Carlos' Epic "Firsts" With His Son Will Make You Cry

Your baby only gets so many "firsts" in life so I tried to set my son Dominic up with the most epic list of first during his first few days of life. For instance... The First Song he heard after coming into the world: Switchfoot "Dare You To Move" [fluidvideo url=https://www.youtube.com/embed/B5Gvdgs_R1c]   The First Bible Verse I read to him: “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you” (Deuteronomy 31:6).   The First Letters ever written to him: My wife and I have both written letters to our son which some day down the road he can read. I have not seen my wife's letter, but this is a small excerpt from my letter.

"Remember who you are at your core. The man God created you to be. The world is a very big place filled with all sorts of things that will try to make you think you should be a million things other than you. But I can promise you that they will all pale in comparison with what God has for you. You are uniquely crafted for this time and place with a plan and a purpose only you can fulfill. My hope is simply that you will find that path. The journey will not always be easy but I promise to help you every step of the way."

  The First Person I called: Granted my wife's family was there at the hospital to greet our little man and welcome him to the world, but the first person I personally called was my Dad. To apologize. I apologized for every time I ever hurt his heart because I never understood the love of a father until now. All those time I said hurtful things, or did things that caused him distress...for the first time I understood it from his perspective and I had to say I was sorry. He must have prayed 10,000 prayers over me that I never knew of, much like I will over my son. I can only hope that I will always be as gracious as my father was to me when I didn't understand.   The First Prayer I prayed: That first night my son was born I laid there in that hospital room just staring at the ceiling in awe of the little life God has entrusted to our family and it was almost instantly that I began to wonder. I wondered about his first steps and how I would need to be there to catch him as he falls. I wondered about his first bike ride without training wheels and his first heartbreak from a girl or missing out on a sports team. I wondered about how I would train this little man to become a good man and what that would look like. In all that wondering I got freaked out so I prayed this simple prayer:

"Lord, HELP ME. Give me the strength and the wisdom to raise this child as you would have me. Give me peace in the hard moments and joy in the easy ones. Give me grace for when things go wrong and encouragement for when they go well. Give me understanding over the things he'll face and the right words for him everyday. Help me be a good example of what a Godly man should look like. Help me to love like you, forgive like you and look like the Father you are in all of my actions. Protect his little life, watch over his little steps and be with him in every moment of every day. Amen."

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