In 1976 the legendary Wood Brothers of NASCAR fame won the Daytona 500 with another legend, David Pearson, as their driver. It would appear to be their last Daytona win ever.
One state over, another Wood brother, not so legendary and not related, graduated from high school in the same year.
Fast forward 35 years.
On Saturday, Trevor Bayne of Knoxville, Tennessee turned 20. On the same day, Cohen Thomas of Lubbock Texas celebrated his first birthday.
In conjunction with his 20th birthday, Trevor Bayne got to drive for the legendary Wood Brothers in an 800-horsepower machine with the classic #21 paint job and a snazzy in-car radio system.
In conjunction with his first birthday, the other Wood brother’s grandson got a play fire truck (2 babyleg power) with a classic siren and a snazzy pretend cell phone. [click to continue…]
Cohen is an expert crawler.
He can cross a room lickety-split on his hands and knees.
He’s an awful walker.
He’s learning. But why risk injury when he can get there safely on all fours?
His parents don’t treat his crawling ability as a special gift, however.
It’s just a skill that helps him until the greater abilities arrive.
Same goes for you and God. [click to continue…]
I’ve said it often in church life: there is nothing more useless (and sometimes obnoxious) than a new grandparent.
Uh huh.
So anyway…
Amazing creatures, these babies – resting peacefully in somebody’s eager arms or lying in the bed, quietly watching the world go by. Filled with wonder at times, filling the room with noise at times. Innocent and defenseless, yet powerful enough to hold your heart in their tiny hands. So capable of needing and being needed, even before she takes her first nap. Babies! I realized the other day how long it had been since I had held one, or played with one. I remembered how little we still truly know about them.
How does God do that anyway? How can one life be created in the image of two, a miniature version of her Mommy and Daddy? How can she be so unable to care for herself, yet totally equipped to learn, to grow, and to develop? What’s really going through her mind as she lies there quietly? What will she become one day? Will she be a woman or a witch, an angel or a devil? We talk of “accidents,” but God never does. What does God have in mind for her? How much of God will she ever truly experience? What kind of God will she see in me? Or in her parents?
“But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law” (Galatians 4:4).
[click to continue…]