Go Beyond

I first visited Canyon, Texas forty-five years ago and fell in love with the wide-open spaces of the Texas Panhandle. For a boy from the Rio Grande Valley, the uninterrupted vistas of the Panhandle were absolutely mesmerizing. As I traveled by bus, I imagined cowboys driving their herds to market, enjoying a hot meal in the shadow of their chuck wagon, and sleeping under a blanket of stars. This, I thought to myself, was Texas! I would return to the Panhandle two additional times before graduating from high school.

My Panhandle adventures also introduced me to Palo Duro Canyon, the second largest canyon in the country. I visited the canyon to see the outdoor musical named for the Lone Star State. When Cheryl and I married almost thirty-five years ago, I promised to one day take her to see the musical. Well, tomorrow I will finally make good on that promise. We have our reservations to see “Texas” at the outdoor Pioneer Amphitheater in the canyon. More on that in my next blog on our Texas summer road trip.

The road to Canyon took us through Lewisville where we stopped to visit our son Jonathan and daughter-in-law Aubrey. We are blessed to have Aubrey in the family. Of course, I had a thousand questions for Jonathan about his recent fourth Texas Water Safari finish. Cheryl and I also had an opportunity to visit the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center in Dallas where Jonathan is doing an internship. Pretty cool stuff going on there.

From Lewisville we traveled to McKinney to visit our dear friends Joe and Nadine Tubb. This sweet couple knew me before I was a Christ-follower, nurtured me when I came to faith in Christ, opened the door for me to serve in full-time ministry, and helped me to meet Cheryl. I will forever be grateful for how God used them to love and guide me into a lifetime of service to Christ. I am a part of their spiritual legacy and they share in everything that God has allowed me to do for the kingdom over the past thirty-seven years of ministry.

From McKinney, Cheryl and I continued our journey to the Texas Panhandle. We are both easy to please. Just having windshield time together on the road to Canyon was a huge blessing. We have needed this white space on our calendar and time to recharge. Tomorrow we will visit an old hamburger joint in Amarillo that has been around since the 1940’s and then head to Palo Duro to do a little exploring before the musical. Looking forward to the coming week as we enjoy this part of the Lone Star State on our Texas summer road trip.