Welcome Abigail Joyce Gentry!

I no doubt will miss sending these to some folks, so please enjoy responsibly....
WOOO HOOOOOO

Countdown to BABY

It's hard to believe that in 24 hours I will lay my head down to sleep for the last time ever in my life as a non-parent. No matter what happens all the rest of the days of my existence, I will from Thursday (at approximately 11am) forward, be a parent. More specifically, a Father.



I think today for the first time it actually hit me that life is going to change rather drastically. I mean, it's quite strange. It's kind of like waiting for your 30th birthday, or I imagine your 40th or any other milestone day in your life. You are anticipating it, and it seems, at least from a distance, that it's going to be this huge thing, and you are never going to feel the same way again - but then they day comes, and while "things" certainly change; circumstances certainly change, you don't really *feel* any different.



I've been trying to temper my anxiety and excitement by thinking that way... However I do have a feeling that this will be decidedly different than any previous birthday or milestone. I've heard it said that it does change you - that when you see your child for the first time something really does happen. I'd like to believe that - that some kind of daddy pixie dust will sprinkle down and I will be able to be all I need to be for the wee one about to make its way into the world, or that some insta-father switch will go on and everything will just fall into place. Unfortunately I am too well versed in humanity to think that it will happen that way. Unfortunately for my daughter, I will have to bungle my way through this just like everything else...



But I am looking forward to that first moment. That first contact. Meeting her for the first time. It's absolutely mind blowing to think that you are about to meet the divine product of you and your wife. The genetic roll of the dice (sovereignly speaking) that will mix all my traits and hers into a whole other person. A person who will grow up to think and live and breath and move and have her being, so long as you remember to feed her and change her diaper once in awhile...



This is the coolest and strangest and most frightening thing that has ever happened to me. Yet in all of it's strangeness and scariness, the wonder and peace of it is so perfect, such a testament to the greatness of my God.

On Fatherhood...

Here we are, literally days away from having a new baby.
It's so weird to think about.

I'm not scared... unless I start thinking way into the future with teen years, and boys, and how many I will have to kill... stuff like that. You worry about protecting them from the world, but all that stuff comes later and it doesn't really enter into my mental equation just yet unless I force myself into it.

I'm not anxious... unless I force myself to consider all the unknowns that come with having a newborn, all the surprises that could come up. Toddler accidents, banging into things. But again, I'm not the type to dwell on what is not in front of me. So anxiety kind of goes out the window with me. Probably not so with my better half, which is actually for the best sometimes. I can tend to be a bit blase about most things, very 'take it as it comes', and she thinks ahead - granted, sometimes to a fault - but most of the time I need to hear her concerns and it helps balance me. But I'm not really anxious - not in a worrisome way anyway - but I am anxious to meet my baby girl.

I'm definitely ready... in the sense that I am ready for pregnancy to be over and ready to move on to the next step in this journey with my wife. I think she is too. Pregnancy has been hard on her, and it has been difficult for me to see her so uncomfortable for so long. But we are both ready for the new challenges, the new experiences that will come. Of course, that does not mean that we are *ready* for them, or equipped to deal with them. But we are definitely ready to find out.

And finally, I am very content. I don't like to use the word 'happy' because it's such an amorphous thing, and contentment, in my opinion, is such a better overall sentiment than happiness is anyway. Happiness is like sucking helium - everything is different for about 5 seconds, and then it's gone. Contentment is for the long haul, and while happiness is definitely in the mix with the baby coming, contentment is definitely where I am at. I am really looking forward to the relationship I will have with my daughter. I am looking forward to the family Natalie and I will be building by God's grace. And I am content in knowing that all that lies before us, and I want to take it as it comes.

Maybe in a few months I'll give an update on how I am feeling about being a Father when I actually and actively am one. And although I know, as many of my friends who are fathers have told me, that everything is about to change in a profound way - for now, it suits me just fine.

More Ultra Baby

Here are the latest sonic photos of our Baby in Utero:







































She's a cutie!!

Also, by way of update, she is still in a frank breach position and does not have room to turn around. She is already up near 9 Lbs, so the doctor has set the date for a C-Section on November 16th. Not a bad day for a birthday! Of course, if Natalie goes into labor before then, which is certainly possible, she'll be here early. Neither of us would be upset if she showed up early. We're quite eager to meet our little girl already... but it's out of our hands. Keep us in your prayers.

Funny, but how funny?

Mark, over at The Foolish Sage, posted some of these movies on his last blog post. I thought they were funny, which was his intention, but as I watched them a second time, I wondered how funny they really are - or how true - or how untrue. Comedy, especially parody, is funny because it speaks truth, or shines a light, in an ironic way, into a normal everyday reality - so I'm curious as to what folks think about what is being presented in these videos.

Watch these, enjoy them, and lets talk about them. Just for fun.



Having gone to seminary, and likely having most of the books Mr. Christian is holding on my own bookshelf, this video resonates quite a bit with me. I find myself somewhere in the middle of these two guys, which I think I am glad about. I love theology, and love to talk about it. On the other hand, I have no bumper stickers, no ichthus on my car - more out of fear of blaspheming Christ than anything else. But anyway - Christ follower definitely wins this round.



This one is interesting... I get the whole "you orthodox people are so stuffy, why don't you loosen up" part of it, and I have some sympathy in that direction. I'd love to be able to come to church in jeans and preach, or in my most comfortable sweats (which I am wearing right now). But worship is and has never been about me and what I want or like. Yes, Mr. Christian's attitude towards 'Christ follower' is not good or helpful either, but it gets under my skin sometimes when people dress down just to be 'cool' or even a bit rebellious. Worship is not about me or how I feel or how comfortable I am, I happen to believe that how I approach worship reflects what I think about God - and that can also be reflected in how I dress. Do I always wear a suit? No. But if I go to worship wearing the same thing I would wear to a baseball game, it reflects, at least on some level, what I think about God, and His worship (worth ship). Of course, God is not concerned with outward appearance, and neither am I. I am more concerned about why one dresses the way they do, than what they actually wear.

And the other thing is the mention of Saturday... is 'Christ Follower' an SDA? I wonder who made this vid now...

For the record, I am against all things WWJD.



Now this one I am pretty much with 'Christ Follower'. Not much I like in the way of Christian Contemporary anything. Though it seems that we are making some headway in that department. Some of the young people in the church I am serving in have offered me all sorts of CD's to borrow to see if I can change my mind about CCM as a whole. Personally, I think I can respond just as worshipfully listening to TOOL as I can listening to Third Day, or PILLAR (a new CD I have borrowed to check out) - ok, maybe not TOOL (though I do like them). What we need to understand is that God's common grace has gifted even the most rebellious rock musician with the gifts that enabled them to make their music. So I as a Christian can listen and give thanks to God for their gifts, even if they do not. I am far more interested in professing Christians who make good music (like Chevelle), than anything with the label "Christian Music". And as a side note - who Christened U2 as the ambassador of Christian Coolness? I actually saw a book entitled "Preaching through the U2 corpus" -- I mean, come on... yeah, Bono used to look like Jesus, but let's not get carried away...



This last one I am not really sure about. I can't tell if they are making fun of the non-traditional move towards more multi-media in worship or what... I always thought that was not a trait of the "Christian" church, and more a trait of the non-traditional side of things. Seems like they are mixing their metaphors or something... I don't think worship gets any more traditional (in reformed circles) than it does where I worship, and multi-media would be a foreign language there... who knows...

I guess what I am curious about is, apart from taking a cool APPLE ad and making it their own, what is the goal of these videos? What are they trying to poke fun of exactly, or rebuke? Does "Christian" really exist? Of course he does, sadly, but how much of who he is (as reflected in these movies) is bad? And how much of Christ Follower is good?

ah well.. discuss.. I don't have the answers... that's why I preach instead of run companies... my answers are given to me by someone else...