Dr. Ray Pritchard Christian Blog and Commentary

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Two Months in Dallas

  • Dr. Ray Pritchard
    Dr. Ray Pritchard is the president of Keep Believing Ministries, an Internet-based ministry serving Christians in 225 countries. He is the author of 29 books, including Stealth Attack, Fire and Rain,… More
  • Published Jun 05, 2013


Marlene with Eli and Knox.

It seems hard to believe but we moved into our home in Dallas two months ago today. Even though that day remains a total blur in my memory, we managed to sign the documents and start moving in.

Since then we've been on the road to Pine Cove, Chicago, Toledo, Haiti, Chicago and Indiana. Even for us, that's a lot of travel. I'm glad we're here for most of June.

Little by little this house has come to seem like home and Dallas has seemed like home too. I've found a perfect place to ride my bike (White Rock Lake), we figured out how to get to Walmart and Lowes and Home Depot, and we have discovered Cane Rosso pizza plus we've been to the seminary, and we know how to do the recycling thing plus I know where to get the car washed. We've changed most of our addresses, but we still have Mississippi drivers licenses and tags. We've been back and forth to the airport a few times. We have a Walgreens nearby and a Dollar General Store (where I buy my energy shots for a buck apiece--much cheaper than Starbucks and I don't drink coffee anyway). We're almost completely unpacked (surprising how long that takes) and all our pictures and Chinese Scripture banners (or most of them anyway) are now hanging on the wall. We discovered that Vanessa has the gift of organizing so she turned my tatterdemalion room into a very nice upstairs office. Marlene has been busy transforming the house one room at a time.

Twice a week I broadcast via the Internet on American Family Radio. I've been pleasantly surprised at how well that has worked.

This weekend Nick and Sarah come for a visit so we're planning to visit the George Bush Presidential Library at SMU and go to the School Book Depository Museum and view the Grassy Knoll.

We have met quite a few of our neighbors and they have been helpful and friendly. The nice thing about that is your neighbors know the answers to all the "How do I . . ."-type questions. Or if they don't, Josh and Mark do. They have both spent many hours helping us move in and get settled down.

Best of all, by far the best of all, is the time we've spent with Knox and Eli and Penny. Yesterday Knox spent the whole day with us and we had a blast together. He helped Mark and me set up some patio furniture in the backyard, his help being to watch us and then to follow me and say, "G-Pa, where are you going?" When Eli visits, he takes over because his motor never stops. We have to watch him or he would climb out on the roof like his dad did many years ago when we were candidating at Calvary. Knox is almost 3, Eli is almost 2, and Penny is 4 months old. Plus we have another one on the way in October.

Every time they come over, the boys want me to take them to the park so they can swing and go down the slide. Yesterday Knox kept grabbing my hand and saying, "Go to slide?" Then he went to the closet and got my shoes so I would have no excuses. When I take Eli, he rides on my shoulders some of the time. The other day one of my neighbors saw Eli sitting on my shoulders and said, "That's the good life."

Yes, it is.

Before we moved here, Marlene and I had a long talk about our plans for the future. We're at the stage of life where we don't think in ten-year chunks or even five-year chunks. We just think about 2-3 years at a time. For this season of life we have come to Dallas, and now we have been here for two months. We're happy and grateful and thankful to the Lord for our family and our friends.

You can reach the author at ray@keepbelieving.com. Click here to sign up for the free email sermon.