This column is brought to you by the number three.

As anyone who remembers watching “Schoolhouse Rock,” and for anyone who has heard the Blind Melon cover of the song in the Drew Barrymore vehicle Never Been Kissed, you know that three is a magic number. Oddly enough, three has become a significant number in my marriage. My wife and I will celebrate our third wedding anniversary in June. In September, the third month in the third year of our marriage, we will be blessed with the arrival of the third person in our family. Baby to be named later.

Granted, becoming a father is something I’ve looked forward to. With the opportunity come many new experiences, such as changing diapers (I firmly do not believe in changing any diapers except those of my own children due to paranoia), learning the proper buckling techniques when it comes to the car seat and, more importantly, how to teach this child to be someone who is not ashamed of who they are.

As a non-traditional student, I am thankful for the opportunities I have received, both in the hallways of academia as well as in the school of reality. The four years I spent at Ozark Christian College helped me to find the proper foundations I intend to use in developing my family. The 10 years I spent in vocational ministry helped me to work on relating to younger kids, and I have managed to hone my communication skills during the three semesters I’ve been in classes here (plus the addition of Spanish to my linguistic arsenal, which my dog is steadily responding to). My new mission in life is to pass on these teachings to my child or children and allow them to hopefully have a good sense of purpose in life.

I hope to pass on more to my offspring than a couple of guitars, a growing collection of DVDs, dozens of books, CDs and the scrapbook collection my wife has assembled. I’m not sure if any of those will help them to survive in this ever-changing society. To install into baby to be named later a sense of decency, morals, values and provide for baby the opportunity to make choices and to learn from those choices and grow from those experiences is something I look forward to.

Above all, I want baby to be named later to be healthy, with a full opportunity to live each and every day to the fullest. If three is the magic number, everything will be great.

Now, if the baby decides to show up at 3:33 in the morning, then three will not just be a magic number, but an odd phenomenon at that.