long to see days of joy and dread to see days of sorrow. Yet, it all must come to pass, my son will make choices.

You know we have such a loving Father that He walks with us "through the valley of the shadow of death"? He doesn't wait on the other side, He doesn't get us around it, under it, or over it. He walks with us through it! Days of joy and Days of pain... He is there.

Listen to 2Peter chapter 3 verse 8:

8 But, my loved ones, keep in mind this one thing, that with the Lord one day is the same as a thousand years, and a thousand years are no more than one day.

That speaks so loud to me as a father. Every minute I spend with my son feels like and eternity and yet at the same time it is not long enough. That is the Fathers heart! God longs to have constant fellowship with us and yet constant fellowship isn't long enough for Him! Moments with Father God are so precious. God, not being encompassed in time, must have the freedom to dwell in those moments of fellowship and soak up on the love.

As I am told, time flies for parents; one day you changing diapers the next day your going to graduations. Do you value your time with your child as God values His moments with you? Be encouraged to cherish the days that feel like a thousand years and keep close to your heart the thousand years that feel like a day.

His Ways

Lisa and I wanted our son to be born on 11/11/09. You see, My birthdate is 12/12 and hers is 10/10 and we were married on 8/8 so we had this number thing going. Although that would have been really cool, our true hearts desire was that the Lord would pick the day.

Well, we decided to go and watch a world record setting of "The most people doing the Thriller dance at one time". We walked out onto this long pier and really had a good time, joking about all the walking! It's kind of funny because we didn't get home until 11pm and I got on the computer. I saw that my pastor was on facebook at the time so I sent him a message. I told him where we had been and what we had done. He sent me back a "LOL" message and told me that was how one of his children was brought into the world... walking. I guess at the time it really didn't dawn on us about the walking.

That next morning (5:30am) Lisa woke me up... her water had broken! We rushed to the hospital to find we were the only patients there. Everything went so smoothly and we didn't plan a thing. As a matter of fact our plans went out the window. We weren't really ready, but God was! In the Words of the prophet Isaiah from chapter 55;

8For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. 9For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

The Lord knows what He is doing, right? Of Course! He is God isn't He? All throughout my wife's pregnancy with our son God has always been on time, His time. When we think that we know what God is doing He shows us just how far our ways are from his. He has made a way in every way for us just like a father does for his children. Our son was not born when we wanted, but was born at the exact moment the Lord wanted. He ordained a time and place for our son to join this world.

I want my son to know, that when it comes to him, his father's thoughts and ways are more than he can imagine or dream. Even when things don't go his way, I want him to know that "Dad" has his best intrests at heart. Dad is there to make sure things are taken care of properly. We as earthly fathers only get to mirror the true image of what God has intended in the "Father/Son" relationsip. I want my son to know that I love him enough to tell him no because I have already said yes to him... yes to being his father!

Welcome George Alfred Lynch V 10/25/09

The Father's Provision

As parents we become providers for another life. As Lisa and I faced becoming parents she would say to me "We are going to be responsible for another life". From birth, we are to provide the most basic of essentials; food, clothing, and shelter. Yet, out of sheer love for your children aren't you so willing to provide so much more than the essentials? We go all out sometimes, getting gifts that bring smiles and Joy. Because of our love, the bare essentials just aren't good enough. We provide to the best of our abilities and with all of our resources.

Listen to Matthew chapter 7 verses 7-11;

7 Make a request, and it will be answered; what you are searching for you will get; give the sign, and the door will be open to you: 8 Because to everyone who makes a request, it will be given; and he who is searching will get his desire, and to him who gives the sign, the door will be open. 9 Or which of you, if his son makes a request for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he makes a request for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, being evil, are able to give good things to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who make requests to him? -BBE

God knows how to give good gifts! He has more in store for us than we can even dream or imagine. Let me tell you of His provision. During my wife's pregnancy, we were told she would have to deliver in a city on another coast. We were faced with having no where to stay. Lots of ideas of how "We thought" God was going to provide came to mind. When we arrived at the place of God's provision it was beyond what we ever expected. He had much more than just a "stone" for us... Our lives have been touched by not only the provision but the people He used.

When our son is born, we can stand fast knowing that God provides beyond what we can dream or imagine. We have made our request, we gave the sign of faith, and the door was opened! We now see that the provisions of a Father are from a heart that pours love upon His children. Let us give our children "Bread" and "Fish", but more importantly let's give it to them spiced up with the flavors of Love.

Performance From the Earliest Age

Each time I watch this video I ask myself, why? I want my child to develop a real and tangible relationship with the Lord. I want to see my son make the decision for Christ because of a pull at his heart. Training a child in the way he/she should go does not mean getting them to perform religiously. Training a child to say all the right words, dress the right way, and even dance a little jig is setting them up for failure when it comes to genuine faith. It's easy for parents to lay down the law and get our children to perform. Training our child isn't getting them to act in the right ways but training them to listen to the right voice.
I have caught flack for being so harsh when it comes to this video, but I ask you are the "cute" things in life worth risking damage to a child's heart? This child is being praised for imitating what should be genuine faith, so he learns... this is ok.

Always Getting Into Something

This past Sunday I was talking with my friend Josh. He was holding his son who was tying his best to reach a pencil on the desk. Josh would tell him no and continue talking. His son, after heeding dad's warning, would once again reach for the pencil. I believe his son is two. This happened a couple of times as Josh looked at me with a smile on his face and told me "They want to get there hands on everything". As Josh's words rolled off his lips, God quickened my heart with a "knowing" that we are similar!

I can only imagine how many times I am going to have to tell my son that he can or cannot touch something. The watchful eye is going to be on him as soon as he is born, but more so when he starts scooting around and picking things up. Why do babies do that? Curiosity! My son, Curious George! We try our best to keep our eye on them, but lets face it.... Kids get into things they shouldn't. Sound familiar?

We get curious about things God wants us to have nothing to do with. Unlike the monkey... curiosity killed the cat. How many times have we heard the leading of God saying this way or that, yet out of curiosity we "Did our own thing". We need to realize that God has our best interest at heart. He is that Protecting Father that is able to say "no son, don't get mixed up with that. It's no good for you". We find ourselves persistently reaching for that "pencil" all the while "Daddy's" voice is right there calling out to us knowing what is best. See God shaking His head saying "There goes my son/daughter again... Always getting into something."

Thanks to Josh S. He's a great dad!

Instructions

I put our son's crib together last night. As I was pulling all the parts out of the box I heard my mothers voice in my head; "Your just like your father, he never reads the directions." When I was about thirteen my mom bought an entertainment stand. I thought I knew how to put it together, after all I was thirteen and I knew it all. So, when I was finished I had a lot of parts left over and just thought that they had given me extra. As we set the T.V. on the stand it shifted to the right and looked like the Leaning Tower.

As Lisa and I started getting these gifts for our baby shower we were told if they bought it at Wal-mart they would assemble it for free. Well that sounded good to me! Lisa on the other hand didn't want a stranger assembling anything for us that would be used for our child. As a matter of fact, she put together her rocking chair.
So, what has the Lord shown me through these two spiritual truths? He lead me to this verse;

"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." {Proverbs 22:6}

You see, I never had proper instruction from a father to listen to the Lord. I wasn't trained in what the values of life and Godliness were. It was like the entertainment stand, I was going about it in my own way and in my own strength with no guidance and I ended up with a wobbly life at best. God has so much more for us. Fathers, Mothers train your child in the way it should go. Now I am not talking about using the bible as a text book for life. Had my father taken instructions from the Instructor and had been in my life I would have seen him putting things together. He would have shown me how to do things by simply the way he lived. Jesus left us with His example... not to do what He did, but to have the kind of relationship with the Instructor (The Father) that He did. The bible is good for instruction if you are listening to the Instructor breathe it into your life. The instruction manual just shows you what the Instructor is already doing, or has done.
So Parents, are you training your child up in the way they should go? Or are you letting the people at the "Wal-marts" of this world teach your children? You see, Lisa didn't want anyone else to put our things together. She didn't trust their handy work. She feels that since they aren't taking it home to use it, why should they take any real care in putting it together. For the sake of convenience we will allow others to practically raise our children. Sure we have all the excuses in the world; to busy... well now that I think about it, that excuse covers them all! Has not God taken all that He is and so willing made it available to us through Christ? Can't we do that for our children? I don't want anyone to train my child... that's my privilege that God has given me, now I am going to listen to the Instructor and take time and care in my son.

He sings over us

My wife got me a guitar for our first anniversary. I had been telling her that I wanted to learn to play so I could sing songs to my son. (I should have asked for singing lessons too:) I sat down one night and wrote my son his very own lullaby. I have taken joy in singing little songs to my wife's belly. It brings us such joy to know that new life is on the way; a little bit of me, a little bit of her, and a whole lot of God. We want to be involved with the deepest desires of our children. Parents want to be "All up in the Kool-Aid" as the saying goes. We want our children to know that we will protect them like a powerful warrior, that we will keep them safe. As parents we take pleasure in this. It is our Joy to be our child's all. We rejoice in knowing that our children take delight in us and we take delight in them. Our children can become enriched in our love for them. Our love can fabricate them into wonderful people. They can rest in our love as we cuddle them in our arms singing sweet lullabies in their ears.
Zephaniah 3:17 talks about Our God having this same love for us.

"The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; He will save, He will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in His love, He will joy over thee with singing."

A God that wants to be involved in all that we do... ALL THAT WE DO! He wants us to know that He is our Protector and Powerful Warrior on our behalf. He is our safety. The songs He must sing over us! We are His delight, it brings Him Joy for us to rest in His love, to take delight in Him. It is His love that fabricates us into His children. How often I wish I would just curl up in His arms and listen to the sweet lullaby He is singing over me. Unconditional Love.

My "Security" Blanky

I was at work today and the minister of the hour was talking about his son and how his son freaks out if he looses his little monkey. I think back to my "blanky", now the one in the picture is not mine. Mine has been long gone. Ok, so maybe not long... I had it boxed up until I was about 23. Anyway, I couldn't go to sleep with out that blanket. I don't know why it brought me such comfort, it just did. I remember my sisters was called "Pick and Fuz" because she would pick hers a part until it was fuz! I wouldn't let her get a hold of my blanky!. From childhood we are longing for that sense of security and love that we seem to sometimes find in the oddest things. I guess we don't stray to far from that as adults do we? The minister, Aaron, said that one day his son would realize that security isn't found in his monkey, but the one who gave him the monkey. (I.E. "Father") The same is so true today. Out of all the things we try to get security and significance out of, are we looking to the Provider or just the object?

What are we putting our trust in, to where do we run when we need security?

Psalms 61:3 says; "For Thou hast been a refuge for me, a Strong Tower the enemy".
Proverbs 18:10 says; "The name of Jehovah is a Strong Tower, the righteous run into it, and is safe."

I want my son to know that he can come to me and feel safe, that when he needs refuge he knows to run to daddy. God wants the same from us. What are we running to other than God? Have you ever said to your child, "Why didn't you come to me first?" I don't even want to have to ask my children that question and I don't believe God wants to either. Go to Him, He is your Strong Tower.

The Microphone

As soon as I knew I was a father I wanted to begin to communicate. Oh, how I make my wife laugh. I have dubbed her belly button "The Microphone". I will put my mouth close to her belly button and begin to sing and talk to my son. Lisa not only laughs at the funny feeling it gives her but at the joy I take in speaking to my son in my own special kind of way. I want my son to know my voice and recognize his father when I speak. I want my voice to bring a smile to his face and a sense of security to his heart. I want my son to know that when he hears my voice he can rest assured that "Daddy" is with him and caring for him. I wonder just how muffled I must sound through all that skin and liquid. It must sound like when your under water and can hear people talking on the surface. Or have you ever played that game where you try to tell the other person a phrase under water and see if they can guess it correctly? Muffled... but soon, yes very soon, he will hear and know my voice when I call him by his name.

John 10:3-5 says; "The Watchman opens the door for this man, and the sheep listen to His voice and heed it: and He calls His own sheep by name and brings (leads) them out. When He has brought His own sheep outside, He walks on before them, and the sheep follow Him because they know His voice. They will never [on any account] follow a stranger, but will run away from him because they do not know the voice of strangers or recognize their call." Amp.

They say sheep are just plain dumb animals. If they are dumb, we are so far beyond dumb it's not even funny. Sheep know the voice of their Shepard and they run from strangers. Sounds a lot smarter than I have been in the past. God wants us to Know His voice and follow when He calls. The pain a father must feel when he calls to his son and the son just ignores his voice. I don't know if I will ever be prepared for the time my son just turns me off. I want him to Know my voice, a voice of intimacy, security, protection, love and all the things that God's voice is to us today. Please... take the time to hear the Father's Voice.

A Whisper in a Church

Lisa and I weren't married a year yet. One Sunday morning I wake up and went into the bathroom. She is standing there... shocked. I don't even pay her any attention. She was shaking like a leaf on a tree and I walk right by her. "Honey, I have something to tell you" she said. Fathers, do you remember this moment? As I turned to look at her I saw the test in her hand. As a matter of fact, she had already taken two if I remember correctly. We were pregnant!What joy it is to find that you are going to be a father. I have dreamed of this day and awaited it with extreme anticipation. Our hearts filled with joy as our future changed in a matter of minutes.
Do I know how to be a father? My father was never around. He wasn't a bad dad, he just wasn't there. We had a "one call a week" relationship. I guess that's better than some kids have it, but it still wasn't good. He would call on Sundays to see how us kids were doing. We would only talk to him if we wanted something. I remember watching some of my friends doing things with their dads and wish it was my father and me. So much I felt I was missing out on; fishing, hunting, four wheelers, shooting guns, football Sundays, but most of all learning to be a man. I ended up turning to all the wrong "father figures" in life to find love.
Well, that Sunday morning I found out I was going to be a father became even more special to me. In church during a worship song, God spoke right to my heart. He said "I am going to teach you so much about my love for you through you becoming a father". I was touched. I turned to my wife and told her what He had said to me. She began to cry.
I open my blog with this account because I am going to share with you what a Father shares with His son. I look forward to all of the little (and big) ways that God reveals His love for us through the relationship that a father has with his son. Already I have seen God's favor and grace, but that is for another blog. Until then, know that our heavenly Father loves us so dearly and calls us sons and daughters. It is in this relationship that we truly experience the meaning of "I am the Life".

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