Happy Birthday Tracie

Might I simply offer you a Happy Birthday.......

The number of candles on your cake really do not matter......

I hope you have fun on your trip this weekend.....

I love you....

Kent

Personal Zoars

Every man must face in his personal Zoar. Those little decisions to not completely obey and submit to God. Those areas of personal conviction that we are so tempted to relax in. Last Wedneday night I taught about Lot fleeing Sodom and this little blog from the past came to mind. Hopefully you will be blessed by the simplicity of the thought. Blessings...rks



The angels had appeared to rescue....

Dad, mom and girls had narrowly escaped the fall of fire......

Mom looked back because she had some children left behind and was saltily left behind herself.....

The angel urges Lot and the girls to flee to the mountains.....

But broadminded Lot....

Tolerant Lot....

Urban and educated Lot....

More enlightened and self controlled Lot....

Debated with his rescuers....

How about Zoar, instead of the outdated mountains......

After all Lot reasoned....

Zoar is just a little place......

Not nearly so big and bad as Sodom.....

Surely we can find our place among the Zoarites......

Zoar is such an acceptable place.....

Small and not nearly as far gone as Gommorroh.....

OK the angel said and went back to his business......

So Lot and daughters settled there but things didn't work out....

And before Long they took themselves to the mountain because they soon realized .....

There is no place for our kind even in the little places like Zoar....

We didn’t belong in Sodom….

And we don’t belong here…..

Once separated always separated.....

We don't fit here....

So the mountain....

But the damage was done.......

And Lot sired his own grandchildren .....

And created the greatest enemies of the people of God would ever know.......

The Ammonites and the Moabites hated God's people.....

Go ahead my brother and settle in the little Zoars of our modern day....

Let your wife trim her hair, after all it is really not cut, just trimmed a little....

Allow your light make-up, after all it is not heavy, just a little....

Allow your light programming, not porn, but just a little......

Allow the doctrines of abstinence to be replaced with the doctrines of moderation and tolerance....

After all we can handle just a little.....

And your grandchildren one day will despise who there daddy was.....

rks

TributeTo My Preacher Daddy

I offered this some time back in a more informal setting but have chosen to edit and offer it as a tribute to my father this Father's Day weekend. Pastor Ron Smith is a hero to his children and has been very careful to guard the name he handed to his three sons. Andy, Myron, Sharla, Kay and I have much to be thankful for. Mom has followed him through rain and flood to help him follow his dream. Blessings...rks




Dad is a preacher man...

The old fashioned kind that believed that white was white.....

Black was black.....

And gray had too much white to be black and black to be white...

He started and pastored numerous churches.....

Accumulating five kids along the way.....

Of which all five are in full time ministry with the United Pentecostal Church...

To this day he apologizes for the things he was never able to give us....

He shouldn’t….

Look what he was able to.....

Faith, trust, conviction, work ethic, willingness to sacrifice, conviction, manhood, independence and unwavering stamina are to name but a few.....

A few days ago we talked again on this matter I wanted him to know what I considered to be the greatest thing he gave us....

Dad was always there......

No, his was never a marquis name.....

You never saw him on conference platforms....

Nor his name printed on little postcards.....

He never flew off to preach for some big name....

Or in some other country...

Dad was always there.....

He took us to school....

And then picked us up.....

He would let me play hooky and run around town with him and then send a note to the principal saying that Kent was sick yesterday and needed a treatment....

Ah those treatments from Dad.....

Breakfast at Whataburger, coffee at 7-11, and back to Whataburger for lunch.....

Those treatments consisted of garage sales....lumber yards....trips to his bank....

And laughing.......

Laughing....

And then laughing some more.....

I think I might could use one of those treatments this week.....

Dad was there......

Dad was poor when I was growing up........

But God changed all that for him.....

Poor that is by monetary standards.....

But today he is a very wealthy man.....

When he goes to conference or camp meeting.....

He has some or all of his five kids sitting on the bench beside him......

His grown grandchildren are all seeking ministry.....

He even had an old dog one time that he taught to sing and preach.....

Dad is rich....

Dad was there......

He retired from pastoring a few years ago....

But took another little church earlier last year and is working his little miracle on it......

He took me by it yesterday and wanted to show off the new annex, sign, parking lot, sound system and even brag about some of his new saints…….

Old preachers never really retire….

He has refired……..

I heard him preach at the Texas Camp Meeting today……

The same clear sound as the last forty years……

I just want to salute the old rascal this morning.....

Dad was always there for his wife, his five nappy headed little kids and his church

Thanks Dad.......

On this Father’s Day week I salute you….

You stand head and shoulders above many………

Dad-a-holic Recovery

Hello....

My name is Smith....

And I am a recovering dad-a-holic.....

Yup....

I been addicted to being a dad to my boy for 21 years....

The same boy that traded me in for a little gal last week and went off to Mexico with little regard for my feelings....

Ha.....

I have been messed up this week.....

Now before you lecture me let me simply state....

I am relishing this part of the journey too.....

And I talked to some buddies the last couple of days and they were messed up just like me when their boys made the same trade....

I know all the symptoms and remedies for my feelings and since I am a professional I am too smart to feel these feelings...

But I am a dad-a-holic......

And I have loved this addiction....

Oh well......

I guess Doni has to take care of all my little tender sensitive daddy feelings for a while....

In all reality though......

I have lost nothing in the transactions of the last week...

Rather only added substance to my addiction....

And instead of two addicting kids in my life....

I now have three......

The Mother of the Groom

Ah, the groom's mother....

Tracie was in my opinion the perfect mother of the groom....

From the first hint of a wedding she was online looking for the perfect etiquette....

She found her place and stayed in it.....

But she also made sure every detail was perfect....

Perfect........

But then that's the girl I have lived with these 26 years.....

From little engagement gifts to taking care of the slightest of details of the rehearsal dinner.....

I thought a good rehearsal dinner could be a hot dawg supper...

But to Tracie is was to be nearly formal and perfect.....

Hot dawgs were not on the menu....

Rather the banquet room at Brady's Landing with the ship channel view along with a most incredible seafood buffet....

My job was the cash....

But to Tracie every detail must be perfect....

And it was....

The wedding moment arrived....

I am standing on the stage with the groom....

When Tracie steps in the door to be escorted to her seat....

Standing there in the suit we had made for her with those perfect shoes she drove me crazy about and the little $9 purse we spent $100 worth of gas looking for....

Alone, she stood....

My single regret of the entire wedding process was not being able to walk with her and hold her hand during the wedding....

But there she stood.....

Beautiful and poised with the lady like class she always carries....

I remembered the last time I saw her escorted down a similar aisle as my bride....

I could see the tears on the edge because her baby was being married....

I grinned and teared myself when Trent left the stage to escort his momma over to the unity candle...

I marvelled at her continued beauty.....

My heart swelling with pride and love and admiration.......

And when she sat our eyes met.....

Words need not be exchanged for with that look many other things were....

I truly am a blessed man........

I love you Tracie....

Congratulations Trent & Calah

Crosshairs on the Cross

A father's comments to his Son on his wedding Day. Thank you Redonia for creating the picture.


I held you that first day....

A sense of greatness settled upon me...

I immediately knew you were placed in my hands with purpose....

As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Ps 127:4.....

In my hands rested an arrow to be held, loved, prepared, trained and launched at the appropriate moment...

I held this arrow and searched for a target and became a mighty man in seconds...

You were being aimed, that first week when you went to church....

When you were but two years old and your mother carried you out thirteen times in a single service to spank you...

You were being aimed....

All those trips to Conroe from Pasadena when you were three, you were being aimed....

Sitting on that front bench as a four year old by yourself, being dared to wiggle you were being aimed....

Countless Saturday visitations in the back seat.........

I aimed you....

During remodel and building projects, I would give you a block of wood to hammer nails into, you were being aimed....

The time you yelled out "darn" in front of all the church people and you mother thrashed you chubby little self, you were being aimed....

The day you asked me if we were going to teach another Bible Study you were being aimed....

That wee hour prayer meeting you came dragging you pillow and lay down beside me in your jammies, I aimed....

Not a single day of your life have I taken my eye off the target....

I aimed you while on vacation, reminding you the rules were the same then as when we were home....

I aimed you every time I drug you to another youth camp to work....

I aimed you with pots and pans and drum pads and CB 700's and metronomes and Rolands and insisting you would wear ties and suits while playing those drums.....

I aimed you time after time reminding you that you still had the same rules as everybody else.....

But you also had some unique rules that applied to you and your sister only, because I aimed you toward a greater target.....

When the teacher was wrong you never knew it because the teacher was never wrong as far as I was concerned...

I aimed....

When you got your own car I aimed you to the church van on Friday nights to ride with the rest of the group.....

I aimed you by giving you that snack machine and telling you that if you could manage this machine successfully you could manage a home, family and church....

The day I went upstairs and lay on the bed with a frustrated teenager that did not understand why he couldn't do what all the other boys did..........

I aimed you that day toward a target I could see, but you could not....

You needed to grow a little taller to see that day....

So I explained to you that like young King Josiah that was kept hidden those years, you couldn't do what all the other boys might be able to do because one day you would be a king and young kings don't do what other boys do.....

I aimed....

Oh, in early years it felt so good to have you safe and secure in my quiver....

But as you matured I placed you on the bow...

And applied pressure.....

At times my arms would tremble just holding you on the target....

The Crosshairs would waver and my daddy heart would want to relax expectations a bit....

But the mighty man in me would not allow it....

I aimed by taking car keys and cell phones from you....

I aimed by pulling you from the platform for doing less than others had done.....

I aimed by giving your first curfew after you were engaged....

I applied much pressure...

I aimed knowing the pressure applied would make or break....

But I had little choice.....

Then came the day.....

I could see you had made the decision to trade me and mom in for a little five foot gal....

I know my calls to you while you were with her embarrassed you...

But I held the Crosshairs firmly on the target knowing it would be worth it.....

There were times when I wearied of holding the Crosshairs so high and steady....

Moments when I was tempted to lower the aim a bit....

But Son I could not....

The mighty man in me could not allow a lesser target....

So I held those Crosshairs centered on the Cross....

There were days I could not see the Cross for the Crosshairs....

Or the Crosshairs for the Cross...

My arms would tremble with pressure as I held firm and steady....

Many did not understand.....

But you weren't allowed to do what other boys did....

The Crosshairs were on the Cross....

I knew I had to hold you steady.....

I knew I had to aim you high....

I knew that if I wavered you might miss the target....

So for twenty one years I have firmly held you aimed at that crossbar on the Cross....

Crosshairs on the Cross.......

I knew you were but a boy....

A boy destined for greatness.....

You were not perfect and fell short of the target more than once....

On those days you fell short....

Because the Crosshairs were steadily held firmly on center....

You landed at the Foot of the Cross.....

And my dear arrow this mighty man was thrilled to see you there......

What better place for a young man to land?

Today my son you enter into a new world of manhood....

I have held the Crosshairs on the Cross....

So with great confidence I take a deep breath.....

And a final look and make sure the Crosshairs are Superimposed upon the Cross...

With a final steadying of my own heart and spirit.....

I release and launch you into you own world...

But Son please remember....

I do not release you and turn and walk away....

Rather.....

I release you and hold steady, following through with my eyes firmly on you as you speed toward the Cross I have so steadily aimed you toward.....

Just as David confidently launched the stone toward Goliath's forehead.....

I confidently launch you into the world and ministry God has ordained for you life.....

And as you speed toward your mark of the prize of the high calling...

Never forget......

I continue to hold the Crosshairs on the Cross....

Anticipating with joy what lies ahead of you and your bride......

I am proud of you.....

Crosshairs on the Cross.....

Dad

The Week of the Big Wedding

And so the BIG WEEK has arrived....

My boy is married later this week....

Ah the three years of romance and drama Tracie and I have observed.....

And lived through.....

The engagement has been fun for us....

Tracie and I have endeavored to enjoy every stage of life with our kids....

Being the parents of the groom has been fun....

Last night we ran into the bride and groom at Dilliard's and I had a good father of the groom talk with them.....

I do not think it was received too well or appreciated.....

But oh well....

I didn't listen to those trying to help me either the week I got married....ha

Oh the joys...

And pressures of getting married....

This week I send off my boy into a world that will be his to conquer....

Tracie blogged up her emotions yesterday http://www.traciesmith.blogspot.com/ and when she read them to me we both cried....

I will write more this week but for the next couple of days....

I am simply gonna be the groom's father and drive the groom's mother around town doing what she needs to do....

Hopefully I can find a way to splurge and let Tracie know that I still think she is as beautiful today as she was July 3, 1982.....


Life has been good with this girl....

And I look forward to the next phase as we hold hands for another 26 years....

And this week is no different....

Another milestone...

Another happy occasion....

As we launch our son into his own world of manhood....

I pray we have placed a love for the kingdom in him.....

Little else matters to us....

Fame, success and money will but pale if he is not a Kingdom lover...

But I have every confidence he is....

He has chosen a beautiful young lady....

Calah acts just like his mother.....

The kids will be on staff here at CUPC as Youth Pastor / CCS Teacher / CCS Secretary / General flunky and flunkette ........

Their future is bright and I am very proud of them....

Today I am off to hold the groom's mother's hand....

I intend to treat her to a nice lunch....

Sneak a hug....

And offer thanks to the Lord for such a wonderful family....

Blessings...

rks

Jesus Doesn't Need Photoshop

To do this........

You wanta take a walk with him?

I do!!!