Once In A Lifetime Love!

One of my favorite songs is by Alan Jackson. It is the song that Anita and I danced to at our daughter's wedding. The words go like this,



"Some people have it, some people don't,

Some people never will...

A once in a lifetime love, a love like we've all dreamed of.

It may go disguised right before your eyes,

A once in a lifetime love."



I can tell you that I met my once in a lifetime love over 35 years ago. It was not love at first sight, but rather the beginning of a friendship that would grow over the coming years and would become the basis for a once in a lifetime love. In 1975, our friendship became more, aided by homemade peach shortcake, squash casserole, fried okra and other foods that no self-respecting Texan could ever pass up. That summer evening in June, I asked the former Anita Horton to marry me and to my utter and profound amazement, she said yes! I will never understand why or how she loves me, but I thank God for that love every day.

Over the years, she has supported me and our children and now our son-in-law and daughter-in-law and our grandsons with a truly unconditional love. She is indeed the wisest woman I know and the most godly. She has an overflowing of faith and grace in her Lord and Savior. I do know this, one day when she stands before our Lord, she will receive a crown that has many jewels and I also know that she will look forward to laying that same crown at the feet of her Savior. In short, she is my hero and my once in a lifetime love!

Happy birthday, sweetheart!

I love you,
C

Sometimes Moving On Is Hard

Most of you know that for the past 23 years, I have taught pre-schoolers. I love pre-schoolers and everything about them! I love their wide-eyed innocence, their curiosity and desire to learn, and mostly, I love their open and child-like faith in a God they cannot see and a Savior who loves them. This Sunday will be the last Sunday that I teach pre-schoolers for awhile. You see, God has another place for me to serve Him and give Him the glory and honor He is due! I guess you could say that I am being promoted. Beginning in November, I will begin to co-teach an Adult Bible Fellowship Group. Anita and I will be helping to start a new class for the 45-55 age group. I will tell you that this is a hard move for me, as well as Anita. Part of the difficulty for me lies in the fact that I care so much for those little pre-schoolers. However, I know God will bring someone else into their lives...I am just sad that it won't be me! You see, I was very comfortable with pre-schoolers and I think therein lies the rub. God is more interested in my character than my comfort! He knows I need lots of character building!

There are other things that make this a hard move for Anita and I. We have been associated with our current BFG for over 5 years and have known most of the couples in this class for going on 20 years. As I thought about our "move", I realized that it is very much like moving away from family. In fact, I can tell you that the friends in this class are truly our family and even though we will see them every Sunday, it will not be the same. No longer will there be the weekly, intimate sharing of God's Word and prayer needs and praise every Sunday. However, we will develop this same intimacy with a new "family." And best of all, the intimacy we have grown to love here in this class will one day be the ultimate fellowship for eternity...and that's worth waiting for! We love you Boyd Bible Fellowship Group!

The Great 2008 Teal Hunt or How to Blow Up a Shotgun Without Even Trying!

Most duck hunters who reside in north central Texas or Oklahoma do not consider the opening of early teal season as anything more than an opportunity to make sure all the gear that will be required for the "real" opening of duck season is hunt-worthy and ready to go. It reminds me of the days when I was much younger and viewed the opening of archery deer season as an early tuneup for the "real" opening of deer season. Now that I am older, I understand that archery season has much to offer on its own merits! In the case of teal season, I have also realized that it offers much to appreciate for those willing to brave mosquitoes that are often larger than the birds themselves, snakes of all variety, temperatures that are often close to triple digits while wearing clothes that could keep a guy warm in sub-freezing December weather and lastly hurricane force rain and wind! Opening day of the 2008 teal season was one the I had looked forward to for several months. It was going to be the first time to take my son-in-law, Tim Williamson, on a duck hunt. Tim is the Weapons Officer on a US Navy submarine and was moving to a new duty station. He and my daughter and grandsons were spending a few weeks in Dallas attending his sister's wedding and equally important (sorry, Lindsy!) participating in what we call the Great 2008 Teal Season Opener!

We planned to hunt in Oklahoma, with a friend of Mark's named Luke Dunlap. Luke is a great hunting buddy...well, he is pretty much a great guy and the hunting part makes it even better. Now one of the things that none of us counted on was the fact that the women in our lives...my wife (and mother to Mark and mother-in-law to Tim), my daughter (and wife to Tim and sister to Mark) and Tim's mother would find anything amiss in the plan to hunt opening morning of teal season. Coincidentally, teal season corresponded with Tim's sister's wedding day! I assume most of you can see where we failed to appropriately plan here? Anyway, as we got closer to the actual day (teal season and Lindsy's wedding) the weather forecasters began to make evil prognostications about some minor storm in the Gulf of Mexico named Ike. The forecast was for gale force (45-50 knot winds) and heavy rains as far north as Oklahoma and Arkansas. Being the hale and hearty hunters we are, the weather did not frighten us at all. Therefore, 3 A. M. that morning found Tim and I driving to Oklahoma to meet up with Mark and Luke. We met and headed to the spot we had chosen for our opening day salvo. Arriving at the boat ramp, we loaded up and headed for the lower end of an old Red River oxbow lake. We had decided that Luke and Tim would hunt together on the lower end of the lake and Mark and I would hunt together on the upper end. After dropping Tim and Luke off at their blind, Mark and I set up on the upper end and got decoys arranged and got the boat hidden and settled down to wait for what we knew would be a morning filled with the duck world equivalent to World War II dive bombers...teal! The weather was muggy, foggy and hot, with no rain or wind! It took Mark and me about an hour or so to get our limit of teal. After that we sat and talked, waiting for Tim and Luke to finish up their limits. As we listened to the shooting from their end of the lake we realized that the shooting seemed much more sporadic than we expected. At about this time, Mark decided that he should take the boat and check on Tim and Luke. In the meantime, I would gather up our decoys. About 45 minutes later, as I finished gathering up decoys, I heard Mark pull up with the boat. He killed the motor and hopped out of the boat to come give me a hand. I noticed that neither Luke or Tim had much to say. Mark grinned and said, "Dad, I have good news and bad news!" I said, "Okay, give it to me." Mark laughed and replied, "Your son-in-law is alive, but your shotgun is dead!" After expressing my happiness that Tim was okay, about 5 0r 6 seconds, I asked what happened to my shotgun. At this point, Tim holds up a twisted piece of wood and metal that one time passed for a nice Spanish-made over and under! Now to this day, Luke and Tim have yet to confess completely what happened. I guess duck blinds are like Las Vegas...what happens there stays there! I suppose the other thing this all proves is that I apparently do love Tim like a son, because only Tim Williamson or Mark Miller could get away with destroying my shotgun and still hunt with me! Oh, about the wedding? Turns out we made it back in plenty of time for the wedding. And that nasty little storm in the Gulf? It dropped about 7 inches of rain on the wedding, but it turned out to be a great wedding and we all love Lindsy's husband!

I Knew Those Scouts Were Bad News!

I remember when I joined the Cub Scouts, back in...well, it was a long time ago! There are two things that stick with me after all these years. The first was that my brother so wanted to be a Cub Scout, but he was too young; we made him our official mascot! He was pretty cool then and is still pretty cool! The second thing I remember most about the Cub Scouts was getting my very own Scout knife! I guess it is a good thing that I grew up when I did, as opposed to today! You see if you want to find out what would have happened to me in today's world of vicious first graders go the article in the N.Y Times (not my usual source of material, but...!) http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/12/education/12discipline.html?no_interstitial

It seems that young Mr. Zachary Christie has run afoul of the "Zero Tolerance Police!" And what foul deed you may ask, did young Mr. Christie commit that would land him a 45 day sentence at the NYC Public School Reform school? He committed the dastardly deed of bringing the official Scout camping utensil, you know, the one that can be used as a fork, spoon and gasp...a dining fork to school. I am sorry, but somewhere Robert Baden-Powell must be turning somersaults in his grave! However, I am sure that the folks at Homeland Security and the TSA are wondering if they should raise the terror alert to red or at least to orange!

Does anyone else wonder where we lost the ability to think for ourselves and to use common sense? I think the big problem with common sense is that it is not neither as common as we want to believe nor is it found in as many places as we would imagine! Well, Zachary Christie, in my opinion should be receiving an award for his actions and the NYC Public School Discipline Committee...not so much! Mark and Luke, you will never be in trouble with Papaw for something like this! I guess it is too much to hope that we will ever take back this country from the liberal educators and law professors! The next thing you know, we will be banning the Taco Bel "spork!"

What Would You Give?

On a recent ordinary morning, I went about my regular routine of working out at the indoor pool. As I was finishing up, one of the "regular" exercisers stopped and asked me how I was doing. Having just gotten over the H1N1 flu and having a sore knee and ankle, I responded rather flippantly that I was okay, but had certainly been better. As I looked into her face, she quietly said, "I've been much better." She them asked if I heard what happened to her daughter (she assumed that I had heard, since she also goes to church with us). I explained that I had been sick and so, I did not know about her daughter. She explained that her daughter, who was 47, had cancer three years ago and had been cancer-free until August. In mid-August she experienced some intestinal tract problems that they could not clear up. The end of August, doctors performed exploratory surgery and found her cancer had returned . She died last week, only a few short weeks after going to the doctors. As she fought back tears, while telling me this story, she said she never thought she would be burying a child. She then made a comment that struck me so strongly, that I knew I needed to write it down...to remember. She said, "You know I have a lifetime of things and there is nothing in all those things that I would not trade for one more day to see my daughter."

As I have thought about the events that lead her to that thought, I realized that most of us would respond to that comment the same way I initially did. Of course I would give up anything I have for the chance to sit and look through old pictures with my wife, to sit around a campfire with my dad, to fish once more with my Papaw, to watch ducks land in front of a blind with my son, to see my daughter smile knowingly, as she wrapped me around her finger one more time, or to read a bedtime story to my grandsons! However, the thought then struck me that even as I said this, I realized that each of us is asked this question everyday and every moment! The difference is that the question is usually disguised in the camouflage of the mundane. We are asked to prioritize on a daily or even hourly basis. Can you let that big project wait another day at work, while you go see a child's ball game? Can you spend a Saturday afternoon pulling weeds in the flowerbed with your wife or do you need to go to the hardware store and take care of that rusted gate latch? Is it more important to get your car washed than it is to go to the park with your grandson? Each of those questions can be answered either yes or no and either answer can be right. However, when looked at through the eyes of eternity, it seems to me that the real question is really this, is your relationship with the ones you love more valued than possession or thing that you have? It is my prayer that the next time I am faced with choosing between urgent and important, I choose important...the people I love!

Birfday!

Two years ago, I was standing at a pay phone in Malindi, Kenya, receiving the news that my second grandson, Luke Patton Williamson, had been born. It is hard to imagine that it has been two years since this little one came into our lives. He is so special and so precious to his mom and dad, his brother, his Mimi and Papaw and Uncle Mark and Meghan. Luke is one of those children that is rough and tumble, but gentle and compassionate. He is intense, but laid-back. In short, he is exactly who God made him to be, Luke Patton...my grandson. He has already brought so much joy to his family!

This morning I called to wish him a happy birthday. When his mom put him on the phone, I said "Who is having a birthday?" He answered excitedly, "Birfday! Birfday!" He then proceeded to sing Happy Birthday to me! We have a little work to do on the concept of birthdays!

Luke, I want you to always remember, no matter what happens, you have a Papaw who loves you and even more importantly, you have a Father in Heaven who loves you more than you can know! However, today, justy know that it is your birthday and I love you! Eat a cupcake for Papaw!