Community

On Tuesday night I had the privilege of sitting down with some dear friends from my childhood in Seattle.  Marian and Mark were here visiting and reuniting with long time colleagues of her husband (Mark’s dad) at the air base in Fort Worth.  Dan was a heavy influence upon my young life growing up in Seattle.   He passed a while back, and it was good medicine to visit with his wife and son.

As we sat there at a restaurant in Richardson for nearly 3 hours, something dawned on me.  Marian is older than my mother, and Mark is more like an uncle to me.  The conversation was non-stop, yet there was really nothing to point at as a commonality between nearly three generations represented at that small table.  I wondered to myself how can these three adults sit and talk like best friends with such a varied age distribution and life station?  

Homecoming Recap

Last weekend I attended a few of my alma mater’s homecoming festivities out in West Texas.  I had made contact with a short list of old friends ahead of time.  It was really inspiring to see how old stories, and probably many wrongs, were forgotten through old age, maturity and even grace.  Whenever you get a chance to witness life change it always leaves a lasting impression.  That was certainly the case last weekend. 

I also had a chance to buy lunch for my 90 year-old grandmother, my aunt and her granddaughter.  It was wonderful spending a brief time with them… always feels like home.  In addition to Wayland’s homecoming and a lunch with family, I was able to sneak away and make the 2 hour drive to Pampa to visit a dear friend.  He and his family just moved there from Midland.  Ryan is doing so well in his role as Market President of Happy State Bank.  Yes, it’s called Happy State Bank.  I didn’t make that up.  Anyhow, Ryan is doing well and I am very proud of him on a number of levels.  Jennifer, his wife, just lost her father to cancer.  Her mom died of cancer as well, so it was important to me to drop in on them. 

I have included a photo I took of Ryan’s mug on a local Pampa billboard.  Ryan M. Monroe everyone…

Ryan said he had no choice... uh, huh.

Good stuff!

Had small group tonight.  We have been hosting since our normal host home is now occupied with a newborn!  A few weeks back, one of our couples announced their new pregnancy.   Tonight we were presented with yet another announcement… another baby!  The uniquely exciting component to this announcement is that this couple has been trying for years to get pregnant and were disappointed a number of times, but now they have huge smiles on their faces…. good stuff! 

It’s always a exiciting to welcome new life into this world.

Value of friends

Over my life I have been blessed with a number of really dear and authentic friends.  Many of which didn’t always share the same passions or viewpoints on things like music, beauty, faith and politics.  As I look back this holiday season it really does take my breath away to see how varied my network of trust has become.  I can honestly say that this body of faces have influenced me for the good, and at times for the not so good (You know who you are!).  But even in those chapters of ‘not so good,’ I was bettered because of the awesome byproduct of that companionship… trust. 

Isn’t it trust that draws us to our strongest and most meaninful relationships?  In most cases that trust has been forged through trials, and in the last 15 years or so, trials that I would most certainly point to God’s ordination.  Trust goes beyond just simple memories and laughs.  Those provide great backdrops for friendships that mean something, but in the end it comes back to trust.  As the years have progressed

Fence Post Fun

Well I did it… it wasn’t pretty, but it’s done.  I had to replace a rotted fence post this weekend.  I managed to dig up the old post and the accompanying 2-ton piece of concrete anchoring it.  A funny thing happened throughout the day.  I had four conversations in the midst of the project.  

One conversation was with my back fence neighbors.  Cheri and Bonnie own the house behind us and share the fence with us.  They had noticed its pending demise and were wondering when I was going to get off my duff and fix it!  So in the process of beginning yesterday morning, Cheri and I spoke.  Ashamedly, it was the first conversation I have had with that particular neighbor.  She was very warm and we exchanged a few quick facts.  I look forward to many more conversations with them.  

Son of Whale

Please take a moment and jump over to a colleague’s blog.  His father is fighting for his life at the moment.  It looks rather bleak, but we trust that God will heal. 

Son of Whale