A Swollen Eye and Tim Tebow

There's nothing like a swollen, red eye and a loud early morning thunderstorm to get me out of bed before five in the morning...  Oh yeah and a fifty pound dog jumping on top of me.  Sounds pretty negative, huh?  Actually, I'm rather enjoying myself...minus the swollen eye part.  I think I may have gotten around too much pollen and I'm paying for it now with an eye that is less than attractive.

Anyway, I decided to take advantage of my time this early morning to finally get around to writing a post I've been thinking about since Sunday.  We went to church again as a family, our first official Sunday since joining the week prior, and I have to say that the sermon was the shortest, yet most powerful I've ever heard.  I also cried my way through most of it (see, I am working on that whole "crying" thing) thanks to a prayer request a sweet pastor shared with the church on our family's behalf.  I had been wanting to figure out a way to get our new church to surround our family with prayers in the days and weeks prior to Will's arrival, but I knew there was no way I would ever be able to stand up and request prayer without turning into a sobbing, ugly crying mess.  No one wants to ugly cry in front of new people, right?!?!?  Thankfully, the pastor did that hard work for me and our family felt so loved and embraced by our new church.  Several members also stopped by after the service to offer hugs and said they'll be praying for us.  VERY much appreciated it.

Back to that short sermon, though.... It ended up being all about John 3:16.  You may have heard of it before?  ;)  That little verse Tim Tebow sported under his eyes?*

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, 

that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
  (John 3:16 NIV)

Sorry, Beth, I put a picture of Tebow up on the blog!
Forgive me?!  :) 

Back when the Broncos beat the Steelers earlier this year (sorry, Carlton, my Steelers loving husband), evidently Timmy also coincidentally threw 316 yards and averaged 31.6 yards per completion.  Coincidence or just good fodder for sports writers?  Really doesn't matter to me either way because on Sunday I got a non-celebrity sports hero version of praise shared with me.  I won't go into detail here on the blog about it, but our family had been praying for another young couple expecting their first son.  They had been through a difficult pregnancy too, and were very concerned about their son's birth and outlook.  This little boy was due in early April, but was born early because of some complications on....you guessed it....3/16.  He's doing great!  I'm going to call that a blessing!

I choose to believe in this little miracle and the power of prayer.  Now, I'm not going to go around sporting any nice verses under my eyes, partly because I'm afraid anything too close to my crazy eye at the moment may send me into a fit of spasms, but I was moved to share this story with you because it felt so reassuring to me.  I just hadn't really slowed down lately to think about the power behind John 3:16.  The sacrifice.  The love of a son.  The promise of eternal life.

I don't know how our story will unfold in the days and weeks ahead, but either way I know we're going to get our miracle.  Any child is a blessing from God and regardless of the time we are able to share our with son, whether it be measured in hours, days or decades, we are fortunate for that time and need to cherish each moment.  God made the ultimate sacrifice so that we may be reassured that our time with our family here on this earth is only one small part of it and for that promise I am supremely thankful.

Now, time to put the ice pack back on my crazy eye and pray that I don't scare anyone with how I look today!  I promise no more Tebow references in the future.  Promise!  :)

*I can't believe I quoted John 3:16 and put a picture of Tebow under it.  FORGIVE ME, please.  I don't even really watch football, but it appears that if you Google John 3:16 these days, Tebow is a pretty popular link.  I don't know how I feel about that, but it helps illustrate my point in this post.  :)