"How is fatherhood?"

That is a question that a friend asked in a recent email.  It's a question I have heard at least 437 times a week since having Alaina.  I usually respond with something along the lines of "man, it's tiring, but it's great."  It gets the point across, and it gets me through the question so I can get onto other inquiries such as "are you getting any sleep?" and "she doesn't really look like you, are you sure she's yours?"

Come on, Dad.  Get your act together.

But if I'm going to be honest, I'm really more somewhere in the neighborhood of...

"Fatherhood pretty much scares me out of my mind."

I mean seriously.  What the heck Lizzy and I get ourselves into?  I don't know how to discipline.  I'm way too immature to be a good role model.  I can barely change a diaper.  99% of me is sure that I'm going to fail miserably.

A couple weeks ago, I was listening to our setlist for Sunday morning at Cumberland.  We were singing a couple of really cool hymns, including In Christ Alone. Man, that song has some powerful lyrics.

And as He stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His, and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ
...
No power of Hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
'Til He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I'll stand

What a fantastic reminder of who I am.  And of where my guidance / help / power / provision comes from.  There will not be one moment of fatherhood where I will be alone.  I don't have to be Dad by myself.

Well, that was pointless

In the past week or two, I've seen or been a part of several religious/spiritual conversations (read: pointless debates that go nowhere and frustrate everyone involved) in one of the worst venues to hold such a conversation - the internet.  Actually, it may be the worst place to try to have a discussion about religious and spiritual matters.  Maybe texting back and forth would be worse...

I'm not excluding myself from getting caught up in it, but I'm beginning to see that bickering on Facebook or on Joe Atheist's blog comment section is no way to convince someone that God does/doesn't exist or that the universe was created 4 gazillion years ago by Bill Brasky.  It's just not going to happen.

Now, I do believe that people can be influenced by friends or people they respect and what they may have to say in their latest tweet or FB message.  But when you start trying to convince someone (or everyone) else that their view is wrong by arguing sloppily through a 2-sentence spelling-error-laden nugget of moral wisdom, you are putting yourself in a hole because you're not even presenting your entire argument.

Oh, that's a lightsaber!  I thought it was some
sort of prehistoric tiger thing.

It feels like you're trying to explain to me how awesome the original Star Wars movie is (which it is), and you only tell me, "well, there is a really cool lightsaber scene in it."  In your mind, you know all the rest of the stuff that makes the movie great, but I'm only getting a very small part of that.  I'm thinking, "what the heck is a lightsaber?"

So what do we do then?  I say we have... prepare yourself... a REAL CONVERSATION.  Sorry peeps, but FB messages do not constitute a real conversation.  The internet is a great place to get information, but man, there is a ton of it out there, and it's far from being a personal or intimate experience.

Real relationships are where it's at.  I want to have actual discussions with people about things that matter.  I don't want to give a half-hearted and incomplete view of something I am passionate about.  I want to tell you my thoughts on life, God, and Bill Brasky in a forum that doesn't have a 250 character limit.  Seriously, I do.  Call me, and we'll grab some lunch sometime this week.  It's on me ;-)