This past Monday and Tuesday Ryan and I spent a couple of days at his home for the next four years - Oklahoma State University. I'm still trying to get used to the fact that a member of my family will be living in Oklahoma instead of Texas! After all the comments I have made from the pulpit about Oklahoma over the past eleven years I guess I'm getting my payback.
We were at OSU for orientation and registration. It was sort of the culmination of the past 18 months or so of Ryan deciding where he would go to college. He started out looking at OSU, then changed to Texas A&M with a little bit of Texas Tech thrown in for good measure. But when all was said and done he chose OSU. I did make him apply to Baylor and he was accepted rather quickly, but I failed in getting him to follow his mothers example and mine by going there. I was resigned to the fact that Ryan would be the one to choose his school and I can honestly say I had decided I would be happy for him whatever his decision. But I will say that last Friday as we were decorating the house and backyard for his graduation party, with all kinds of Orange things I was a little glad I was not putting up maroon!
We do have some Aggie things around the house because his mother jumped the gun at Christmas time and bought some of those gosh awful things. But not me! I told Ryan I was not buying anything that wasn't green until he was certain of where he was going. Last Tuesday when he came out of registration with his official OSU student ID card in hand I said let's go to the spirit shop. Less than 15 minutes after he got the card I bought my first and second orange shirts! Bright, slap you in the face, orange mind you. I bought an orange polo shirt with OSU on the chest and a t-shirt that says OSU Dad. I will proudly wear them both over the next four years any and every weekend of the year except for the Saturday in October of this year when they play Baylor! OSU even had the audacity to schedule Baylor for their homecoming! I will be there that Saturday hoping that Ryan's first homecoming is a great one except for the outcome of the game!
Tami and I are very proud of Ryan and all that he has accomplished during his high school years. We are very excited for him as he gets ready to go off to OSU. I've been told how hard it's going to be about the second week in August when we drop him off in Stillwater and drive away for the first time. I know its true and I'm not looking forward to it, but I am excited for him and for the experiences he will have while there. Most of all I'm proud of the young man he has become and the great things he will do in life. I am and will always be his biggest fan and cheerleader and I will proudly wear that bright orange shirt on many occasions and tell everyone that my son is an OSU Cowboy!
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Monday, April 21, 2008
Spring Has Sprung!
This is my favorite time of the year. (I think I say that same thing about every season of the year!) This is my favorite time because I love trees and plants and shrubs and flowers and this is the time of the year when all of it is blooming and getting green again. This year I decided to do an upgrade on my yard. We have lived in our house for 2 and 1/2 years and while I have done a lot of yard work it was time to move from a "C" yard and flower beds to an "A" yard and flowerbeds.
George, I don't know his last name, put a business card on my mailbox back in the winter. He must have noticed my yard needed some help. George does stone work for flowerbeds and other outdoor creations. I had George come over last November and give me an estimate. I put it off through the winter but when Spring came I started to get the fever and I called George again. He was ready to work so he came back over and we talked about price. I kept adding things and he kept adding things until finally I said ENOUGH and we agreed on the work to be done. George walked all week, except for the one day it rained. By the end of the week he was done. Now it was my turn to plant my plants and my begonias. Did I mention my wife loves begonias? I planted 20 flats of begonias. You may or may not know that there are 18 plants in a flat. You do the math! Finally last Friday I was done! The plants are all in and the flowers all planted and I have my "A" yard, at least I like to think it's an A yard.
My back is just about healed enough that I can walk straight up again! It's going to be a great Spring and Summer watching it all grow and seeing the colors and the beauty of it all. The greatest thing about all of it though is that it reminds me of the greatness of our God. He is the one that created the beauty and brings the New Life. I hope you are having a great Spring enjoying the New Life God has for you.
George, I don't know his last name, put a business card on my mailbox back in the winter. He must have noticed my yard needed some help. George does stone work for flowerbeds and other outdoor creations. I had George come over last November and give me an estimate. I put it off through the winter but when Spring came I started to get the fever and I called George again. He was ready to work so he came back over and we talked about price. I kept adding things and he kept adding things until finally I said ENOUGH and we agreed on the work to be done. George walked all week, except for the one day it rained. By the end of the week he was done. Now it was my turn to plant my plants and my begonias. Did I mention my wife loves begonias? I planted 20 flats of begonias. You may or may not know that there are 18 plants in a flat. You do the math! Finally last Friday I was done! The plants are all in and the flowers all planted and I have my "A" yard, at least I like to think it's an A yard.
My back is just about healed enough that I can walk straight up again! It's going to be a great Spring and Summer watching it all grow and seeing the colors and the beauty of it all. The greatest thing about all of it though is that it reminds me of the greatness of our God. He is the one that created the beauty and brings the New Life. I hope you are having a great Spring enjoying the New Life God has for you.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Where are the Heroes?
This past Saturday night I watched the NBA All-Star weekend events from New Orleans, Louisiana. NBA All-Star weekend is filled with great events that ends with the worst basketball game of the year where there is absolutely no defense played whatsoever. I could care less about the game but I do like watching the three point shootout and especially the slam dunk contest. I will admit that in recent years the slam dunk contest has become just a repeat of the year before and I had somewhat lost interest. But this one was unbelievable. Dwight Howard is the 6'11" 265 pound power foward of the Orlando Magic. This guy put on a show. At 6'11" he's already closer to the rim than most people but his jumping ability puts him in another deminision. His dunks were creative and spectacular. Definitely worth a search of the video if you missed it on Saturday night.
No doubt millions of young boys were watching the events of the weekend and now millions will try to imitate his dunks on their 6 foot goals in the backyard. All of them will want to be Dwight Howard just like my generation wanted to be Dr. J 25 years ago.
Athletes have become the heroes of our day. We have made them such by the ridiculous salaries we pay them to play games. Jason Kidd has been rumored to be coming to the Dallas Mavericks in a trade. Jason Kidd makes $19 million a year and is scheduled to make $21 million next year. Jason Kidd's salary this year would fund the entire budget of my church for over 5 years! That includes all of the expenses we incure including supporting missionaries, paying the salaries of over 100 people, building costs, ministry budgets, helping people in need and dozens of other things. Don't get me wrong I'm all for Jason Kidd making however much money he can. If that is what he can demand for his services, more power to him. That is the power of Capitalism in action.
But the thing that bothers me is that we have created a culture in which our young people look to these high paid athletes to find their heroes. Most athletes make pretty good role models. For every athlete that gets arrested for bad conduct there are a dozen who give of themselves to help people in the community and present themselves in a honorble way. But we need to point our kids to the real heroes. Men like Justin Monschke who lost his life fighting for his country in Iraq in October 2007. Or men like Shane Kizer, a Denton Police officer pictured in the Denton Record Chronicle comforting a young boy whose father had kidnapped him and brought him to Denton.
These men and women are the real heroes our young people need to want to be like. They don't make millions of dollars like the athletes, they don't play in front of millions of fans and get mobbed every time they go out in public. Instead they make our world a safer and better place to live in. Let's point out kids to the real heroes of our day!
No doubt millions of young boys were watching the events of the weekend and now millions will try to imitate his dunks on their 6 foot goals in the backyard. All of them will want to be Dwight Howard just like my generation wanted to be Dr. J 25 years ago.
Athletes have become the heroes of our day. We have made them such by the ridiculous salaries we pay them to play games. Jason Kidd has been rumored to be coming to the Dallas Mavericks in a trade. Jason Kidd makes $19 million a year and is scheduled to make $21 million next year. Jason Kidd's salary this year would fund the entire budget of my church for over 5 years! That includes all of the expenses we incure including supporting missionaries, paying the salaries of over 100 people, building costs, ministry budgets, helping people in need and dozens of other things. Don't get me wrong I'm all for Jason Kidd making however much money he can. If that is what he can demand for his services, more power to him. That is the power of Capitalism in action.
But the thing that bothers me is that we have created a culture in which our young people look to these high paid athletes to find their heroes. Most athletes make pretty good role models. For every athlete that gets arrested for bad conduct there are a dozen who give of themselves to help people in the community and present themselves in a honorble way. But we need to point our kids to the real heroes. Men like Justin Monschke who lost his life fighting for his country in Iraq in October 2007. Or men like Shane Kizer, a Denton Police officer pictured in the Denton Record Chronicle comforting a young boy whose father had kidnapped him and brought him to Denton.
These men and women are the real heroes our young people need to want to be like. They don't make millions of dollars like the athletes, they don't play in front of millions of fans and get mobbed every time they go out in public. Instead they make our world a safer and better place to live in. Let's point out kids to the real heroes of our day!
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Six Months to Major Change
It has just been in the last few weeks that it has hit me. In six months there will be a major change at the Williams household. Sometime in the first couple of weeks of August this year, Ryan Taylor Williams will no longer be a full time resident at the Williams' house. On June 6th of this year Ryan will graduate from Billy Ryan High School and in August he will be off to college, hopefully at Texas A&M University. Now I know that millions of fathers have done this before me and most if not all have survived. But yours truely has never done this!
A couple of weeks ago Tami and I were lying in bed talking and I said to her, you know that in seven months he's going to be gone. She said what? I said you know that in seven months Ryan will be gone! She said, "I don't want to talk about it." So we didn't! Needless to say Tami and I are not looking forward with great anticipation to that day. But while we are not looking forward to it we are quite proud of the transition that will take place.
Like all of you who are parents, I still remember the day Ryan was born at Baylor hospital in Dallas, Texas. What a great place to be born! I remember how proud I was to go out and tell all our family that I had a son. He was born on Wednesday and that Sunday we watched our first Dallas Cowboys football game together, I don't remember if the Cowboys won or not but I do remember Ryan wore his Cowboys socks! From that day to this one Ryan has been nothing but a blessing to Tami and me.
I remember when Ryan and Alyssa were young, worrying that they might turn out to be "typical Preacher's kids." You know the type, rebellious, hating church because their Dad's work too much and don't pay enough attention to them. Many of them drop out of church the moment they leave home and don't return for years. I had seen examples of that and I was determined not to let that happen with my children. Preachers' kids have it tough, and anyone who is not one has no idea the pressures and expectations put on them. Having said that I am so thankful for First Baptist Church in Pleasanton and especially for over 10 years now First Baptist Church Denton that my children love their church. Never once have I had to tell my children "you are going to church" they have always wanted to, even sometimes when I didn't want to go! In fact when I'm on vacation and we are in town, Tami and I want to visit other churches, but not my kids they want to go to "Their Church." Wow! I couldn't have asked for more than that!
Its' because of the churches that God has privileged me to pastor that Ryan will leave home this August with the strong spiritual foundation he will. It's my prayer he will continue to build upon that foundation for the next four years in college and I firmly believe he will.
Ryan is the finest young man I know. He is intelligent, good-looking, he has a caring heart and a great sense of where he is heading in life. Right now I don't want to think about the change coming this August but I couldn't be more proud and thankful for the Godly young man he has become. We are in for some major change with him leaving home. Those of you who have sent your kids to college know what I'm talking about. We will make the change just like we have others in the past, but I'll be honest with you, I'm really not looking forward to it!
A couple of weeks ago Tami and I were lying in bed talking and I said to her, you know that in seven months he's going to be gone. She said what? I said you know that in seven months Ryan will be gone! She said, "I don't want to talk about it." So we didn't! Needless to say Tami and I are not looking forward with great anticipation to that day. But while we are not looking forward to it we are quite proud of the transition that will take place.
Like all of you who are parents, I still remember the day Ryan was born at Baylor hospital in Dallas, Texas. What a great place to be born! I remember how proud I was to go out and tell all our family that I had a son. He was born on Wednesday and that Sunday we watched our first Dallas Cowboys football game together, I don't remember if the Cowboys won or not but I do remember Ryan wore his Cowboys socks! From that day to this one Ryan has been nothing but a blessing to Tami and me.
I remember when Ryan and Alyssa were young, worrying that they might turn out to be "typical Preacher's kids." You know the type, rebellious, hating church because their Dad's work too much and don't pay enough attention to them. Many of them drop out of church the moment they leave home and don't return for years. I had seen examples of that and I was determined not to let that happen with my children. Preachers' kids have it tough, and anyone who is not one has no idea the pressures and expectations put on them. Having said that I am so thankful for First Baptist Church in Pleasanton and especially for over 10 years now First Baptist Church Denton that my children love their church. Never once have I had to tell my children "you are going to church" they have always wanted to, even sometimes when I didn't want to go! In fact when I'm on vacation and we are in town, Tami and I want to visit other churches, but not my kids they want to go to "Their Church." Wow! I couldn't have asked for more than that!
Its' because of the churches that God has privileged me to pastor that Ryan will leave home this August with the strong spiritual foundation he will. It's my prayer he will continue to build upon that foundation for the next four years in college and I firmly believe he will.
Ryan is the finest young man I know. He is intelligent, good-looking, he has a caring heart and a great sense of where he is heading in life. Right now I don't want to think about the change coming this August but I couldn't be more proud and thankful for the Godly young man he has become. We are in for some major change with him leaving home. Those of you who have sent your kids to college know what I'm talking about. We will make the change just like we have others in the past, but I'll be honest with you, I'm really not looking forward to it!
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