The Plans

Happy Mother's Day, 2014! This entry from April 9. 2009 is a glimpse of how my folks became my folks.

I have a soft spot in my heart for Harding University. It was there, 'near the foothills of the Ozarks' according to the Alma Mater, that I received both my B.A. and Master's degrees. But it goes deeper than that: my folks met there on that small campus in White County, Arkansas. I think both of them enrolled at Harding College because of an older sibling. Mom was almost four years older than Dad, a shocking discovery when I found out, and once went on a date with Dad's brother, Monroe. Mom went to become a teacher and Dad went to find a wife...and become a preacher. It's hard to imagine your folks dating but mine went through a typical courtship, although I doubt anything Dad did was really typical. In the above pictures, Mom is shown during her Harding days. I think the bottom shot was posed on the steps of a dorm. The upper photograph is the official picture of Mom as Harding College May Queen, 1949. (It must have been a hereditary position; her first cousin, Gena Chesshir, wore the crown in 1950.) I loved the hymn, My God And I, when I was a kid- I still do. These lines have always struck me:
He tells me of the years that went before me

When heavenly plans were made for me to be;

When all was but a dream of dim conception...
I'm sure I giggled about the conception part as a boy but how did I come to be? According to the words of this gospel standard, the plans were formulated in heaven. That meant bringing an Arkansas girl and a Michigan boy together in a time when travel was far less common than today. But they met and fell in love and the rest is history...my history.

Applicable quote of the day:
“All that I know of tomorrow is that Providence will rise before the sun.”
Jean Baptiste Lacorder

God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1

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