Gideon

38 weeks

  Want to know what's crazy?  (Other than the fact that Bronson Arroyo is making $11,500,000 to throw a small white baseball with relatively little success.  That's right--he's 8-12 with an ERA over 5.  Oh, and he gets a raise next year.  He'll get paid $12,500,000 next season, regardless of performance.  That's right--while most people would get fired for under-performing by such drastic measures, Bronson gets a raise.  Meanwhile, in the real world...)

  Rachel and I could have a baby at any moment.

  Could be today.  Could be tomorrow.  Could be in three weeks.  We have no idea.  But it's completely realistic (Unlike the economics of baseball) that the baby could show up at any time.  There isn't much we can do to predict it, and we're as prepared as we can be for it (we finally bought the glider, thus ending Rachel's anxiety that the baby might come before we purchased the glider.  We also ended Mastercard's anxiety that we might have a small bill!), but it's just so surreal that it would be completely natural for Zeus to arrive today.  A little more certainty would be nice, but we simply won't get it--we have to be prepared for the next three weeks to drop everything for Zeus' arrival.

  We've spent so much time thinking about what the baby will be like, it's hard to imagine that all of those dreams will finally come true, and we'll suddenly have a 7 pound toxic waste producer of our own.  I'll be a dad, whether I'm ready for it or not, and our entire life will be focused on the every burp, coo and cry that Zeus produces.  Everything will change, only we have no idea when.

  Sometime.

  Maybe today.

  Maybe Monday.

  I have no idea.

  How strange it is!

Sizes

  Would you believe that there aren't any more size updates?  For months we've gone from fruit to fruit, or from strange object to strange object, but here, at 37 weeks, we've reached the end!  That means little Marko Ramius (just go watch The Hunt for Red October.  Everything will be better then.) is about as big as he is going to be this side of the womb!  (cue Rachel exhaling a sigh of relief...)

  According to this website, little Marko is about the size of the electric motor in the 2008 Tesla Roadster.  It does 0-60 in under 4.0 seconds, but would probably be a lot harder to deliver than a baby.  I'd imagine, anyway.  What do I know about labor?  Or electric motors on cars that cost more than $100k?


  In something that's a little easier to imagine, he's about the size of a watermelon.  He's probably about 20 inches long, and is considered full term, meaning that he's about as ready for life as he's ever going to be.  (are any of us truly ready?  I'm barely ready for today, and I've had almost 30 years of practice!)

  Apparently, during birth the baby will produce more stress hormones than at any other time in his life.  Clearly, they've never measured the stress hormones on a minister in the midst of the call process.  Or on someone about to take their ordination exams on a laptop that keeps crashing to make up for the fact that they've had mono for the last two months.  Not that any of that would be stressful...

  It's easy to forget about how stressful this will be for little Marko.  He's been isolated in a fluid environment for nine months, with the sound of Rachel's heartbeat to keep him company.  Every jostle is softened by the water surrounding him.  He has been prayed for by a great cloud of witnesses, and we have done everything possible to make this period of his life as comfortable as possible.  In this brief window, we have control over his safety and security.

  In a few weeks, he'll come rushing into a bright, loud world, and his world will be completely transformed.  Everything will be new, and despite our efforts to console him, he'll have to deal with monumental changes to every aspect of life.  Only the prayers and our love will continue.  (And perhaps my desires for absurdly fast sports cars)  We can no longer protect and shield him from every threat.  All we can do is love him for who he is and offer our hearts to support him on his journey, in all things pointing him to the greatest love the world has ever known in Christ.

  Perhaps it's also a reminder for us--the single most stressful moment of our lives happened on the day of our births.  Everything else pales in comparison to that miraculous event.  It is a miracle that we are alive, that we have survived the journey from womb to the world, and may we live in endless gratitude for each moment, allowing some of the stress to dissipate as we keep things in perspective, grateful for the chance to experience one more day on this planet, to drink in the beauty and splendor of life, and give thanks to our Creator for the blessing of our sustained existence.

9/8 E-News

Announcements

Elder Nominations have begun!  Please be in prayer for our nominating committee, and if you have people in mind you’d like to see as leaders in the church, submit their names to Gerai Kocher.  Please talk to them first!

Disaster Preparedness—Would you know what to do if a disaster struck?  Resurrection Lutheran on Ooltewah-Ringgold Road in Ooltewah is hosting a disaster preparedness time from 11-2 this Saturday.  It’s a drop in kind of thing with booths for you to peruse so that you might be prepared if a disaster directly affects you.

Outreach Committee—Meets next Thursday (9/15) @ 5:30. 

New Hope News

Polly Black's birthday is this month Sept 23 , it would be nice if everyone would send her a card.   Polly Black

                   Life Care Center of Collegedale

                   PO Box 658    Room 227 B

                   Collegedale , Tn.  37315

Lynn Meyer will be taking part in the Susan Komen Race for the Cure this year on September 25.  If you’d like to offer support, you can visit her page and offer a financial support.  Wouldn’t it be pretty cool, though, if a bunch of New Hopers got together and walked with her?  There is a 5k run/walk at 2:00.  Lynn plans to walk this.  There is also a 1 mile fun run and walk at 2:05 if you would prefer to do that.  (Just a note—if you open the link in Google’s Chrome browser, it may be in Greek.  I don’t know why, but just try the link in another browser.  The internet is a strange, strange place.)

Pray for…

Polly Black

Don Glover’s brother Jack, who is battling cancer

Roger & Lynn Meyer

Links

9/11 +10

Some great thoughts on Sabbath

Great date night

Chattanooga Habitat for Humanity Young Professionals

From East Brainerd Neighbors:  Four Seasons Wellness’ annual Open House/Ladies Night is coming up Friday Sept. 30th.

Text for this Week (9/11)
Luke 19:41-48

Jesus Weeps over Jerusalem

 As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, ‘If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. Indeed, the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up ramparts around you and surround you, and hem you in on every side. They will crush you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave within you one stone upon another; because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.’

Jesus Cleanses the Temple

 Then he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling things there; and he said, ‘It is written,
“My house shall be a house of prayer”;
   but you have made it a den of robbers.’

 Every day he was teaching in the temple. The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people kept looking for a way to kill him; but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were spellbound by what they heard.

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Keith’s blog and devotionals