Missed It By THAT Much

The record was in sight. It was looking like we would easily break it. Then one day short of the legendary consecutive triple digit temperature record of 1980, the clouds relinquished a few drops of rain and kept the official temperature in double digits.

I have to admit that there was a part of me that wanted to see a new record.  To be honest, I’m a little tired of hearing, “Well, it’s hot, but nothing like 1980.” On the other hand, I really don’t want to remember a year of my life based on nothing more than scorching summer temperatures.   A few weeks ago, when we were about half way to the record, someone asked me if I remembered the summer of 1980.  Of course I do, but not because of the heat.

In the summer of ’80, I was 18 years old and had just graduated from high school.  Extreme temperatures didn’t have nearly the effect on me at 18 as they do at 49.  But what I do remember the most about 1980 is a series of life changing choices.  One of those was choosing to head off for the Texas panhandle to seek a music degree at West Texas State University (now West Texas A&M University … Go Buffs!).  No one from my family had attended that institution before and I didn’t know a soul there, but for some reason it seemed right.  Over the past few days, I’ve been reflecting on how different my life might have been had I not made that choice in 1980.

The most obvious life impact of that choice was that WT was the place where I met Mrs. Sweetie. Of course, she wasn’t Mrs. Sweetie when I met her.  She was the really cute and outgoing freshman that showed up in the first WT Chorale rehearsal in the fall of my sophomore year.  And since she was not only cute and outgoing, but smart enough and driven enough to graduate in three years, it worked out great when she convinced me to marry her about six weeks after our graduation.  (Now, she doesn’t remember it happening exactly that way, but this is my story!)  After 27 years of marriage and two children who have now attended our alma mater, I don’t even want to think about how my life would look if my college choice had been different.

It was also at WT that I met a grad student named Charlie Fuller, who would eventually become the choir director at the high school in a town I had never heard of—Azle.  When I was preparing to come to seminary I asked Charlie if he knew of a church needing a music director.  He suggested I call the pastor at a little church outside of Azle called Eagle Mountain Baptist Church.  After serving as their Music and Youth Minister for four years and then returning later to serve as their pastor for seventeen years, I don’t even want to think about how my life would look if I had gone a different direction in 1980.

The truth of the matter is that 1980 meant a whole lot more to me than a record heat wave.  So does 2011.  When I look back on this year, I’ll think about getting a son-in-law.  I’ll think about getting my house paid off.  I’ll remember it as the year I turned the big Five O. Even now, I am wondering what decision I will make this year that will affect the course of my life for the next three decades.

God says, in Jeremiah 29:11-13 (The Message) – “I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out — plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I'll listen. When you come looking for me, you'll find me”.

Whether we set new records or we just miss it by that much, God knows what He’s doing and our lives matter to Him.  So, what choices are you making in this hot summer that will affect the course of your life?