I'm Afraid The Pattern At This Late Date Is Pretty Well Set!

Today is Monday, the second day of the week. Last Saturday I attended a men’s conference with my middle son at the Church he and his family attends. The all day program featured Dr. Voddie Baucham, one of America’s clearest preachers of truth from the Bible. I’ve heard Dr. Voddie several times at different meetings and have never left his sharing of truth without being convicted and challenged. He is an African American with a tremendous testimony of how he came to know Christ as a student at Rice University. If you ever get the opportunity to hear him preach I highly recommend you going. If you want to check out his ministry you can find out more at his website: www.voddiebaucham.org/ . You can also find a number of his sermons that can be listened to or watched out on the internet by doing a search on his name “Voddie Baucham”.

I had to leave before the last session to go to my own Church and help get it put back together after it had hosted a fall craft show. It had been a busy day for all involved in the craft show. One person said more than 1,000 people had come through the doors to shop the many handmade products being offered. I know our college and career group did a service project where they washed 650 windshields and left a simple tract telling how God wants each person to clearly see the truths that pertain to Him. This craft show is a fund raiser that our ladies do, and they always do well, but I will tell you that cleaning up after, and getting the sanctuary and all the classrooms back together can be quite a daunting task. By the time we finished moving chairs and tables it was getting close to the pre-race show for the big NASCAR race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Since my driver, Jeff Gordon, is still at the top of the standings, I continue to be very interested in what happens in these final races that will determine the overall champion. He has four championships and is going for number five. It’s called the “Drive for Five” just in case you were wondering. At any rate I arrived home and prepared for the race. The race is 500 miles so I knew I would not be staying up until after 11 p.m. to find out who was going to win, but I did want to watch some of it. We had a busy day planned for Sunday especially since my wife and I were scheduled to do the special music for our morning services.

My wife had also had a very busy day at the store she helps manage in the local mall, therefore, she was very tired when she got home. We worked on our song for a while, ate a snack, and watched some of the race. My wife is an excellent singer. It runs in her family. She is an alto and people like to stand around her because she helps them hear their part. No one has ever indicated that standing by me helps them do anything. My wife and I have been singing together since before we married which means we may have sung our first song together nearly forty five years ago. She never knows what to expect from me. I sing as much from my heart as my head and since I don’t know music like she does, whatever comes out is what I sing. This makes her very nervous at times, not because she doesn’t know her part or how to do the song but she is always on edge because she doesn’t know what I am going to do. I would tell her if I could but after all these years that doesn’t seem possible and with God’s help we are still able to somehow communicate a message in song and people are blessed as God’s truth goes forth.

We ended up being in bed by 9 p.m., because we were both tired. I was up bright and early Sunday morning before 5 a.m., and yes, it would have been good that I would have immediately began reviewing the Bible lesson I was teaching that day, but, I will confess the first thing I did was go to my computer to see how the race turned out. Jeff Gordon won the race! Wow! The drive for five remains alive. I watched the highlights online and then turned to the other more important activities to prepare for the day. We did sing our song and made it through it without any major problems.

When I got home after the services I was pleased the race was being replayed in its entirety on ESPN Classic. Now I had watched the first 150 laps already. I had seen the highlights from all the action on the track, so watching the race replay should have been no big deal. BUT NOOOOOO! Not me. There I was at the end of the race with Jeff nearly out of gas up on my chair like I might faint at any moment. At this late date in my life I must conclude there’s little hope for me when it comes to controlling my emotions. Thankfully, I do not make bets, buy lottery tickets, or gamble in any way, therefore, I won't be losing my shirt betting on a replay of a car race!…More later.