Thursday, January 18, 2007

"I Loved Her First"

Occasionally a song comes along that really chokes me up and sometimes even makes me cry...yes, real men DO cry!

As a daddy of a beautiful little 2 year old girl, this song does it to me. It's called "I loved her first". It is about a dad giving his daughter away on her wedding day. The song is performed by the band Heartland. Even if you're not a fan of country music, I think you'll appreciate this song. You can watch the video here. You can buy it for $.99 here. And you can find the lyrics here.

The first time I heard the song I was amazed. I did a little research online and found this story about the guy who co-wrote this song. The article is pretty long so I'll just share the last 2 paragraphs:

My favorite part of the song is probably when the guy says “and I prayed that you would find him someday but it’s still hard to give you away.�? That’s something that even now with my daughters being really young, I am already praying about. I pray that they’re going to find the right man and know that there already is someone out there that God is bringing up just for them and that he is crafting them even if they are thousands of miles away to come together someday. That’s what I pray about for my daughters, and I pray that for my Son, too, but there is something about your daughter. You want them to have just the right person that is perfect for them. That’s why that is my favorite line in the song. My son is 8 years old, and I have three daughters now 4 1/2 year old, Anna, 3 year old, Autumn and a little 6 month old, April. I have got to do this three times, and I am not looking forward to it. Man, it is going to be tough, but luckily it is still 20 years away. Anna is something else...every time she hears the song she proudly says, “Daddy wrote this about me.�?

One of the things I hope the song does is make people think about marriage and parenting more. I think that marriage needs to have more weight then it does these days. I think we need to look back how it used to be when people really weighed the matter greatly before they jumped into something. Marriage itself is a God given thing that we’re supposed to do. I believe we’re not supposed to take it lightly. It is too easy to jump in and too easy to jump out. It just lacks the importance that it once has. I really think fathers need to be involved in bringing their girls up and make sure they understand you don’t just give yourself to someone unless you are really serious about it. It’s a life long commitment and you need to show how it’s done. Take them out on dates, open doors for them and bring them up with high standards and model for them what a man should be in their life. This way they will know it when that special person comes into their life. Then they won’t settle for just a regular Joe. It’s important to bring them up in the way the Bible says.

| Interview with Elliott Park conducted by Jason Henke & Reed Trontell


I thought this would be a good opportunity to brag about my little Lily and share a little glimpse of her beauty and silliness with the rest of you.

I can't imagine the day that I'll have to give her away. Please join me in saying a quick prayer that God would be preparing that man for her right now.

Here's some pictures of my little princess:

Lily's new "funny face". She says, "Daddy look at Lily's funny face!"

Can anyone say "Rock-star"??!!

Lily wearing her uncle Phil's "cool shades"

Singer and dancer??

Band-aid on the nose :)

Friday, January 5, 2007

Devotion

Life has been crazy hectic for me the past month...and I'm sure it has been for most of you too. I really struggle during those times to meet consistently with the Lord and just rest in His presence.

At a conference that I attended over the Christmas break I purchased a new book that I'm really enjoying. It is called "The Valley of Vision". It is a collection of Puritan prayers & devotions. The prayers are taken from John Bunyan, Isaac Watts, David Brainerd and Charles Spurgeon, to name a few.

The prayer on page 130 is titled "Devotion"...hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

GOD OF MY END,
It is my greatest, noblest pleasure
to be acquainted with thee
and with my rational, immortal soul;
It is sweet and entertaining
to look into my being
when all my powers and passions
are united and engaged in pursuit of thee,
when my soul longs and passionately breathes
after conformity to thee
and the full enjoyment of thee;
No hours pass away with so much pleasure
as those spent in communion with thee
and with my heart.
O how desirable, how profitable to the Christian life
is a spirit of holy watchfulness
and godly jealousy over myself.
when my soul is afraid of nothing
except grieving and offending thee, the blessed God,
my Father and friend,
whom I then love and long to please,
rather than be happy in myself!
Knowing, as I do, that this is the pious temper,
worthy of the highest ambition, and closest pursuit
of intelligent creatures and holy Christians,
may my joy derive from glorifying and delighting thee.
I long to fill all my time for thee,
whether at home or in the way;
to place all my concerns in thy hands;
to be entirely at thy disposal,
having no will or interest of my own.
Help me to live to thee for ever,
to make thee my last and only end,
so that I may never more in one instance love my sinful self.