VIVA LA VIDA

On Tuesday, while in TN, we also got to spend time with my brother Stephen and his family. Stephen is TRUE COUNTRY. In fact, because he’s so much bigger than me, I think I’ll just call him BIG COUNTRY.

God has blessed this guy. God has blessed his business. God has given him a neat family. God has blessed him with a beautiful house. Best yet, God has given Him a gift of hospitality. He loves entertaining family and friends. I mean, he LOVES IT!

So, Tuesday morning he prepared breakfast for Dad, Mom and our whole family. We ate breakfast. Swam in his pool. Then he got out the toys. A Polaris Razor. It’s a four wheeler on steroids. The thing will fly. For the better part of the day, the girls jumped in one after another and I took them “four wheeling” over a bunch of dirt trails in TN.

The longer the day went on, the more confident I got... Finally, Chelsea got in the four wheeler. It was time to teach the almost twenty-year-old that her Dad was still wild and fearless.

I gunned the Razor. I took her on the ride of her life, and everything was going great until I FLIPPED the four wheeler. That’s right! I tried to take a turn a little too tight and rolled the Razor over on its side...

After getting over the panic of wondering whether Chels was hurt, and if she was, whether or not Janet would kill me... After the fear, I could hear Chels laughing... Laughing... Belly laughing...

Yep. She was fine. On a less important note, I was too. We both walked away with no broken bones, bruises or burns. Only a bruised ego from all the “digs” I got when the family found out what I had managed to do.

When we finally made it back to Stephen’s, he had prepared some amazing fajitas that we all enjoyed, while we laughed and talked about life and growing up in TN.

My time in TN reminded me of a few things:

* I love my family. God has given me a great Dad and Mom and some awesome brothers. I love them.
* I love my wife and kids. I love laughing with them until it hurts. I love getting to do this adventure with them.
* I love LIFE. I wouldn’t choose to flip a Razor in a million years, but today me and Chels have a memory that we’ll be talking about for a few decades. I hope I can always LIVE LIFE to the full.
* I need to cultivate the gift of HOSPITALITY. My brother Stephen may be the best at hospitality there is. After flipping his new Razor and breaking the rear axle, he shrugged his shoulders and said, “No big deal. That’s why it’s under warranty. Let’s eat.” Somehow Stephen knows that what counts is relationships, not stuff. I need to remember this more often. “Thanks Little Brother for reminding me of what matters most.”