Most of you folks on Twitter already know but I spent half of the night last night in the Emergency Room with Blue.  Just before dinner he jumped off the couch (again) and landed on his head.  He was having a hard time eating and falling asleep at dinner so we had him lay down.  About an hour later he started throwing up, and acting really confused.  Not recognizing Kristin or I, and really disoriented.  By around ten, he had thrown up several times and was saying things that didn’t make sense, so I decided to take him in.

Almost immediately the doctor ordered a CAT Scan to make sure his neck and head were okay.  It’s a pretty weird feeling watching your six year old slide into a machine that’s scanning his brain for injury.  He did great and was half asleep during the whole thing.

After the CAT Scan we went back to the room we started in and Blue was hooked back up to the blood pressure thing and the finger thing to keep track of his pulse.  It was pretty quiet in the ER which gave me some time to think and just watch Blue.  I noticed that though he was asleep, I could see on the computer that his heart rate was around 123.  I don’t know anything about medicine so I don’t know if that’s normal in kids, or even if that’s normal in regular people, but as I watched it I could see the waves of what I assume his heart beat was.  After a couple minutes of watching, I reached out and started to rub the side of his face with my finger.  Instantly I noticed a change in his heart rate on the machine.  I watched as his heart rate slowed with every time I rubbed his face.  120, 119, 117, 106, 101, 98, 95, 94.  I stopped rubbing his face and watched as the number slowly climbed back up to the 120’s.  I started rubbing his cheek again and watched the number fall.

You see where I’m going with this don’t you?  Blue was not even awake, and was completely disoriented with what was going on to the point of having a hard time recognizing his parents, but something inside him knew that touch and it calmed him down.  Something inside his senses found peace in that touch, and his heart rate slowed down.  Maybe it was the drama of the night, maybe it was because it was the middle of the night, but I instantly recognized the connection to something more spiritual.  I started thinking about the peace that I feel some times in the middle of my disorientation.  In the middle of my confusion.  The times where even if I don’t recognize what’s going on, and I don’t want people around me, someone is there, rubbing my cheek and slowing my heart rate.

I love the moments in life where the definition of a “father’s love” is so evident.  Ever since I  became a dad I’ve noticed the Biblical connection to that “father’s love” become more and more real.  It’s awesome to see how something like sitting in an emergency room because your six year old has a concussion can actually bring a sense of peace.  A sense of peace that I have needed for a while now.

Anyway.  Blue just woke up and came downstairs and is completely back to normal.  He looks fine, is talking fine, and even has that six year old attitude this morning.  Thanks so much for your prayers last night, and thanks for all the Twitter folks that blew my phone up after hearing about it.  Community across the country still blows me away.

You know those phrases that you hear people say, and they say it or type it often enough that it sort of becomes their “phrase”? Come on, you know the ones. You may not have thought much about those phrases, but they have. They have thought through ending something they have written with it, or ending a conversation with it. They have thought through it because it’s kind of a cool thing.

For the last few months I have thought about it. I know it’s a little weird, and maybe even stupid, but guess what? This is my blog, so I get to decide stuff. I have thought about a “phrase” that I want to be associated with eventually, and decided that it will be “be peaced”. Sure “peaced” isn’t a word, but I love the idea.

“Be Peaced”, as in “I am encouraging you to have peace in whatever you do. Not just ‘don’t fight’, but have peace in your life. ‘Be peaced’ by something greater than you. I hope you find that you find peace from stress, anger, insecurity, fear, hopelessness, and sadness. ‘Be peaced’ from anything that is causing you to not be peaced.” It’s not like I can really make that happen in your life, but I like the idea of it. So that’s my phrase. Sound good?

What’s a phrase that you have heard numerous times that you would love to align yourself with? What phrase would you want to communicate to people consistently enough that it becomes “your phrase”?

-be peaced-