Posts Tagged → Jesus
Sam Bradford
I have always liked University of Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford but after watching this video, I have an even greater respect for him.
Sad Eventful Day
June 25th 2009 was meant to be an exciting day with the first ever NBA draft for the Oklahoma City Thunder. With the Thunder getting the third draft pick it was sure to be a great day. It was a Thursday that was going to be a Friday for me because I was taking off work on Friday. What a sad day yesterday with the loss of two famous people in our country yesterday and three in the last week. Those who have read this blog know that I am anything but a celebrity worshiper. In fact, I often chastise others that do engage in celebrity worship. With that said, I have to admit that Michael Jackson was a huge part of my teenage years. When his Thriller album came out, I was in 10th grade and I will never forget the impact he had on my teenage years. For the tough guys that I tried to emulate, it was not cool to listen to his music though we were all closet Michael Jackson fans. I remember no one would admit to listening to his music yet he sold more albums than anyone in history. Someone was buying them. I remember listening to his music and then when my friends would come over I would quickly switch the radio back over to the classic rock station so my friends would think I was cool. Looking back I would never choose that life style again where I could not be myself. For that reason to this day I cannot stand classic rock music. I sometimes forget with my own kids the pressure that people put on you as a teenager. The pressure they put on themselves to fit into the group.
Though he made some mistakes, I cannot deny his impact on my own life. In fact here I am at 43 years old and I have more than 20 mp3’s of his songs on this very computer I am typing on. He made some terrible choices that I would hope that he regretted afterward. I know I have made some huge mistakes in my own life that I would change if I could do them again.
Farrah Fawcett was a part of my younger years with her role in Charlie’s Angels. Later she was in several movies including the Burning Bed. That movie was a wake up call to anyone that considered being a spouse abuser for sure. I remember all my friends had that famous bathing suit poster on their walls. I never had one myself because my parents would not allow that at the time. I often wondered what makes people act so crazy with celebrities and I still do. In this case however, I lose any sense of rationale. No one can deny that Michael Jackson was unusual and in some cases lacked some common sense. Nevertheless his existence brought back my teenage years. When I say he lacked some common sense, I refer to his continued exposure to children even after being accused of child molestation. Most people would take that first accusation as a lesson to not put themselves in that situation again.
In all fairness, if this had been anyone else I would be less likely to give him a second chance in the same situation. That double standard goes back to the nostalgia that he brought back to me. This amazing news was just hours after hearing of the death of Farrah Fawcett and just two days after Ed McMahon. Farrah’s fight with cancer was such an opportunity to shine the light on this disease to get people involved in finding a cure. This opportunity was cut short with the loss of Michael Jackson, ironically by a heart attack. Both heart trouble and cancer are the two largest causes of death in the United States. I know it sounds like I am speaking in a way that Michael Jackson’s death was unfair to Farrah. It may seem that way because I do have an emotional connection to both of these diseases.
I lost my mom in 2005 to a heart attack and my mother in-law in 2002 to cancer. My mom had a serious heart attack when she was only 29 years old. This attack caused permanent damage to her heart and she suffered many heart attacks over the next 30 years. My incredibly supportive dad stood by her side stressing out for years. He was so stressed at times that he looked terrible. I really loved my mom and miss her so much. It has never been the same since she has been gone. My mother in-law had many illnesses over the years and one day we found out that she had cancer. By then it was too late to do anything. My mother in-law was a very good person and my wife is just like her. Ever since then my wife has been actively involved in the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life. This helps her feel like she is doing something for her mom because she never had time with her own mom.
This blog post may seem a little down but a death always brings this out in me. Michael Jackson was so big during my most influential years that it is difficult to believe that it is true. With such a big event, this will certainly go down as one of the biggest events that I will always remember…even bigger than Elvis Presley’s death. When these things happen it really makes me begin to think and put things into perspective. It makes me think about our purpose on this earth. Did we just simply land here by accident’? Was there an explosion one day and living creatures just evolved from no where? Is there purpose? It can make a person begin to think of their value in this world.
In my case it makes me thankful for what I have. I have Jesus who died for my sins so that I would have a chance to be forgiven for my mistakes, and bad choices. I for one believe we are not an accident and someone put us here for a reason. This person is God. Anyone that is honest with themselves and looks the creation of this world would have to admit that it is so well designed that it had to be done on purpose. Just look at a tree leaf and see the awesomeness of HIS creation. God is almighty and deserves a glory greater than all of man could give him. He is honest, just, powerful, forgiving, loving, and fair. I think he deserves our true worship. With all the emotional feelings that a singer can give us, it cannot compare to the glory that God deserves.
I truly wish the best for Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, and Ed McMahon and hope they were blessed enough to know that Jesus died for them and they had purpose. I have watched countless interviews over the last 24 hours about how Michael Jackson as much money and fame as he had still desired purpose. God loved him and that is the greatest purpose a person can have. If he could have ever realized this, deep down it would give him a sense of value that a trillion dollars could not compare. As bad as we all were at following the guidance that God has given us, he loved us enough to come to us in the form of a man to die in our place. If that ever gets into your spirit, it will bring tears to your eyes that anyone could really care for you that much. I feel blessed to have been able to know this revelation. I feel blessed to have such a wonderful wife for the last 20 years. God also blessed me with two incredible sons that I would never trade for anything on this earth.
It is interesting how a death can make you think about things that we actively try to avoid thinking about. I have never met any of these celebrities but their loss made me think about what is important. I hope I am not the only one that feels this way. I know I am not because I scrolled across the radio this morning and I heard many stations that spoke of the death of Michael Jackson as an event they will never forget. I heard those on the local sports station saying the same thing and they are famous for belittling celebrities all the time. I have heard them make fun of him many times though this morning I heard the same people discussing this event seriously as a moment they will never forget. In the end, this in my opinion is a good thing because death is something we all will face some day and many do not wish to think about it or their purpose. Events like this make people think of them and can make people think about what is really important in their lives.
Today I took off work so I could go to the doctor to get the results of a heart echo that I had last week. I often have these anxiety attacks where my heart starts racing and I feel short of breath. Since I lost my mom from a heart attack, I often worry about them. After talking to many of my family members I find that I am not the only one that has them. It is scary when they happen and it makes me feel like I am not able to breath. I found out later that the accelerated breathing makes it worse. My results came back this morning and my doctor said that it looked normal.
Well now that I have pretty much “bummed out” everyone with my blog post I guess I will get on with a great weekend. Remember to recognize what you have and be thankful for them. It is too easy to focus on the bad things and miss out on the great things and people you have around you.
Happy Easter
This day we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus after being crucified. His death and resurrection was a necessary action to pay for our sins. To a Christian this is probably the most important day of the year as it reminds us to be grateful for the sacrifice Jesus did for us. This day has nothing to do with rabbits, eggs, or anything else. To me this day is even better than Christmas because this is the day Jesus overcame sin and death.
This joyous day is tempered with sadness with the loss of my grandmother. She went to be with Jesus on Friday the 10th of April and tomorrow is her funeral. She will certainly be missed as she was a very good person and loved by everyone that knew her. She had a bad stroke on March first and finally ended her fight on Friday.
This week has been very eventful with some an incredibly windy day driving a small fire into being a large one. There were many homes lost around the city because these fires were out of control. They were still burning as recent as yesterday. Thankfully the powerful winds that drove the flames were replaced by rain last night. We received more than an inch of much needed rain extinguishing the fires.
Now I am going to be off work the rest of this coming week because I have a funeral to go to as well as finish my school paper. I must turn in my final draft by next Friday and time is running out. This journey is almost over and I can hardly wait.
Better Day
Anyone that has had something bad happen to them can attest to having good and bad days. As most of you know my youngest son ran away back in September and came home for one day on Christmas. I thought we had made a lot of progress when he was here. We have not heard from him since Christmas Day. This week was a bad week for me dealing with anger. I’ve had a very ugly attitude this week because of it. Yesterday was the worst day for me so much that I took off work to see if I could speak to the woman that is hiding him. I had no luch as she has moved away and was not at work. I was in a bad mood all day yesterday and was making sniping remarks to people on Twitter at anyone that mention certain topics.
I must say that we made a decision last night that we are not going to worry about him because we made it very clear on Christmas Day that we loved him with no strings attached. We did not preach to him about anything and gave him about the warmest welcome anyone could have asked for. I am confident and have faith that God is in control and that some day he will get past this point in his life and realize that he has a family that loves him. It is not worth being angry all the time. I guess what makes it the most difficult is that people expect teenagers to be rebellious but when you have adults that condone it and enable it, that is hard to take.
On another front, God has shown his greatness today. Some of you may remember my older son having an accident in December just one week after getting his drivers license. Well today we received our insurance renewal and to our surprise it went down $20.00 per month. After a confirmation that it was not a mistake all we could do is praise the Lord! I just want to say Geico has been really good to us and we have had them for 14 years. My wife had an accident a couple years ago, I backed into a car about a year ago and now my son had an accident and they never once raised our rates. That is a miracle in itself and I just want to thank God for this. It is so important to me to give credit where it is due. I just wanted to share this information with you and apologize if you were a target of my rage this week. I do not like being that way but I allowed things to get to me.
This week I begin my final Thesis for the University of Oklahoma. It has been a long and tiresome road but I am almost done. It is hard to believe I am on my last course and it is almost over.
How Different People Can Be
It is no secret that people have differences of opinions on virtually any topic. It should be no surprise that you are going to have people that want to legalize marijuana usage. I have heard many arguments on both sides of the argument. Those people wanting to legalize it usually post about how it can be used for medical purposes with a prescription. Others that I run across are just opposed to the restriction because they do not like the government imposing laws on individuals. After all any restriction is bad unless it is something that you oppose yourself. This evening I ran across a post on Friendfeed from a guy that is known for starting controversy. I purposely do not mention his name because it gives him unnecessary traffic when search engines pick up my post with his name.
This Friendfeed post was about legalizing marijuana and at the time of this post everyone of the comments attached to it were pro legalizing marijuana. Although I disagree with this opinion he has a right to say what he wants. What really surprised me was how one guy posts “I think the people who dismiss this as unimportant have no grasp of the scale and scope at which drug prohibition destroys lives.” This opinion just defies logic to me. How can a prohibition of drugs destroy people’s lives? There opinions are that the prohibition drives up the costs and drug lords use the money to buy weopons and make it dangerous. This is the typical liberal approach to things like this. Others think that you should legalize it and tax it. The problem with that is that people will go around the systems. Have they not been paying attention to the mp3 downloading of the last six or seven years? People opt for the cheap as in free if they can get it. If Marijuana is legal and taxed people would still rather grow their own and not pay any taxes. This notion that making Marijuana illegal is responsible for the violence in the drug trade are dismissing the fact that these countries are lawless already. When they make Marijuana legal the dealers will go to the next drug that is illegal. There is an attitude that people have that says that since someone is going to do something anyway then there should be no restrictions on them. Sort of like giving condoms to children because “they are going to do it anyway”. Why make drinking and driving illegal because “they are going to do it anyway”. Why have copyright laws because they are going to share it anyway? Why wash dishes because they are going to get dirty anyway?
It should be no surprise to me that people can be so opposite on some topics but I must admit that I am surprised. The assumption that all parents have common interests and will be in agreement on such important things as a runaway child is another thing that was a wake up call for me. Three years ago I had a 13 year old son run away on several occasions. On each occasion we found that other parents were hiding him in their homes. When confronted they would tell me they were told that I was abusing him. I would return with the statement that if they suspected that I was abusing my son, then they have an obligation to report me. It is illegal to hid a runaway from their parents but I was shocked to find that on every single occasion the parent would hid him from us.
We live in a lawless society now. People will disregard every law as though it does not exist. This is what makes me laugh when I hear people advocate new gun laws. If the criminal is willing to ignore the law that says you should not kill someone, what makes you think they will obey the law that says you cannot have a gun? This is a new day that we are living and if you have been alive for more than 40 years I am sure you have seen the change. The people that acuse religious people of being the ones that bring hate and intollerance need to wake up. We now live in a day where religion is virtual profanity . We are seeing all sorts of sexual crimes on the news every day. We are watching political crimes, corporate corruption, and a world that is spending more than they make. We now have school shootings and all sorts of crimes daily on the news. I guess the non religion crowd needs to see their way is not working. It is not going to work either. I am old enough to remember that we did not have cameras in school because we did not need them.
The reason people do not want to even consider the existence of God is because that would be the recognition of the ultimate law. If God is real then we are not at liberty to live totally free with no restrictions. If God is real then we have to recognize there is a concrete right and wrong. Again, I realize that people have differences of opinions but I still get surprised to the degree of differences. Somethings are so obvious to one person while to another person the opposite is true. This is what you get when you have nothing that is immovable, non negotiable to base right and wrong. When there is no religion there is confusion and wandering around. You have people that operate on consensus or the majority rules. This sounds like an innocent way to live until you put a few scenarios together. What happens when you have three people in a room where there is two men and one women and the two men vote to rape the woman? She must comply because the majority rules. What happens when the media hypotheticallyconvinces the majority that slavery is acceptable? The majority agrees that slavery is acceptable so it must be right. Who dares to go against the group? If there is no absolutes then who is to say.
Others think that anything is acceptable as long as it does not hurt anyone. Who determines what hurting is? What happens if the father decides that he wants to get into pornography? It seems that no one gets hurt in this innocent activity. Ask the wife if it hurts anyone. Pornography does hurt families and can result in families breaking up and the children actually do get hurt. This post is not an attempt to preach my rules on anyone but rather to explain my position. My position is that virtually every moral belief in our country has its roots in Christianity. If you take away the concrete, absolute values that are in the Bible, then who determines what is acceptable or not? There are those that would argue that religion has caused more wars and problems in the world than anything else. In these cases you will find that it was usually someone that was operating against the doctrines but claimed to be operating under the doctrine. An example of this would be the Ku Klux Klan. They boast Christianity though the Bible opposes their actions. It is easy to claim something even when you are not one of them.
You can agree with me or disagree but this is my feeling on matters. I may be not be right on everything but this is my opinion. Whether you agree or disagree with my opinions you must agree that it is amazing the degree to which people can disagree. I do not expect everyone to agree with my opinions but I have a hard time understanding how some fundamental things can be seen with complete opposite points of view. One group thinks slavery is acceptable while claiming Christianity while the very doctrine opposes it. I just thought I would share my thoughts on this.
Believe God
A friend sent me an email and pointed out a Bible scripture to me and it made me think. He told me that believing God is more important than believing IN God. When I began to think of the reality of this I remembered several places in the Bible where it said just that. This is a profound statement because we hear all the time that 80% of the people in this country believe in God. These polls are always pretty generic and basically all it says is that people believe in a higher being and not in THE God. We have heard many times starting all the way back to Adam and Eve that to sin means death. This death is not only a physical death but a separation from God. Since it is virtually impossible to live completely sinless, God gave us a way to be saved from this death by sending his son , a sinless man, to die and pay for our sins. This payment though free for us has a requirement that we believe. In Romans 10:9-10 it says…
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
According to this scripture it is important to not only believe but to speak it. The Bible puts so much weight into faith. The Bible repeats over and over again that faith is the moving factor that moves God. Although it is true that we are not saved by our works, the Bible is clear that if you have this faith you will have works. In James 2:18 it says…
Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
This faith is not just a philosophy but a requirement. The Bible clearly says in Hebrew 11:6 that if you want something from God, that you must believe…
But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Simply believing in God is not enough because even the devil himself believes in God. James 2:19 says…
Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
When I say believe God as opposed to believing in God I mean that if a person believes God they will take what he says and follow his commandments. Yes there will be failures and thankfully when we do, we have a savior to advocate on our behalf 1 John 2:1…
My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
There must be a change that is visible from the outside. If a person truly believes something there will be a visible sign. The person’s life will be noticeably changed. Just as was quoted in James 2:18 above, a true faith will have works…not as a requirement but simply as a result of that faith. Another thing that is interesting to note is how the Bible puts a lot of weight behind a confession of this faith. It is not easy to confess this faith to non believers. This confession is an outward expression of the faith that is within. This is not a small thing. Even in the prophetic words of Revelation during this 1000 years the people overcame the devil by the blood of the lamb and by their words. Revelation 12:11…
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
This testimony is not just someone saying what someone else wants to hear. This is confessing their faith in Jesus as their Lord and Savior against all odds. In this story there was not physical reason for them to have faith. The appearance of things looked pretty gloomy. This is why I think it is important to tell people about your faith. I do not think it is necessary to push it down their throats. If they do not want to hear it then they have made their decision. If you truly believe that Jesus’ death saved you from eternal death then you want to tell people.
There are so many examples in the Bible about believing God as in trusting him. Remember the story of Abraham willing to sacrifice his son for God? In that case his faith was rewarded and a sacrifice was supplied. Romans 4:3 says…
For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
Abraham did not just believe in God, he believed God. He saw God for who he was and treated him that way. He understood that God was even more important than his own son. Abel’s faith resulted in works and that faith was recognized… Hebrews 11:4…
By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.
There are so many other examples that I could quote but the point is clear. Jesus died and paid for the sins that we were incabable of doing. The only way we can gain access to that payment is by faith. This payment is free for us if we will just take it but without faith it is impossible to please God. The only place that I have found in the Bible on how to gain faith is by hearing the word of God as spoken so clearly in Romans 10:17
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
The bottom line is that you must spend time in God’s word, the Bible if you are to gain faith. There is no other way around it. The world is against you so you need to spend time in God’s word or you will get beat up regularly. The Holy Spirit will bring to remembrance the scriptures when the time comes. The Bible speaks of a time when you will be killed for his name. Matthew 24:9 says…
Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.
I must admit this scared me when I was younger. At the same time I was thankful for living in a Christian nation where people were friendly to Christianity. I knew this would come some day but thought that it would not come until after my life time. Over the last twenty years I have been shocked to see how those that oppose God have been very militant and gone to court to remove any reference to God in public life. I have spent many hours on Friendfeed being attacked for my faith. My point is that it is not something that is coming, but rather something that is here. Our country that use to be so friendly to Christianity has changed to a point that sees Christianity as a threat. The hostility is there and growing. I cannot tell you how important it is for you to spend time reading God’s word. Do not worry that you cannot understand it because the Holy Spirit will reveal it to you if you faithfully read it in faith.
I can remember a time when I would read the Bible with the intentions of proving it wrong. I remember I use to take scriptures out of context for the sole purpose to show contradictions. It was not until 1986 when I truly accepted Jesus as my Savior and desired nothing but him that his words were revealed to me. I get chills just remembering that time because it was real and it is still real. If you are a believer you need to spend time in God’s word and not worry about what people are going to say about you. They will attack you for sure and you know that. Jesus said in John 15:20…
Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
If you are doing God’s will, the world WILL persecute you. There is no question about it. The only way you will be able to stand in that day is if you spend time in the Bible to keep your faith strong. The Holy Spirit will speak through you in that time. It is not about being good or being bad. It is about Jesus! If you do not believe me just try an experiment. Go into a room of unbelievers and begin a casual conversation about God in a generic sense. Most people will not have a problem with it but the moment you mention Jesus’ name you will see them squirm. They will either attack you, or change the subject, or just leave. There is power in Jesus’ name and if you do not spend time in God’s word, you will not have the faith to stand. Christian music will not do it for you. It has to be hearing the word of God. Remember, simply believing in God is not enough as even the devil himself believes. You must believe God. FAITH. You cannot get faith any other way than to spend time in God’s word. The world finds us as an annoyance now and in some cases as a threat. Soon and very soon we will not be tolerated. Now is the time to take this serious and believe God. I just want to thank my friend Jack for bringing this to my attention. This is something that I needed to hear myself. Sometimes we get so busy with life that we do not allow ourselves to have time for God. I am thankful to have friends that are there to remind me what is important.
God With Us
Who are we— that You would be mindful of us?
What do You see— that’s worth looking our way?
We are free— in ways that we never should be.
Sweet release— from the grip of these chains.
Like hinges straining from the weight,
My heart no longer can keep from singing.
All that is within me cries
For You alone be glorified:
Emmanuel, God with us.
My heart sings a brand new song.
The debt is paid, these chains are gone.
Emmanuel, God with us.
Lord, You know— our hearts don’t deserve Your glory;
Still You show— a love we cannot afford.
Like hinges straining from the weight,
My heart no longer can keep from singing.
All that is within me cries
For You alone be glorified:
Emmanuel, God with us.
My heart sings a brand new song.
The debt is paid, these chains are gone.
Emmanuel, God with us.
Such a tiny offering
Compared to Calvary;
Nevertheless,
We lay it at Your feet.
Such a tiny offering
Compared to Calvary;
Nevertheless,
We lay this at Your feet.
All that is within me cries
For You alone be glorified:
Emmanuel, God with us.
My heart sings a brand new song.
My debt is paid, these chains are gone.
Emmanuel, God with us.
Last Sunrise of 2008
This morning I had planned on sleeping late since it is New Years Eve. Since I took the day off it is the beginning of a five day weekend. I went to bed around 12:30 AM last night with the intentions of just waking up on my own but I was violently shaken awake by the alarm clock at 4:45 AM. That is right, I forgot to turn the alarm off last night. I did manage to pull myself together enough to realize that it is my day off and turn the alarm off instead of just hitting the snooze button. Despite my efforts to go back to sleep they were done in vain. Sometime around 6:00 AM I gave up on this effort and got up.
I decided I would take the opportunity to take advantage of the orange coming through my window and take some pictures. This was taken December 31st as the last sunrise of the year. It was a bit chilly out there and the traffic was slow because of the New Year holiday. As I watched the sun rise in the East, I am reminded of the new beginning we were given as Jesus died for my sins and the rest of the world. As the year 2008 passes so does our past. It is time for a new day, a new month, a new year. We can put the mistakes of our past behind us and start over with a new beginning. As beautiful as this sunrise was, it pales in comparison to what Jesus has done for us.
I would like to start this new year being grateful for all that I have. I have been so blessed that it is hard to measure. Despite my failures, God has given me a wonderful family, job, home, and the means to live a decent life. As if all these things were not enough, God saw it necessary to give me a way to have my sins forgiven through Jesus’ death on the cross. I would just like to say Thank you God.
Heartfelt Gratitude
As I sit here typing this post I struggle to hold back the tears of emotion. My son is sleeping in his own bed here in our home. I never imagined how emotional this would be but this morning I am met with joy, grattitude, and shame for not trusting in God to bring my son home. He ran away on September 26, 2008 after a very harsh confrontation between him and myself. The last three months I have been angry, bitter, sad, and guilt along with every emotion a person can go through. My son had cut off all communication with us and making things better was impossible. The very mention of Christmas made me angry. My wife and other son have been incredible with their support and mourning the loss of 25% of our family. It truly has been like a death in the family only worse becase this loss was because of anger. I know my son is not here to stay but his being here is the best Christmas gift I have ever had. I stopped praying for his return but only that he would be happy.
This morning both of my sons are still asleep but my wife and I have been struggling with emotion. All I can say is “Thank you God!” Thank you for not giving up on us. Thank you for taking care of my son. Thank you for my family that stayed behind. Thank you most of all for sending your son to die to pay for my sins. This day we celebrate the birth of your son, we get to celebrate the second birth of ours. God I pray that our other son will not hate his brother or us for being happy to see him. This day we celebrate the miracle of Jesus’ birth and the miracle of my son that was lost.
I just want to say thank you for the countless people that have prayed for our family. This truly is a miracle and I want everyone to know how greatful that I am. I love my family and this moment is hard to express with words. The many emotions that I feel at this moment cannot be expressed with words. I am sorry God for not trusting in your greatness and power. I feel shame for not having faith. I feel shame for lashing out at everyone. I feel gratitude for being given such a gift when I am not worthy. I feel gratitude for such a loving wife and mother Sunday. Words cannot express how much I love her. Short of Jesus himself, she is the very reason I wake up in the morning. Thank you Sunday for all that you are. Thank you Kevin for being the strong son that has been there for me and supported mom and I. Thank you for being the incredible son that anyone could ask for. Thank you Jordan for forgiving me enough to come home. I love my family and I love the God that gave them to me.
As painful as it was to lose my mom in 2005, this was even more painful. I miss my mom so much and I wish she could be here with us. I missed Jordan and just wanted to tell him that I love him but I could not because he would not speak to me. Now that he is home all I have to offer him is all the love that I can give and no lectures. He and Kevin are so important to Sunday and I and no one can put a value on that. This is honestly the first time in my life that I have been so greatful for a gift that it has brought me to tears. All I can say is thank you God. Thank you again and a million times. If I gave you all that I am, it could not be enough to repay you for the gratitude that I feel. This is truly the happiest Christmas that I have ever had.
All I can say is Thank you…
Praise The Lord!
My wife and I came home from work this Christmas Eve and my son came to the door at 4:00 PM. He is going to stay until around noon on Christmas Day. We had a nice evening and went out to dinner. I just wanted to tell the world about our Christmas miracle. After the terrible week that I had, this is just what I needed.
Thank you God!