Where the heart is
May 1, 2008 (Thursday)
Of one thing I am sure: Texas is my home. Someone who has just met me might ask, “Exactly where in Texas is your home?” If we are talking about how long I’ve lived in a place, then Rockport has to be my home, because I moved there in 1964 (two years before our youngest child, Dwight, was born in Corpus Christi), and still have a home there today, 44 years later. But if we’re talking about where I was born and raised, led to Christ, and began preaching, and where I’m living and working today, my home is Houston – Freeways, Skyscrapers, and everything that goes with the fourth largest city in the country. I can go to Waco and Central Texas, however, and people ask me when I’m going to move back home to that part of the state where I went to college, was ordained, pastored two churches, served on the staff of a church, served as volunteer staff in one, and preached or sang in many more of the churches of that area, where our third child, Debbie, was born in Marlin, and where I own land inherited from Wanda, and feel very much a part of her family, some of whom still live there. I feel right at home in all three of these places. I feel at home in other places in the state as well: in Lampasas, where I pastored a church, where our oldest son, David, was born in nearby Burnet, and where several of our church members worked at Fort Hood; in Fort Worth, where I attended the seminary, worked with grain, making deliveries all over town, and helped build automobiles (in nearby Arlington), where our second child, Dan, was born in Harris Hospital, and where we lived in the northwest corner of the county and pastored a church for two years; in Dallas, where our younger daughter, Dianna, was born in Baylor Hospital, and where I pastored a church for 3 ½ years. From Rockport, I made many trips to San Antonio to visit church members who had gone there for hospital care, and when we lived in Lampasas, we would make get-away trips to Austin as outings with our baby boy, going to the movies or a museum on the UT Campus. So, put a ten gallon hat on me and call me “Tex,” ‘cause Texas is my home. Wanna know a little secret, though? This is my Father’s world, so I’m at home wherever I am. So are you.