For Mother’s Day we had all the kids over for a cook out. During the evening my smallest granddaughter who is five years old brought me her play phone and tells me to push the little bear button and listen to the song. I did as instructed and it played twinkle twinkle little star while she sat on my lap.

Yesterday (Monday) I went home for lunch and was alone in the house and everything was quiet. Her little phone was laying by my chair and I picked it up and pushed the little bear button and that song began to play. Tears almost welled up in my eyes thinking about how my precious little granddaughter wanted me to hold her and listen to that song. I had a moment. One of those that you just know you will remember from now on. One of those impressions that leaves a soft spot on your heart.

In life you never know how many more moments you have. It is crystal clear that while there may be other moments similar to that moment, there will never be another one exactly like it. When I go home at night and when the family comes over, my phone is turned on silent and plugged into the charger. Like that evening, all the people I most love are in the room with me and therefore there is no need to check for messages. I have all the messages I need at that moment. One of those messages was holding my little granddaughter and listening together to the song, twinkle twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are. Up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky. Twinkle twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are. KT

I love cars. Especially old vintage muscle cars and trucks. If I had a more understand wife, I would own 25 vehicles. Ha. I simply love them. One of my role models is a guy in Nashville that has 67 muscle cars including Hemi’s, Boss’s, Shelby’s, Super Sports, Yenko’s, ZR1’s, 442’s, GTO’s. When I saw his cars one time on a business trip, I estimated his collection was worth 10-15 million dollars.

Among the cars I love, I have always had a thing for old station wagons but my beautiful bride does not like them. I know that the terms valuable cars and station wagons in the same paragraph sounds like an oxymoron, but I think they are some of the most undervalued collectables today. Take a 55-57 Nomad? If you had one and took it to a car show, you would most likely be the only dude with one. Regards to newer cars, I have always loved Volvo and Mercedes wagons. Can’t tell you why, but I do.

Some years ago (2007) Elaine and I were taking a long trip up the east coast and planned to make stops along the way then fly back to Atlanta from Boston. We rented a car so we could drop it in Boston and fly home. I went to pick up the car from Hertz which was supposed to be an SUV and when I got there, the order was mixed up and the guy at Hertz said, “I can upgrade you to a new Volvo wagon that has less than 100 miles on it.” I looked at that Volvo and said, “I’ll take it!”

When I pulled up in front of the house to load all the baggage in, I would have given good money to have had an iPhone with the video capability to capture Elaine’s expression. Ha.

When we were kids, my mom and dad had an Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser station wagon with the wood grain down the sides, the bubble top window and the backward facing third row seats. Mom and dad never knew what me and my brother were showing the drivers of the cars behind us! We couldn’t moon them because the car was full of family but we did show out a little and never got caught! I feel certain that my dad got some strange looks as the other cars past by. ha

Today, I would love to find one of those old Vista Cruisers and buy it. I might not be able to park it at the house but maybe I could find a buddy who would store it for me. KT

Sometimes in our lives we need God to show up and show out. Show up with his grace and peace and show out with his favor and blessings. In these times, we need God to fix things and to protect us from embarrassment and harm. This is precisely what the 23^rd Psalm means when it says, “he (God) will prepare a table before us in the presence of our enemies.”

As I look back over my life both personally and professionally, there have been times when I needed God to show up and show out. Many of those times I needed the answer in five minutes. Ha. Most of these past reflections involve business decisions, money, investments and career moves where I found myself needing God’s wisdom, understanding and most importantly, his grace to cover me.  It sounds strange, but many times I felt like I needed him to rescue me,,,, from me.

As I remember fondly some missteps, I realize that I have failed more times than I care to count, yet God stood by me and continued to put his hand on my back and guide me through it. I basically failed twice in the restaurant business and once with a land investment company. The funny thing about a failure/setback is that it stays with you and becomes a factor in how you proceed with new opportunities. This is not necessarily a bad thing. It’s called wisdom that helps us not make the same mistake again.

God cares about even the smallest aspects of our lives and not just the big ones. He desires for us to call on him frequently and often. He looks at me as a son just I look at my daughters and there is nothing I would not do to help them. Many times, I have needed God to show up and tell me what to do. The greatest heroes in my life are the people who looked adversity in the face and relied on God to show them the way. KT

Today, my two little granddaughters came by the office for a visit. They know everyone in the office and make their rounds to see each person. It is really one of the sweetest things to watch.

In my office, I have two drawers (one for each granddaughter) with new toys that I have for them when they visit. It is like a small version of Christmas every time they visit and the rule is, they can pick only one toy each to take home.

It doesn’t matter who I am on the phone with, they just come in and hop up in my lap and start talking to me. I could be talking with the Queen of England and I would have to tell her, I need to call you back. Ha.

My youngest granddaughter was standing beside my chair putting a puzzle together when she said something that made me stop in my tracts. I was writing an email to someone while she was talking to me and she looked at me and asked, “papa is that important?” My hands paused over the keyboard. I stopped and realized that, no, that email is not important. In fact, the most important thing right this moment is your voice, your presence and your words. You, are the most important thing.

In a moment’s flash, I realized that one day she will be too old to come and sit with her papa in his office. One day, she will be too busy with her own life to come to my office and one day, I will not even have an office to come to because that season of my life will be over.

Every now and then if we are fortunate, we get a glimpse or maybe just a quick visual of what is really the most important things in our lives. That moment with my little granddaughter was one of the important ones. I realized that I would never have that moment again. Once it was gone, it would be gone forever. Hopefully I would have many similar moments, but never one just like that.

So, in answer to her question, I said, “no sweetheart, nothing is more important that being with you right now.” KT