BST's Blog

Here's a somewhat humorous picture of my parents and me at their 25th anniversary dinner back in 1987. Nice glasses, guys.



Here's a picture of my father after one of the large snows that I remember us having in Abilene. Weird--it seems like it snowed more there than here.

I've been thinking about my father lately. I always do around this time of year. I'll post more on that around the 13th or 14th of October. It will be 14 years this year since he died. Almost unfathomable.

Last night as I was tucking Maddie into bed she told me that she had dreamed of Poppy (what we call my dad who she's heard a lot about but obviously never met). She told me that in her dream he was standing by her bed saying a prayer for her. Now, how sweet is that?? I love those moments.

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I had a nice lunch today with Adam Ellis and Phil Wilson. It was great getting to actually visit with Adam in person instead of by blog or IM. He's here taking a short graduate level course this week. Phil, well, Phil I get to see on a regular basis. Ah, Phil. Bless him. You know I love you, bud.

Here's a nugget Adam shared with us from John Mark Hick's class this morning on Systematic Theology (or better put, Narrative Systematic Theology). He spoke some about the worship assembly and John Mark said something like, "In the assembly, we are present with God in a way that we are not individually." Quoting from the Hebrews 12 passage about the great cloud of witnesses, he said that sometimes during communion and worship he imagines joining the host of witnesses who have gone before us...including John's son who died...worshiping the Lord and communing at the table. It was a powerful image for me today as I thought about my own dad.

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This Sunday at Otter is going to be about service and being the hands and feet of Jesus. Whether it's the washing of feet (John 13) or being an Elder or participating in Katrina Relief...we are called to lay down our lives for each other. There's more coming Sunday that I'm really excited about but can't blog about. Oh, the anticipation!!

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As Fajita wrote today, please pray for our BONEHEAD brother-in-law who is refusing to leave the Houston area. Maybe after castigating him on the internet we can guilt him into leaving. For some reason he thinks riding the hurricane out will be fun. Sheryl has 4 siblings in the Houston area. Chuck and his family have evacuated to Austin. Cindy and her family (except for Billy who works for Dow and has to stay because he's part of crisis management or something) are headed to Arkansas to Sheryl's parents' house. Shelby and his family are leaving on Friday. But Kevin is staying as of now. Please pray for them.