Words from Colorado

     Some people make your life better by just being in it.  You know the kind of person I am describing. When they walk in a room, you just know that they bring with them love, not a little bit either....they are love walking into your life, and you smile! Ever since November 29, 1988, our family has had a person who defines what it is to be generally interested in others, a person who I think sometimes, for what ever reason, does not know how much he adds to those around him.  Today I am writing for...because soon we will be celebrating his 22 years on the planet....my kind and loving son....Ben. In fact, just moments ago his mom said, "Ben, is a hug waiting to happen!" I defy anyone to truly know him, and not love him.  He is a big man, with a heart that is so gentle.  Being his dad is one of the great joys of my life! Why? Ben is kind!   I love that quality in people.  He really cares about others...maybe too much, because he tends to dismiss his own importance, 

  I thank my God   in all my remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you   will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:3-6). ESV The great Scottish preacher, Peter Marshall, once said: “It’s not the duration of a life that counts but the donation.” How thankful Christians should be for the duration and donation of the life of Adrian Rogers.  Dr. Rogers pastored the historic Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee, from 1972 until his retirement in 2005. He left for heaven in November of the same year.  He was a three time president of the Southern Baptist Convention, a preacher without peer and a statesman in the first order.  I had the opportunity to meet him on five different occasions, each time he looked intently into my eyes, and expressed genuine and heart

  As a pastor, I have become familiar with goodbyes. The Lord's call on my life requires, as it does all believers, obedience and a willingness to go wherever and whenever He decides. I have had the experience, as we all have, of looking long and hard at a face that belongs to a person who has brought joy to my life and then having to walk away, never to see them again, on this earth anyway. To be honest, saying goodbye to some people was not so hard at all...I often wish it would have been, but I have known rejection, and have not been wanted or needed by some along the way.  For the most part, however, that has not been the case.  Farewells have taken their toll in 22 years of pastoring on me and especially my sweet wife, Laura. Our three sons have had to make new friends, and though they are now young men...they have been all to accustomed to new beginnings and teary endings. We now live 360 miles away from them...five hours by car...and sometimes a lifetime away from our