Joel Young Blog.com

Today I was checking my bank account balances online like I often do and I noticed something quite humorous. The savings account that we had recently set up for my son had earned some interest. To be exact it earned 1 cent of interest. That’s right, one measly penny. I got a good chuckle out of this until I realized, that penny is just the beginning of the growth his account will see in the next 18 years. I mean, we’ll make deposits that sometimes will be large and he will earn small amounts of interest, but in the long run it will hopefully all add up to a pretty significant amount. It’s hard to think that far ahead with such a small start but it’s true.

I think of our spiritual growth in much the same way. I know people often think, “what is reading my Bible for 30 minutes today going to do for me? What is a daily prayer time going to give me? How will that have a true impact on my spiritual life? They seem so small and insignificant!” Well, I can personally tell you as someone who asked those very questions years ago that investing in our spiritual development is like that penny of interest. It may seem like a small step, but in the end your will yield great growth from such diligence.

This past Saturday my son and I reveled in the sweet taste of victory when our Ohio State Buckeyes defeated their biggest rivals the Michigan Wolverines 14 to 3. It was a wet and nasty game, but the Buck’s defense held Michigan to only 91 yards of total offense. Beanie Wells tore up the ground with 229 yards and 2 TDs. It was classic Coach Tressel. Hard nose defense and a steady and balanced offensive attack.

I’m sure there will be some exciting times to come with my son, but for now, nothing beats watching the game and spending a Saturday afternoon together. I hope this is a tradition that continues when he actually has a choice of who he spends his time with.

Today is a bad day. Today, my son Reed had to go to the doctor for his first round of immunizations. He got a grand total of six shots and had to drink some nasty stuff on top of it all. Since I was in the office I missed out on this fun little trip, but my wife said that our normally bubbly little boy was not happy today. Normally, Reed loves going to the doctor. He gets to ride in the car (which he loves), he gets to see new things (which just which he is all about), and he gets to be naked for a while the doc checks him out (which is his favorite thing in the whole wide world). But today was different. Today the doctor became a bad memory. His days of blessed ignorance are over. Welcome to the real world son.

I know there has been a lull on my blog page in recent days, but hopefully today I will make up for it with my first great insight from my first month as a father.

Now that Reed is a month old he is starting to become more of a person than a little baby, and lately he has developed this really cool thing to do. it seems like whenever he is a happy guy and he gets somewhere that just takes him to the next level of comfort like say his momma’s arms or his favorite car seat he will just get this big grin on his face as if to say, “Life doesn’t get any better than this!” This might not sound like much but this isn’t just any grin. I’m talking about a nose scrunching, face widening, ear to ear, toothless grin. It just sends me rolling every time I see him do it, and it lets me know that my son is, at the moment, as happy as he could possibly be.

After watching him do this for a while I got to thinking. How many times in life have I been in a place where I should have just sat back and given this type of reaction? How many times has life been that good for me? I think the truth is that God is better to me than I realize, and that if I stop to think about it I have more to smile about than I know.

I want to encourage you today to look for reasons to smile about your what God has done in your life, and to truly enjoy it as an innocent baby does. I think you’ll find that you have more to smile about than you realize.

To borrow a phrase form the Notorious B.I.G., “I love it when you call me big pappa!” And right now I do, because I’m officially a dad, and I am loving every second of it. My very first son, Reed Owen Young, was born last Tuesday and weighed a very average 7lbs. 6oz. (I think all parents pray for average when their children are born). I know a lot of you have been hearing my wife and I talk about his arrival for quite a while and have prayed for his safety many times and for that we both are truly grateful. It truly has been a mountain-top experience for both of us.

I’ll never forget those first moments in the delivery room immediately after he came into this world. he was naked, messy, and throwing a royal fit, but I thought he was perfect. They put him on a warming table to record all his stats and he was just opening up those lungs as babies naturally do when they are first born, and then I reached out and touched his little hand with my finger and mumbled what I could to him through my tears, and he stopped crying and looked directly at me. He had a great sense of ease knowing I was there. From that moment on I realized I was truly a Big Pappa and this little guy would look at me like that for the rest of his life.

Never have I been more frightened and excited simultaneously before. I thank God every day for the opportunity that Jenna and I have to raise our child in the ways of His kingdom.

Well it’s official, the Young name has made it through another generation. Just yesterday my wife and I found out that our baby will definitely be a boy! We are both ecstatic about the news and for me it’s kind of surreal. I mean, it’s great news, but wow is this coming fast. I feel like just yesterday we were in college, staying out until 3 in the morning, and doing whatever we want, and now we plan our trips to the grocery store around my wife’s level of nausea. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t trade this for the world. I’m ready to be a father, but it seems like my whole mindset has changed overnight.

I just thought I would share that little tid-bit with you all this morning. Maybe the picture will make you laugh. We can already see that he has my chin!

I guess I should post something about this since everyone is emailing and commenting about it already. So, here goes.

This past week my wife and I had a little surprise, and not the kind of surprise that results in cake, presents, and a trip to Cancun. It was “THE” suprise, and it was the biggest surprise of my life up to this point. In case you don’t know what I’m referring to allow me to fill you in. My wonderful wife and I just found out that we will be having out first child in September of this year. She is due in early September, and somehow it seems fitting that my wife would be due on Labor day.

Aside from the fact that it was a complete and utter surprise, we are elated about the thought of becoming parents. It’s just one of those things that makes you feel more important the instant you discover it. For instance, today I was walking through Target and it hit me just how cool this really is. I was able to contribute to the populating of this earth, and suddenly I felt very important. I walked with a swagger and held my head high because in only 8 short months that would be my kid running down the isles knocking stuff off the rack onto the floor, and soon that would be me chasing after him or her screaming “Knock it off!” My how time flies. It seems like just yesterday I was doing those things. Well, I guess that was just yesterday, but that was at Wal-Mart, not Target.

I will leave you with this. When I was in elementary school I was involved in a program called “Talented And Gifted” and I can remember disticntly one day we were discussing the future. The teacher asked us all to write down our thoughts on certain questions she had pertaining to the future. One of those questions was, “What do you fear most about the future?” We all took turns presenting our answers to the class, and when it came to a fellow classmate of mine who sat across from me he simply answered, “Joel Young’s kids!”

To be quite frank, that has been my greatest fear as well, but I think I’m finally ready to face my fear. Because let’s face it, at this point, I don’t really have much of a choice!