I never leave the house without a kiss and prayer from Vicki. Vicki and I always discuss key scriptures and verses we have read that morning, and we look to see what events might fall within the lesson of those verses. On one particular morning I had read the story of Paul on the Damascus Road, where he encounters Jesus Christ. As I read and studied that morning, I realized that Paul had chosen the road to travel, but Jesus has chosen the place of the encounter. Wow!
I then realized that I have chosen many roads on my trail through life, and as I look back today, I can see my own encounters with Jesus, in places He chose for me to be.
On the 26th day of November 2013, a day I could have been playing golf, or working on another new project, I was up early and dressed in a my Sunday Best blue suit, a white shirt with French cuffs, my gold cufflinks emblazoned with the American flag, a red dress handkerchief in the suit pocket, and a matching red tie. We used to call this “Power Dressing,” which was the IBM dress code, for all their representatives dressed in that same uniform. I stepped out of my closet into the master bathroom, where my wonderful wife Vicki sat at her vanity desk reading her scriptures for the day, and waiting to see me appear and say, “Honey, I am suited up for the battle ahead of me today.” Then with a loving glance from green eyes she looked over at me with tenderness, arose from her quiet spot, came toward me for our morning prayers, and our hugs and kisses. I would always think, “Wow! What a wonderful way to start a day, I am so lucky in this way!” (It had not always been that way for me.}
As I started down the hall and through the library out to the garage, Vicki was reading me the scripture of the day. This morning it was Matthew 5:37 “But let your statement be, ‘Yes, yes ‘ or ‘No, no’; anything beyond these is of the evil one. “ She said, “Dear, that was in my reading this morning, isn’t that just like God to give you the right words to say as you head out for the day!” She was right, I thought on my way out the door, but I knew that throughout this day and year we had shared again and again the exact words I needed to hear from God’s word.
Starting my car with the remote start, as I listened to Vicki, I reached out the door and hit the garage door button. As the door began to go up, I turned to kiss Vicki, one more time, and then with a deep sigh I walked out the door. I was prepared for the day as I was prayed up and prayed over, and I knew Vicki, the Prayer Warrior, would be praying for me all day. What a comfort, what a blessing God has given me through His gifts, which include my wonderful wife.
I jumped into my white Navigator heading to the 4th floor of Federal Court House downtown Houston, just at the highest traffic time of the day. It is always slow going this time of the morning, as I generally avoid a downtown early morning drives, but this time there was no choice as I pulled out of the gates of our community, soon to be consolidated with cars, pickups, and 18-wheelers on the I-10 Freeway. I had been subpoenaed to the courthouse for my deposition in a case involving millions of dollars, This was not my first “rodeo,” as I have been deposed many times over my life, but I am always hopeful that it will be my last.
Those morning prayers with Vicki make everything better.