So My Wife is Pregnant!

I did it! Yippee! Also, oh dear.. We're excited, we're terrified. About a million emotions ran through my body when Katie told me. As of today she is 10 weeks and 5 days along, we've known for a while now but the sense of excitement hasn't passed. As she is dealing with all the changes in her body, I am also trying to adapt to the concept of being a father. Also, what does it mean to be a father in Scripture?

Now that time has passed for a bit, I have had time to contemplate and pray about being a father. I don't really care, whether it is a boy or a girl, but I do care that I raise the kid to be not only a decent human being, and not those monsters that are technically people (I'm sure you're thinking of someone right now), I am also overwhelmingly concerned about raising them to live a life in relationship with the Lord.

I didn't come to Christ until I was in late middle-school. And now that I am in seminary I am constantly hearing stories of people who's parents were pastors, and their children totally rejected Christ, or the exact opposite of that. Its a scary position to find myself in, after all this child is my wife's and my responsibility. If it is not our responsibility to share the love of Christ with this person that is going to be born in about 20 weeks, then who's is it?

I'm used to responsibility, I pay bills, I help put food on the table, I pay rent, I have a car payment, and my wife expects me to lead her spiritually. But a kid? Kids are scary. In my mind a child is a future adult. That future adult is going to be shaped by many different inputs, a huge one of those inputs is going to be their parents. I don't want to raise a monster, I want to raise a person that is going to love the Lord with all their heart and come to know Jesus more intimately than I do. Do I know how to do that?

Nope.

Will I figure it out?

I sure hope so.

Well readers, I am most likely going to be writing more about this pregnancy in the future, as well as my thoughts on fatherhood. I don't know what I'm doing guys, but that's okay. All I know is that even after knowing that my wife is pregnant for the past few weeks I feel like crowing like a rooster, beating my chest, building something, and hunting a bear. It's a pretty awesome feeling. For those of you that are finding yourselves in this same situation, enjoy it. I'm having fun at least.

Love y'all. 

Alexander Gebert.

Love God Love Others

Since this semester started a few weeks ago God has been drilling the two greatest commandments into my head and into my heart. The two greatest commandments are to love God, and to love others, as can be seen in Matthew 12. Every meeting, every class, and most conversations with peers have this topic being talked about in some way. Even with some of my friends that are not Christians, I have had conversations about these two greatest commandments. I am not entirely sure what it is that God is attempting to get me to realize or prepare me for, but I know that it has something to do with these two greatest commandments.

In fact, because of God getting my attention about this particular passage I have been pondering it for a while now. You know how you get a thought stuck in your head and you just can't stop thinking about it? I like to call it my "brain kitchen", you see, I like to cook experimentally. Sometimes when I cook with something new, or try something I've never tried before it turns out absolutely delicious, other times it turns out to be absolutely disgusting and not fit for human (or otherwise) consumption.

I didn't make that meal, I promise. However, I can't think of a time I wouldn't say no to a hot dog and mac and cheese.

The point I'm trying to make is that I've been cooking with Matthew 12 and the two greatest commandments. As Christians we are called to love God, and to love people, everything else falls in line with these two commandments. Loving God is the first greatest commandment for a reason, by loving God and making him central in our lives we experience a paradigm shift. Once we reach that point where we receive a shift in our priorities and God is no longer at the top or the bottom, but is instead the basis of everything, then we will love people. Being a Christian is more than simply doing what the Bible says, it is a change of who we are. We BECOME a Christian, we do not simply act as a Christian. The paradigm shift that is experienced with a re-orientation of the believer's life, changes who that person is.

Have you experienced that paradigm shift? If you have not then I beg you to explore what that would look like in your life.

Re-orientation of our lives as Christocentric is essential.

Jesus loves you man

Alex Gebert