I’ve got to be at the airport at 6am in the morning and am looking for someone to take my place. Our missionary in Brazil is coming in for a few days and as much as I look forward to spending time with him, that’s awful early. I prefer to only have one 6:00 in my day and that would be close to supper.

As much as I dread the early rise, it will be a good day. He will speak to our church Wednesday night regarding the mission trip that 30 of us took to Aracaju and what that trip meant to their church. He will be making a presentation at the Lewisville church Sunday night in their effort to raise $50,000 in a special missions contribution.

There are not many people I hold in truly high regard. I know everyone has their faults (I only have to look in the mirror to know that so well) but he is someone who exudes Christ-likeness to me. He wants nothing but to share the Gospel. For someone living in Brazil, he makes a good salary and would be considered upper middle class at the least. Yet he lives in a very modest home, drives a very modest car, eats as native Brazilians eat and gives so much of what he has. He is extremely humble, extremely compassionate and loving. He cares about people, more importantly he cares about their souls. I am glad to know him and thankful to God that I have crossed paths with him, shared successes with him as well as fears. He encourages me to walk in Christ’s path and challenges me to know God better.

I will look forward to seeing him…even early in the morning.

We went to Abilene for the ACU Homecoming this past weekend. The campus has changed so much since I was a student in the late-80’s. Seeing the changes almost makes me wish I was a student now. I think back to my days and wonder what I didn’t appreciate having that people who had attended in the years before me would have thought was so wonderful. We drove by some of the places we lived, saw some old friends and watched ACU win a football game (another thing that didn’t happen much when I was in school).

On Friday, we had stopped in Eastland to watch Boyd play football. It was a funny little stadium and Boyd won easily. I spent much of the night watching my son avoid getting in another collision. He was quick to be on the move if a play started coming his way. I don’t think he wants another memory like that.

My next trip to Brazil is rapidly approaching. I’m looking forward to being back in Aracaju to help and learn with my brothers and sisters and work on planning for the coming years with our missionary and the team there. The things I experienced and learned on my previous trip still resonate loudly within me and I still remain thankful that I have had this opportunity. Please pray that this coming trip will be safe and profitable in expanding the Kingdom.

About this time last week, I was listening to someone I know talk about severe stress and strain their family went through battling a crisis in their marriage. I was awestruck by the willingness to share such a heart-wrenching, emotional struggle. It struck me how a family of faith can and should be willing to share their deepest thoughts and emotions and know they will be supported and loved. I saw that last week and I am thankful I have a church family that holds others up.

I’m still not comfortable sharing my hurts, my fears, my failings. I still exist in a world where my problems are mine, mine to deal with and live with. It’s hard to make that move to a more open, more transparent life. I hope one day I will but between now and then, I will cherish the opportunities to see people loved unconditionally, to see people edify others, to see people empathize and pray for others. I’m thankful to be where I am right now. I look forward to what God has in store.

The question came up in our Bible study yesterday about how many people had bought a lotto ticket (more replied in the affirmative than I thought they would, me included) and what they would do with the money if they won. That was a hard question, especially in church, because I think everyone who buys one thinks of many things they would do but would it be the right thing to do? What is the right thing? It got me to thinking again about priorities, how we decide what our priority is or how it just creeps up on us. I am convinced the use of our money says a quite a bit about us. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not one of those who thinks being wealthy and being a Christian or mutually exclusive but where I put my resources is an indication of where I place my Christianity on my priority heirarchy.

I appreciate the question yesterday and the reminder for what needs to be first for me.

So what would you do with all the money? Since it’s my blog, I guess I have to go first with what I would want to do.

I would set up a missions endowment through our church. I have come to love missions work and want to help more people willing to make the sacrifices needed to travel around the globe sharing the Good News.
I would set up a building endowment through our church. I would like to see us create more recreation areas for our youth, more space for our Mother’s Day Out and let the 5th Sunday contribution go to spreading the Gospel.
I would pay off debt.
Invest.
Past that, I’m not sure what I would do. Do some things to the house, help establish college funds for family members, go to baseball games at every stadium, put a pool in. I’m sure there would be no lack of ideas for how to spend all the money.

My prayer today is that I remember what and who is most important.

I spoke with the shoppers/travelers who have gone to the big antique flea market (I wonder what an antique flea looks like) and it would appear they are having the time of their life. Heat and hotels from…well, you know where…are making it a trip to remember.

I would guess the couple with the holes in their sheets must have had the Presidential Suite. Another couple had a room with an unbolted toilet (I won’t venture a guess as to what they were doing to move the toilet so much to know it was unbolted). The final pair (of which my spouse was one) has apparently created a Lysol cloud over South Texas. I can’t imagine why a blood stain on the bed or a toenail clipping would bother some people but apparently it does.

I can only imagine there are many people in the world who would deal with such travesty but when the Devatur 6 comes to town, a little higher level of expectations come with them.

Dennis, I think you know why I passed on this trip now!

For whatever reason, it seems I’ve heard several discussions recently on the difference in joy and happiness. I won’t compare and contrast them for you here but it has been on my mind since Tuesday night. I was having a discussion about my trip to Brazil and all that I saw and learned and felt. I was flooded with vivid memories and pictures in my mind of the people, of their love and their joy. Yes, they were happy too but I think joy was even more evident because they were constantly celebrating their relationships built around God.

As I get caught up in my day-to-day whirlwind, I forget about the joy I can and should have because of Christ. I’m thankful for that conversation that drew me back to the picture God had painted for me thousands of miles away – a picture where I could see and experience both joy and happiness and a reminder that joy thrills the soul, that joy celebrates my relationship with my Savior. Having that joy – that makes me happy.

I hope I bring happiness to people but even more I hope I can share with them my joy.

I think I’m going to rent this show for the weekend. I’ve only seen it once but remember it being pretty funny. I’ve been thinking about the movie the last few days because my wife is taking a brief trip for a couple of days and the kids and I will be taking care of ourselves. It’s not too hard since most every need but actually bathing and eating is taken care of for us before she leaves. I’m glad she is getting away for a few days of fun (??? it’s a shopping trip, how fun can it be) and frolicking (I think it’s still 180 degrees outside). It’s a good time for us too because we get a very visible reminder of all the things she does for us that far too often get taken for granted.

To my wife, thank you for all you do for us. We can make it for a few days but wouldn’t want you gone any longer. Have fun and feel free to spend up to $20 on anything you like! 🙂

P.S. Be wary of some of your traveling companions. They look like they can get a little wild when they are out of town.

My son has been enjoying many 10 year old’s dream of being a waterboy for a local high school team. It’s been a good experience and we’ve been able to discuss the servant mentality and desire that someone in his position needs to have. It’s a great opportunity for him to build memories and learn a little something along the way.

One of the hazards of being a waterboy is that he doesn’t wear pads. I’ve wondered if he would ever get caught in a situation where he might get hit. I wonder no more. Friday night, he was ready with his water carrier. A play quickly came to the sidelines and he got caught in a position where he couldn’t get away from the two players coming his way. He took a hard hit and depending on who’s version of the story you hear went flying and did a flip.

I was on the far side of the field from the collision and didn’t see him get hit. In fact, until I saw a friend of ours run across the track did I realize it was my son. By the time I got down to the field, the team trainer was checking him out and he was recovering. An Advil and some kind words from players helped him along and he was back on the job after a brief rest.

I was worried about him but also proud to see him back up and working. He’s learning a lot of lessons about taking life’s hits and getting back up, about serving even when it isn’t easy and about taking responsibility for one’s duties. He probably doesn’t realize the lessons he got that night but one day he will. In the meantime, I think he’ll wear the bruises as a badge of honor and use the aches to get a little sympathy. Smart kid.

This is my 3rd attempt for the day. The other two times I started, I kept getting into some philosophical point that was taking too much space and creating too much chaos in my head. It’s Friday, right? Time to kick up the feet and relax for the weekend. All the while, the chaos in my head hasn’t quieted but I will move on with the Friday theme.

Tonight is Decatur’s homecoming. My wife and daughter will be there to support the blue and white (and controversial black) and battle the crowds of people who do come home. I’m not a fan of homecoming and I would like to meet the person who created the whole mum frenzy. It’s bizarre.

My son and I will travel to Argyle to see the Yellowjackets of Boyd take on Argyle (the Eagles, I believe). It should be a really good game with a good 2A team going up against a growing 3A program (Arglye was in the 2A state championship game last year).

No baseball this weekend so I get to mow! Woohoo. Have a great weekend and if you want to test out a zero turn radius mower, just drop by around 8:30 Saturday morning.

Yesterday, I had the joy of watching my daughter run in a cross country meet. These meets are usually run over a 2 mile (or slightly longer) course. I could tell funnies about the course and some of the people there but the attention was all on the girls. A girl from Lindsey came in first way, way, way ahead of everyone else. A girl from Alvord couldn’t finish the course and I could see what I thought to be confusion and agony in her eyes as she was going to her knees. We later heard she might have been suffering from hypoglycemia. After that long of a run in the lovely 93 degree blazing heat, all the girls looked tired as they came close to the end. I saw an older man standing near the next to last turn cheering every girl from every school on for the final stretch. Neat stuff.

It was good to see several young ladies I knew run and compete well but there was one who had my eye. A tall, pretty girl who really dislikes getting up in the morning for early morning practices and has never seemed to be a big fan of sweating ran a great race. It wasn’t her best time and she didn’t finish at the head of the pack but what she did was compete, try hard, overcome heat and dust and put out the effort to finish the race. It was her kick at the end, not wanting to let an opponent get by her, that really let her spirit show through. Coming through the last turns, she looked like she had already given all she would give but in those last few yards, she dug down to find a bit more. That will serve her well through life and I am so proud of what she has accomplished. She has improved a great deal in the past several weeks with her times dropping dramatically. I know she has grown physically stronger. Even more, she has grown mentally stronger – taking on a challenge and accomplishing personal victory. She ran and she finished and all the while is winning personal victories. I am very proud of her.

You go girl!