We didn’t care what we were blessed with, but we both wanted a boy, and that’s exactly what God gave us. We meticulously calculated what we would name our first child; our son. We made an acrostic list of names from A to Z, listing our favorite name for each letter. There was a Jacob, a Logan, a Hunter, an Israel, and an Xavier on the list. Some letters were difficult  to think of names for; Z being one of those.

My wife and I are fans of the ridiculously talented vocalist Lauryn Hill. She had written a beautiful song about the birth of her son and how he changed her life. Her son’s name? Zion. The song is called “To Zion”. When we heard the song, we loved the beauty of what it meant and stood for, and we loved the name she had chosen for her son. It represented so much. It was the mountain of God, the city of God, the city of Jerusalem, the daughter of the Most High. It represents hope, that people ultimately seek and desire to reside in the presence of God; in a new Jerusalem, a new Zion. It’s a name of hope for a new day when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, when every tear will be wiped from our eyes, when suffering and death will be no more.

As we heard and considered the implications of this name, we knew it would be our choice for the letter Z. When it came down to decision time, Zion and the implications that went with it won-out hands-down against all of the other names.

At the time, unique names were just beginning to become common place within American culture. Friends, family, and acquaintances raised eyebrows, showed facial signs of disbelief, responded in awkward silence, and even mocked our decision for our son’s name. Some people even called and left cruel messages on our answering machine to tease our decision to name our son Zion. Every old person we told, responded with, “RYAN?!” (this still happens) And when we corrected them, almost every time, they would say, “Well that’s a weird name!” We didn’t let it get us down though. We knew that this was what we were to name our son.

Back to that early morning in December. My wife woke me up to inform me that she had either just wet the bed or that her water had broke. We made the necessary calls and made our way down to the hospital. And when I said it was early, it was! I’m pretty sure it was around 4:00am. So when we entered the new maternity ward of the Salem Hospital, to say that it was dead silent and void of many people would be an understatement. The number of employees in and around the hospital was at a minimum.

We made our way up the elevator to the floor where we were to check in. We were the only people in the public area on this floor. There were two employees tiredly doing busy-work behind the check in counter. And when we made eye contact with one of the young ladies as we approached her desk, a little miracle took place. For us, it was a big miracle.

You see there was a song playing quietly from a boom box behind the counter. My wife and I instantly recognized the song and looked at each other in unbelief. Here at the Salem Hospital, on December 12th 2004, at 4:00am, in an empty maternity ward waiting room a song was playing that would have an amazing impact on our lives from that day forward. No, it wasn’t Lauryn Hill’s song about her son Zion. That would have been beyond coincidence. But Lauryn Hill was very famous at the time, and even though that song was one of her lesser known songs, the probabilities were higher for it to be playing than the one that actually was. The one that was playing was a song by a much less famous band. The song that was playing was one of the least known songs from this particular band. And the song that was playing was over five years old. It was released a few months after our wedding date. And of all of the millions of songs that the clerk behind the check in desk could have been playing, it was this song!

The song was P.O.D.’s “Set Your Eyes To Zion“. And this song was playing as we were walking into the hospital to give birth to our son Zion. The day that we were setting our eyes to Zion, the song “Set Your Eyes To Zion” was leading the way. I asked the clerk with unbelief if that was indeed the song she was playing and she, surprised that I even recognized it confirmed that it was. We told her with astonishment that Zion was our son’s name that we were going into give birth to.

Zion was a name that the world around us didn’t understand. But God, with the little use of an obscure song, proved to us that Zion was in fact the name he had picked for this boy; our son. After all, he knew him and his name before the universe was spun into existence. Before matter took shape, my boy had a name, and it was on God’s mind.

This weekend, my Zion turned six years-old. I couldn’t imagine life without him. My wife and I confirmed to him as we laid him down for bed on Sunday evening that he had given us the best six years of our lives. And I couldn’t imagine him by any other name!

We look forward to see how God uses our son and how [Zion] will respond to God’s call on his life. It’s our desire that his life carries as much hope as his name does.

Every breath is another breath closer.

Every heart beat is another beat closer.

Every word is another word closer.

Every thought is another thought closer.

Every cell multiplication is another split closer.

Every hug is another hug closer.

Every “I love you” is another one closer.

To the last.

You never know when your last day will be. You never know when the last time is that you will see someone you love. You never know when your last opportunity will be, your last chance, your last moment, your last day….

For each and every one of these brings us closer to the reality that we are finite creatures, that one day our bodies will cease operating and we will die.

So be prepared. Trust in Jesus. Follow Him. Give your life in service to Him. Make every relationship, every second, every dollar count.

The trail took us through dense forest, over bridges spanning deep water run-off paths, through vast grassy meadows, and back and forth on a switch-back trail edged steep into the side of the mountain.

As we exited the tree-line, the wind was blowing powerfully from the North West and bringing with it dense cloud-cover that made it hard to see more than a few dozen yards in front of us. At one point there were signs posted all around us warning us to stay away from the deadly cliffs, but all we could see beyond those warning signs were thick walls of white fog and mist.

Switching-back up the mountain seemed to take forever, my wife was growing tired, and her problematic back was beginning to act up after climbing so many railroad tie steps inserted into the side of the hill.

She wanted badly to stop, but I knew we had come so far and that it would be disappointing to turn back after getting so close to the final viewpoint at the top of the mountain. Each time we saw a sign above us in the fog bank, we thought it was the summit marker, but each time we reached one of these landmarks, it ended up being a sign for something else.

My wife finally gave up after becoming so tired, dealing with the pain in her back, and growing so frustrated with the lack of visibility- after all the visibility is why people go on this hike. She sat down on the side of the path and I sprinted up the trail to see where the summit was on this mountain. As I made a corner and broke through a patch of dense fog I realized that the summit was only about 100 yards from where my wife was sitting. So I ran down to her to encourage her to trek the rest of the way up the hill since she was so close to obtaining the achievement of scaling a mountain.

She, angry with the fog prohibiting our views, reluctantly got up from her make-shift resting place and headed up to the top which was just out of view. Once we arrived, we talked about how proud we were as we looked down at our feet where the summit marker was fixed into the ground.

With the satisfaction of climbing this peak still in the forefront of our minds, something magnificent happened! The fog seemed to just melt quickly away. As we stood there waiting to head back down, the sun seemingly burned through the fog and all that was left was blown away by the strong winds.

As the blue sky emerged, so did the most beautiful view of the world’s largest ocean flanked by a rugged coastline of rock, sand, rivers, lakes, and small towns. Clouds glistened, fresh air burst into our noses, seal lions barked far far away, the warm sun rested on our skin, the wind surrounded us, and the vastness of this planet we live on overcame our senses.

The hike reminded me of life. With Christ; better times are ahead, magnificent things await you, and a fresh new perspective is ready to be discovered.

But sometimes the weariness from the journey, the constant pummeling of the wind, and the inability to see past our circumstances makes it hard to go on. It’s easy to give up and say that this life isn’t worth it. But for those in Christ who are persistent and strive towards the goal, a beautiful reward and a fulfilled life will be waiting at the end of the trail. And withstanding all the trials will have been worth it!

Romans 5:3-5

In the game you strategically ‘make moves’ to take over countries, trying to conquer the entire world. Succeeding in the game is greatly dependent on experience, skill, strategy, risk, patience, determination, and motivation. But a huge factor that success in the game of Risk is based on is a factor made of circumstances beyond your control: the roll of the dice. If the roll works in your favor, your best laid plans can advance. If the roll doesn’t work in your favor, you have to wait for another break, or possibly lose the entire game.

Risk is a lot like life. Succeeding in life, too, relies on experience, skill, strategy, risk, patience, determination, and motivation. But all of our best laid out plans can be made or broken with the onset of unforeseen and uncontrollable circumstances.

But no matter what the outcome of things you have no control over (other people’s decisions, government policy, economic climate, natural phenomena, accidents, predisposed illness, etc…), true success in life comes when you strive towards your goals anyways. True success is accepting the roll of the dice that comes your way, keeping a positive attitude, continuing to chase your dreams and calling, and trusting in God to control the outcome of every circumstance for His glory, the advancement of His Kingdom, and with your best interest in mind.

This makes getting to places we hope to be at very trying and difficult- sometimes torturous. But, once there, the destination makes the trip worthwhile.

I realized that our driving experiences with Kylie (our two year-old) are a lot like life. There are many places in life that each of us are striving to get to- goals if you will. But often times the trip to our goals can be horrific. If our goals our audacious and God-sized, though, the trip will have been more than worth it because the destination will bring so much joy and fulfillment.

So even though times may be tough and the effort put forth to achieve your goals may be great, keep striving to achieve what you do not already have. The outcome will be well worth your discomfort.

Jack was special. It was Jack’s job to watch over and care for the most magnificent plant in the entire garden. His plant was an enormous flower that could be seen from miles away. Most people say that the flower didn’t even exist until Jack was born- like it was made for him. The flower was made up of a rainbow of bold and brilliant colors. It had the most beautiful aroma anyone had ever smelled. The flower’s roots were so deep that it drank from an abundant supply of water from an underground stream-Jack didn’t even have to water it. It was placed in the garden in such a position that it received the perfect amount of sunlight and the perfect amount of shade, and even stayed in full bloom all year long. The flower was so magnificent that it even glowed in the dark on nights when the moon was out in its splendor.

Everyone in the garden would have done just about anything to tend to this flower. Even though they loved their plants, they would be lying if they said they never secretly dreamed about just watching Jack’s flower for hours. All Jack needed in life to be abundantly happy was to just sit and be with the flower and enjoy its multifaceted beauty. And all the flower needed from Jack was for him to take pleasure in being with her.

The flower burst forth offspring in the fertile ground around Jack’s corner of the garden. The amount of beauty and perfection that had been planted all around him was unfathomable. Jack’s life was basically perfect. He had been given a family- the most beautiful family he could have ever imagined. Life should have been good- very good.

But Jack had something in his heart that told him that he deserved better; that he needed more than just the most beautiful flower on earth and her offspring. He loved the flower and had no desire to tend to any other plants, but he began to spend less and time with his flower family in pursuit of something more fulfilling than what he had been given.

He poured his energy into tending fertile soil that had not yet been seeded. He worked vigorously rerouting streams and rivers to portions of the garden that had no need for irrigation. He began to write books about how to tend a flower. He scheduled as many meetings as he could with other gardeners to tell them about how good he was at tending flowers and how hard of a worker he was. He even ran for the position of head gardener and won.

Yes! Jack was busy! Jack was feeling quite good about himself. After all, he had won the respect of everyone in the garden- all because of his hard work- or so he thought. You see, people looked up to Jack, not because he was a hard worker or a phenomenal gardner, but because he had the most beautiful flower in the garden. And the more and more busy Jack become, the more and more recognition he gained, and the more and more his ego grew; the more and more his flower began to wither and die along with all of her offspring.

Jack saw the poor condition of his flower and her offspring. Day after day he looked at it as he left his portion of the garden for his busy work. But Jack didn’t have time to tend to them! He was a busy man and people needed him! His flower and her offspring would be fine- after all, they had Jack as their gardner.

One day, a trusted friend of Jack was walking by his portion of the garden when he noticed that Jack’s flower wasn’t so beautiful anymore. She was nearly withered to the point of death. Her offspring were suffering as well; their once vibrant petals littering the now dry soil at the base of their stems. Jack’s friend ran to warn him, but Jack didn’t care- he shrugged it off and blamed their condition on his flower’s unstable emotions.

Jack’s friend began to tell others about his flower, and Jack began to lose all the respect that he once had. Jack started to realize that his notoriety was based, not on his hard work, but on his beautiful flower. When Jack realized that, and how he had horribly neglected them, he ran back to his portion of the garden to take pleasure in his beautiful flower and her offspring in order to rejuvenate their health, restore their symbiotic relationship, and bring back his respect amongst the other gardeners.

But when Jack arrived, it was too late. His beautiful magical flower lay limp on the ground, and her offspring all bowed down dead on the ground facing towards their mother. Jack wept aloud and wished that he only would have seen how perfect his life was! If only he has paid attention to the one thing that was supposed to be the object of his affection. If only he wouldn’t have tried to pursue so many other things that he now finds meaningless…if only.

There’s then a sudden realization that what enters your mouth and goes down to your stomach doesn’t have to be liquid.

The milestones continue at an alarming rate: your first word, crawling, the formation of your first sentence, walking, going potty, dressing yourself and spelling your name, and learning to ride a bike…it’s really quite impressive!

The next big mark is crossed with a backpack, a classroom and a back turned to your parents faces as you leave their prescence for hours at a time–every day.

Then comes a kiss, a little trouble, maybe a part time job, and the keys to a car. Things really feel new now.

Up to this point you’ve learned so much! You’re right on the edge of the nest, thinking about jumping. You have your feathers now, your wings are spread, the sky calling. With a cap and a gown, you walk across a stage and grab a rolled up piece of paper. Hundreds of others do the same. The sheer amount of potential bottled up in the room is incredible.

But sadly, many of those crossing this milestone will never do anything amazing, never leave town, and never change the world.

A wise man once said,” The most potential in the world is in the grave.” Because so many of us never act on our dreams, never take bold risks, and never shoot for the stars; our potential is never fully realized and it goes with us to the grave.

So jump from the nest, dream big, chase the wind, and never settle for okay. Realize your potential, change the world, and cross as many milestones as you can.

Several hours into it some small children playing ball ran in circles all around him- having so much fun that they didn’t even notice that he was there. As one passed the ball to another, the ball hit the man in the head, almost knocking him over. The man was furious and scolded the children for not paying attention to him. They ran away terrified.

A few hours later, a time of day when the park was rather empty, an elderly man who was walking nearby tripped and fell and could not get back up. The man standing on one leg yelled over to him that someone should be along soon who could help and shifted his focus back to his balance.

A whole day passed, many distractions came and went, but the man stood firm. He was approaching his 40th hour when a blind woman with a white cane entered the park. She felt along the sidewalk with her cane swaying back and forth along the ground. The man grumbled as she approached. As she got closer, the man yelled,” Watch out lady, there’s someone in front of you!” The woman, startled, swung her body around to try to deduct with her ears where the yell came from. As she did her cane swung quickly toward the man; hitting him right on the shin of his planted leg. The cane packed just enough force to knock the man to the ground because his one leg was so weak.

As he lay on his back looking up at the frightened blind woman he cursed at her and mourned the fact that he had came so close to his dreams only to see them shattered towards the finish line.

The woman reached down and grabbed the man by his hand, almost as if she could see exactly where it was, and pulled him up from the ground with amazing strength. The man looked up, perplexed, and as he looked at the blind woman, all he could see was what appeared to be the face of Jesus.

He looked around him while being lifted up. It was as if time nearly slowed to a stop. He became accutely aware of a robin feeding her young a freshly caught worm.

His eyes were drawn to a mother reading to her son on a park bench accross the lawn.

His attention shifted to a young man pushing his quadriplegic friend down the path by the pond; both with smiles on their faces as they strolled along.

The sound of a honey bee caught his attention. He watched it dilligently carrying a large load of pollen from one flower to the next. He saw rays of sunshine gently beat down upon the fragile flower the bee had flown from. It was as if the flower opened up its petals and recieved them with joy and thanksgiving.

While taking in the enchantment of the world all around, time shifted to its normal speed and he heard a loud booming voice say to him,” THIS is not about YOU.” The warm embrace from the hand of the blind woman disintegrated into thin air. As he looked around, she was nowhere to be found.

A tear ran down the man’s face as he began to see the purpose of this life unfold around him. It wasn’t about his selfish personal endeavors; it was about others. He felt the satisfaction of the robin, the mother, the young man, the bee, and the sun, swell up within his heart; not because they had accomplished something for themselves, but because they had accomplished something for someone else. “That”, the man said,” is true satisfaction and joy.”

He stretched his legs, looked around, and sprinted out of the park to spend the rest of his day with his father who lay fragiley close to death in the bed of a nursing home.

It’s weird to think that my pretty 16 year-old little girlfriend is now my beautiful 31 year-old woman/wife who I’ve been married to for 10 years and have two kids with.

I wouldn’t have it any other way! And I’m hoping for at least another 31 years x 2!

I love you Susan! Happy Birthday!