One of the elders at my church is Mike Doyle.  Every time I get together with Mike (and his wife and son) I’m blown away by their down-to-earth, practical lives.  Mike’s theology isn’t high-fa-luting, its not full of robust vocabulary, instead its sometimes terse, sometimes ‘vulgar’ [in the old sense of the word and not the raunchy sense], and often peppered with concepts that are familiar now that I’ve been around him for three years.  Mike loves to talk about beholding Jesus Christ.  Mike loves to talk about the Christian’s identification with Christ on the cross and afterward.  Mike loves to talk about how proud he is of his son, his wife or someone that he’s been teaching/discipling.

Mike loves the sheep he’s been assigned as a shepherd at Holly Hills Bible Church and I love being one of them.

Sure, its a few days late but being Father’s Day last week I needed to surprise the internets after the fact. My dad and mom are probably tired of me thanking them for the things they did growing up. They’re probably tired of me telling them that they have influenced me indelibly, but they’ll just have to deal with it.

My dad has been a tremendous role model for me.  He’s been a godly man, a humble man, a loving man, and as many of you can imagine he’s been a humorous man.  My dad taught me about puns, spoonerisms, play on words and various other silly things from an early age on.  I’m thankful for the laughter that he has brought to my own life for coming on three decades.  Outside of the list above my dad has dealt with pain and suffering well, too.  In his own life he’s dealt with a chronic disease and not made a big deal of it other than to share silly stories where that disease caused something funny or amusing to happen.  There are many events I could retell as events that I’m very thankful for, but I will share two.

The first landmark event was when my dad gathered the family around the kitchen table and humbly apologized for having worked such long hours as we were younger.  His admission to not spending enough time with the family was an act that redirected the family moving forward.  He made adjustments in his life and began spending much more time with us.  I knew my dad in High School unlike almost every single one of my friends and acquaintances.  He was my dad, and he was my friend.

Another critical series of events for me was right around when I turned 20.  My dad began to disciple me and teach me some important principles in the Bible that for some reason never showed up in Sunday School or Church for the first twenty years of my life.  Those times were rich with value, great in fellowship and important because of the content and things I would learn.  Some of those very things I’ve been trying to pass onto Sunday School students of my own for the last decade.

I’m very, very thankful for my dad, he’s been an incredible influence on my family and I look forward to the future as his adult son.

I’m glad my bike was given to me as a graduation present many years ago when I graduated from High School.  My grandmother gave me a large sum of cash (well, for me it was a large sum of cash at the time) and my dad and mom picked up the rest of the tab.  Together they bought me a green GT mountain bike.  No shocks, no frills, just many gears and a bike frame that was meant for men and not boys (like my old bike which was a BMX bike with 21 inch tires).  That bike has been through many accidents with me and survived the Texas heat.  I’ve broken or bent the forks, the rims, the sprockets and blown out tens of tires on it, but its still hanging in there.  I’ve gotten more bruses and scrapes from that than any other activity and its been a hoot!

Most recently I’ve hooked our kiddy trailer up to the green monster and been pulling the girls around the neighborhood.  Hearing them laugh behind me and having them yelling at me to go faster is also a blast.  Of course eventually the fun wears out about the time my legs do, but its still a blast.  Thanks Grandma (though she’s in heaven and not earth-dwelling any longer)  and mom and dad for the bike.  Its been great.

For the record the fastest I’ve gone on it was 45 miles per hour going down the road at King’s Canyon in Carson City, Nevada.

I have to be super-thankful for my church body.  I’ve missed three weeks in a row due to traveling and I miss many of the people there.  The people I don’t miss yet I probably should make an effort to get to know better 🙂  We moved to Denver to go to Holly Hills Bible Church (HHBC) and the body there has had its ups and downs as various events have taken place, but the teaching has remained consistent and the edification is amazing.

One guy particularly has encouraged me over and over: Norm.  Norm is in a wheelchair because he’s got some severe problem that has slowly caused him to lose muscle mass in his legs.  He’s in constant pain (though he is on pain medication) and yet he’s always got a smile and when we talk about our lives in Christ he’s just an encouraging brother.  Norm was in communications before the web and its been interesting at times to discuss his take on things having come from the print and media world before HTML.

Norm told me about going through trials and suffering in real life and about how one of the Sunday School classes he was in at HHBC encouraged him. Norm sees the trials and suffering as an opportunity to grow in his walk with Christ.  Yesterday he had some surgery on one of his eyes to attach his retina (again) to his eye so that it will work correctly.  He now has to sit facing down with his head for days as the retina and eye heal.  What an amazing brother in Christ to endure these things with such joy.

Thanks Holly Hills, and thanks Norm!