Already Praying Better Than Daddy...

Pictured here is my son Nolan Elijah on his fourth day on this planet, in a perfect position to pray if his feeble mind was able...a position which he himself got into and stayed for about five minutes. I guess it was just one of those many wonders that come with being a first-time dad. But it definitely got me to thinking about my prayer life or lack thereof. Missing two weeks in a row of church due to taking care of the little guy and juggling various family visits has been rough on me, but I was able to buy some time tonight to sit down and listen to today's sermon, which happened to be on Galatians 6:2.

Galatians 6:2 -- " Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ."

My pastor used this verse to speak on the persecuted church, mainly in the East. A majority of the church today is in the East, not the West, and for the most part, life over there isn't easy. In fact, life there is often dangerous, illegal, and full of risks. What I am doing here to help bear the burdens of my persecuted brothers and sisters to fulfill the law of Christ? To be honest, confessing to my millions of readers, I haven't been doing a whole lot to help.

Today is November 11th, the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. Of course that doesn't mean when you read this next week that you can't pray for the persecuted church in all of the world next week. In honor of this day, I've added the news stories from Voice of the Martyrs to the Live Bookmarks of my Firefox browser. Now, when I check my live bookmarks for the daily Rotoworld fantasy baseball, football, and basketball headlines, I will also see things like this staring me in the face: " North Korean Christians arrested; current status unknown."

Seriously, what is wrong with me? Surely I have some sort of reality avoidance disorder. This is why I look at my wife puzzled when she wants to watch heart-wrenching stories on daily talk shows. I tell her that I'd rather play video games than to watch that sad stuff. It's part of the reason I get so involved with sports, because when it's all said and done, the worst thing that usually happens is one team loses. Sure, every now and then, a death occurs, and the sports world goes crazy. But death is something that happens to Christians all over the world thousands of times a day for a much better reason, and I've learned to just shut these things off in my mind and live in my own little world where my Christianity is so narrow minded and self-centered, one-family-centered, one-church-centered, or one-sphere-of-influence-centered. I know that Christians are being persecuted, tortured, and even executed even as I write this. I know that there are people I love on the wide road to hell. I know that God is sovereign and not oblivious to any of it. Yet I still don't pray about these things nearly enough. Sure, I'll remember to thank God for the thousands of blessings in my life, pray for my wife, and my son, but it's the hard things in life that I lack the faith to pray about I think. Am I afraid God won't answer my prayers? Am I just too lazy? I get inspired for a day and then let it slip away. I read about people like Elijah and want to be like him yet end up being the same version of myself most of the times. I hear stories how people have prayed every day for years for someone they love to come to Christ -- only to find them answered, yet I can't do the same? But I can say that I went the entire baseball season (daily for about 6 months) without ever forgetting to set my fantasy baseball lineup! Sometimes, things just need to change. Join with me to pick up praying for the persecuted church all around the world so that we can bear each other's burdens and fulfill the law of Christ.

In other news, JJ Heller has two new CDs out. They're both pretty good. One of them is just a short Christmas album, but the other is a full album release that I've listened to about 30 times by now. It's pretty good, with a couple of keeper songs for sure, but I think I like her last CD just a little better. Illinois beat #1 Ohio State on the road Saturday. It was the first time since 1956 that Illinois beat the #1 team and the first time ever they did so on the road, and it was the first game that me, my dad, and my son (3 generations of Illini fans) all watched together. It was a very special moment. I have a strained muscle in my chest and a nearly injured ankle to show for my celebration antics. John Piper has a couple of new books out, one of them that I pre-ordered came in the mail on Friday. Piper focuses on the new perspective on Paul controversy that I hope to be writing about soon as I attempt to plod through this very important book. That's all for now. Again, I'm sorry that I'm terrible at blogging. Maybe things will pick up after the baby craziness slows down (now is about when all the parents of kids < 4 yrs old look at me like I'm crazy).

Nolan has arrived!

Praise the Lord! Our baby boy, Nolan Elijah Walker, was born today at 5:38 PM. He weighed 6 lbs., 14 0z, and he was 19 1/2 inches long. His mother in labor for less than five hours. He got his first food tonight at 10:00 and heard his first story of Elijah at 10:30. Good times.