Pondering my Vanity

For you yourselves know, brothers, that our coming to you was not in vain. 1 Thessalonians 2:1

We encounter many people every day—some we know and some we don’t. Some we’ll see again tomorrow, while others are like rain on a hot sidewalk: here for a moment and then gone, fading from our minds like a dream.

During my brief interactions, some people learn that I work in the oilfield and also serve as a lay pastor. They might discover that I’ve been married to an amazing woman for almost 30 years and that we have two kids and a beautiful granddaughter. Many will find out about my cool dog, a dachshund named Mr. Banks. They might also learn where I was born, where I graduated, and where I live now.

Did you know that I enjoy late-night video games and movies on the couch with my son? One of my favorite places to visit with my wife is New Orleans; we’ll drive over five hours just to go to familiar spots that we could find in Houston. If you’re curious why I missed church last weekend, now you know! We even raise chickens in our small urban yard, and I have a hardworking Italian son-in-law who can’t make a cannoli but can cook a great pot of charro beans.

If you spend just five minutes with me and ask the right questions, you’ll learn these little bits of trivia about me. They’ll come up like waves on a beach, crashing and then fading away—facts that are spoken but easily forgotten.

But in these small moments, do I share the deeper truths of the Gospel? Am I honest about being one of His creations, imperfect yet restored through the sacrifice of His Son? Do I speak of his greatness and power and how this truth isn’t just for me; it’s for everyone who believes.

Maybe, if they ask the right questions or show up at church when I preach or at youth group on Wednesdays, they’ll hear these bedrock words of transformation, about God’s abounding grace and His treasures of truth. About how the great I AM, creates with just His voice, both universes and new hearts…

This isn’t a deep lesson—just me reflecting quietly in a hotel courtyard in the French Quarter, thinking about an old Casting Crowns song and Paul’s words to the church in Thessalonica: “we did not come in vain.”

I hope that at least one person today finds truth in my words, not about me, but about Him.

Oh, and by the way, the weather is great! But I digress because….

Here I go again. Talking' bout the rain

And mulling over things that won't live past today

And as I dance around the truth

Time is not his friend

This might be my last chance to tell him that

You love him

But here I go again,

Here I go again