Super Dad

Being a dad is not for the faint of heart. When you become a father, God entrusts you with another life -- a whole person that you are supposed to mold and shape into something that is pleasing to God and functional to society. Society's demands on what a man/woman should be are pretty high, but God's standards are higher...much higher.

We, as fathers, are stewards of our children, just like we are stewards of our time, talents, and money. We will ultimately answer to God for how we have raised our children -- and that should send a chill up your spine. Paul wrote that we should not "exasperate your children, so that they will not lose heart." (Col 3:21) He also stated that we have the responsibility to discipline and educate our children in the Lord (Eph 6:4). Those are big responsibilities to have. We are responsible for how our children turn out.

Tonight, I was delivered a wake-up call of sorts from my 2 year old son. There is no doubt that he loves his daddy. But I, like most fathers, tend to have a hard time actually spending time with him. When I get home from work, I want to relax. I want to zone out and watch TV, or something. But all Zachary wants is for his daddy to play with him. He is craving some attention from me. Most nights, I confess, I just want him to play on his own, and stay out of trouble. But tonight, it hit me how important it is for me to spend time with him. Why I must make time for him.

After his bath tonight, I got him into his PJs. Tonight, his shirt was a Superman shirt. After I got him ready for bed, I left him to play in his room, while I went to our bedroom. Jessica and I were sorting through some old clothes. As we have both lost a little weight recently, we were looking to see if any of the old clothes fit. I grabbed an old t-shirt that had a Superman logo on it, and decided to try it on, since Zach was wearing his (it fit, happily). As I was putting it on, Zach came into the room, and saw my shirt. He started saying "Superman!" and pointing at my shirt. He was saying it over and over, "Superman! Superman!"

I pointed to his shirt, and asked him, "are you Superman too?" His reply: "No! Superman Daddy! Superman Daddy!"

My son thinks I am Superman. It's time I started to act like it. Maybe it is time for you to act like a Superman to your kids too.

Brave New World...

Well, it has been a while since I posted something sports related, so I figured today I would talk about what has been going on with the Atlanta Braves. The Braves are 26-26 this year, and sit in 3rd Place in the NL East, 6 games back of the Philadelphia Phillies.

But, the big news out of Atlanta this week was this: Tom Glavine was released in order to make room for rookie standout pitcher Tommy Hanson.


I guess this move wouldn't bother me so much, if the Braves had handled the situation better. I understand the cost and the liability of having Glavine pitch a game you think he will end up losing, but the man did all that you asked him to do. Why wait until he is about to make his season debut to do it? To save yourself $1+ million?

Now, don't get me wrong, Hanson does make the Braves a better team. But he is still a rookie, and Glavine is a 300-game winner, hall of famer. From a baseball perspective, it was the right move. From a personal perspective, it was bad. You gotta treat people better than that.

Now, on to the other move that went down last week: Nate McLouth is an Atlanta Brave!
McLouth is a career .261/.339/.462 hitter, with 60 career HR, and he won a Gold Glove in CF last year. He was an All-Star for the Pittsburgh Pirates last year, as well. He is under contract through 2011, with a club option for 2012.

Many people wonder what the aquisition of a center fielder does to Jordan Schafer's place in the organization. Schafer is a much better defender than McClouth, and both men can play all three outfield positions. So, I don't see that this causes any problems. More than likely, it will allow Schafer a year in AAA to get his swing back together, and he will patrol CF next year with McLouth in LF. That does mean that Jeff Francoeur will have to step up his game in RF, or he may find himself playing somewhere else.

I really like the McLouth trade. The guys we gave up were pretty good, but we needed a bat in the outfield, and McLouth is young and a decent fielder. Assuming the Phillies start playing like humans, and not baseball-programmed robots, the Braves still have a good shot at winning the East.

Only time will tell, but I do have a good feeling about this Braves team. Or, as Zachary would say, "Go Braves!"