Category: One Life Story

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You’re Just Like God…

One quick thought that continues to remind me that others are watching us, especially our children and grandchildren…

I was sitting on the couch in my boxer shorts watching a basketball game, when my then, 6 year old son, Justin, comes into the room. He sees me so he strips down to his underwear and sits by me on the couch. He acted like he knew what was going on with the game so he could be like me.

A few minutes later, Justin looks up at me and says, “Dad, you’re just like God… only bigger!” He was quite serious and it was hard for me not to smile. He had heard about a loving Father God and he saw me, his father, who was loving to him but I had skin on and was “real” to him. Just like God… only bigger.

Of course, I can never live up to that comparison, not even close, but I strive to live like Jesus and when I fail and fall, I hope and pray that my family and friends see my heart and forgive me! I pray that Justin will return to the Jesus who I tried to exemplify for him and I pray that my daughter Amanda, who walking with the Lord today will remain strong also. And now, I have a beautiful 6 year old granddaughter, Afton, and brand new grandson, Kellen, to whom I can be an example of the love of Jesus as well!

Justin’s words to me inspired me to sing the song, “I Wanna be Just Like You.” See the lyrics below and the video link to the song and story as told to the MOPS National Conference (Mothers of Preschoolers).

I Want to be Just Like You – Phillips, Craig & Dean

He climbs in my lap for a goodnight hug
He calls me Dad and I call him Bub
With his faded old pillow and a bear named Pooh
He snuggles up close and says, I want to be like you.
So I tuck him in bed and I kiss him goodnight
Trippin’ over the toys as I turn out the light
And I whisper a prayer that someday he’ll see
He’s got a father in God ’cause he’s seen Jesus in me.

Chorus:
Lord, I want to be just like You
’Cause he wants to be just like me
I want to be a holy example
For his innocent eyes to see.
Help me be a living Bible, Lord
That my little boy can read
I want to be just like You
’Cause he wants to be like me.

Got to admit I’ve got so far to go
Make so many mistakes and I’m sure that You know
Sometimes it seems no matter how hard I try
With all the pressures in life, I just can’t get it all right.
But I’m trying so hard to learn from the best
Being patient and kind, filled with Your tenderness
’Cause I know that he’ll learn from the things that he sees
And the Jesus he finds will be the Jesus in me.

Chorus:
Lord, I want to be just like You
’Cause he wants to be just like me
I want to be a holy example
For his innocent eyes to see.
Help me be a living Bible, Lord
That my little boy can read
I want to be just like You
’Cause he wants to be like me.

Bridge:
Right now from where he stands
I may seem mighty tall
But it’s only ’cause I’m learning
From the best Father of them all.

Lord, I want to be just like You
’Cause he wants to be just like me
I want to be a holy example
For his innocent eyes to see.
Help me be a living Bible, Lord
That my little boy can read
I want to be just like You.
‘Cause he wants to be like me.
Lord, I want to be just like You
’Cause he wants to be like me.

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And the Wall Came Tumbling Down!

Here we are at the base in Frankfurt

It was November of 1989 and Sharon and I were in Frankfurt, Germany. I was singing for a renewal event in a church that was made up of mostly American military from the Rhein-Main Air Base, a United States Air Force air base near the city of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. I also had the privilege of singing on the base.

That was on November 8th and the next day, on Nov. 9th, the Berlin wall came down! So, off Sharon and I were to Berlin the next day to join in the celebration! I bought a couple of smaller chunks of the wall that the newly free German entrepreneurs had cut out and were selling on the street. One guy even tried to sell me about a 20 lb. chunk of the wall and I told him no thanks! I had no idea how I would get it into my luggage back to St. Louis! When I got back to the states and very saw small fragments of the wall being sold for $10 each, I realized that I could have made a mint off that chunk of the Berlin Wall!  Several small “Wall” chunks are still being sold in the US for anywhere from $40 to $400 and much more for larger segments.  I think that if they connected all the pieces of the “Berlin Wall” that have been sold to date, you could build the great wall of China. Not sure how one could tell that their piece of concrete is real!  I know mine are, I was there and saw them chopped off!  (Yes, I’ll sell you a genuine piece for $1000!)

Segments of wall in Fulton, Missouri

I’ve also seen several full segments of the wall all over the world (even in the Men’s room at a Vegas hotel!!)  But there are several segments very near us in Fulton, Missouri on the campus of Westminster College where Sir Winston Churchill delivered his “Iron Curtain” speech in March of 1946.

And who can forget US President Ronald Reagan’s famous, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” in 1987.