I am here to tell you that some of the greatest miracles God is doing among us are just plain ugly. These confessions are of a highly caffeinated Christian that has never had the grace to be on the beautiful side of things. Born with a face made for radio and enough hair on my head to hide a small car, I have never won a trophy for GQ. The point is that God isn’t just in the beautiful things, sometimes God moves in a beautiful way in very ugly things.
Flip That House
When my wife and I were young she demanded we reproduce like jackrabbits. She wanted a house full of babies. I had seen babies and didn’t think it was such a good idea but Leanna had a vision for our home. So on vacation to Corpus Christi, we sat in the Water Street Oyster Bar discussing our options over lunch. I had fought a good fight for two years but her constant assault was wearing me down. So I pulled out a quarter and made her a deal. “If this is heads, you go off the pill today. If its tails we don’t have this conversation for a year.” Not stupid enough to agree but smart enough to win the bet she just said. “ Flip it.”
Nine months later I was in a torture session called “Lamaze Class.” Lamaze is an ancient French word that means, “You will never touch me again”. I listened while this teacher explained to us how beautiful the birthing experience was going to be. She also said that we could “coach” our wives and help her by developing a focal point. I knew she was crazy but to be honest I only heard bits and peaces. I was so distracted by the other husbands in the room. I thought, poor fools, how did you get suckered into all this? Then I would realize I was one of them. I was also distracted by the 50 or so outy belly buttons of all those pregnant women at once. It was Brewer hell.
What ever happened to the good old days when they would knock a woman out and she would wake up with a kid in her arms? The sixties and seventies are long gone. One encouraging thing I have noticed is that a lot of doctors will find any emergency reason to do a c-section and it tends to happen around 5:00 pm. This of course depends on if the patient has insurance and if it is chicken fried steak night at the doctor’s house.
One cold afternoon a few weeks later Leanna was having her c-section at 5:05 PM. They opened her up and out came the head of my oldest son. “My Goodness, he’s a twenty pounder!” I said. At birth, Benjamin had the hat size of a grown man. While they worked to clear his nostrils, I said “Hello Benjamin, welcome to Texas!” That baby boy opened his eyes and looked right at me. I had been singing and playing my guitar to his mama’s belly through the whole pregnancy and he was actually glad to see me.
With one good pull and some disturbing noises like pulling your boots out of the mud, Ben came all the way out. And to my shock, under that giant head dangled a little bity body. My first thought was that Leanna had committed adultery with the Jack in the Box man.
Over the next few moments everything went into a blur. No, I didn’t want to cut the cord. Please, I need some towels and some Armor-all for this little alien. I was seeing a side of Leanna I had never seen, the inside. Doctor, close her up. Nurse, I need an aspirin. Is all this normal? Can I lie down next to my wife?
And then as quickly as everything went blurry, everything became completely focused on the three of us. There we were, Leanna and I quietly talking to this little wonder and all three of us as close together as we could possibly be. The world went away. It was one of the greatest moments of my life.
See, not only is the beauty of God in the obviously beautiful. Sometimes God shows up in even ugly things and in that, He is just as beautiful.
Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined.
Psalms 50:2
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