WWJD

In life you meet all kinds of people. Sometimes you meet people and spend the rest of your life doing everything humanly possible to never see that person again. However, there are people who are just easy and fun to be around. People with magnetic personalities. These “magnetic” people draw others to them. I don’t know what it is, but no matter what you’re doing, it’s hard to not enjoy yourself around this type of person.

My father-in-law is a magnetic person.

I first met Don about a year and a half before I married his daughter. Melissa and I weren’t even actually dating yet when she took some of her friends to his house to just hang out before the evening’s festivities. I remember we were sitting there talking, but not really doing much of anything when he got home from work. Don hadn’t been there five minutes when things turned around. It’s been almost 20 years, and I don’t even remember what he did that was so fun, but I remember being a little sad when it was time to leave.

Some people just have that effect.

Over that past 16 years that Melissa and I have been married, I’ve learned a lot about Don and his magnetic personality. He has a wonderfully eclectic group of friends that range from multi-millionaire entrepreneurs to Cuban refugees who struggle to make ends meet, and everything in between.

I wouldn’t characterize Don as a really religious person. He is a Christian, and his relationship to God is first of all his own business, and second, none of mine. He is a member of an Episcopal church and for years sang in the choir. At times he comes to church with us.

Last Sunday Don got a call from his friend who is from Cuba. Seems this friend has been staying with a family who literally had no money for food. I don’t know the details of the situation, and I’m not sure Don does. I’m not sure Don even asked, but the kind of heart that Don has couldn’t let these people go hungry.

It would have been easy to just give them some money, or point them to one of the many social service agencies here in Dallas, but that’s not how Don works. He took the whole family, kids and all, to the store and spent a couple of hundred dollars and turned things around for this poor family.

He didn’t ask them questions about how they’re managing their money. He didn’t ask them about what they were going to do in future to ensure they wouldn’t be in this situation again. He didn’t ask them to only purchase the bare minimum. He didn’t ask them anything. He just told them to get whatever they want. The tears of a mother who wasn’t going to have to send her babies to bed hungry, was all the thanks he needed.

Don has never worn a WWJD bracelet, and I’d be surprised if he even knows what one is. But if you asked Don what Jesus would have done for this family who desperately needed help, I bet he could tell you…cause I’m quite sure he showed you.

Crash!!!

On April 18 my hard drive crashed. Luckily we were able to save most everything, however, I’ve spent the last 10 days without a computer and baby, it was not easy.

While I have a computer at school, it’s just not the same thing. How did I make it all those years without a computer? I guess it’s impossible to miss something you’ve never had.

Anyway, I’m not 100% up and running again, but it shouldn’t be too long.

I can tell you what I learned from this in one word…BACKUP!!!

(Michael G. – If you read this, give me a call…I need a new map to your house)

The Price of Fame

Being a celebrity in America must not be easy. My pastor told a story of leaving Royal Oaks Country Club after playing golf and seeing Emmit Smith. Seems Emmit was getting in his car after what must have been an extremely frustrating 18 holes when a young boy ran up asking for his autograph. Being in no mood to even scribble his name on something he angrily dismissed the boy. Fighting tears, they boy walked back to his father as Emmit burned rubber getting out of the parking lot.

My wife and I went to a black tie auction last night. Presbyterian Hospital hosted the Greer Garson Gala at the Frontiers of Flight Museum near Love Field here in Dallas. We were lucky enough to sit next to Angie Harmon and Jason Sehorn.

Stick with me here, I’m making a point.

Due to M’s different positions at the hospital over the last 14 years, we’ve gone to more than our fair share of formal events. We go often enough that a couple of years ago I forked out the big bucks for a tuxedo. However, we don’t usually sit with, or really even talk to any of the celebrities. As much as I tried to deny it, sitting next to Angie Harmon, I was a bit star struck. I mean when Angie Harmon sits at your table you suddenly become very aware of where your elbows are and your posture.

I don’t know much about Jason other than that he used to play for the Giants. However, I’ve watched Angie on Law and Order and countless other shows and must say that she is every bit as gracious and elegant in real life as she appears to be on television. Both Angie and Jason are pleasant dinner companions and our evening couldn’t have been more fun.

No, being a celebrity in America must not be easy, because it has a heavy price. You owe something to your fans.

I don’t think all celebrities have figured this out, but I can name two who have.

Just Doing My Job

As a parent I look for signs. Signs that help me know that I’m doing a good job raising my child. Sometimes these signs are neon signs. They stand out proudly displaying to the world how successful you are as a parent.

Your child’s behavior in a restaurant, or how he or she relates to elderly neighbors is this type of sign. They’re bright, they’re bold and you instantly know that either your worst parenting nightmare has come true, or that you have done a good job and your child is a good person.

However, some of these signs aren’t quite so easy to see. They come camouflaged in a plethora of hard to spot disguises. It’s possible to spend most of your life watching for these elusive signs and never seeing one as plainly as I did today.

M, my daughter, is going to a four week camp this summer down in south Texas. It’s her first year to go to this particular camp and she and my wife have invited some of the other campers her age, and their mothers to our house for a kind of break the ice party. It is our desire to help her get to know some of the other campers before getting on the bus in Dallas and heading off to camp.

For most of this party, I’ll be in a meeting at church, but I should get back just in time to meet the other girls and their moms before the party is over.

M took me aside, looked me right in the eyes and said in her most pleasant voice, “Dad, when you come in don’t do anything silly that might embarrass me, okay?”

I got down on my knees, looked into her eyes and replied, “I wouldn’t dream of it, but just knowing that you feel that you needed to say that to me, is music to my ears.”

She gave me a big hug and continued getting ready for the party.

As a parent I look for signs. If you possess the potential for parental embarrassment strong enough to warrant a verbal plea for sanity from your child, rest easy baby…you’re doing your job.

Only the Good Die Young...

I met Michael my freshman year at Hardin-Simmons University. We sat next to each other in Psychology of Personal Adjustment.

I liked Michael right from the start. We both laughed at the name of the class and I don’t think a day passed that we didn’t make some kind of joke about our class that taught us how to properly think about masturbation.

Being a small campus, we’d bump into each other fairly often and would usually spend half an hour or so, once a month catching up over junk food.

Our beloved institution of higher education required four semesters of chapel in order to graduate. Our sophomore year we were randomly placed next to each other in chapel. I don’t remember much about my four semesters of chapel at H-SU, but I do remember the two of us laughing and playing around during most of our time together in chapel.

We “bumped” into each other again at seminary. For two years Michael, Tracy Ward and I were like the Three Amigos. I don’t know if they did, but I like to think that our professors would cringe at the thought of us being in their class.

Michael has written about me two times in his blog, once here and a second time here. I haven’t written about Michael at all, a fact that he reminds me of whenever he can.

Back in November, Michael made the long journey from San Antonio to Dallas for my 40th birthday party. I hadn’t seen Michael in probably 10 years and we picked up right where we left off.

Now it’s his turn to get old and I’m heading down south for a night of friends, celebration and maybe a margarita or two. Who knows, maybe Tracy will grace us with his presence as well.