With Gladness of Heart, I Will Rejoice

Tomorrow is a big day for me, because it will be a HUGE day for two persons whom have affected my life greatly and have manifested kindredness with endurance throughout the years. Caleb Clanton, my lifelong friend whom I first met on the monkey bars at Julian Newman Elementary in 1st grade, will be graduating with his PHD in Philosophy at Vanderbilt University. It is amazing to see the things that the Lord has done through Caleb both academically and devotionally. Throughout my life, some of the best, most illuminating conversations that I have ever had have been with Caleb on the back porch. I rejoice with him in the completion of his PHD and doing so with excellence. He plans on continuing to teach @ Vanderbilt for the next year, which he has been doing so for the past three years. May Jesus continue to explode in Caleb's mind and heart as God uses him to explode the minds of the secular elite and the worldviews that hold sinners in bondage. David Kizziah, whom I call "My Epaphras" (Colossians 4:12), will be uniting with his bride in the covenant of marriage Saturday. After attending Caleb's graduation commencement, I will be traveling down to Syllacauga to share in the abundant joy of seeing two lives being joined into one flesh for one cause - the glory of God. David was a roommate whom, when I walked down the hall of our house, I would find on his knees or passionately reciting Scripture, or reading some of the great Puritan Paperbacks. He has and continues to be a illustrative demonstration of a man who has sheer delight in God and His Word. He to me is the personification of Psalm 1, of the man who is planted by the waters, who prospers in whatever he does and never lacks fruit, for he loves God emphatically and is imprisoned to His Word undeniably. Katie, his fiance, is a beautiful woman with glimmering countenance and virtue from above. Just to see her esteem for her husband is evidence enough to see the kind of woman she is. After their wedding and honeymoon, I am excited to say that they will be joining us here in Louisville and attending Southern as well. What a wonderful reunion that will be! I have been richly blessed to have brothers in my life who have through the years weaved their thought, prayers, and encouragement to my life to shape me into the person I am today. To undo me would be to reveal the investments, the tears, the laughter, and the memories of such men whom I am not worthy to have as friends. Yet they are more than friends. They are brothers. I am indebted to God on account of them and only hope that those whom the Lord places in my life such as these and others, I can somehow reflect and imitate their example. I only hope my 20D will for me this weekend to capture the moment and make memories!