Blessed By Family

I have been reflecting today on the family God has blessed me with. Last night we had a mini family get-together over at Mom’s. My sister and part of her family came down for the weekend, so last night, my brother, his wife and two of their boys, my son and his wife and Patty and I joined them for dinner at Mom’s. Nothing special, just the opportunity to get together and catch up on a little of what’s going on with each other. Besides the typical family stories, I can rejoice that my siblings and my children and their family members each have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Some are also actively involved in ministry to one degree or another—even some who are still students.

One of my nephews, who is fixing to graduate from high school, went on a mission trip to the Amazon over Spring break. Another, who is in college, is on a mission trip with an Christian sports program to Croatia. A niece is getting ready to travel with a musical group to parts of Europe. My sister and her husband both work in a Christian school and my brother is a hospice chaplain and associate pastor at his church. My son and his wife are group home parents at a Presbyterian Children’s home. The catalyst for all this comes, first, from a personal knowledge of Jesus Christ and secondly, it comes from the influence of a godly mother/grandmother.
My Mom has served the Lord ever since she was a teenager. When she lived in Northern California, for awhile as a teenager of 17 or 18, she started a Sunday School for the Indian children who lived in the area. There was no church in the logging town, so some of the handful of Christians living there wanted to help with the small mission. As more people started coming the Sunday School grew. Mom recognized that the group needed a pastor, so she started making contacts and eventually located a Methodist circuit preacher who agreed to come and preach on Sundays. A church was soon formed that is still going today.

Not long after we moved to Texas, she began a ministry to the girls at the area state correctional school. For many years, until she lost most of her eyesight, she taught either college students or adults at our church here in town and for several wonderful years had a open house and a ministry to local college students. I can remember many a Sunday after the morning service, there would be 40-60 college students at our house for a home-cooked meal. We could not afford it, but God always provided the money or the food or both. Later, 12-18 would remain after the others left and one would head for the piano, another might pull out his guitar and we would sing for an hour or more and share testimonies. It was great! Many of those students became extended family and called my mother, “Mom.” For I don’t know how many college students, she was counselor, teacher and Mom to, …and occasionally, their launderer as well!

Yes, God has blessed me with a great family!