Blaze

In early January 2007, my then 21-year old daughter Kristine, who was going to school, working part time and living with us, invited the family to dinner at our favorite Thai restaurant. She does this once in a while - to our delight - which is great, but the only thing is, I always end up paying the bill, which is not so great. During the course of the dinner conversation, she nonchalantly confessed that she was pregnant. It went something like, "Mom, can you pass the Phad Thai, I'm two months pregnant, isn't this spicy lemon grass soup delicious?" I said, "Woo, wait a minute, what did you just say?"

"The soup is delicious?"
"No, the one before that."
"I'm pregnant."

We all got quiet. The drive home, which normally takes 10 minutes, took forever. Nobody said a word. The kids got out and Tess and I were left in the car. Then we both started talking. "How can she do this?" "What's going to happen with her schooling?" "You shouldn't have been too lax with her boyfriend." "Too lax? I think you were too strict!" "What are we going to do?"

We finally walked into the house and into the living room where our three kids were huddled on the couch. The Pinoy macho father in me wanted to say, "Kristine, I want you to call Jacob - your boyfriend - here and I'll knock some sense into him. You two should get married tonight! Ricky, go fetch Father Tom!" But for some reason, what came out of my mouth were these, "We are going to make sure that your baby is OK. He is a gift from God and we'll do everything to ensure he gets born to a loving family. Everything else is secondary."

Blaze was born on August 1, 2007 at 2pm. The attending nurse, while cleaning him up, described him as "a perfect little man." I will shamelessly admit that I've never been more nervous and excited on the birth of a child, not even with my own kids. Words cannot describe the happiness I felt when I first held him in my arms. It is true: to grandparents, the birth of the first grandchild is very special.

Blaze is now two years old. He brings so much joy to those around him. Kristine and Jacob are wonderful parents and they're doing a fine job raising him. He likes all kinds of balls - football, basketball, golf ball, soccer ball, baseball, you name it. As a matter if fact his first word was "ball." I kid you not. He is also a very funny kid and loves to amuse any audience. He loves to strum the ukulele, dance, and sing.

And his name is so cool. I didn't think of it that way at first. When Kristine told me what she and Jacob were going to name their baby, my first reaction was, "Blaze? Like one of the X-Men?" But now I just love to say his name - Blaze. It reminds me of the chorus in one Church song:

Shine Jesus shine
Fill this land with the Father's glory
Blaze, Spirit blaze,
Set our hearts on fire
Flow, river flow
Flood the nations with grace and mercy
Send forth Your word
Lord and let there be light.

As we commemorate Jesus' birthday this Christmas, I also want to thank God for giving Blaze to us. Blaze who sets our hearts on fire.