Five Years

Five years ago this past Sunday all the kids and I got up early our last day of vacation at the lake and headed to the triple wide trailor south of Ennis. We walked into the Cowboy Church about 10 minutes late. It was our first official Sunday and I don't think we made a very good impression coming in after time to start.

I reflect back on these years and was thinking the other day that you really can't count it in years like you would a regular job. I think it is more appropriate to count the hours. Michael took his watch off that first Sunday. I thought it was to tell the people we weren't on our time but on God's time. We would build when God said build, and preach as long as God wanted and what God wanted; we weren't going by the "model church".

It wasn't a message just for the folks sitting in there listening for the first time. It was also for me. I told once before about how one Sunday it hit me that he was the one who was annointed for this position. He is the one that was serious when he took off that watch. For the last 43,680 hours we have served Jesus in this place. There are no weekends off or vacations without a phone nearby. There aren't supposed to be.

He looks forward to our reunion in Brownwood more than anything every year. A week where he gets up early to fish, takes a nap, then goes fishing again. He loves it. We were scheduled to leave on Monday when early Sunday we get a call that one of our men had gone on to be with the Lord. I reached over to him and asked if he was alright, thinking he might be disappointed his fishing trip would be cut short so he could do the funeral. Out of his mouth comes "Are you getting frisky with me? So early in the morning?"

I didn't hear the disappointment in his voice that I was kinda feeling in my heart for him. I think if he wasn't supposed to be here and didn't feel called by the Lord to be here that I would have heard the disappointment. He takes his responsibility seriously because he is supposed to. If there was any disappointment that morning it was probably that I wasn't getting frisky!

So for 43,680 hours we have loved on people. We have done our best to teach them to love the Word of God. We have watched Jesus draw them to Him because we are lifting Him up. We have watched them walk through the waters of baptism and we sometimes look at each other shaking our heads with the amazement of how Jesus is growing them. And growing us.

We have also been referees. A lot. Been in the middle of men duking it out in the parking lot and the middle of women screaming at each other in the office. We have married them, buried them, and been there when babies are born. We've made middle of the night trips to the emergency room to sit with families when they get news from the doctors. We've had couples sitting on the couch in the office with arms and legs crossed and when we are all done talking we've watched them walk out holding hands. We've also had some that didn't make it and it breaks our hearts.

There is no where else we'd rather be.

Bring on the next 43,680 hours.

To Sleep, Perchance to Dream

A couple of weeks ago Michael got up early one morning and when he came back to bed I asked if there was anything wrong. He said no, pulled me close and went back to sleep. That night after we got into bed he told me about a dream he had that morning.

He dreamt he had died and came back to tell me that he missed me and for me to give a message to the church. In the dream he told me to write a message on a board at the front of the church that said "I love you". He wanted them to know how much he loved them.

It kind of surprised him that he wanted them to know he loved them, because at every funeral he tells the family that if their loved one could tell them anything it would be that "It is real". Whether they are with Jesus or not, they would want them to know it matters how they live and if they have trusted Jesus.

I was listening to him tell about the dream and was hesitant to tell him the one I had two nights before. In mine, our kids were walking in front of a stadium that was packed full of people. They were walking between the stadium and a fence. It was dark all around but I could see all the people crowded in as the kids were walking in a line from oldest to youngest. They were all crying and I was looking down on them. Adam was crying and said "But we're not supposed to be the daddy to these girls". It wasn't that he didn't want to do it, it was that Michael was still supposed to be here.

When I woke up from mine my chest felt heavy because I had been crying in my sleep and felt the heaviness for awhile afterward.

After we both shared our stuff we held each other tighter than ever. We feel so connected in life and in ministry that it is tough to think about doing it without the other. My prayer is that Jesus comes back and we get to go at the same time. Us and all our kids. That way we don't have to grieve over the loss of someone we love so much.

The good thing about dreams like that is that it makes you appreciate what you have. Who you have.

Boys Don't have Boobies

Michael was taking the girls to the lake to swim with some of the kids from the youth group. On the way there, he said "Girls, we need to have a talk." Hannah immediately tried to figure a way to open the door, fall to the inerstate while escaping death and walk the rest of the way to the lake. She doesn't really like "talks" so being critically injured seemed like the best option. She chose to stay in the truck and bear it.

I'm going to try to remember the conversation as it was told me in three different versions.

Michael - "Boys don't have boobies. Only girls have boobies."

Girls - "Daaaaad!!!"

Michael - without missing a beat - "and because boys don't have boobies, they have a very strange reaction when they are hugged by someone who has them."

Girls - "Daaaad!!!"

Michael - "You see, when you hug a boy front to front and it crushes your boobies, it does something weird to the boy's brain. Something in the back of his head is triggered and because his brain is affected that way - well . . . his hair falls out. Clean out. Leaves a patch on the top of his head that is completely bald."

Girls - "Daaaad!!!!"

Michael - "I know you don't want all your friends to go bald at a really young age, so you only need to 'side hug' from now on. If a hug crushes the boobies, it isn't acceptable. See this? (Takes off his hat to show the top of his balding head.) This is your mom's fault!"

Girls - "DAD!!"

The girls and I have talked about this kind of thing many times. This is the one they will remember for the rest of their lives!

Daddy I Love You

Hannah wrote this Friday evening for Michael for Father's Day. He loves getting notes or letters from the kids more than anything. And he keeps every one of them.

JOURNEY FAITH

HERE SHE IS!!!!!!!! And she's BEAUTIFUL!!!!! Meet our newest blessing. They came in for the weekend and we set up a place and got her to sleep and she slept right through everything and every position we had her in. We are all crazy about her and can't hardly get enough.

Hugh Emmert

Hugh and his brother Landon started coming to our church about three years ago. Neither one of them hardly ever said a word, but you could tell they were definitely taking things in. Hugh is such a respectful guy. He's an avid hunter and award-winning football player for the Ennis Lions. He knows more about critters than anyone I've ever met.

We love Hugh and are so grateful God brought their family to our church.