What a difference one day makes.

On Monday August 18, 2008 at 6:49 AM, I became a father!

For the previous 9 months, in the back of my mind, I wondered ... worried... how in the world would I be a good dad. What would I do? How would I raise a son?

Funny thing is, this entire time, it was not -real- to me. The fact that I was becoming a dad was not hitting me. Well, right before I went into the delivery room, it hit me when I took a picture of myself all dressed up in the scrubs. I was like, "Holy Crap... I'm about to be a daddy."

I entered into the room with my trusty Canon GL1, with the Studio 1 XLR adapter and Sennheiser ME66/K6 combo shockmounted and my sort of trusty 12 MP Canon G9 digital camera (which I forgot to put into RAW mode, but did shoot with near max JPG quality). One of the docs said something to the effect of, "Wow this guy is serious."

As I filmed away while the docs did the C-section, I was holding her left hand with my left hand and craining the camera with my right. There were a lot of "mushy sounds" and other assorted not-the-kind-of-sounds-you want to see, coming from behind the blue drape, which I dared not peer over.

Then I heard it... the cry. I about had a come apart at that moment, but I kept on filming and was focused because I had a job to do. I could come apart later.

The nurse whisked Brayden away into the 'prep' room and then a few minutes later brought him back in for us to see.

Initially I was in a little bit of shock with the whole situation. I mean, thinking that it had finally happened... I had become a daddy was just slightly overwhelming. He was so cute.

After a quick visit he was whisked away again, and I followed him this time into the prep room where the nurse cleaned him off a bit and did a couple other things. Then they sent he and I back into our suite.

I stood there filming my new buddy just staring in amazement at this little creation. I will tell you what, after witnessing such a thing, I do not see how any one on the planet can say that there is not a God. A Creator of all things. We are not here "by chance" or from some big explosion in outer space. We are here because we are Created by a loving God who wants us to follow him and serve him.

Every single thing in my life at that point just exploded in a rush of overwhelming emotion for me. Joy. Happines. Immense feelings of love I have never ever felt before. This is my son. My son!

Over the next several days, things started becoming so clear to me. I look back on my life before Monday and see that, God has been equipping me for 32 years by blessing me with such a diverse set of talents and abilities to help me raise this child. I always wondered what in the world I would do. But the path is very clear now that the time is actually here.

I want to teach him the joys music.

I want to teach him how to play the piano and guitar.

I want to teach him to draw.

I want to help him with his homework.

I want to teach him about money, and how if you do things right, you can be set for life.

I want to teach him how to play basketball, volleyball, tennis!

I want him to be good at video games

I want to show him how to win in life!

I want to spend tons of time with him.

I really want him to be successful in any thing he wants to do, and am so blessed to have a wide variety of skills to tap into to hopefully point him in a direction that will give him a good career and track in life.

I never understood the whole family thing, until Monday morning.

This is something I would not trade for anything.

It is simply the most awesome thing ever.