amen.

landon and i are channel surfing this afternoon, and a little while ago he stopped on christian tv -- not unusual for him. kirk cameron (yes, from growing pains) had a guest on named josh mcdowell. he actually lives in plano and attends prestonwood. he writes books and gives speeches and all that famous, smart dude stuff. he was talking about how pastors should never put their families before their ministry. huh? he said it over and over before explaining that his family is his first ministry. he should be ministering to them before ministering to the people of his church. good stuff. he illustrated with a story from when his son was young. he was working on a book and had a deadline. his son came in to ask a question, and he put his hand up: "son, not now. i'm busy. i'll talk to you at dinner." a little later, his wife came in. he put his hand up: "not now, i'm busy." mr. mcdowell tells how his wife came over, put her hand on his paper and pointed her finger at him: "you will always have deadlines. there will always be a speech to write or a book to finish. but you will not always have a two-year-old son who wants to sit on his daddy's knee and ask a question."

i looked up at landon. we both had tears in our eyes.

really good stuff.