My wife and I are spending a few days in Boerne Texas. The district I'm a part of is hosting a Pastor's retreat at the Tapatio Springs resort. So far, its been a very restful and refreshing experience, both physically and spiritually. We are having interesting sessions in the mornings and worship services in the evenings. Our evening speaker is a Jeronimo Perez, a pastor/evangelist from Florida. He has been the Superintendent of the Assemblies of God in Nicaragua and Colombia. Last night's message was especially moving for me. Following the theme of "Me and My House", he spoke about the danger of neglecting our children while we minister to the church. My wife and I are blessed in that all our children are serving the Lord, but the warnings and encouragements we heard last night were important to hear.
November 13, 1989. 11:30 AM I had just finished my lunch in the teacher's workroom and was walking back to my classroom. I was teaching at San Jacinto Elementary in San Angelo, Texas at the time. Up until then, it had been a typical November day. As I walked past the school office, the door swung open, and a fellow teacher stepped out with a look of concern on her face. She spoke directly to me and said, “Your wife’s on the phone, and it sounds serious.” I ran into the office, took the phone, and heard my wife say, “I don’t know what happened, but your brother is on life support in a hospital in Austin.” Twelve hours later, my father and I were sharing a room in a hotel on I-35 in Austin. My sister-in-law, Sandy, and her six-year-old daughter, Araceli, were in a room across the hall. I hardly slept that night. I would doze off and suddenly wake up to my father crying and calling out my brother’s name. My brother was dead. Osiel had collapsed that morning while his h...
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