Hudson

If anything merits a blog it is the birth of a grandchild.

Hudson Christopher Johns was born on June 15th to my daughter Alyssa and son-in-law Paul.  Holly and I wasted very little time jumping a flight to Arizona.  It has been an amazing week, and I find it difficult to voice what it feels like to be a grandparent – as so many of you told me, there is nothing quite like it.

It has been a joy to bounce Hudson around and to watch my daughter and son-in-law take those first steps of parenthood.  They are doing well, supporting and encouraging each other, and experiencing all the variety of issues that go with having a newborn.  I am proud of them both.

Something unexpected for me was sharing some of the anxiety parents of newborns feel when you ask all those beginning questions: “Is he doing okay?  Is he eating enough?  Why is he crying?”  And the question we with experience already know the answer to – “Will life ever be the same again?”

Simple, black and white answer – “No!”

I read recently that having a child is an act of faith and an act of defiance.  An act of faith in that it expresses the belief that God can bring something good and pure and beautiful into this world.  An act of defiance in that parents refuse to let some of the scary things of this world have the final say – they dare, with courage, bring a child into this world, believing this child can not only change their lives but the lives of others.

At one point in my adulthood my Mom told me she prayed for me everyday.  I found comfort in that – if no one else prayed for me, Mom did.  Her prayers ceased long ago as she went to her heavenly home, but I continue her practice.  I seldom miss a day when I do not pray for my children Alyssa and Chad, and years ago I added to my daily prayer their spouses Paul and Becki.

Now with joy I add Hudson to the list.

Anytime Now...

I had a dream last night about babies being born – no wonder, both my daughter Alyssa and my daughter-in-law Becki are pregnant, and Alyssa is due anytime now.  We have our bags packed so we can fly out to Phoenix at a moment's notice (or whenever we can get a flight), and if we had the Star Trek technology my wife would have transported there already. 

Our first grandchild (a boy), coming anytime now.

I am finding it a strange feeling to live with the “anytime now” sense of things.  Will the call come in the morning hours, the afternoon, or when we have dozed off to sleep at night?  My wife does not like to carry her cell phone around, but I discovered this past Sunday that she not only had it in her pocket at church but had it turned on as well, “on vibrate” she said.  “Why?” I asked.  She said, “In case Alyssa calls telling us the baby is on the way.”  I said to her, “Alyssa would leave a message for us.”  And my wife looked at me with eyes like I have seldom seen in our thirty-seven years of marriage, eyes that said I had just failed the supreme test of being a father.  

“I think you should continue to keep your cell on” I wisely said.

“Anytime now” – I guess lots of things can happen on that kind of timetable, things that bring us joy like having a child or a grandchild, and a number of things that can make us sad or break our hearts.  But I am on the joyful side right now – our first grandchild coming “anytime now.” 

My sermon text for this Sunday is Psalm 139.  The Psalmist is both filled with wonder and fear as he reflects on the presence of God.  To God the Psalmist is an open book – before he can get his train of thought going, God knows, and God can even complete his sentences.  What overwhelms the Psalmist is the intricate involvement in our lives – God as the Creator, making us and shaping us before our mothers felt our first kick in the womb or heard our first cry.  The Psalmist says, “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made” – and I praise God that He has been at work in the life of my daughter, fearfully and wonderfully making a life within her, her first child, my first grandchild.

Anytime now...