S Q U E E Z E

When I was 8 years old I got to make an unexpected trip to Amarillo with my Mom and Dad. My Dad had cancer and was going for a treatment. On the trip up, there was laughing and visiting. On the trip home, there was much silence. Dad lay in the back seat and was sick. I too sat in the back seat and tried to care for him as well as any 8 year old could. Sometime during the trip he reached over and took my small hand in his and squeezed it 3 times and said, “Each squeeze represents a word.” And with each squeezed he said, “I love you!” I in turn squeezed back, “I love you.” But this time he answered my 3 squeezes with 4. I cut my eyes down at him with a questioning look on my face and he said, “That was ‘I love you too’.” So during the remainder of the trip we spoke deep and profound things without saying a word. The following year he lost his battle with cancer.

This past Sunday, my grandson Daniel sat beside me and took my hand and squeezed it 3 times, I in turn squeezed his 4 times. As we cut our eyes around at each other we knew that our silent words were speaking loudly for all to hear, “I love you!”

With God All Things Are Possible

When Daryl and I met, he was working in the bus program at the Green Lawn church of Christ. As we dated through the remainder of the school year at Lubbock Christian we attended Green Lawn and worked in the bus program and puppet ministry. Several times over the next several months, Daryl mentioned becoming a youth minister.

Over the next 9 years of marriage, Daryl got into the habit of going to church on some Sunday mornings but skipping class. Things began to get stressful around the house, as I would load up the kids to take them to church Sundays and Wednesdays while Daryl would stay home.

Pressure began to build so that I had to begin to read my Bible and pray while he was at work. One Wednesday evening when he came in from work early he poked at me about my fear of ‘going to hell’ if I missed any Church services. I would often ponder, ‘where was the Christian man I had married?’

One afternoon after putting in a long hard day at work, Daryl came in and asked, “What would you say if we went to Sunset School of Preaching and I became a preacher?” There was a look of shock on my face as I said, “You do know you have to go to church 3 times a week don’t you?”

In 1992 we attended Sunset School of Preaching. Daryl is currently preaching at the Jal church of Christ. He has the heart of Andrew, gentle, compassionate and very loving.

IPeter 3:1-2 “Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the Word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives.”