Oh and happy new year everyone! I'm going to a party at a friends house and won't be posting here til next year (har har) have a great evening!

My father was praying for our senior pastor for a decision that the church needed to make. In prayer he felt that he heard a direction that seemed counter to what the consensus was. He was unsure if he heard right and felt that God said "it's as sure as your grandchild coming" That weekend we announced to our family that we were pregnant. We had not told anyone we were trying for a baby, we really didn't want that mental picture circling in our parents minds :-)

With that confirmation, my dad moved forward and told the senior pastor what he heard. Like I said, it wasn't a popular direction and at first the senior pastor disagreed. It was several months later that the issue came up again and my father felt he needed to reiterate to the senior pastor the direction he felt God was leading but wanted to be sure that he was hearing correctly. This time he heard God say "it's as sure as your grandson is coming" at that time, my wife and I had specifically not sought out the gender of the baby during the ultrasound. We wanted to be surprised at the delivery. While my wife was having the C-Section, my father-in-law approached my dad and said, "God has told you the gender hasn't He?" My dad told him what God had said. Sure enough, just minutes later our first born son was born.

Armed with new confirmation, my dad approched the senior pastor again with confidence. Ultimately, through a series of events that did not go according to the senior pastors plan, the outcome that God had told my dad came to pass and is still affective to this day nearly 13 years later.

The purpose of God telling my dad about the pregnancy and gender was to give him the confidence that the rest of the revelation was accurate as well. The church needed direction and my sons birth played a part in that.

When I used to self describe as Christian, part of the joy was relishing in the fact that I did NOT know for sure.  That there was doubt, and the distinct possibility I could be wrong.  To me, part of the legitimate beauty of faith is believing in the face of uncertainty.  It was partly for that reason that the schism between my idea of faith and other Christians widened.  Even now, as a semi-practicing Soto Buddhist, I take great comfort in the knowledge that I could be completely wrong.  I feel like many evangelizing Christians are afraid of doubt, and are quick to offer up as much anecdotal evidence as possibly to convince others (and themselves?) that their faith is in fact NOT faith, but the a truth that has yet be fully realized by others.  This saddens me.  I think a dialogue of mutual acknowledgement that no one definitively knows the answer of either our origin or purpose is necessary for a better world.

Beagles make everything better

Hadn't occurred to me until now that more proof of existence is required to post here than some believers ask of God.

So if any gods are lurking and reading this - first one of ya to pass a Captcha test, I will worship you.

And... go!