Advent Thoughts On a Hospital Couch

My wife has been in labor in the delivery room for the past 8 hours. We are eagerly expecting our fourth child. I can hear Typhoon Ruby’s din just outside the window almost seamlessly combine with the whir of the air-conditioning unit.

I write this helplessly alone on a leather couch at St. Luke’s hospital, waiting for the signal to come in and hold my wife’s hand as she goes through the final birth stages.

But not yet.

I sit here, sleep-deprived, waiting and praying. It is Advent after all, I muse.

Yesterday, here in the hospital, I had a call with my business partner Paolo regarding my startup baby, STORM. As big as 2014 has been for us, the call greatly suggests that 2015 will be much bigger. Exponentially so.

As a startup founder, all my entrepreneurial dreams are starting to come into fruition. I should be giddily jumping up and down.

It’s interesting timing that this call happened in this particular context: in a hospital, with my wife in labor, seeing the victims of the typhoon on TV, during Advent season, during the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

I am really happy with the call, but the context forces me to see it in what I feel is the right perspective. Because of this, I take the news almost in stride.

Because of the context, I am reminded to be humble. I am reminded not get carried away. I am reminded that Jesus was born intentionally in a manger, bereft of all human comforts. I am reminded that I cannot let myself be too attached to these comforts — my Savior never was.

I am reminded of the priorities I had committed to.

As much passion as I have for entrepreneurship and startups, I want to be MORE passionate about God. More passionate about my role as a father and husband.

I thank God for all His blessings. I humbly pray I may use them always for His Greater Glory.

Meanwhile, I wait here in my room for my son, with the joy of the Son in my heart.

It is Advent after all.