The Father's Gift

Every human faces trails and adversities in their life. A week ago, my wife and I welcomed into this world our first child. He weighed in at only 5 lbs 8 oz but seemed healthy. About 14 hours after he was born though, he began to experience problems with his breathing. His respiratory rate would sky rocket and plummet in the course of one minute. He was eventually taken up to the neo-natal unit (the intensive care unit for babies) and hooked up to oxygen, an IV and monitors. Obviously a stressful site for any parent.

The next day as I was getting ready, I began/continued to pray that he would improve and be able to come home soon. I thought of him connected to all those different things and how much trouble he was having breathing. Then I began to think God for all the prayers He had already answered. For the baby, for a healthy pregnancy, for a fast delivery, for good doctors and nurses who were taking care of him.

It was then that I began to ponder how God let His son endure such pain. He sent Jesus into this world knowing the horrendous pain He would endure. I could no longer fathom how a Father would allow their son to face such suffering. Not just the agony of the cross, but to take on all the sin of the world and its punishment. The perfect Son of God....born so small and innocent would one day be ridiculed, beaten, whipped up to the point of death, had nails driven through his wrists and feet, spit upon, and hated. I prayed asking how God was able to do that. All I could think was if it were in my power I would never let any harm came to my child. I love him too and to see him in such pain would kill me. I would do anything to take his place.

Then my eyes were opened to a truth Ialready knew, but now could fully understand. God does love His son, yes. But God loves us too. We are God's sons and daughters as well, and He could no longer watch us live in such pain and darkness. God did what most parents can only think about doing in that situation...He took our place. He took our sin, our punishment and our death and gave us the opportunity to wipe the slate clean. That is how much God loves His children. He loved us enough to take our place.

"When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."

1 Corinthians 13:11-13

See, while Christ's death and resurrection does cover everyone’s sin, not all will be forgiven. We all must choose to accept this gift. We choose through believing that Christ is God's son, that He was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died on a cross and rose from the grave three days later. Knowing that Christ paid the price for our sins, we must ask Him for forgiveness. He will freely give this gift; you must simply believe and trust in Him. I can offer anyone a free gift, but it doesn't mean you have to accept it.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and that your greatest gift will be from your Father.

Holy Floating Crosses Mike!

Huckabee has a way of using what little campaign money he has to turn short commericals into a media frenzy. A while back I posted his ad with Chuck Norris which everyone buzzed about. Now Huckabee has a commercial that is less of a campaignish commercial and more of a Christmas, excuse me, holiday card.

The commercial caused a stir up here because of a "fglowing, floating cross in the background" which is actually nothing more than his bookcase. Was it positioned that way on purpose? Who knows. If it was, brilliant! If not, even cooler!

Apparently though any one in public office (even though at this time he isn't) isn't allowed to say Merry Christmas. Even the Catholic League says he was wrong which I find disturbing. View the video for yourself below and then hope over the the Associated Press by clicking here to read the article. I can't repost it here due to copyright. No need to get sued this time of year. The article was written by Liz Austin Peterson.

Huckabee Left His Heart in San Francisco

Article from Reuters.com

By Adam Tanner
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has made dramatic gains in California but still trails front-runner Rudy Giuliani, according to a poll released on Thursday.

The Field Poll conducted December 10-17 found 25 percent backing former New York Mayor Giuliani, unchanged from October, while former Arkansas Gov. Huckabee's support rose to 17 percent from 4 percent over the same two months in California, the biggest prize of all the primaries.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney had 15 percent support, followed by Arizona Sen. John McCain at 12 percent, according to the poll of 322 likely Republican voters that had a margin of error of 5.7 percentage points.

Although Iowa and New Hampshire, which hold the first two presidential nominating contests early next month, have dominated the candidates' attention, California will select about one-fifth of the delegates needed to choose the Republican and Democratic candidates who will face off in the November 2008 election.

Californians go to the polls on February 5, so-called "Super Tuesday," when more than 20 states hold primaries.

Giuliani is considered more liberal on issues such as gay rights and abortion than many of his Republican primary rivals. He rose to wide prominence for his role leading New York City after the September 11, 2001, attacks.

Huckabee, a former Baptist preacher who has been praised for his likable manner on the campaign trail, has risen dramatically in polls nationwide in recent weeks.

The Field Poll found a sharp drop in support for actor and former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson to 6 percent from 12 percent over the past two months. Another 18 percent were undecided.

A Field Poll released on Wednesday found 36 percent of likely California Democratic voters back New York Sen. Hillary Clinton for the nomination, down from 49 percent in August.

Illinois Sen. Barack Obama ran second with 22 percent, up from 19 percent in August. Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards was third with 13 percent in the survey, which had a margin of error of 4.7 percentage points.

Most of those who defected from Clinton appear to have landed for now in the "undecided" column, which has grown to 20 percent from 12 percent in August.

In a state where Democrats are by far the strongest party, both Clinton and Obama were far ahead of the top Republican candidates in a theoretical match-up posed by the poll.

(Editing by Eric Beech)

Mike Huckabee Shines at Iowa Debate!

Republican candidates had another debate today in Iowa and Mike Huckabee is receiving great reviews! This is awesome news since, in recent weeks, he has been hammered by opponents.

Read the article from ABC News by clicking here.

It's better to give...

Well I am finished with my final semester at Curry College! As of 4:15 am on Saturday morning I put a period on my final research project. I decided Friday to just stay up and do it instead of spending an entire weekend working on it and everything else. Though tired the next day I was glad to be finished. I am still in the adjust mode...I feel like I should be doing something instead of knowing its okay to sit down and relax. Probably by the time I get used to it, Little Man will arrive (which is fine by me). The semester officially wraps up next week when finals end on the 21st. My last class will be Wednesday though...if I go. It is Senior Seminar which we don't get a grade in. I will probably chicken out and go anyway though. Either way, I have nothing else to turn in so as far as I am concerned, its all over. Sometime before Summer begins I hope to begin work on a Masters of Divinity from Gordon-Conwell Seminary. They have a wonderful online/from home program that will make it possible for me to work on since I will soon be a stay-at-home daddy.

So that is the current update from here. Weather has "warmed" back up to normal (highs are usually in the 40's this time of the year). We are supposed to get some snow/ice tonight which is always a fun Monday commute. I love the view out of our back window though. The small lake is frozen and all the bare trees have that cool blanket of snow on them. Very Winter Wonderlandish.

One more note before I head to dream land. The San Francisco 49ers are having a dismal season. They were the trendy pick to win the NFC West at the beginning of the season, and came out of the gate winning their first two. Since then they have gone 3-10. Talk of the coach being fired has begun as has rumors of their franchise QB (number 1 draft choice just a few years ago, Alex Smith) being let go. Now normally at this point fans get excited about a losing season because of a high draft choice. However this year we won't get that. You see, in the last draft we made a trade with a certain team. That trade included our first round draft pick. So we won't get our top pick. What is worse is who does receive that pick. A certain team caught cheating at the beginning of the season, who was slapped on the wrist and lost their pick, who plays smugly by pouring on the points will be receiving our draft choice. Yup, the Patriots will receive a (presumably) top 5 draft pick next April. Grant it they will probably trade it, but it still stinks.

And that is all I have to say about that! Sometime in the next two weeks I hope to write my Christmas Blog and then my annual Year-End-Review so be checking back for those!

Mike and Chris

Republican Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee (former Gov. Arkansas) was on FOX News Sunday with Chris Wallace a few weeks back. I am sure there are other postings of this already out there but found it worth sharing anyway.

Please click here to be taken to the link.

Props to my dad who emailed me the article!