“Once upon a time there was a man and a woman who loved each other very much and they wanted to show that love and have a baby.
Sadly though they tried and tried, they weren’t able to have a child on their own. So they prayed and asked God to give them a Special Baby.
And he did.”
<Pause>
“Mommy can you tell me the special baby story please?”
“I sure can. Once upon a time there was a young woman who found out she was going to have a Special Baby. She was excited but also sad because she knew she couldn’t take care of this Special Baby. She prayed and asked God to find her special Baby a home.
And he did”
<Pause>
“Mommy, mommy. Tell me the Special Baby story again!”
“The man and woman who were waiting for their Special Baby were told it would take a very long time before they could get a baby. Then one night they got a phone call and were told they could come get their Special Baby in the morning. They were surprised and unprepared, but excited. The next morning they got their Special little boy Baby and brought him home.
And they were very excited and happy and they loved him very, very much.”
Mommy, I’m that Special Baby aren’t I?”
Yes, little Ronnie you are.
<pause>
That is the story my parents told me about my adoption. They told it to me a little bit at a time until I figured out it was me. I thought it a good place to start talking about myself, at the beginning.
Once upon a time, the TARDIS became flesh and the Doctor got a chance to ask it a question.
“Why don’t you ever take me where I want to go?”
She replied, “I don’t always take you were you want, but I always take you were you need to be.”
That answer resonates with me, as it seems very relevant to my life.
When I was about 7 years old I visited Oklahoma Christian College. For some reason I was enamored with the cafeteria and decided that was where I was going to go to college. We lived in Tulsa when I was 7.
In a couple of years, my parents would adopt their second child. Another boy, Ezra Joshua. His story was very different because he was born in Bombay India and was 7 when a missionary brought him to the US for a visit. Well that’s what he told Ez and left it to my parent to break it to him he was being adopted.
We moved from Tulsa to Albuquerque and then to Kingwood Texas the summer before I started High School. When I finished high school, I followed up on that 7 year olds dream and went to OCC.
And I liked it. Did lights for the theater. Represented my dorm on student council. Almost joined the Marines.
But at the end of my freshman year, all my friend from HS at OCC decided they were transferring to ACU, and so did it.
Computers had been a big part of my life ever since my Dad invested over $2000 in an Apple IIe. I’d majored in it at OCC, but when I went to ACU I wanted to be a filmmaker. I wanted to make movies like John Huges but from a Christian point of view.
I studied Mass Communications Radio/TV. Then I bounced back to Computer Science. Then back to Radio/TV. As I was nearing graduation time, I decided I wanted to be a campus minister in Seattle.
My last summer in school I decided if I was going to be a minister I better take some Bible classes. Turns out there was this thing called Missions Seminar where you could take two classes in a month, so I signed up.
And the TARDIS took me were I needed to be.
There was this weird red head, with big…. Any way I had to meet her because she was interested in my friend who all the girls loved like a brother….much to his chagrin.
Then she untied my shoes with her toes, and invited me on a first date with all of her siblings.
Seattle wasn’t working out, but I got a surprise internship – you never get internships in mass comm – in Ohio working for World Christian Broadcasting. A mear 8 hour drive from this crazy redhead I was now in love with.
Fours months later I had a better wife than I deserved.
We’d eventually come back to ACU. Had two boys at Hendrick hospital amid much drama. I’d decided ministry was great but I needed a job where I could get paid. Went back and finished my CS degree and start a decades long career as a computer geek.
We’d home school two boys all the way till college. Our oldest son graduated from the University of Texas with a degree in Actuarial Science, and our youngest from ACU with a degree in Biblical Text.
After years as a computer programmer, I quit my computer job to become a Paramedic. Two years later I earned my license and haven’t been on a ambulance since. Then I returned to being a computer geek starting Reactuate Software doing software development for a number of different companies. A year later I’d win a business plan competition and start a short lived computer game company.
I’ve spent the last year building a business teaching people to build successful podcasts that past.
2018 is going to be a year with unprecedented changes. As my bride and I like to say, “It will be an adventure.”
Through all of this, I haven’t always ended up where I thought I wanted to go, but I’ve been where I need to be.
The end of the Special Baby’s story is not even close to having been written, but I’m sure he’s going to live happily ever after.