Today is the anniversary of one of the most special days of my life... the birth of my son Gregory. It ranks right up there with the births of my other two children and the day I married my beautiful wife on the scale of important days in my book.

The #1 day on my most important days list is the day I came to know the Lord Jesus Christ and I would like to tell you why.

Let me begin by saying that I have only "known" Jesus for a short time. Before that I "knew of" Jesus, which is not saying much. Satan and every evil being in existence "knows of" Jesus. I had not bought into the idea of Jesus as the Lord of my life. I thought I was in control of my own destiny... that no matter what happened I could always make everything come out OK. Wrong again Greg.

I was headed for a big fall. But Jesus set things up so I would be able not only to handle it, but come back stronger.

My son accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior a very short time before he went to be with the Lord.  Gregory was led to the Lord by his Aunt Sherry.  She will never know how much I love her and thank her for simply doing what the Lord asked her to do.

Scripture tells me that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (Amen). This tells me that because he was in Christ, the instant Gregory had breathed his last on this earth he was with Jesus. I take great comfort in that.

My family was in various stages of either knowing Jesus or coming to know Jesus at this time, and we made a decision with the help of Pastor Ed Bussert to be baptized together as a family. This is another of the special moments of my life.

If something happens to me or one of my family members now, I am confident that whoever it may be will be instantly with Jesus as well. If, however, we live until Jesus returns, scripture says that "We who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them (the dead in Christ) in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord." -1 Thessalonians 4:17. Either way we win.

There is so much more to say, but I will save it for another time. Today is a great day. It is somewhat of a sad day, but only because I cannot hug my son and tell him I love him right now this instant. That is a hard pill to swallow, but I look forward to eternity together.

I urge all of you to consider your position in Christ. If you are not 100% sure where you stand, you need to take inventory and make a decision. This is not to be taken lightly. Whether you know it or not, it is the most important decision you will ever make. Most of us spend entirely too much time worrying about our 70 (80?,90?) years on this earth and entirely too little time worrying about where we will spend eternity.

I would like to continue this as a discussion in about 1000 years at Christ's banquet table. You are all invited and I expect you all to be there.

In the mean time, Happy birthday Gregory, I Love You