According to our baby manual, George/Amani/Eli is probably at 4 1/2 lbs this week. Holy Moly! He's about halfway to my birthweight...and is looking to be a sumo baby when he's born. Not only is he kicking like crazy, but at times we can see can actually see him rolling around in there and jabbing Faith with his knee.

With each day that passes, I get more and more thrilled with the idea of being a father. I catch myself watching children at the farm, while also checking out my friends who are daddies already.

One of them, Lucas, just became a dad a few weeks ago. Lucas and I met as fellow youth pastors within the Episopcal Church a few years ago. Since then we both left the denomination and are pursuing various life goals. However, Lucas just held a baptism for his son and writes about it here on his blog. I encourage you to read. I don't necessarily agree with some views regarding infant baptism, but I do see it as a wonderful opportunity to form a commitment within the community of faith around the child. Lucas puts it nicely. Check it out.

A little over two months remain of our first pregnancy! As you can see, George/Eli/Amani/Samuel is about ready to join us!

What's a boy to do?

Last week I spent an afternoon rolling and pitching sun-dried hay by hand onto the back of a tractor...in 90 degree heat, trousers, and a fountain of sweat to say the least. With pitch-fork in hand, our method wasn't too far separated from that of, say, a group of Ugandan farmers. (Any signifcant difference being the fact that our Ugandan brothers would likely have used horses as opposed to our circa 1970 John Deere.)

Needless to say, the workout from that day could easily diminish any full body regimen one might find at Gold's Gym.

Today, however, I found myself on top of said John Deere for nearly 5 hours as I did some "trim" work around our pecan orchard. (Trim work around a 30 acre plot of land doesn't exactly involve an electric weed whacker, if you catch my drift.) With virtually the same 90 degree heat beating down on me, the closest thing to excercise I experienced was in putting all my weight on the clutch as I attempted to switch gears.

Then I got a bit of a visit from Uganda. At the 5 hour mark, the PTO shaft busted loose from the tractor, forcing me to climb down and wrestle with the grease, dirt, and heat radiating from the metal beast. So, just as I found myself missing and wishing for the experience of "developing world" manual labor---*BOOM*--the PTO shaft opened up the door to Uganda.

On this Pentecost Sunday/Global Day of Prayer, Faith and I decided to drag ourselves out of bed bright and early to join some other churches for corporate prayer. As one whose personal prayer has been about as frequent as the Texas rains, the time this morning with strangers and friends alike was a much-needed boost.

It brought to mind the needs of specific people around the world who were once at the forefront of my prayer life: Haiti, the Uygurs, the poor in Waco, the Church, etc.

As I've fallen short these past weeks, may God's Spirit fall on me this Pentecost Sunday--so that I stand convicted but forgiven...shamed but driven.

May prayer become me.

A prayer for this day:

Father of mercy and grace
We acknowledge that we have sinned
and that our world is gripped by the power of sin.

Our hearts are grieved by injustice, hatred, anger and violence.

We are shamed by the oppression, racism and bloodshed in our land.

We weep because of the loss of innocent life
in war and terrorism, abortion, persecution and senseless murders.

Our hearts are broken by every rejection of Christ as Lord and Saviour.

As we stand before You, we know that Your gaze beholds all things.

Our homes are broken by selfishness and immorality.

Our lives are polluted by greed, idolatry and sexual sin.

Our churches are divided by rebellious pride.

All the sins that we may find in our world, You have found among Your people.

We have grieved Your heart and brought shame to Your Name.

We approach Your throne of grace in this hour of need.

We ask for Your mercy and Your help to truly repent.



God of mercy, pour out Your grace. Forgive our sins. Heal our land.