Thump to the Back of the Head #2

Now, just so we're clear here. Just cause I was starting on the road back doesn't mean I was anywhere close to the freeway. I was still drinking like a fish, cattin' around, and generally yukin' it up.

Enter Christine, my beloved wife, mother of our children (and Auntie to our daughter--long story), and truly a blessed woman. We met (you guessed it) at a bar on July 3, 2000. I'm not going to go into the details of that night, but the next morning changed both our lives forever.

After I left that morning, I couldn't get her out of my head. We were supposed to meet later that day for the fireworks in downtown Houston. She didn't show. Boy was I mad. I wrote her off and went back to it. A little over a month later, I get a phone call. Guess who. Coulda knocked me over with a feather. Well, after much time on the phone and computer, she moved back out to Houston, and we were married in December of 2000. Not only did I become a husband that day, but I also became a father as well. My oldest son and first son, Ricky.

Through a weird set of circumstances, desires, and interesting times, we wound up here in SoCal around August 2001. I was looking for work, and having NO luck. I was talking to my brother Pat, and he asked if I was looking at work in universities at all. Well, no, I hadn't been, but I started. As is true of every job I've had since we've been married, Christine found what was to be my employer for the next three years.

Around Thanksgiving 2001 I started work at Azusa Pacific University. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, that's a Christian college founded in the Wesleyan persuasion. To be considered for employment, you had to put your statement of faith on the application. So, once again the Good Lord not so gently reminded me that he was still there.

Three years with some very Godly men and women who helped me deal with issues of comparing myself to others, thinking I wasn't good enough for God's grace anymore, etc. They truly helped me grow and heal.

Christine and I went to church a few times in there, but we never found a place where we felt at home.

That said, I still wasn't at a total point of going back. I was keeping God in a special little spot on the back burner to be used when necessary.