Father's Day 2011

This year’s Father’s Day was really awesome. I got to experience all sorts of things throughout the whole weekend. I was gone all week prior on business, so coming home on Friday, knowing I was spending the weekend with the family, made it even more special.

When I walked through the door Friday afternoon, my little girl met me in the hall with one of the biggest hugs I had ever received! “Daddy! I missed you sooooooo much! Oh! I got you a present for Father’s Day!” she said with such enthusiasm. She skipped out of the room, and came back with a delivery box….. “I know you like jetski parts, and this is what I got you!” You see, at the beginning of the week I ordered a few parts for my jetski. But what I didn’t know is that in a conversation with Michelle a few days prior, Abby makes an offhand comment that she was going to get me jetski parts for Father’s Day, because I like jetski parts. When the box showed up on Friday, she brought it to Michelle wanting to know what it was. Michelle said her face was priceless when she announced it was in fact jetski parts for me!

Saturday morning I was awoken to my son and daughter “steam rolling” and body slamming me to “get up!” Everyone gets out of bed, we get dressed, and head to Farragut Church for VBS work. We dropped Michelle off at the building, and then the kids took me out for a Father’s Day breakfast. It was absolutely wonderful. After breakfast we head back to the church for a couple of more hours of VBS work, then it is out to run some last minute errands.

Afterword, we head over to our friends, whose quads are having a party celebrating turning 5. I was actually told by one of them (I think it was Jonathan) that they were in fact 4 on Saturday, but would turn 5 in a few days. The tone was such that he did not fully approve of the party not being on the actual birth date, but that it would suffice since he was part of it….. Jim and Allison are awesome people, and I am grateful to God that they are in our lives. Since this is a Father’s Day post: Jim is a great dad who works tirelessly being a Christian example for his kids, loving his wife, supporting his family, and being a great friend. After the quad’s party, it was back to the church to clean up for worship in the morning.

Sunday morning, Michelle rolled over and quietly whispered, “Happy Father’s Day” in my ear. Very cool, very sexy, and very awesome. Have I mentioned before how awesome my wife is? I was then (shock and awe here) awoken by two little ones “trying” to sneak into bed with us. My son said something that resembled “Happy Father’s Day”, while he burrowed himself under the covers and pillows. Abby just came in, crawled under the covers, and went back to the sleep.

After worshipping with my family (something we don’t get to do very often since Michelle I and have commitments on Sunday mornings), we rush out of church to grab lunch just as a family. And afterwards, I know you find this hard to believe, but we headed back to church for the last preparations of Farragut Church’s VBS 2011, “Dive In”. Let me throw out a shamelss plug for our congregation at this point: Farragut Church is absolutely amazing. If you are in the area this week, come by and check out how BIG we do VBS. Seriously, words can not describe how much of a production we put on. Oh, did I mention that my smoking hot wife was in charge of it this year? Yeah, its going to be awesome....

After we were done, Michelle and I led a devotional with the college students. I love these guys (and gals). They are young adults beginning to make their mark in the world. Michelle and I do our best to mentor them, as well as, work with their parents in making sure they (the college students) are hearing what God has to say about all kinds of topics. I am truly honored to not only be tasked with teaching them, but also calling many of them friends.

And finally, I got to reflect on the fact that the Scott family is coming to visit this weekend. They arrive on Friday, and I can’t wait. David and Stacey are in the process of raising some amazing God loving boys that are going to make the world a better place. But it is not only how they are raising their boys that is so awesome, but it is also how they impact their neighborhood. Their home is truly a beacon of light in what is sometimes a very dark place. Although we named our David from David out of the bible, my David sometimes comments that he was named after Mr. David (David Scott), and I am ok with that. Outside of my David, I don’t know of a better David!!

If you are a dad, or have a dad, I hope your Father’s Day was enjoyable, and filled with memorable experiences that you can take for years to come.

Thoughts On Bin Laden's Death

I would be really interested to hear your thoughts on the death of bin laden. Does it make our country safer? Do we celebrate? Was it (killing him) worth it? How do you feel about it personally?

Hail Storm, 2011

I thought I would share our experience with the storm from last week. It was definitely an experience I won’t soon forget!

Michelle and I knew we were going to get hit hard, but we didn’t know how hard. After making sure we had candles, flashlights, etc., we went to get some sandwiches. Returning home, we had a picnic in the garage, watching the clouds go by and the trees beginning to move.

Even after church sent out that services had been canceled for the evening, we weren’t completely convinced we were going to get hit real hard, because all we were seeing was rain. At one point, David runs out into the drive way, running around in the rain, no care in the world…..

Around 7, we cut off the computer and TV. We were sitting around the dining room table: Michelle and Abby scrap booking, me paying bills, and David running from window to window, giving us a status update every 5 minutes. Still, we had no real concern. We had yet to hear about the storms hitting Alabama…..By 7:30pm, I had decided that it was all for nothing. It was just rain! All we were getting was rain! Michelle and I are responsible for our children’s programs on Sunday mornings, and we use Wednesday as our night to practice with other volunteers. I actually thought to myself, “what a waste. When are we going to practice???”

A little after 8, David and I had just walked inside from throwing some baseball (the rain was hit and miss), when "IT" hit. At first, it was just massive rain. Then the lightning came through. But when the hail hit, we headed for the hall! David had his flashlight, Abby her stuffed animals. I had never heard hail that loud before. Michelle and I lived in Memphis for 4 years, and never experienced anything like this. The hail only lasted 3-5 minutes, but it was amazingly intense! We couldn't hear each other, because the hail was hitting our house so hard.

After it was over, we walked outside in the backyard, stepping on golf ball sized hail stones. It looked like a war zone. Limbs and leaves were lying on the ground from where they were ripped out of the trees! I checked the weather channel on my phone, and notice the second storm cell coming through. We headed in doors, and hunkered down once more.

The second storm was just as severe and just as quick! However, this time it knocked out our power. During this storm, Abby starts getting a little upset, and my son looks over at her and says, “its ok, I prayed to God, so He will keep us safe.” Abby looks at him then with this, “oh, ok” kind of look. Her entire demeanor changes and she begins playing with her stuffed animals, while the golf ball sized hail stones pummel our house. Michelle and I look at each other with a strange mixture of disbelief and pride…..

After the second storm passed over, we went back outside to check the damage. Thankfully, no structural damage to the house! Well, we would find out the next day our siding had been damaged as well as the roof. But at the time, the only noticeable damage was Michelle’s hostas.

I took the kids to bed, and said a prayer of thanksgiving over them. They went to sleep, soundly, and peacefully.

Michelle and I started calling our family in Chattanooga, checking in to make sure they are ok. Sitting in the dark, we sat there in conversation about the evening. It was part open prayer of thankfulness to God and another part of awe in the powerfulness of nature. We were in the middle of talking about what we wer going to do about the hostas that got destroyed when Michelle gets a phone call from one of our college students: “I am heading to your house. Our house got hit bad, and my back window of my car is knocked out.” Turns out, the college student’s house had received massive structural damage, and they had to leave it, not knowing its fate until the morning.

It seems the estimated damage in Knox County alone was over 10 million dollars. I have no doubt it will only rise as the weeks go by. Michelle and I are amazingly blessed. We are going to need some new siding, a roof, and some gutters. But I know of others that may have lost their entire house. Many have lost there cars. I know of one lady that got her head cut open, trying to cover her car! What this experience taught me was that nothing is sacred. We can not hold on to anything! A wise man once told me, "the harder you hold on to something, the more it hurts when it is wripped out of your hands." Thsi statement has so much more meaning to me now after experience this storm.