Back in the Saddle

Today is the day!  After 12 weeks today is my first day back in the office.  Staff members have been introducing themselves to me all day long!  I'm grateful because I've forgotten some of their names!  Not really but it is good to be back.  Over the past 12 weeks I have worshipped in over a dozen different churches, written five chapters on what I anticipate will be about a 10-12 chapter book, I have spent a lot of time listening to God and what I believe is His plan for the next several years for our church and I have spent a lot of time recharging my life and recommitting myself to what God has for me and our church.  I am so grateful to our personnel committee and to our entire church for giving me this opportunity.  It came at a time when I really needed it and I believe it will be of benefit to me and to the church for years to come.  I plan to spend the next several months telling you about the last twelve weeks in many different ways including sermons and just one on one.

This past weekend Tami, Alyssa and I traveled to Stillwater Oklahoma to watch Ryan suit up for his first Oklahoma State Football game.  The day was great as we watched him participate in the "walk" where the football team walks about three blocks to the stadium with thousands of fans lining the path.  We watched him run onto the field with 60,000 fans cheering them on and probably the coolest part of the day for me was when we were waiting for him to come out of the locker room after the game.  As he came out a boy who looked to be about seven years of age asked Ryan for his autograph.  Now that was cool!!!

Today is Ryan's 21st birthday.  Hard to believe it was 21 years ago today when God blessed us with a perfect baby boy that has grown into a man of God.  I'm proud of Ryan for so many different reasons.  The fact that he plays football for a Division 1 football program is not even near the top of the list.  The fact that he has become a Godly man who cares for others and who works hard to earn everything he gets is at the top of the list.  I'm thankful for a church that helped Tami and I raise him and shape him into the man he is today.  I'm thankful for a wife and mother that has loved him and molded him into the caring man he is today.  I'm thankful for coaches and Sunday School teachers, friends and family members that have helped us lead Ryan into adulthood.  I told him today he is now a man, no longer a boy, he has earned the right to be called a man and I am blessed to be his father. 

Happy Birthday Ryan!  I Love You and I'm proud of the man you have become!