Mothers Day 2024

MESSAGE TRANSCRIPTION: 

Virgil Grant

Extend a warm welcome to everyone in the worship center, everyone in the atrium, Happy Mother’s Day, to all the women out there. Can we ask all the women to stand, if you will; mother, grandmother, aunt, sister, daughter, niece, whatever it may be, you stand. Can we give it up to all the women in the place? Yeah. Thank you for making our lives better. Happy Mother’s Day. We’re glad to celebrate you. And so today I get the privilege to introduce our guest speaker. And by the way, I’m Virgil Grant. I’m the senior pastor here, and I am just so proud of Michelle sharing about her journey with her mother, and so proud of Mary and Scott. and Tracy and how they have been with Meg and helping her to flourish. What great testimonies, right? Yeah.

And the reason for today is for God to remind you that he loves you, that he knows you. Some of you are maybe here today and you think that God has forgotten about you; that you believe that you live in isolation and you believe that no one cares. Well, we’ve been praying and preparing and making plans for today that you would hear the voice of God, that you would feel the nudge of the Holy Spirit. And I think that he’s already done that. But as Mary said, but God is not finished. And this morning God has a message for you through his servant, Derek Tenet. Derek was an athlete in high school. He was, as he would tell you, MVP in five sports. He went to sleep one night and the next thing you know, three days later, he woke up from brain surgery and from having a stroke. And that’s a very early age in his teenage years. And he spent months and weeks and years in overcoming that. And now he travels the world sharing the message of hope through Jesus Christ. And this morning, would you give a warm welcome to Derrick Tenet? Would you give it up for Derrick?

So thank you, Worship center. Thank you Atrium for giving Derrick a warm welcome. Let me pray for Derrick and then he’s going to take it. So, Lord, thank you for Derrick. Thank you for how you’ve gifted him. Thank you for his attitude. Thank you for his love for you, his love for humanity, for his generosity, for his kindness. Father would just ask that you would anoint him, that Father, that you give him freedom as he shares and as he points people to you. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Derek Tenant

Alright. So as you heard, my name is Derek Tenet and I only own seven shirts. Wow, that took a long time. Kentucky, half of you’re like: “I wonder what the other ones say.” People down front are like: “When did Michael Keaton hurt his leg?” That’s who it is. I’m not Batman, but I did walk funny. Look, I’ll get it out of the way in the front. My left side is paralyzed. I can’t use half of my body. But friends, I got a great life. I love my life. I get a lot of advice. People are like: “You should look on the right side.” I look on the right side. I’ll say, look, you say on the right side. Ready? Look on the right side. That’s right. And you guys can do it too. For me, I still can’t use my left arm friends, but I lived in a wheelchair for a very long time and I’m not in a wheelchair anymore. That’s awesome. Thanks for the woo. And I’m glad you guys are clapping too. Yeah, because I can’t. Do you guys want that? I could do that the whole time. I mean, think about it. If I was the karate kiddo only got to ‘wax on.” I was in Alaska two weeks ago, I caught a fish. I did. It was this big.

So as you can see, there’s advantages. You just have to look on the right side. And let’s say it again, look on the right side. That’s right. We go dancing, you do the YMCA and all I got is “LOL.” That’s it. Alright. You’re starting to lighten up. Some of you’re still nervous, that’s cool. But if I was going to be totally honest with you, sometimes I feel left out.

But I’m all right. It’s not going to stop. Sorry. I think some of you, I think they’re still confused about the shirt thing. You know what I mean? So I have seven shirts, you guys get it? What I’m going to wear tomorrow? Okay, we’re on the same page. And not only do I have seven shirts, friends, I only have seven shirts. Everything that I own in my life fits into a suitcase. I don’t have a house, I don’t have an apartment. I just travel 365. My motto is: “Live simply love wastefully.” And my company’s called: “14 Sleeves” Pastor, I got to tell you, do they have this four second delay for you too, man? Because it’s freaking me out, man. And you got to be positive. You’ve got to look on the right side. Let’s say it again. Ready? Look on the right side.

And you guys can do it too, man. I try to do this in all areas of my life. And again, you guys are so really, I have seven shirts. You’re still confused. I get questions. People are like: “What do you do when you go somewhere cold?” Why would I go anywhere cold? That doesn’t make any sense. The thing is, I started this, I didn’t read a book about it. I just had the idea, I’d like to get rid of stuff and I just wanted to simplify and everything. I didn’t read a book about it. No one else that I know has done it. So there’s some things that I didn’t process through. For example, this is my only pair of jeans. I know that can get a little awkward at the laundromat, right? Oh no. Now half the ladies in here are thinking the same thing. You know? Are you’re wondering if my underwear says this too? That’s ridiculous. My underwear says “October, November,” and I’m a dude. So they’re reversible, right? I only got six pairs. I’m just serious. Come on.

So you got to look friends. Humor is a powerful tool. You should use humor whenever you can. And I learned this from my amazing parents, man, I’m so blessed and I’m so honored to be here on Mother’s Day. I’ve been here for a couple of days and I just love the East Side family. The little bit that I’ve been, I’m going to plug in and get to know you guys and love on you guys and be loved by you guys. It’s awesome. And then to share this stage with me, thank you, man. And the drummer’s aquarium. That’s awesome. I actually thought that the baptisms were going to be in there. That would’ve been weird, right? So thank you for that, that was cool. Alright. But I’m blessed. My mom is one of my heroes. My mom and my dad are our heroes. So to be able to share tonight some of the things that I’ve learned from them and some things that hopefully we can learn about, and this is one of the verses that came to mind:

“…Parents are the pride of their children.”

Psalms 17:6

And my parents are, I’m so proud of them. I love them. They’ve been married 57 years and they still love each other. Isn’t that awesome? Yeah. All the kids are like: “That’s gross.” Yeah, it is. But it’s pretty cool. And then my dad would agree, check this for yourself. It’s one of my favorites:

“Her children will rise up and call her, blessed her husband also, and he praises her.”

Proverbs 31:28

And my dad does. My mom and dad, they love each other. They’re models for us. As a matter of fact, I thought I can show you a picture of my super normal parents.

If that’s not a guy that’s proud of his mom and his weird son, I don’t know what is, man. I mean, I love my parents. This is how I feel about my mom. Check this out. It’s me and my little sister when I was a kid. I’m like, see, she’s amazing. She’s superwoman. My mom has superpowers- and I bet your mom does too. We’re going to talk about today. Let’s talk about mom superpowers. Everybody say Mom superpowers.

That’s pretty good. They’re like, let’s try that again. 1, 2, 3, mom superpowers. Your mom has superpowers. My mom has superpowers and I try to learn from them. And I’m blessed that my mom’s superpowers are rooted in scripture. And I’ve learned since I was a kid trying to memorize scriptures that my mom has taught me. One of ’em from real early on. I’m going to share here the scripture that leads to my first superpower that I want to share with you. That’s from second Corinthians. Oh, actually, I forgot this happened earlier. I asked my mom, she’s like: “You’re talking about me today?” And I’m like: “Yeah.” And I’m like: “Do you want to make a video and I’ll show it?” And so I’ve seen this in the first service, but before that, I didn’t see it. So this is my mom. She wanted to introduce herself to you guys. So here’s my awesome mom.

[Barb] I’m Barb. I’m Derek’s mom, and I understand that I’m going to be sharing him with you for Mother’s Day. All I have to say is, Derek has always been an adventure. So I think you’re in for a very memorable day. If he misbehaves, call me.

[Derek’s Dad] Hey, what you doing?

Oh, he is just making a video for Derek for Mother’s Day for his talk.

My goodness. Happy Mother’s Day out there. You guys play a vital role. So appreciated.

Oh, that’s nice. Yeah. Happy Mother’s Day.

And by the way, Derek’s number is… No just kidding.

My dad. I’m glad I did that video because in that break, pastor told me that my zipper was down. How come none of you told me that? You know, were thinking it. You thought I did it. That’s awesome, dude. He was trying to be all subtle. “There it is, man, what can I do?” I’m like… and then my dad’s telling you all that I’m single. You’re like, no kidding. He’s trying to give my phone number. Look, I don’t have a wife, but I do have a better half. Look, I don’t know; God’s greatest creation, tell me if you agree with me. God’s greatest creation is the woman. Every one of you is beautiful. I mean that from the bottom of my heart.

But you confuse me, especially, especially single women. They say things that don’t make sense. “I just can’t find Mr. Right,” really? Look how hard is this? Enough about me. Let’s talk about mom. We’re going to talk about, oh look it, she’s beautiful. She, that’s my mom. We’re going to talk about mom’s superpowers. And the first one rooted in scripture that I learned as a kid is:

“For our light and momentary troubles, our achieving for us and eternal glory that far outweighs them all.”

2 Corinthians 4:17

And my parents taught me this and I memorized earlier, and I remember thinking light and momentary troubles. Oh, the air conditioning is not cold enough. Or maybe I stubbed my toe. No. What I learned from them and learned, and we’re going to talk about:

Light and momentary is every trouble in our life, when you compare it to the glory, to the God who created everything that loves you and makes no mistakes, he’s got a plan.

And sometimes our troubles, and I’m talking about big stuff, cancer, death, these things are huge. But in the perspective of what God has planned for you, they’re light and momentary and they’re building a treasure for us. And I learned this from my parents. The superpower, as I would label it that my mom has taught me is:

“Manage your obstacles as opportunities.”

2 Corinthians 4:17

I understand that this sounds very motivational speaker. I do some of that stuff too. “You can do it,” that kind of stuff. But it’s a truth. Sometimes truths are rooted in science, sociology, everything. But I love when science discovers a truth that Jesus talked about 2000 years ago. Isn’t that cool? Friends? Our challenges are what can get us to the next level. And my parents would label it this way. They talk about wonderful opportunities; and it’s like a buzzword. And in my family, we say, “W.O”

My brother will trip. And I’ll be like: “What a wonderful opportunity to learn how to walk.” We have lots of wonderful opportunities. One time I was, I didn’t tell him. So my mom, I wrecked my bike and the tire’s jacked up and I’m crying. I’m seven years old. I’m like: “I hate this stupid bike.” And my mom says to me: “Oh, Derek, what a wonderful opportunity to learn how to fix a bike.” What? I’m like: “You’re my mother.” I don’t want an opportunity; give me a tire. I don’t know. But I started learning the principle. And over my life I learned that the opportunities are there in every obstacle. But I also believe in a God that has a sense of humor. So I try to go home to New York for Thanksgiving and I try to fly in right at two o’clock so I don’t have to do anything.

And one year I nailed it and I get there and my mom is the most calm in control. Beautiful. I love my mom and I just admire the way she handles situations and these wonderful opportunities. But I get there two o’clock in New York and she’s in the kitchen and she’s sweating and she’s going around and I’m at the door and I go: “Mom, what’s going on?” She’s like: “Not now. Not now.” And I’m like, whoa, this is weird, right? I’m like: “What’s happening?” She goes: “Well, aunt Mary forgot the casserole. I can’t get the oven to do the thing.” And she’s a little bit freaking out. So I made a bad decision.

I said: “Ma, what a wonderful opportunity.” She goes: “Not now Derek.” And I said: “That’s how I felt when I was seven.” It’s kind of cool. She couldn’t say anything. The point is, friends, I learned principles from my mom and her superpowers from my dad. We’re going to have challenges, big challenges. I’m not patronizing things that you’re going through right now, but man, everyone is an opportunity when you’re connected to a God that loves you, created everything and makes zero mistakes. And I didn’t realize when I learned this, how important it was going to be because there came a time in my life. So this is a picture I have of myself. Yes, 19. Nevermind. Okay. I was a kid. I was working on my mullet. I was trying to get everything. And at this point in my life, everything’s great, right? I’m MVP, I have straight A’s.

I had friends and my parents love me. I love God. I’ll go to bed. I’m like: “God, I got nothing to ask for except can you make Kelly like me?” Or whatever. I mean, still praying in that prayer too. I don’t know who Kelly is, but I hope she likes me. And that was the time in my life where things were great. And I thank God. And I learned this verse and I’m like, yeah, latent, momentary. That’s great. And then this happened. I just had a headache. Friends, I went into a coma. They told my parents that I would die that night, which I didn’t. So that’s cool. I mean, step one. And I would go through, as you heard pastor, tell a little of my story and I’d love to come back and tell you another time, but I had to go through everything just to learn how to talk, to walk like a baby all over again.

And I realized that light and momentary troubles are that I can’t walk. I can’t even sit up. I’m drooling on myself. And I was a kid and I was supposed to be the superstar and all that, and that was hard. And thankfully, my parents had implanted in me scripture. And what I now know are superpowers that I can use my obstacles, and that every light and momentary trouble that I’m dealing with is not a surprise to a perfect God who loves me, created everything and makes no mistakes. And I needed that and I had it because I had those superpowers. So the superpowers to manage your obstacles as opportunities. Friends, were always going to have them. My mom has taught me so much, and I love her for that. We’re going to move on.

Mom’s super. This is what she taught me. It doesn’t mean that if you just have this knowledge, then everything’s easy, right? Oh, now you’re not going to No. Listen, friends, you’re going to have troubles in your life. The Bible tells us this If you’re a believer, you’re probably in more troubles in your life. That’s weird, right? God does not make sense. Can I say that in your service? Okay? God’s not here to make sense. Friends, if God was small enough to be understood by you, then he wouldn’t be big enough to be worshiped. Listen, friend, our job is to trust him, and that gives me peace. Pastor’s saying, that’s right. So it’s true, right? That’s cool. We didn’t even set that up. That was cool. But this friends, I don’t know why God allowed me to be paralyzed. I don’t know why abortion exists. I don’t know any of that stuff.

But I trust in a perfect God that loves me, that loves you, makes no mistakes; none of it’s a mistake. He’s perfect. That peace that I get, I learned that principle from my mom, changes things, mom’s superpowers. Let’s talk about another scripture that I learned from my parents growing up.

“He who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.”

Proverbs 11:25

This is big, okay? I talk about this stuff all over the world, and I know I don’t have to get too deep into it because I saw when I first got here that you have T-shirts. I don’t even know yet what it means or what it’s connected to, but they say: “Generosity, rockstar.” That’s awesome. I don’t even know what the program is, but do it. Okay? Whatever that is, sign up for it, okay? Because I’m writing a book. It’s called: “Selfish Generosity.” Friends, if you understand the power of generosity, what God has given us, the gift that you get to be generous any minute of any day, and here’s what happens, it gives you joy when you choose to be generous.That’s crazy. That feels selfish to me. But it’s proven. Another thing that science discovers that Jesus talked about 2000 years ago, but it also gives the recipient joy and it will give the world joy. Friends, generosity is such a superpower that you have. You don’t have to learn how to have it. It’s here. Just use it. So the superpower, I love this, is to do, what?

Ooze Generosity.

This is you guys. You think you can’t say that word in church, right? What’s the superpower? Nice and loud. 1, 2, 3. Ooze generosity. And as soon as you read that, it’s silly, but you probably thought of a person, you’re like: “Oh, that’s like Uncle Steve, or that’s like my grandfather,” whatever. You know somebody who lives this way and it changes things around them. You just want to be around them. It brings joy. It brings a different kind of happiness. Someone think about that person. There’s no way that I could know who you’re thinking about right now, but I would bet my car that that person is happy, right? See, that’s just truth, man. That’s not Derrick-ology man. That’s in the Bible. Red letters only Jesus and teachers can write in red. You guys know that, right?

So ooze generosity- it changes things and it gives you joy, the recipient, and then check this out. God is so good, man. It’ll give the world joy in ways that you might never know because you were generous. I’m going to tell you a story. I love stories. My family loves cereal. It’s just a thing. We love cereal sometimes. That’s what we had for dinner. Three meals, cereal. So I love stories. So I’m one of four kids. My brother that calls me his half brother, and I know he thinks that’s hilarious. I got a sister that lives in Atlanta. She’s got four kids, and I love being an uncle. It’s like all the benefits, none of the responsibilities, right? It’s pretty cool. It’s like being a grandparent. But I never had to have kids. So a couple times a year I go to Atlanta and I drive with her and her four kids up to New York to visit grandma and grandpa because her husband can’t take two weeks off of work.

The plane tickets are nuts. Expensive, right? Uncle Derrick doesn’t have a job. Whatever. It doesn’t matter. The point is, I do this trip a couple of times a year and the kids, and I didn’t know parents, you knew this. You put the kids in the van in their pajamas at four o’clock in the morning and then you get five hours to just be peaceful. So we did that, and I’m learning, and their hair’s all jacked up. They’re still in their pajamas, buckled in, but in their pajamas. And then they start getting hungry in Virginia somewhere. And my sister goes, she’s like, Mary Poppins, creative, whatever. She goes: “Let’s have a cereal picnic.” And the kids are all: “Cereal picnic.” And I’m like, “Cereal picnic, this would be awesome.” We get off the exit, she’s like: “All right. Uncle Derek, cereal picnic.” She didn’t plan nothing. It’s on me. Whatever. I get off the exit Friends, the only thing there is a Dollar General, and it’s not one of the good ones.

You’ll drive that extra 10 minutes to get to the clean one, right? But I’m trying. So the kids are like: “Can we have Fruity Pebbles?” I’m like: “Yes, I am Uncle Derek. We can have Fruity Pebbles, right?” Does Dollar General have Fruity Pebbles? No. What do they have? Fruity Bites. Sounds like something you got in the Amazon when you forgot to spray. I got the Fruity Bites; but I bought a giant box of these fruity bites. We go outside to picnic tables, which I found out they also don’t have at Dollar General, but I’m an uncle. I don’t care. Meet my nephew, Charlie.

Yep. Those are pajamas jacked up here in a paper bowl of Fruity Bites under a grocery cart somewhere in Virginia. Here’s my niece, Kelly. Alright, put your phone away before you call Child Protective Services. Look at the smile on her face, right? Here’s me, check this out. My cereal. At this point, my sister’s like: “No more pictures, Derek. That’s enough.” My cereal’s on top of a trash can. I’m just throwing down on some fruity bites on top of a trash can. Cereal picnic, right? What? I didn’t know, friends, check this out. This red minivan pulls up, right? I just snap in a selfie, right? This lady pulls up and parks in the front there and she gets out. And I promise you this changed my life. I saw this with my own eyes. I promise you this woman gets out. I’m going to guess 75, 80 years old, and she slowly walks up to the front of that Dollar General. I promise you I saw this. She’s right at the front of that. And she gives us money.

This angel of a woman. I mean, come on. We’re eating cereal in her pajamas outside of Dollar General, right? She goes up to my sister, this angel of a woman that changed my life and she puts money in her hand. My sister, who I promise you has more money than this sweet woman. And she says three things that changed my life. She just goes: “It’s okay. I’m your friend. My name’s Alice.” And I know it’s weird, but somehow I feel like it honors this woman if we say those three things together, okay, you ready? 1, 2, 3. It’s okay. I’m your friend. My name’s Alice. Isn’t that beautiful? And my sweet sister, oh my gosh, I just went through puberty. Did you hear that? My sweet sister’s trying to, she’s like: “Oh, it’s okay, sweetie. No, we’re just having a cereal picnic.” So now she thinks we’re poor and crazy

And she won’t let go. She’s like: ‘It’s okay. I’m your friend, my names Alice.” And I’m watching. I let it go a little too long. I’m a brother. I just want to see how my sister handles it, right? But I’m like, I got to help. So I go to walk over there to help out. Have you ever been laughing so hard that the milk is coming out of your nose? You know what I mean? So needless to say, we kept the money. I mean, what are we going to do at this point, right? Well, why do I tell you this story? Friends, check it out. When you choose to ooze, generosity, which you can do every day, I would suggest every minute, more often than not, generosity has nothing to do with money. It has to do with volunteering, listening, putting your arm around somebody. You can be generous every minute of every day. And when you choose to ooze, isn’t that fun? Choose to ooze. It gives you joy. “Selfish Generosity,” is the name of my book. It gives you joy, it gives the recipient joy, and then it’ll give the world joy in ways that you’ll never know. Do you think that it made Alice happy to help this homeless family?

I promise you she still remembers it, right? Do you think it made my sister and I happy? Like Holy Shnykees man, for 300 miles, we’re in tears. How are we going to put this on Facebook? What I mean, and then it can give the world joy friends, listen to me. I’m not going to exaggerate. I’ve told this story with these pictures literally around the globe to tens of thousands people. I’ve told it on tv. So I can’t imagine how many people have seen it with these pictures. And they all felt exactly what you feel right now. That joy. Why? Because sweet Alice oozed generosity and hear me. It was like 10 bucks, right? It’s not about the money. We have a power, a superpower to do this every minute of every day. The best part I didn’t even tell you. So we get to Pennsylvania the next stop, and the kids are like: “What are you guys laughing? They didn’t even know. We didn’t tell ’em what happened. We’re just dying. They’re like: “Why are you guys laughing?” We tell them and friends, it gives the world joy as a family, we decided the kids’ idea to use that money and give it to a guy in Pennsylvania that really needed it, we think.

I mean, for all I know he’s at a church in Paducah right now. “This crazy family in pajamas gave me money.” I don’t know. The point is, friends, you have a superpower to ooze, generosity, and it’ll change things. You can do it every minute of every day. So get one of those T-shirts. I don’t even know what it means, but do it because I love this church and I know they’re on the right path to be a generosity superstar. I learned this from my mom. She’s amazing. So let’s talk about another superpower. Actually, you know what? I don’t want you to just take my word for it. I thought about this. I’m like, yeah, I’m one dude. You got to meet my mom via video. My dad’s trying to pawn me off on one of you and whatever. But I’m one of four siblings. I told you about my brother.

He calls me his half brother, whatever. My sister has the four kids and I’m a sibling to another sister. And you guys might be, you could relate to me. Does anyone have a sibling? It’s hard because she’s beautiful, she’s funny, she’s successful. She owns her own business. Everybody knows my sister and I get a big head, I’ll be honest with you. I get a big head. So I’m like, I’m traveling all the world. I do this. I think I’m awesome. And then I meet someone and they’re like: “Oh, that’s Julie’s brother.” I don’t even get a name, but I’m okay because my sister is that beautiful, that amazing and that awesome. And the best part is friends. She’s here. Would you like to meet my amazing sister, Julie? I think she’s here. Oh, there she is. I didn’t know where you were. We got you a nice short microphone.

[Julie] Really?

[Derek] Yeah, she can see her feet and her driver’s license picture. You know that’s

Not true.

I’m just serious. It’s cool. So we were talking about this last night at the Beautiful Accommodations. Thank you very much. You guys, by the way, I feel like I’m family already. I’ve been here two and a half days. Thank you guys. I love this place. Thanks for letting us be a part of your awesome family. Do you feel the same? Say it like this? Yeah. Cool. Is that a good height?

You need to go like this. That’s better.

Yeah, it’s so much better. I can’t get it right. Is it on?

I don’t know. Is that on?

So Julie wrote down her thoughts and she was going to share some of her thoughts. The ink is still wet, right?

I dunno. I think so.

Alright, get right in there.

Okay. Hi, my name is Julie Tenent.

What’s your name?

David.

David what? She’s also funnier than me. I forgot to say that too.

Hi, my name is Julie Tenet and I am Derek’s sister. Obviously I am smarter, better looking and funnier than you.

Wait, wait, wait, wait. This was not in the… I can’t argue with that.

I have Down syndrome and I love my life. Down syndrome means I have an extra chromosome that nobody else in my family has.

Whatever. She brags that she got a chromosome that I didn’t get. Megan’s got it. But chances are you don’t have it either, man.

You got it.

My grandpa called my extra one a love chromosome. And my grandpa is awesome.

Grandpa said that Julie doesn’t have an extra chromosome, but you and me are missing it. Right? And what did he call it?

The Love Chromosome.

The Love Chromosome. Isn’t that awesome?

Some people see Down syndrome difficult times or even being paralyzed as obstacles that mess up a life. But I see them as a wonderful opportunity to learn, grow, and love. Down syndrome also means slow to learn, but that’s not bad as long as you are learning something, right? Right.

Awesome. Love that.

You see, everybody is slow in some things. That is just part of being special. Like Derek,

Oh no,

He is slow with the ladies. That’s why he’s still single.

I can’t argue with that. Thank you very little.

Hey dude, I am so glad to be here with my awesome friends and this great place called Eastside. We get to hang out, love our moms and celebrate their superpowers. Now that’s just cool man.

“Cool man.” Hey, that should be on a T-shirt.

It is, dude.

Oh, that’s right. It is.

I think all boys and girls and even old people, like some of you guys are awesome.

Did you just call them old?

You can have superpowers too. Just listen to your mom.

Listen to your mom. I like it.

Thank you.

Are you rapping right now?

Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Everybody, thank you. Thank you.

Stop it. Stop it. I dunno what happened there. Let me try this again.

Sorry.

Thank you guys so much for being here and letting me and Derek and celebrate mom with you. We really just love you guys.

“Just love.” That should be on a T-shirt.

It is. I’m wearing it.

Oh yeah, that’s right.

And now I have just one more thing to say. I have the Love Chromosome, like me, but I love my life and you can too.

Awesome. That’s my awesome sister Julie. Yeah. So you can’t have the love chromosome, but you can love your life, right?

Definitely.

Definitely. We were talking about this last night and I’m like: “Julie, when we talk about mom, we’re going to be talking about superpowers and what do you think about with us growing up and everything?” And we talked about dinners. We always have fancy dinners. Well not fancy by upstate New York standards, but there’s always what? There’s our family. And then when we have the…

Thanksgiving, we have friends come over for dinner.

Yeah, friends.

People that need help or don’t have a family. Our house was always full. And this is the scripture I want to share with you that we learned more than we memorized. We learned from mom and dad. It’s a superpower. And this is Jesus talking. Jesus was talking to somebody about banquets and feasts and that kind of thing. And mom knows how to make a feast, right? Really.

“But when you give a feast invite the poor, the cripple, the lame, the blind. And you’ll be blessed because they cannot repay you.”

Luke 14:13-14

So since I’m a kid in my family, we’ve always had special people at our house. And honestly as a kid I’m like, I want to just have our family for Christmas and there’s all these other, but I learned that there’s always room for someone who doesn’t have a place. Even if it makes you feel a little weird, a little uncomfortable. Mom and dad always had other people there and sometimes we just wanted to have our place just for us.

Yeah, just alone time or something.

Just alone time or something. But we learned the superpower, which is this:

Make room for more, friends.

You have a banquet, you have a life. We are blessed. There’s people that need to be in a banquet. We have the opportunity to share, but sometimes it’s annoying. They smell funny. They don’t look like us. They’re different. It’s not easy. All that stuff. I know God thinks that about us. I think too, we probably smell and are annoying and all that stuff, but there’s always room in your banquet to invite. And I learned this from my parents. They’re amazing. I love that. And now I try to do this as a principal in my life. And who calls dad every day? We have a friend named Danny Woods. He calls every day for my dad.

At least once every, we have some special friends in our life that call. I have my cell phone in the services that’s rung three times because we try to include everybody, make room for more. There’s people in this world that don’t have an Eastside, that don’t have a family, that don’t have that. There’s always room in your banquet. And I’ve learned this from my parents. It’s a superpower. And not only do mom and dad bring people over to the house, what does mom do on the plates and stuff?

Name tags.

She makes custom name tags for everybody that comes over to our house just to love on ’em. The same way that you would like if the pastor came over to your house or if somebody famous came over to your house. She treats people that way. This was a guy; Wayne’s a pastor. And what else does he do? What’s on the roof of his building?

Bees. Bumble bees.

He’s a beekeeper. So he got a name tag that had a bee on it and it says: “God saved the queen,” because my mother’s funny too. This was all right. So real quick, national pig day. I learned these principles from my grandfather, generational, my grandfather, my mom and dad growing up, we were not poor, I’m not saying that, but there were some times that were tight. And my grandfather loved my dad and he wanted ’em to have his own family. He didn’t want to patronize them and just give him money or whatever. So he would send cards to my mom and dad when I was like two or three. We learned this. And one of ’em was for National Pig Day. So he just found a holiday that was random. And there’s actually National Pig Day is March 1st. I’ll never forget it. We celebrate it every year. And he would put a check for a hundred dollars in it to celebrate National Pig Day. He’s not patronizing, my dad, he needs money. He’s just, Hey, it’s National Pig Day. So this principle of loving wastefully when there’s no reason, we still celebrate March 1st every year. What do we have at home? A national pig day. What does mom like? The butter is shaped like pigs. We go all out because it reminds us. So the generosity. So we have name tags like that, and then make room for more. When the dinner’s done, what does mom do with the name tags?

She keeps ’em and put it upstairs in her room.

Mom’s got a nook, like her little prayer room, right? And it’s got a little fake fireplace. It’s cool. Every day, our four o’clock in the morning, mom and dad are up praying.

It’s actually kind of real. It’s what?

 It’s fake fire.

Right? Oh, sorry.

No, you’re good. Anyway, it’s got a fireplace. We’ll call it real. And she takes the name tag from when you came to dinner and she puts them up on the wall here. And then she prays for you every morning because you were at her house. You were in, she made room for you in her life. You can make room in your prayer closet as well. Friends, I have learned these principles. These are superpowers. Listen to me. You have, I’m not teaching you how to have it. We just got to practice ’em. Make room for more. And this extends on into our lives. We got another friend, what’s his name that you wanted to talk about? Am I keeping you awake?

No, I didn’t stretch.

You didn’t stretch. You just yawned. It’s cool. Julia’s honest, no matter where she is, isn’t she beautiful? Come on. So who did you want to tell the story about?

My friend Eric.

This is our buddy Eric, who also, what?

Has Down Syndrome like me.

He has down syndrome like Meg and Julie, an extra chromosome. But are you exactly the same as Eric? No, not even close. Eric is what you would call “A player.” Ladies. He would go up to any one of you, this room and he’d be like: “Hey baby,” and be honest. What would you do? You’d be like: “Oh, that’s so cute.” Which is not fair because I do that. And you’re like: “Creeper.” But Julie, what do you think about dating and all that stuff?

Grossed out.

Grossed out. I love that. Thank you. Glad for that. That’s awesome. But Julie loves Eric, right? And we’re at dinner one night. It was actually the night this picture was taken. Eric walks around the table in front of both of our families. He gets down on one knee, he grabs Julie’s hand, and in his gruff, confident voice in front of all of us, he kisses her hand and he goes: “Marry me.” Tell him what dad said.

“Time out.”

I love my dad. He is like, hold on a second, right? And then Julie, who’s got nothing but love in her heart, she looks at me and then she looks down at Eric on one knee, right? And what did you say?

How about High five?

Is that beautiful, friends? Listen to me, learn from my amazing, flawless sister, Julie? Okay, were you making fun of Eric?

No, not even. He’s my buddy.

She loves Eric, right? She saw a situation that she wanted nothing to do with, right? Marriage, everything. But Julie’s flawless heart was like: “I want to give him something,” Right? Do you like high fives?

Yes. A lot.

She loves high fives. So in her mind she’s like high five, marriage, eh? It’s kind of the same thing. So the principle that we can learn from my amazing sister Julie that came from our mom and the superpowers of making for more is that friends, life is going to give you situations that you want nothing to do with. God didn’t make a mistake. Loving wastefully, the way that Julie does is never the wrong answer in any situation. Learn from Julie, but also learn from Eric, my man, because he’s down on one knee. Men in the room. Can you imagine if you just got rejected in front of all these people? Learn from Eric. He’s down on one knee and this is what he does. He goes: “All right.” Sometimes life is not as bad as we think it is. We just need to high five and then we got ice cream, right?

You guys are awesome. Listen, we’ve learned a lot today. We’ve talked about a lot. And I was thinking about this and I’m like, alright, this is a church that does things right with excellence. And I have a feeling I haven’t been here for a Sunday morning service yet. But when you preach, does he do, at the end, all the points start with the same letter or they all rhyme or something cool to help you remember it, right? Well, I didn’t go to that class. I don’t know how to do to make it cool to remember. So sorry. All I can do is put ’em up on the board with the superpowers. Everybody say superpowers. Superpowers. That my mom has taught me that we can all flex. You have these superpowers. The first one was what was to manage obstacles as… Every obstacle in your life is an opportunity. Every single one of ’em. We just have to allow God to use that as an opportunity. The second one, say it with me, is to do, what? Ooze generosity. And the last one that I learned from my mom almost weekly when growing up with a banquet is, what? That we can make room for more. Now. I don’t have a cool way to help you to remember what we talked about. So you’re going to have to come up with something on your own, right?

Dude? What? Look at the screen.

What? Oh my goodness. It spells MOM. Really? That’s awesome. You guys are awesome. Thank you so much for letting us do this.