I Have a Song to Sing on Sunday

I've mentioned before that my daughter Rainey is quite a song writer and arranger. Often times on Sunday morning just before we begin our worship time she comes to me with a new song we should sing. I guess she's figured out that with such short notice it probably will not happen because she is now submitting them by cell phone during the week. Her latest is entitled That Is True.

When God brings glory to heaven
He brings glory to us
All the people in Hurst, Texas
And all the people in our land
Everybody must share love with everybody
That is true

You rarely, if ever hear Hurst , Texas referenced in a praise song, but perhaps it's an idea whose time has come. I'm not too sure about the theology of the first part, but she finishes strong. Maybe I'll work it in this Sunday.

Brian's Interview

My friend Brian is looking for a job. He has applied at about thirty different places and since he does not have a phone, I told him to give them my cell phone number and I'd take calls for him. It's been about two weeks and no one has called. Until today that is. I was working away at my computer when my cell phone rang. I didn't recognize the number, but I answered anyway.

"Hello."

"Is Brian there?"

"Uh no, you must have the wrong number." What an idiot I am sometimes.

As soon as I hung up I realized what I'd done. I called the guy back and explained the mix up. He was the manager of a Family Dollar store where Brian had submitted an application. He seemed like a nice man and I told him that Brian was my friend. I told him he was honest and trustworthy, a man of good character. I believe all of that. I also threw in that he attended church with me every week. I figured that couldn't hurt. The man said he would see Brian tomorrow for a formal interview.

I drove to Brian's apartment to give him the news. I think I was more excited than he was. I offered him a ride to the interview, but he said he could take the bus. He promised to call from a pay phone and report back to me after the interview. He was on his way out, so I celebrated by treating myself to lunch on my way back to the office at my favorite Mexican restaurant in Fort Worth, El Rancho Grande. I ate nacho's grande and corn tortillas with butter and read an article in Avid Golfer magazine about David Feherty. He cracks me up.

Anyway, the interview is at 1:30 tomorrow. Please pray for good results. Brian REALLY needs this job.

11 Weeks and Counting

Stephanie had another sonogram yesterday and everything looks great! Praise God! She is 11 weeks along and we saw 2 arms, 2 legs and heard a strong heartbeat (heart rate 162 for those of you who are into that sort of thing).

Rainey accompanied us to the doctor which made for some interesting conversation.
"Mom, did you take your shorts and your panties off?!?!?!?"

I loved explaining what that long thing with a gel covered condom on it was. "Well, the baby is in Mommy's tummy, so they have to look inside her tummy to see it." Rainey looked at me as if to say, "Whatever. Give me some more Skittles."

We told her it might not look like a baby yet, but it did! It even danced around for us kind of like that computer generated baby that was everywhere and annoyed me to no end a few years back. In the end, the specialist kicked us out and sent us back to our regular doctor. Steph is still nervous and probably will be until the baby is...well...I guess you never really stop worrying about your kids do you?

We do not plan to find out the sex of the child, but Rainey thinks its a boy. She prays for him every night. "Dear God, please bless my baby brother and help him to have strong muscles and strong bones. And if it's a baby sister, that's alright too."

Keep us in your prayers.

I Don't Know

I had an interesting day today. I spent my morning at the office and the first half of my afternoon with a minister talking about how to grow a church. Actually he talked and I listened as he told me exciting stories about mega churches that went from 300 members to 3,000 in one week and baptize 98 people an hour! Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating, I'm not that good at statistics. Anyway, that sort of stuff gives me tired head. I'm not saying it's not good, it just gives me tired head.

I left that conversation and visited a family of 5 living in one room at the Budget Suites. Rent was due and they had no money. I was able to help with the rent, play with their three beautiful little girls and talk to the dad for awhile. After that I spent some time with my friend Brian-the-former-Buddhist-now-Jesus-follower in his apartment with no air conditioning. No big deal, it was only 97 degrees today. The heat of the summer is yet to come. Brian is looking for a job so he doesn't have to go back to live in a shelter or on the streets. Neither one of those visits gave me tired head.

I'm not even sure what I'm getting at here. Big churches can do big things as long as they are organized and don't waste energy fighting among themselves. Big churches have deep pockets which is a good thing because they usually have big mortgages to pay before they can help the family at the Budget Suites with a couple of bills. Big churches are great for finding your place and plugging in, or getting lost.

But you know what? I am Tiger Woods...I mean I am the church and I can help one person at a time. On my way home I stopped at the driving range and pounded a small bucket of balls. I picked up dinner for Steph at this little Thai place and thanked God I'm not in charge of any of this.

Father's Day

My happy Father's Day was belated because my girls were still in Idaho on Sunday. I celebrated in a big way when I picked them up from the airport last night. There is NOTHING better than to have your child rush into your arms and tell you that she missed you and loves you. Then to have her beautiful mom hug you and say the same thing as everyone in the airport looks at you with envy and wonders how you pulled that off. To whom did you sell your soul to receive such beauty and love in your life?

I must admit, I did pull off the con of a lifetime when I convinced Stephanie to marry me. I mean from her looks alone you can tell I married up, but when you get to know her you are forced to question only one thing about her: her willingness to settle when it came to finding a husband.

Absence really does make the heart grow fonder. Whenever I am away from Steph and Rainey for a few days I am overwhelmed with thankfulness for them. In fact, I am happily off to meet them for lunch right now.

BABY UPDATE: Steph is still feeling tired, but all signs are good. She is about 10 weeks along. We go for another sonogram on Monday. If all is well, the specialist will send us back to our regular doctor. Thanks for the continued prayers.

My Own Private Idaho

Greetings from the Gem State, Idaho, USA! We are here visiting Stephanie's parents for a few days. I just wanted to thank you for your comments on my last entry and for your continued prayers about the baby. I will keep you posted on our progress. Now, allow me to leave you with the words from the Idaho state song. You tell me if this is not exactly what you think of when you think of Idaho.

Here we have Idaho
Singing her way to fame
Silver and gold in the moonlight (here comes my favorite part)
Romance lies in her name (WHAT?)

Singing, singing of you
That's what we'll do
All our lives through
We'll go singing, singing of you
Singing of Idaho!

I wrote that from memory. Test me next time you see me. Romance lies in her name!?!?!?!?!? I-da-ho. Doesn't sound all that romantic to me. O well, the weather is nice, Rainey is being spoiled rotten and I'm playing golf tomorrow. Can't complain about any of that.

I'm Back!

After an extended blog break, I am back. Earlier this week I enjoyed three days of golf, great food and cool weather in the mountains of New Mexico with my dad, brother and brother-in-law. If you are a golfer, allow me to highly recommend for your pleasure (and occasional frustration) the Paa-ko Ridge, Black Mesa and Cochiti courses. I did manage to break 100 all three rounds and that was my goal, so I'm happy.

The reason, or more precisely excuse for this trip was to celebrate my dad's 70th birthday. In between rounds of golf and bites of steak we were able to glean a little wisdom from the old man. He shared some of his favorite stories, greatest joys and biggest regrets. It was a sweet time. A big thanks to my brother J. for organizing the trip and to my brother-in-law Tod for asking dad so many good questions and leading him to those rich answers.

The trip home on Wednesday was a little tough. For those of you who don't know, my wife and I have been trying to have another baby for a couple of years. At one point, we suffered through 3 miscarriages in 12 months. Well, we got a positive test a few weeks ago and have been keeping the news quiet for obvious reasons. On Wednesday afternoon Stephanie had her second sonogram. The baby is over 8 weeks along and has a strong heartbeat! The last three pregnancies have not made it past 10 weeks and we were never able to hear a heartbeat with any of them.

I was in the middle of nowhere, New Mexico making my way back home and I was getting no signal on my cell phone. For two and a half hours I agonized about the results of the sonogram. Sensing my anxiety, J. suggested we pray as we drove down the road. Tod said a very sweet prayer and the Lord answered with a positive report when I finally got to talk to Steph. Please keep us in your prayers in the coming months. We are cautiously optimistic, but each passing week brings us more hope.

Speaking of babies, a great big howdy to Samuel Scott Thomas who was born on Monday in Nashville. Word on the streets is that he already sings like an angel, but has better hair than his dad. We can only hope.