The joy of fathering a belly

One of the highlight of my days in this season of life, is at night when Amber and I go to bed, and our little baby wakes up and start kicking and squirming around in her belly. I'm sure we could keep ourselves entertained for hours just looking at it, and feeling those little movements, and trying to imagine what it's up to in there.

It is a tremendously joyful thing, but also one of the most sobering experiences I've ever had. It really shouldn't come as a surprise, since it's universally attested to by everyone who has walked this path before me; that there is something uniquely special that happens in a man's heart when he becomes a father.

It's sobering because this fallen world is a hostile and dangerous place. It's the kind of place one would look at and say "that's no place for children". It's plagued with all forms of sufferings and evil you can imagine, and some that you probably couldn't imagine. Our child will come into a world that conspires to train it diligently in the craft of sinning. And it will find within itself a strange attraction to the allure of evil.

Three decades ago, another brother walked this path and wrestled with these thoughts before me, and wrote this beautiful song for his son.



There's something very peculiar about fatherhood. It's hard work and much responsibility, not to mention that the whole world has conspired to abolish any notion of biblical fatherhood. It's the kind of thing that you wouldn't think of enjoying unless you are a father. But I am one now. And I'm loving it.