Man what a great day...it is my 56th birthday and I just feel ... I feel my legs ... my feet ... as opposed to not being able to feel. But hey, I have joined a whole host of well-wishers on "my day" which include my wonderful wife ... Sarah, my magnificent daughters ... Alana and Alisha, a wide range of friends and other loved ones ... those in prison and those now out ...ain't life grand!?
And as the hits keep coming I spend some time with each persons' face flashing before me and I remember something we enjoyed or endured together. Where has the time gone and man didn't we have a fine time. What I wouldn't give to hear Bobby Martin make fun of my "golf" game again, not to mention just watching Eric Barron and Bret McKee drive around the golf coarse in a cart... together--and to laugh until it hurt with Terry White over the second and only time we would get up at 5:00 o'clock in the morning to run ...what were we thinking? I will never forget setting up the "gospel tent" with Steven Berry in Conrad, Montana to only be attacked by an official plague of killer mosquitoes, then of course, traveling to Brainard, Minnesota with that criminally insane youth group from Nederland, Texas to see once again Larry O'Conner get a speeding ticket, Craig Miller order and eat two full steak dinners at Bonanza and the look on the faces of that angelic group of teens as they saw the dirt-floored "cabins" we were to stay in all week long ... those were the days! Then, who wouldn't want to hear once again Ben Mc Connell and Curtis Petty have a highly intellectual discussion about anything--multitudes would often be dumb-founded at the depth of their insights. Could I ever forget the blizzard Sarah, Alana and I got caught in between Billings and Great Falls ... Alana was cutting teeth and we were snowed in with the screaming little darling for four longs days in a motel in Livingston. I will never forget the absolute joy I had watching my daughter Alisha and her prom date as the long white stretch limo pulled up in front of the house to take then for a night of unexpected luxury ... the best $600 dollars I had spent in a long time. And, finally, the endless times Sarah and I packed up ... set up ... packed up and set up ... in order share the gospel one more time ...wait, that's still happening!
Ok, I'm through with memory lane, but today's birthday is much more than one more year ... it's a lifetime of years and great memories. Little did mom and dad realize the indescribable gift of life they bestowed upon me ... and I'm not finished yet.
Then, if the day was not a blessing already, my heavenly Father woke me up early and gave me a brand new gospel message to share with people somewhere down the road. Thanks for the look back today heavenly Father, but thank You also for the look ahead ... it is a New Day! By the way, thanks Pepe... man's best friend, for your birthday wishes as well.
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