Twenty-five years ago today I became a father. It remains one of the very best days of my life.
Now that child is waiting for his child to be born any day. I’m sure he and his wife are wondering if the third year of medical school is the best time to have a baby.
But the answer is YES (especially since it’s happening anyway!). She’s going to come into the hands of two very young, very-much-in-love people who will cherish her and model for her the Way of Christ.
Being Dad to Matt, Megan, and Chris has been a central joy of my life.
A friend of mine who was waiting at Cook Children’s Hospital when we arrived there with Chris a couple years ago follow the wreck observed something that he said moved him deeply. He watched as I walked in and spotted Matt, who’d flown there from Houston faster than I’d driven there from Abilene. (Only one parent was allowed on the plane. I can’t even begin to describe to you how ugly it might have gotten if I had suggested to Diane that I, rather than she, should get on the plane with Chris.) My buddy told me later that I just collapsed into Matt’s arms as he comforted me. What a wonderful thing when your grown child is also your friend.
Happy birthday, Matt. I’m so very, very proud of the man God has shaped you into over the past 25 years.
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Diane and I were standing in the Cone Chapel during Friday evening’s wedding rehearsal, looking out over the Harding campus. A recent ACU grad (DJ) who was in the wedding walked up to me and asked with a smirk on his face, “So are we all going to have to read another sappy blog about how you fell in love?”
Well, I’ll try not to go there. It was a powerful emotion, however, to look out from that vantage point and see the campus where we met, dated, and, indeed, fell in love. It’s also the spot where we often walked our two little kids during seven years of ministry at the College Church.
We have had a beautiful weekend in Arkansas. The Bradford Pears and the plum trees are just starting to explode in color. I’ve been seeing as many of them as possible with my buddy Leon in his Audi TT (top down, of course).
Is that smirking recent ACU grad married? If so, I pity his wife.
Isn’t this a most exceedingly wonderful time in your life, Mike! Tom and I are best friends with our grown children who are all wonderful, magnificent young men and women (two each). And we, too, are expecting a baby granddaughter within a day or two - most likely tomorrow!! Joyous times, indeed.
God has brought me through some terrible fires and tribulations in this life that lasted for many years and now has blessed me double fold in my older years and the best is yet to come!! Praise God for that!
Have a great spring break, Mike and Diane and all! Dee
Happy Birthday Matt!! My son Matt will also be 25 on May 27th. Besides my wonderful wife, Matt and my daughter Sara are my best friends. Great, Great times spent together!!
I thought the wedding that brought you to Searcy (Claudia & Ryan) was one of the most meaningful I had ever seen. I was struck by how intentional the Stockstills and Porsches have been in the spiritual formation of their children. With such godly parents and all of the other mentors and peers that these 2 have had, it seemed like a spiritually royal wedding.
My only real regret where Harding is involved is that I dated someone, long distance, while attending there. It distracted me from my coursework and from support-raising for mission work. My focus was thrown off, and then as I neared graduation the woman I was then engaged to dumped me for someone else. This colors all my memories of that time period.
Still, I’d love to go back for a visit, just to have a look around.
My wife used to drive a Mazda Miata convertable. On warm days she’s put the top down. Over dinner one Spring evening she was telling me about how warm the weather was. “It was so warm I took the top down on the way home today.” I sheepishly replied, “You should have put the top down on the car as well, but I guess that would have caused a few accidents.”
We had a red Mitshubishi Eclipse convertible a few years back. Loved driving it and only traded it for a custom van because of the grandchildren! Hard for this grandmother to get them in and out of the tiny back seat.
But….let me tell you how fun it was for Gina (your assistant) and I to cruise around Abilene with the top down and watch the looks from the younger generation as they smiled broadly which instantly changed to awe when they would see how “old” we were.
My husband and I use to laugh at that response as we drove around and would hear younger people exclaim, “oh, they are old people driving that beautiful car.” Our reply, “we had to wait to afford it!”
I hope you hugged them for me. I so wanted to be there, but I know I was meant to be elsewhere at that moment. Thanks for that, by the way.
Falling into the arms of your son is a beautiful portrait of the Father’s love. (What happened when Jesus ascended into Heaven)?
The question on everyone’s mind right now is… when does Swami Mike descend from Mt. Bracket with his Final Four picks?
Well, reJoyce-
Pity my wife no longer…You should have seen the look in Mike & Diane’s face…I only hope and pray that my wife and I 25 years down the road are still as much in love as the Cope’s are…thanks for your example, Mike & Diane!
Mike,
Tell Matt not to worry too much about balancing medical school and fatherhood. My dad entered med school when I was 6 and my brother was 8. He did just fine and is a wonderful doctor. Then, 15 years later, my brother entered medical school two weeks after his daughter was born. He will simply have to spend a little more on family and a little less on the career, which sounds horrible to someone who is dedicated like that, but you know what they call someone who gets B’s and C’s in medical school?
…Doctor.
I just recently had surgery, and my two grown daughters and son (in-law) were my best supporters and comforters. They are the joy of my life, and I can’t fathom life apart from them. The love compounds from birth to adulthood amazingly!!
God is so good!
Mike,
There is a senior pastor opening here in San Antonio if you are interested.
It is great now that I am grown to be friends with both my parents and siblings.
I too wanted to echo Hub’s encouragement for Matt and Jenna. It will definately be an adjustment (when is parenting not?) but they will do great. My husband Justin started Med school when our daughter was 9 months old. Now in our third year too, we had a little boy in November. Justin has said that having kids has actually been easier. Now he works hard when he’s gone, and has a fan club waiting for him when he gets home.