39 years ago Friday in a small, military hospital outside of Springfield, Massachusetts, Manual and Diana Williams welcomed their firstborn child into the world, a little girl they named Mandy.
I was blessed to be introduced to Mandy back in the fall of 1993 and life for me has never been the same since!
On Thursday night, I surprised Mandy with a special gift. For the last six weeks, one of her best friends, Tara Tate and I have been conniving a special gift for Mandy's birthday that we pulled off flawlessly. I had saved back a frequent flier round-trip and used it to fly Tara in for Mandy's birthday. On Thursday evening, the day before Mandy's birthday, I told her following our evening dinner with the Granites (the retirees group in our church) that I had to make an emergency hospital visit. I ran down to San Antonio and picked up Tara who had flown in. When we arrived at the house, we surprised Mandy so much I was afraid her squeels would wake up the kids.
Tara and Mandy had a great weekend together, catching up, shopping and spending an evening on the Riverwalk in San Antonio. Earlier today, Tara caught her flight back to San Antonio, leaving behind a treasure trove of memories for my wife on her 39th birthday.
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Today was our first Sunday with Jimmy on board as our new Youth & Family Minister. I felt as though I preached with a little more fervor today, thanks to the reunion of Jimmy as Worship Leader. It is great to be working with Jimmy again!
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This month, we are focusing on a month-long effort at "Home Improvement." Our culture seems bent on attacking the nuclear family. From homosexual rights to no-fault divorce to prime-time programming, it seems as though the mainstream has become anti-family.
During February, my sermons are focusing on the need to uphold the family values of faith spelled out in God's Word. In addition to our sermon focus, two special opportunities are available in February to enrich the family. The first is for men/fathers on February 10-11. The Westover Hills church in Austin is hosting Dr. Prentice Meador's outstanding Men of Champions weekend seminar. Good friend and mentor Rick Northen and his wife, Gail are coming for the weekend which is exciting.
February will close out at Marble Falls with Jerry and Lynn Jones coming February 26-March 1 to present their excellent "Marriage Matters" seminar.
My hope and prayer is that God will use this month of February to uplift, encourage and equip every family in our church with the motivation to uphold God's design for marriage and the family.
