Texas Baptists Committed - A Rancher's Rumblings, November 27, 2007

I hope all of you had a good Thanksgiving last week. As for me, it was good to have some time to spend with the family.

It’s always interesting to me that the two main holidays that families make a special effort to spend together—Thanksgiving and Christmas—are only a month apart. Sure, we celebrate Easter, the 4th of July, and Labor Day, but most families do not make a special effort to get together for those holidays.

Our family tends to start Thanksgiving a few days early. Part of the family usually begins getting together the weekend before Thanksgiving, giving us about 10 days together.

My family especially likes the timing of these two big family holidays, because they are both during hunting season, and our family does a lot of hunting together. Notice I said “hunting,” not killing. We hunt a lot, we video animals a lot, and we stay at the ranch several nights. Every now and then, one of us will actually shoot something—maybe a big buck deer or a turkey. But mostly, we enjoy each other’s company and hurry back to the cabin to tell the others what we saw while out in the blinds.

Loretta thinks it is amazing that I can’t cook a lick in a house but can cook up a storm in a cabin or a barn. I’ve tried to explain to her that I will be happy to cook more at home, as long as she will be happy eating deer sausage and ranch-style beans every meal. I even threw in some macaroni this time, except I forgot to include butter or cheese.

Sitting alone out in the wild for hours, surrounded by nothing but nature, gives you a great opportunity to reflect on things for which you are thankful. Here are a few things for which I thanked God while I was out there.

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I am thankful that Mother is doing so well at age 90. She seems more full of life than in several years. I am especially thankful that she was able to go to the BGCT annual meeting in Amarillo .

I enjoyed the moment, late one night, when my son Lance and I looked up at the stars, burning very brightly, and reflected on the times that Phil Strickland had tried to explain the various constellations while at the ranch with us. I am grateful that Rebecca married Lance. She has become a wonderful part of our family.

I am thankful that my nephew Craig and his wife Kim had a healthy baby girl this year after she had to spend 7 weeks in the hospital, waiting to give birth. Lexie Grace is a real cutie.

Seeing my stepdaughter Candi smile is always special to me, especially now that it has been nearly 5 years since she was diagnosed with advanced breast cancer before she reached 40 years old. One of Candi’s twin sons (age 14) killed a “17 inch 10 point” (the hunters will understand that description), which is the biggest deer that their family has ever harvested. That deer will spend his after-life above their fireplace in their new home!!

It was beautiful, during our Thanksgiving lunch, watching Loretta hug her parents, me, three kids and their spouses, and seven grandchildren all individually, and personally tell us all how much she loves us and is grateful for us. (Yes, believe it or not, we hunters do come in for Thanksgiving lunch!)

I was pleased to see my son Chad ’s pride in killing a turkey with “Phil’s gun,” our new 270 Weatherby.

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My favorite moment was playing with the karaoke machine (I had not even known there were such “toys.”). Yeah, I was booed off the stage (which the machine does if you do a terrible job trying to sing along), but it was great fun.

Finally, but certainly not least, I am grateful for many things relating to Baptist life.

As I anticipate turning 55 in December, it is nice to reflect back on 20 years with Texas Baptists Committed. I remember how honored I was to travel and speak with Richard Jackson and Daniel Vestal in those early years of 1988, 1989, and 1990. I appreciated their courage back then and still do. They are great men.

I remember a meeting at Dallas Love Field in 1989, at which we decided to support Phil Lineberger for BGCT president. I remember where I was sitting in the room—young, green, and passionate as I listened to Winfred Moore, Herbert Reynolds, John Baugh, Phil Strickland, Bill Bruster, Charles Wade, and others talk about saving Texas . I am thankful that these great men believed in a West Texas cowboy who had more guts than sense, and I hope that I have gained some sense in the 20 years since.

Most of all, I remember—and am thankful for—so many laypersons who sacrificed so much financially and personally for TBC to be successful. Many of them have gone to heaven during these past 20 years, but I still picture their faces, see their smiles, and remember their hugs.

Friends, Texas Baptists are free. We have much for which to be thankful, yet much still to accomplish in the coming years. Thank you for your support.