Isaiah David Winchester

Isaiah David Winchester is going to be the name of our first born son.
We decided to name him Isaiah after the great prophet of the Old Testament.
Isaiah keeps popping up whenever we move towards Jesus so we saw this fitting. I discovered this tonight....From the Hebrew name יְשַׁעְיָהוּ (Yesha'yahu) meaning "YAHWEH is salvation". His name actually mean YAHWEH is salvation. Wow what a mandate on his life! I pray for him a lot because he is going to do more in the name of God then I ever could imagine doing. I also pray that I am going to be the father that he needs to do the things God will do through him. Good thing Jesus is preparing him now. Rest in the arms of the savior my son.
We decided to make his middle name David because of the second and greatest king of Israel. I love the heart of David and so long to be like him, a man after Gods own heart. He was a man who stumbled but ended up on his face in the dirt fighting for his unborn child and when his child passed he got up, dusted himself and carried on with the Lord. I so long to be able to do that after making a mistake instead of sulking about it after. I claim this over my son now, that he will be able to dust himself off and carry on with the Lord. I also discovered this tonight....Possibly derived from Hebrew דוד (dvd) meaning "beloved". My sons name is DVD, kind of funny but means beloved. My son will be the beloved of Jesus and walk with him all the days of his life. I also chose David because of Psalms 23 and the impact it had on my life.
We chose Isaiah because he will be a prophet and we chose David because he will be king that serves. He will prophecy great things in the Kingdom of the Lords. I am not worried about him living up to anything other than who God created him to be. I do know that he will make mistakes and my prayer is that I will respond in those mistakes as Jesus would respond to me in my mistakes.
Abba,
I pray for Isaiah David tonight. Although he is not born yet I pray over him tonight. Always keep him close to you and his head against your chest. Let your love drip on his head and his cup always over flow. Teach him mercy, grace and kindness but most importantly teach him your love. Fill him with your Spirit from birth that he may always know your name. Keep him humble that pride would not stumble him. Guard his heart that it may never be hard. Protect him from the attacks of the enemy for he is called by you. Help me raise him the way he needs to be raised and teach me how to raise him the way a father should raise a son. Lord, guide him always that his path would not lead him astray. Mark him now as he is from you and of you. He will be a blessing to those around him. Fill us with your love for him that we can teach him your love and your ways Father. I lift him up to you that he would always be in your arms.
I pray this in Your Sons precious name, AMEN!

My Night at the Arena

Last night I, Gary, had two back to back games at Arena Softball at 9pm and 10pm. The league is a called Draft League because the players are drafted onto a team so the competition is good. It most definitely has made me into a better player on our Sunday Coed Team. If you want to know more you can visit www.arenasoftball.com.

I played Center Field since we have so many good players and I seem to be pretty decent out there. So Game 1 for me went ok but the problem was my attitude. Whenever I make a mistake I get mad at myself. We all know in sports when you do that you ruin your own game because you play worse. I don't just get mad some times though. I can tend to kick or throw my glove like a 2 or 3 year old pitching a fit in a store because they cannot get the toy or candy they want. Yes it is a pity party or a tantrum. When I do this typically a profanity will fly out of my mouth, attempting to say it under my breath so I dint look so horrible, as if throwing or kicking my glove does not look bad already. Like I said though Game 1 was not so bad. On the other hand Game 2 was the one.

Yep! Game 2 was the game I acted a fool. As Mr. T use to say, "I pity da fool." Well I pity the fool I was last night. At least once an inning for the first 3 innings I kicked my glove and threw it and yelled and yes said a few curse words. Not a proud moment for this Bible College Student and professing CHRISTIAN. It got so bad that my teammates moved me out of my Center Field position into the Right Field position. Not because of my mistakes but because I was acting like a FOOL! After my position switching I hit a home run which I did not deserve and I asked to pitch from that point on for the night which I was calm and good at. Then I hit another home run which I really did not deserve but God was great to me in my tantrum. There is one thing I walked away with last night though.

I truly understand what walk the walk would look like and feel like. I was the only one on my team acting like a FOOL last night and I am a Bible College Student and a Christian. Not my brightest moment. I say things I should not say and I throw tantrums and I should not throw tantrums. I am not saying I should act or be perfect but I should be more aware of my actions and my words along with who is around me at all times, Jesus. I believe I drove the nails in His hands and feet once again last night. Yes I was very foolish but God is good and I know He has forgiven me but I wanted to write this for accountability sake. This is not a confessional letter but a letter for a cry of accountability from all.