It's been said no one is totally useless in life; they can always serve as a bad example. The guy with the big melon pictured to your right is living proof. Couple of weeks ago, the fam and I were leaving Wal-Mart (which, by the way, is usually my favorite part of going to that particular establishment). I noticed a guy positioned at the exit holding a cardboard sign. I thought about asking him what he needed, but it didn't seem especially practical with a van full of family. I pulled out onto Southwest Drive, only to hear Andrew - spiritually mature beyond his 7 years of age - say, "Maybe we should help that man."
Exactly. We wheeled around and introduced ourselves. Turns out, the guy needed a little gas for his car and a friend or two to go to bat for his and his brother's families who've just landed in Abilene.
A few days later, thanks in part to a fistful of dollars collected from our friends at Highland, we helped get their electricity turned back on. They trusted us enough at that point to let their three kids come with us to Vacation Bible School.
I have no idea how the plot will thicken in the ensuing chapters of this story. But I do know the Author has a knack for happy endings. And because my oldest is way more like his Heavenly Father than his earthly dad, these characters might actually be excited to turn the page.
15 comments:
Isn't that just like a kid...to do exactly what you have taught them! Good job Grant & Amy! Andrew is just following his Father's example..(by Father I mean both the who blogs and the one who is God!)
Grant, I wholeheartedly disagree with you on most of your blog.
You have always served as an excellent example for me and and I praise God that you "went to bat" for me during our time at ACU (which covered 4 presidents for one of us).
Andrew is not spiritually mature beyond "his" 7 years either. Maybe beyond most 7 year olds but I have always seen the bar for Andrew as high and this was just another example where he was displaying fruit that is a result of your and Amy's watering and God's causing the growth.
$221.00 is more than a fistful in my book and the other part of "in part" was your and Amy's part which was no small part.
I also take issue with your "no idea" comments. God will continue to teach you to pray dangerous prayers and listen to His Spirit (even when it comes through the mouths of babes). You see Grant, I believe that the character that the Author is focusing on in this chapter is you. Will you be excited enought to turn the page and follow his leading again? That is the question at hand.
I love you Brospeh.
Oh yeah, I do agree with you about the "melon" part and the "leaving Walmart" part. You were dead on there buddy!
Wow - convicting! Guess that Good Samaritan story is not just good bedtime Bible reading but one to practice everyday. I know your kids are getting their influence from you and Amy. I'll take credit for Amy because I WAS her inter-G group leader at her Welcome Week but I can't account for you. All I can think of with you is the discussions about the blue suit/brown suit professor and Levi's funny use of the English language - Who dat asking for an extinquision cord and an Oreo cookie??
Awesome post, bro. Thanks for this encouragement today. There's way too much cynicism out there. We cannot forget the most central message of Christ. You're helping us remember that today. And...Donny, I will take the credit for Amy. I've known her since 7th grade. She learned how to be dorky from me. Thank you very much.
No- I take credit for Amy- who met Grant because she fell in love with him at first site when leading singing in chapel wearing pea-green plaid trousers that I talked him into wearing...say deep, deep, say down, dwon, say deep down in my heart...huhhhhhhhhh...
Lovell, you sure it wasn't during the Welcome Week Talent Show that one year when Grant and Chris Seidman did that highly offensive skit on the old hymns ! What was the line from Seidman, "How do I raize my Ebenezer?"
Truth be known, I think I never laughed harder at that skit but I heard it ruffled some old feathers.
Actually, truth be known, it was Grant's 83 brown chevette that became a permanet fixture in the parking lot by the campus center...It broke down our freshman year and stayed there until we moved off-campus. It was a great storage shed on campus were Grant could store extra clothes and school supplies..That year Boone set a record for parking tickets...264 from captain Prather of the ACU campus cops...with interest, the parking tickets have exceded all of Grants student loans at $87,454- He still gets calls from the ACU police trying to collect...rumor has it that the chevette was buried under second base at the new baseball field..but I don't believe it.
Ok, let's set the record straight. Amy was taught dorky but Grant has the dork gene in his DNA.
I hooked up Grant and Amy at a bonfire but it was unintentional. Both my hooking them up and Amy falling for Grant.
Grant's "vette" as we affectionately dubbed it, is now out in front of The Williams Performing Arts Center with all those other "conversation pieces" of art.
Grant's bill was $124,674 and he received 265 parking tickets. Do your research.
And finally, what is with giving Grant & Siedman credit for being offensive and Levi for speaking a different language. Everyone knows that Alan Ross was the king of both offensiveness and a type of "neck" dialect/code that has yet to be broken.
Come on fella's! Get it together.
You listen to me, Quile. I will not have you slamming my fashion consultant and mentor, Alan Ross. He was a fine man and anything you say or do to hurt his reputation will be called out by me. He was sometimes offensive, yes. Maybe even a little eccentric. But any man who has the self-confidence to wear a black "unitard", gets an A+ in my book.
Now, if you want to talk about Darren Webb, that's another story...
Living in a closet under the stairs at the Maze for a while can really change a guy. Alan Ross is merely the Harry Potter of ACU. The black unitard was supposed to be a robe, the rollerblades a broom and those glasses- well I'll have to think about that. I think Paul Schulze has been keeping in touch with Ross and he is doing quite well. I hope Trooper Schulze's contact with Alan is more than professional.
I think I remember the talent show of which you speak, Moondog. There was some fallout from that, but it may have come from the discussion of angels' prostates.
In terms of dorkiness, there is more than enough to go around, so don't be greedy.
Okay, someone is going to have elighten the rest of us about this skit...you can't drop a few lines of church comedy gold then leave us hanging!
I'm racking my brains right now trying to figure out exactly WHICH old song could have prompted a discussion about angel's prostates....
Grant -- thank you for sharing ... a good reminder for me today that parenting is a long-haul project, not short-term. Sounds like you and your wife are doing a marvelous job raising your children.
Oh, come on, Greg, think harder. I wasn't around for that particular Welcome Week skit (Greg, you and I are WAY younger than these old fogeys) but I can figure out the song...think Opening Chapel. Oh wait, you're from Harding. OK, well just start humming "All Hail the Power..." and you'll get to the right words eventually.
New Hampshire?!?!?
Anyone who's ever seen "What About Bob?" knows exactly the gesture I'm making right now.
I apologize to any Harding folks out there, who may feel I have turned my back on the old-timey songs...it's just that after being at Highland for two years (and 300 repetitions of "A New Anointing"), those old chapel songs kind of fade into the background!
I never knew Grant had an '83 'Vette? Wow.
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