My nephew Jon was born exactly thirty years after me.  I am 56 and that of course means Jon is 26.  The picture above is Jon professing his new faith in Christ through baptism.  Praise God for His work of grace in Jon’s life!

Kurt is a dear friend I met in college.  He was the campus director for Cru at Arizona State.  There are many stories I could tell about Kurt, but here is one of my favorites.  Kurt was salutatorian in his high school class along with being a gifted football player.  Several academic schools pursued him including Yale and the University of Virgina.  Kurt wanted to play at a school known for being competitive in football.  As I recall, that meant doing a fifty year history of the most successful program which fit his other criteria.  Hint: Notre Dame and Alabama were never in the mix as Kurt hates both of them.  In any case, he decided on the University of Tennessee.  He went on to say no to Yale, Dartmouth, Virginia, and others.  Recently, Kurt made an offhand comment to someone that Yale was one of his “safety schools.”  The other fella figured Kurt was crazy or kidding.  Joke on him!

So happy birthday Jon and Kurt.  You make my life much richer!

And happy birthday to Joel Osteen, who holds a very different view of the Christian life than me, but nonetheless shares March 5 as the date of his birth.