Fatherhood

I went to the Sri's house for dinner tonight (that is, Dr. Sri) and I was just absolutely blown away, absolutely blown away by how incredible that family is. Their youngest son, Charlie, was absolutely one of the cutest children I have ever seen. He was so mild mannered, and his temperament was astounding for a 1 and a half year old. As I was watching Dr. Sri interact with his kids and saw the great love he had for them, I thought of what Dr. Rziha said in Christian Moral Life, "When discerning your vocation, you have to decide what option you are going to love more than the others, and you have to experience and look at all the options and see what you choose to love more." As great as this summer has been for me, I think the way that it's come to help me the most so far is that its put me in touch with some not-so-great families, and some rock-solid families that just amaze me. Also, as much as I love my teammates, this one teammate of mine (Tim) is a seminarian and he drives me crazy sometimes. So, as each passing host family comes and goes, and each trying encounter with Tim comes and goes, it helps to put into perspective what exactly is going on.

I do not think that the Lord is calling me to the priesthood, that's it. My heart yearns and aches whenever I'm in the presence of these incredible families and it just brings me back to when I first think God was really putting on my heart the idea of a family. Last summer, my good friend Amanda came out to Phoenix to spend a couple days with me, and we went over to my old youth minister's house. As we entered into the house, you could feel this overwhelming presence of love. The love between he and his wife was like the love between two best friends, watching and seeing how they interacted, you could tell that each married their best friend. Then, seeing the love that he has for his children just was so moving to me, it was the loving, but stern, father. Everytime I'm around that, my heart yearns for it, and I just can't imagine the idea of these desires being placed upon my heart for naught.