Happy Birthday

Today my first born turns 25. It seems like just yesterday I wandered through the halls of a hospital like a lost Indian chief mumbling "I have a son. I have a son". I was two years younger than he is today when he was born. I was scarcely more than a boy myself when God saw fit to make me a father. There are many roles I fill in my life. Pastor, counselor, son, brother, husband and father to name a few. My favorite vocation and probably the most important is that of being a dad. There were no classes to take and no degree offered for this incredible vocation. The only real training I had was being a son to a great father and feeling what it felt like to be loved by a strong hand. So, I have tried to imitate the one that raised me. Today I have the great blessing of having Jeremy home and hearing his laughter even as I type these words and knowing too that my father sits just on the other side of a wall now living with us. Here I sit sandwiched between the father who loved me and the son I love. It is a good place to be and it is the same place my Father in heaven has placed me. Sometimes there is a goodness in life that can be tasted. Today it will be the taste of birthday cake shared by three generations with a grateful son right in the middle.