We chose to worship today at Council Road Baptist Church. Martha works in Vacation Bible School every year at our home church in Louisville but will miss that this year since VBS is next week; however, she got to enjoy some of the VBS songs presented by the children of Council Road in their morning service. The pastor’s teaching for the morning was from Ephesians 5:21-31. He taught about “covenant love” in a Christian relationship versus what many in our society embrace today, “consumer love.” He reminded us that those who are the happiest in life are the “givers,” not “getters”. In talking about covenant love, he stressed three points: 1) Covenant love is a promise for future love, 2) In covenant, we commit to togetherness in spite of our differences, 3) It brings long term stability to the family. He followed these points with the topic of the importance of submission in the marriage relationship stressing that: 1) Our biggest problem is self-absorption, 2) When we give my life away, we find life, and 3) Christ is our model.
We spent the afternoon with family. Floyd and Joyce’s younger daughter, Vanessa, is celebrating her 40th birthday on Monday so we gathered at their home to fellowship and celebrate Vanessa’s birthday. Joyce, who taught in the music department at Oklahoma State University for 26 years and has served as worship leader at several churches in the area, took her place at the piano and accompanied Byron in several tunes. She also accompanied her grandson in “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” and “Jesus Loves Me.” Her son-in-law, Rick, sang Andre Crouch's “My Tribute.” Byron and Martha are thankful for the time spent with such special people. This has been a very blessed weekend, and although Martha knows there are good times remaining over the next few weeks, this was a very special time for her and will remain a great highlight of our trip. It was special to Byron because Joyce accompanied him in singing a song that was one of his father's favorites and a song he hadn’t sung in nearly 30 years.
Byron sings while Joyce plays. Joyce is a tremendous pianist.
Vanessa, her husband, Rick, and her son, Rory. They live in New York City
Before calling it an evening we went back to the Oklahoma City National Memorial to get some photos.
The glass bases are lit at night. The spire of the cathedral is in the distance.
The eastern gate shows the time before the explosion of the federal building.
Another gate stands at the opposite end of the reflecting pool showing 9:03.
Monday we head out for Amarillo, Texas where we’ll spend the evening before heading on to Albuquerque.
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