First Day of School

Who could have guessed that I would start to school the same day as my five year old? He goes to Kindergarten. I go to teach at the university.

Who could have imagined even three months ago we would both live in Abilene, TX? Tomorrow morning, I will walk with my son to school and then I will turn and walk in the opposite direction to serve as faculty in the College of Biblical Studies at ACU.

Nathan has grown into a super little guy. He is thrilled about his school, excited about his new town, pleased about his teacher, and looking forward to learning with brand new friends.

His Dad, on the other hand, has a less clear picture of life. Oh if only I had to buy glue, markers, Kleenex, and pencils. If only my biggest concern was where I would sit in my one classroom. Instead, I make a major career change from daily ministry and weekly preaching to become Director of Ministry Events and adjunct professor of undergraduate and graduate Bible students.

I have not yet put my finger on the right word. It is not worry nor fear nor sadness. It is something like uncertainty. Actually, it is a lot like the feeling I got on the night before school before a major grade change. Like when I went from elementary to junior high or junior high to high school or high school to college. There was just a bit of uncertainty, the unknown was all I could know the night before the new experience. Once my feet were wet, I never looked back.

Tonight my prayer is that I will walk with the same zip and energy to teach that Nathan will have to learn. We will both be learners. In life, even those who teach learn from the eternal wisdom of the ever present teacher. May we never stop learning from the new experiences of life.

Welcome Home

It is a great feeling to watch other people come in and load all of your heavy furniture onto a truck. I have never experienced someone else moving my stuff for me. Sure every time I have moved other people have helped. Friends, family and members of our faith community always chip in and make quick work out of moving. However, this time I was able to sit back and watch rather than direct and sort and lift and load. It was great and it was the only thing that helped fight back the sadness of leaving behind our life in Denton.

The crew left by 3:30 p.m. and Donna and I cleaned for the next three hours. The house was left in perfect condition, clean, touched up, and looking like a brand new home. We pulled out to eat our last meal in Denton at New York Sub Hub on loop 288. They make the best sub sandwich around. Fresh bread is made every day by La Madeline Bakery. There means and veggies are complimented with a great secret Italian dressing that is perfect. Donna announced to the owner manager that this was our last meal in Denton. He was pleased at our choice.

By the time we got into our cars we were worn out. We talked to each other on cell phones as we left the city limits of Denton, leaving behind the home and friends and church family we had know for the better part of a decade. I put my MP3 player on random and we road into the sunset.

Supposedly, we were heading to “the hill” in Abilene, Texas home to Abilene Christian University. However, on the outskirts of Fort Worth the terrain flattens and the road descends like a plane coming into a runway. While we were going to the hill, we were descending from the hill of Denton, Dallas, and Fort Worth.

Our rent house had no Air Conditioning so we asked the Siburt’s for a place to land for the night. We arrived at their home on the hill a few minutes before 10 p.m. Charlie’s first words were “Welcome Home.”

Welcome home . . . we both chuckled. That’s right a short journey had brought us to a new place, that was an old place, and already was a home welcoming us to a new life.

Free Chick

Our home group began to get excited about a field trip. Normally, we do pretty basic things together each week: eat, laugh, pray, cry, tell stories, share Bible stories, and encourage one another. But our group had the chance to do something out of the ordinary - an all night field trip.

Our local Chick-fil-a at the Denton Crossing shopping center was celebrating their 1 year anniversary. The first of a very limited number of people through the door would receive free Chick-fil-a (or what my 2 year old daughter calls "Chicken Play") for one year. Free food for a year sounded pretty good to our group.

Most people do not know that every brand new "Chicken Play" does this at their grand opening. A month earlier our group had tried to do this, but none of us could swing it. So, here we were out all night with our home group. We played board games, threw the football, listened to music, slept, talked, and had a great time watching for the sun rise.

After a night of fun, we high-fived a cow in PJs and sat down for a chicken biscuit breakfast sandwich. What crazy thing have you done lately? Is life about routine and order and schedule? It may be that there is room for some of your God given creativity to break through and enjoy the free chicken play of life.

Travis

I recently caught a Travis concert at the House of Blues in Dallas. It is always great to see one of your favorite bands live, but this was outstanding. My buddy James and I made our debut visit to the House of Blues and really enjoyed the venue.

We had trouble finding the door when we walked up to HoB. We stopped next two huge tour buses in what we later discovered was the back. Out of the bus pops two guys who begin playing soccer on the sidewalk. I elbowed James and said, "I think that is Fran." It turns out the lead singer is a pretty good soccer player and that roadies make for good partners.

I stood there wondering what to do because I did not even have a pen. Finally, we just went up to him to see if he really was Fran. He was extremely nice. He even went onto the bus to get a Sharpie pen and sign my ticket. Finally, he posed with us for a picture. There were quite a few things I thought later that I should have asked, but I guess that is the way it goes. You don't expect to meet the lead singer of your new favorite band on the street corner.

The concert was a lot of fun. These guys obviously love what they are doing and let nothing stop them from having a good time and playing great tunes. Travis seemed unphased by frigid Texas A/C, reverberations from the next room, or faulty guitar on the first song. They played a number of my favorites: Side, My Eyes, Humpty Dumpty Love Song, Sing and my son's favorites: Selfish Jean and Closer.

I never could tell my 5 year old son that I was going to this concert. He would have been bugging me every day to go. He is a big fan and plays their songs over and over again. Nathan was thrilled when I told him about the concert and showed him my picture with lead singer. Music is good for the soul.