Silly Old Bear

About four months after Ashley died, Susan and Justin and I took a trip from our home in Texas to visit some friends in Tennessee and then spend a few days in the Great Smoky Mountains. Driving late at night, somewhere between Memphis and Nashville, the idea for a song began growing in my head. It was a tribute to the remarkable life of my Ashley, her profound impact on our lives as her family, and the deep emptiness left in our hearts by her death. But even amidst the palpable sadness of our grief, I found my thoughts, and the emerging song, focusing on the hope that is inherent in my faith — the promise that, one day, we will see her and hold her once again.

The more we drove, the more the song grew and began to organize itself into verses and a chorus. I asked Susan to find some paper and a pen and start writing down the words so that I wouldn’t forget them. I drove and Susan wrote, and by the time we reached Nashville, “Until Then” was a song.

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It’s hard to believe it has been eight years: November 24, 2001. Sometimes it seems as though it was only yesterday that you left us, Ashley. Then there are moments when it seems that a lifetime has passed since that awful day.

I still miss you like crazy. We’re doing OK, though. You taught us to cherish every day. Most days we remember to do that. You taught us to live life to the fullest, to squeeze every drop of adventure out of every day that God gives us. You showed us that the real beauty of life is living with a complete trust in God. It’s funny how I’ve been a minister most of my adult life, but you figured that out so much better and lived it so much more completely than I ever have.

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A few months after my daughter Ashley died, I called a friend and asked him to meet me for lunch. Andy Moya is one of those creative types who seems to be good at everything he does. He is a graphics artist/designer by trade, and a very talented musician by avocation. I was captivated by his CD of Christmas favorites played on piano.

Andy is also just an all-around great guy. I came to know him through a mutual friend, and have always enjoyed any opportunity to visit with him. He is deeply spiritual and loves the Lord with all his heart. I have a great respect for him in that regard.

I invited Andy to lunch because I had a favor to ask of him. I wanted to have a beautiful instrumental song written especially in Ashley’s memory. Knowing Andy’s creativity, musicianship, and heart, I felt like he would be the perfect person for such an undertaking, if he was interested.

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So, we’re sitting in church tonight (my wife Susan and me), and our preacher (Dean) gets up to preach. Often, on Sunday nights, he will quote the first part of Philippians 4:4, and the congregation will respond with the last part.

Tonight, however, Susan’s response wasn’t quite the same as everyone else’s, and earns her the distinction of being the latest “Quote of the Moment”.

(The words below in black are preacher Dean’s; the words in blue are Susan’s.)

“Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say …”

“… SCOOT UP!”

- Susan O’Rear

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In “Moral Courage (Part 1)“, we looked extensively at the meaning and origins of morals. Morality, in the external sense, is the standard of right and wrong as established ultimately by God and revealed in His word. My own personal moral code is shaped as I decide whether or not, and to what extent, I will follow His standards. And that’s where courage comes into play.

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Susan and I were sitting and eating supper together tonight, and she was telling me about her day. She works at our School District’s 8th grade campus as a Paraprofessional (Teacher’s Aide) in Content Mastery. The teacher with whom she works is a young lady in her mid-20′s named Amber.

Susan and Amber were running a couple of errands together after school, which took them outside the city limits. They passed a field with cows, which naturally provoked a conversation about farm animals. Susan raised pigs when she was in high school, and both of our children raised pigs for 4H and FFA from about 4th or 5th grade on. So Susan knows a lot about pigs. You never know when that might come in handy — like today, for instance.

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Country singer Alan Jackson sang a song entitled “Where Were You (When The World Stopped Turning)?”, referring to that fateful day in 2001 that will forever be remembered simply as “Nine Eleven”.

Do you remember where you were?

I will never forget.

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Susan and I married on Saturday, October 16, 1982, at the Round Rock Church of Christ in Round Rock, Texas. (I didn’t even have to look that up! I knew it right off the top of my head!)

We had first met each other about a year-and-a-half earlier. I was a Freshman at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. Susan was a Junior at Round Rock High School in Round Rock, Texas. She and her family were members of the Round Rock Church of Christ.

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Susan and I took Justin out to Lubbock, Texas (about 6 hours from home), on Tuesday of this week to help him get moved into his dorm room at Lubbock Christian University and get ready for his first day of classes on Monday. He will be a freshman, majoring in Agricultural Business.

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Last month, I attended the Central Texas Bible Teachers Workshop , hosted by the Cameron Road Church of Christ in Austin, Texas. One of the things I always look forward to at such events is seeing my friend Robert J. Taylor and perusing his latest CD’s. I picked up three new CD’s in Austin. (Shhh! Don’t tell Susan!)

There was one song in particular that really grabbed me. It is entitled “Not Too Far From Here”, and it reminds us to look at those around us with an open heart, because people are hurting “not too far from here”.

You can click on the Music Player button below to listen to the song.

God bless you.