Yet daylight comes. Sometimes slowly, but it does come, and sooner or later, a different kind of moment comes to wreck our tiny worlds...moments that change everything. The "first kiss moment" or the "I do" moment...moments that change everything. Six years ago tonight, I was blessed with one those moments. At 8:29pm, in Northside Hospital in Atlanta, a tiny cry pierced the air of a labor and delivery room...it pierced my heart and it still does. After 12 long hours of labor, Noah Gregory Sullivan entered this world. It was a moment that changed everything for us...I was no longer just a man and a husband...I was a father...a Dad. In that moment of hearing him and seeing him and holding him for the first time, everything changed...hopes, dreams, and priorities were shifted...and that is a work of God. We watched the video again tonight of his birth and I cried again. My big ole boy, that still loves to curl up in my lap, though he is getting way too tall to really fit there anymore. My son, who loves Star Wars, and who still believes that the good guys always win...and who still believes that his Dad can do anything. This boy, who is becoming a young man far more quickly than I'd like to admit...who is learning to serve others, and who has a laugh that completely disarms me. Yes, some moments change us forever...Tonight, I am thankful for that moment 6 years ago, and even more grateful for this moment tonight...it will never come again. Noah's birth wasn't the beginning of my sanctification, but it certainly became part of the process. And in the faithfulness of my Father, He still uses my children to draw me nearer to Him. To cast myself on Him, recognizing how utterly self-centered I still am, is my only hope...and He gives us those moments that change everything. There were many of these moments in the Bible too...when ordinary men had encounters with the true, living God...and their lives were utterly changed and rearranged in a moment....that will be my next post, hopefully tomorrow.
Moments That Change Everything
It strikes me as odd. Our lives are made up of millions of moments...how many seconds are there in a day? 86,400 seconds per day or you could call them moments. They pass by...tick tock, tick tock, usually unnoticed. They turn from days to weeks to years, these millions of moments...and yet...somehow....there are single moments in our lives that change everything. Moments when time seems to stop, or we wish it did. Sometimes moments where we wish time had stopped just a few seconds before the moment...before we had to hear the word "cancer", or "I'm sorry, we did all we could do". Perhaps for you it was the horrible, haunting, moment when a spouse's infidelity left you feeling so wounded and betrayed, that you just weren't sure you could live one more day, much less ever love again. Moments when the phone rings in the middle of night, and we know the voice on the other end cannot be the bringer of any good news. We have all experienced these tragic moments that change everything...they seem all too deeply etched into our memories. It is one of our common bonds, I do believe. Our tears all taste the same....
Yet daylight comes. Sometimes slowly, but it does come, and sooner or later, a different kind of moment comes to wreck our tiny worlds...moments that change everything. The "first kiss moment" or the "I do" moment...moments that change everything. Six years ago tonight, I was blessed with one those moments. At 8:29pm, in Northside Hospital in Atlanta, a tiny cry pierced the air of a labor and delivery room...it pierced my heart and it still does. After 12 long hours of labor, Noah Gregory Sullivan entered this world. It was a moment that changed everything for us...I was no longer just a man and a husband...I was a father...a Dad. In that moment of hearing him and seeing him and holding him for the first time, everything changed...hopes, dreams, and priorities were shifted...and that is a work of God. We watched the video again tonight of his birth and I cried again. My big ole boy, that still loves to curl up in my lap, though he is getting way too tall to really fit there anymore. My son, who loves Star Wars, and who still believes that the good guys always win...and who still believes that his Dad can do anything. This boy, who is becoming a young man far more quickly than I'd like to admit...who is learning to serve others, and who has a laugh that completely disarms me. Yes, some moments change us forever...Tonight, I am thankful for that moment 6 years ago, and even more grateful for this moment tonight...it will never come again. Noah's birth wasn't the beginning of my sanctification, but it certainly became part of the process. And in the faithfulness of my Father, He still uses my children to draw me nearer to Him. To cast myself on Him, recognizing how utterly self-centered I still am, is my only hope...and He gives us those moments that change everything. There were many of these moments in the Bible too...when ordinary men had encounters with the true, living God...and their lives were utterly changed and rearranged in a moment....that will be my next post, hopefully tomorrow.
Yet daylight comes. Sometimes slowly, but it does come, and sooner or later, a different kind of moment comes to wreck our tiny worlds...moments that change everything. The "first kiss moment" or the "I do" moment...moments that change everything. Six years ago tonight, I was blessed with one those moments. At 8:29pm, in Northside Hospital in Atlanta, a tiny cry pierced the air of a labor and delivery room...it pierced my heart and it still does. After 12 long hours of labor, Noah Gregory Sullivan entered this world. It was a moment that changed everything for us...I was no longer just a man and a husband...I was a father...a Dad. In that moment of hearing him and seeing him and holding him for the first time, everything changed...hopes, dreams, and priorities were shifted...and that is a work of God. We watched the video again tonight of his birth and I cried again. My big ole boy, that still loves to curl up in my lap, though he is getting way too tall to really fit there anymore. My son, who loves Star Wars, and who still believes that the good guys always win...and who still believes that his Dad can do anything. This boy, who is becoming a young man far more quickly than I'd like to admit...who is learning to serve others, and who has a laugh that completely disarms me. Yes, some moments change us forever...Tonight, I am thankful for that moment 6 years ago, and even more grateful for this moment tonight...it will never come again. Noah's birth wasn't the beginning of my sanctification, but it certainly became part of the process. And in the faithfulness of my Father, He still uses my children to draw me nearer to Him. To cast myself on Him, recognizing how utterly self-centered I still am, is my only hope...and He gives us those moments that change everything. There were many of these moments in the Bible too...when ordinary men had encounters with the true, living God...and their lives were utterly changed and rearranged in a moment....that will be my next post, hopefully tomorrow.
