A Birthday to Remember

What a great day I have had. As many of you know, I celebrate the whole month of July for my birthday. And I have had great things happen to me, so far. But the 16th is the actual day of my birth, at 3:50am, in a two-room house on Division St. in Greenville, TX. (See picture below, it was white when I was born. It is gone now, just a church parking lot.)

Anyway, my birthday started the night before at church with a birthday party after the service, and with a greeting from my nephew Chris. A great way to start. It was followed by many other email and facebook greetings. (I don't really participate in facebook, but I get an email any time someone writes on my "wall.")

It rained early on the 16th, lowering the temp about 20 degrees from the 101-degree day before. Judy took me to breakfast at my favorite place, Speedway. Then we rode bikes on the new part of the bike/walking trail that will eventually circle the city. I was lazy all day, just reading books, etc. and enjoying reading what I usually don't have time for because of study and preparation for preaching/teaching.

At 6pm we went to Okie's. It is a really nice restaurant in Muskogee with great food and service. My friends in South Africa paid for the meal. (See the picture above.) We had a piece of cheese cake that was totally unbelieveable! Mmmmm.....

Judy had prayed for the last few months that I would have a great birthday. We have really been going through some very stressful testing, and the day was a nice respite from all that. I got great cards, and two specially designed cards from my dear wife Judy, the graphics artist. She really knows how to do things up well!

This is the best birthday I have had in a very long time. I have not only enjoyed the day, but also ruminating about every aspect of the day. The Lord is good to me.

One kind of sad note. In 61 years, this is the first birthday without my mother. But even that wasn't totally sad, because I know she is so much better off, living a much fuller life than she had here on earth.