7 Things That Tugged On My Heart This Week

What are the things that make you tear up?  Not sad tears, but good tears?  The kind of tears made by the realization that you’re seeing something special.  Here’s my list of things that have made me tear up this past week.

1.  This picture.

2.  Will, my 5 week old son, as he slept in my arms.

3.  Brock telling me unprompted “Daddy, I love you,  and I love Mommy, and I love Will, and I love Brody” at the end of bedtime tonight.

4.  Brody lying on my chest this morning, like he did when he was a baby.

5.  Seeing my wife this morning. She was getting ready to visit her parents.  I was outside loading up the car or something.  She came outside.  Her hair was mostly dry, but it looked much like it did on our honeymoon.  It took my breath away.

6.  This video… particularly the kids dancing around with huge smiles on their faces.

7.  Hugging my dogs on a hike.  I got them just weeks before my dad died almost 2 years ago.

There is so much to life that is meant to move our hearts.  God wired us that way.  There is so much wonderful emotion in the simple ways that everyday unfold.  I’m finding that life is so much more full the more I am open to those depths.

But before I go too far off the toughy-feely deep end, there are several interesting paradoxes to this (to me at least):

• I’m trying to teach my oldest son that crying gets you nothing.  That’s OK for a 4 year old that needs to learn that crying when you don’t get to carry your 2nd favorite lightsaber to the toybox is unacceptable.
• Society has de-masculinized men to a degree that men today are a little too in-touch with their feelings.  I think the theme song for teen guy ministry will be Brad Paisley’s “I’m Still a Guy.”
• I’m discovering in my own challenges and in the challenges of the teen guys I mentor that the solution to overcoming the challenge is to “man up”… put the emotion aside and do what needs to be done.

What has touched your heart lately?  What’s made you tear up?  Leave a comment.

You can call me emotional, I’m okay with that.

A Cop Stopped Us On The Way To The Hospital

Really, we got stopped.  The story is at the bottom of this post.

Big Will is Here

Announcing… William Franklin Doherty was born on June 30 at 3:36 pm.  He weighed in at 7 pounds, 9 ounces and measured 21 inches long.  Mommy and Will are doing great.  Brody and Brock are loving their little brother … Brock calls Will “My Baby.”  Dad is back on caffeine with a vengeance.

To our church family in Branson: Thanks for your prayers and support!  We will be returning to Branson on July 7th or 8th.  John Hudson will be preaching again on July 6th.

Who’s he named after? My maternal grandpa is a William and Jodi’s paternal grandpa was named Willis. My paternal grandpa (known in the family as Grandad and known all over the world as Tanky) is John Franklin.

Getting Stopped by the Cop: So Jodi woke me up at 4:00 in the morning with the beatiful words “Contactions are 6 minutes apart – it’s time to go.”  Those are action words.  We got in the car and I didn’t waste any time driving through Evergreen (that’s the mountain town where we’re staying – it’s about 45 minutes to the hospital).  As I was doing about 65 in a 55 zone I notice someone tailing me hard and fast out of nowhere (that’s never good).  The red and blues flashed and I pulled over.  I’m thinking “People joke about using this as an excuse for speeding, but this is really happening.”  The officer walks up with his little flashlight and says “Good morning.”  I reply “Good morning sir.  My wife is super pregnant and our hospital bag is in the back seat.”  His little flashlight shines on Jodi’s belly and he says “Holy crap! Get out of here!”  He was a young guy who wanted nothing to do with helping a woman deliver a baby in her car at 4:30 in the morning.  It was priceless.  As he waved us on he said he actually stopped us because one of our headlights was out.