Wednesday, September 19, 2012

My Father is a King

I was born in a rural part of central Texas on a farm. My father managed a pecan orchard for another  man and after he got off work  he grew peanuts on his own small piece of land. He worked from sun up to sun down six days a week. By the world's standards we were poor but I never went hungry. I wore patched jeans to school and I got one new pair of shoes every year. In the summer I hoed peanuts and my mother reminded me every day that hoeing peanuts was an honorable job but if I wanted to do something different I had better get a good education.

 At age thirteen something unimaginable happened and it changed my life  forever. I was adopted by a King and his name is Jesus. Why would Jesus the King of the universe choose to adopt a poor boy from rural Texas? There was nothing  attractive or special about me. I found the answer to my question in the Bible in the book of Genesis. God chose me because I was created in His image and that makes me special.   Guess what you are special too because we were both created in God's image.

My life has never been the same since my adoption. I grew up and was able to get that education that my mother talked about. God provided me with an wonderful wife and two almost perfect daughters and then he topped that off with four perfect grandchildren. The blessings did not stop there because when you are a child of a King the blessings just keep coming. God provided me with a job that allowed me to manage the largest Division of the FBI. That experience helped me to be better prepared  to serve as an elder in His church.  The story still does not end there.  Now I have been given another opportunity to serve in our congregation's  Christian Service Center. Our Mission is to practice the Presence of Christ to the Glory of God through acts of mercy.
There is a school in my community that does not have many resources and according to the web page of the Tarrant Area Food Bank twenty-six percent of the children in Hood County where I live have hunger issues. As a child of a King, I  must work with others to do something about that. Our congregation has decided to adopt this school.  I met with the principal of this middle school and  I told her that we wanted to adopt her school by providing resources that the school is lacking in proportion to other schools in our district.  The principal and her staff will be compiling a list of things they need.  In two weeks we will start providing approximately 100 bags of food for the most needy kids in this school who do not get adequate food on the weekends.

When I was adopted by a King at age thirteen, I had no idea how it would change my life. One day every knee will bow before my King and there will be great joy in heaven. It gives me chills to think about that scene. If you are an adopted child of God and that does not excite you, then you better have someone check your pulse to see if you are still a live.

My Father is the King. Do you know him?

Gee Man