Sportscenter and Jesus, 2:30am

I want to remember all of this. I should sleep, but I can’t. There’s too much to write. One thing I won’t forget:

Robyn was soooooooo tired Friday morning around 2am. I’ve said it before, but there isn’t much sleep to find at the hospital. The kid eats constantly, and when the kid isn’t eating, there’s a doc or a nurse wanting to check things out. So, I grabbed the nurse, told her my intention of getting Robyn a little break, and took Toby out of our room, turned off the lights for Robyn, and headed down to the lounge area. Being the middle of the night, no one was there. I figured if he cried his brains out in the lounge and no one was there to hear it, would his crying be heard by anyone but me? I thought he might finally sleep. But mostly, he was just staring at me staring at him. It was pretty cool.

By 2:30 or so, I had worn a nice beaten path into the carpet. He was starting to show signs of impending sleep. But I’m not allowed to fall asleep in there… so I did what every good dad should do for his son–we had our first Sportscenter bonding session. That’s right, 31 hours old, already an ESPN junkie. I told him about Carson’s 9-year extension and how he’ll be in the 4th grade by the time the Bengals’ QB will need to re-up.

And I told him about Jesus. I guess it’s never too early to start teaching him right. It was really funny, I started off by saying, “OK, little buddy, this might go way over your little head, but Jesus made everything. He made this world. He made you, and he made mommy and daddy, and he’s letting mommy and daddy take care of you for a little while, but we all belong to Jesus, OK?” The longer I talked, the more alert he was, and the more I think (in some crazy way) he understood.

If Toby is going to grow up and be the man we want him to be, daddy’s gonna need to do a whole lot more than just talk to him. Daddy’s gonna need to live a life of faith displayed for Toby to see. This is all really crazy. God has given Robyn and me a son. He’s entrusted us with the life of his own creation. We’re gonna love him the best we can. I want to show him who Jesus is. He’s gonna mimic me. It starts now. It doesn’t start whenever I think he’ll remember. It starts now.

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