It was a very good year for establishing new relationships and reconnecting with old. This was the year where the world went virtual, and I was able to connect with people from around the world. I am a member of Toastmasters International, a non-profit educational organization that focuses on helping its members be better speakers, communicators, and leaders. In the past, members would have in person meetings with other members in their community, and a couple of times a year with members across their Toastmaster district, in my case primarily south-central Texas (Toastmasters District 55 – Austin and San Antonio, Texas) .
The Arthur Storer Toastmasters Club in Pflugerville, Texas, of which I am the president, has seen members who had moved away from the area re-join from their distance location. We had missed them, and it was great to see them return. One of our members had served on the international board of directors and had connections with several international clubs. She was able to plan so we could visit clubs in Sandwich, England; Warsaw, Poland; Moscow, Russia, and a club in the Philippines. In the past, visits to all these clubs in a short period of time would have not been possible due to travel costs and other limitations. I have since visited a Moscow club several times, and they have had members attend from many other foreign locations as well.
July of 2020, I became the member of the Pflugerville Rotary Club, of Rotary International. I have already met a great group of people, although mostly virtual, and I have been given the opportunity to meet others through service to my community. I know in the years ahead there will be greater friendships established, and new opportunities to meet others.
This year, I also re-connected with someone very special to me. I had left him several years ago and during this time I was rather nasty in some of my comments against him. The separation was all me. I wanted to try new things, be freer and frankly, I just was not into our friendship any longer. I tried my hardest to find happiness in other ways, but there always seemed to be a void, a sense of guilt as well, and I experienced periods of depression. I was making more money, but that did not help. I bought new things, and all this resulted in was more debt, and temporary satisfaction.
July of 2019, a very close friend had died. She knew him well also and we at times would have a few brief conversations about him. I tried to keep them brief because I did not want to talk about him. She made me think though about death, and I had to ask what I thought about it. My special friend and I had discussed dying and heaven and hell. Death was not a comfortable subject for me to think about it. I was not afraid of dying, it was more about thinking about what would happen when I did.
Last winter, before the covid pandemic really hit the US, I started watching a show on You Tube. It was called The Chosen TV . This is a video series about the life of Jesus Christ. It hit home and brought me back to my special relationship with God, and His Son, Jesus. This is the person I left so many years ago. I was trying to run from Him. I tossed all my Christian books and gave away my Bibles. I stopped going to church and I instead turned to pornography and was watching shows and movies involving evil. God never gave up. I pushed back, and He stayed. I had prayed for His help over thirty years before and accepted His gift of salvation. He kept His promise to me. Now, I wanted Him back. I missed Him and those times we had together. So, one day last spring, with great uncertainty, I prayed once again for His forgiveness. I knew He had every reason to reject me. I had mocked other Christians at times. I flat out rejected Him as being real. I did so many bad things. It was only a few minutes after I started my prayer for forgiveness, that I felt the return of a familiar sensation within me.
The Holy Spirit was still there! I continued to pray, and I heard a soft voice, only Christians can probably understand, that said…” Stanley, I never left you.” I prayed several times that day, just to make sure. I cleared my mind and my soul with recollections of all the acts I had done over the years. I downloaded the Bible on my iPad and hungrily started reading it again. One of the first verses I read was Romans 8:1: So, there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. I kept reading the verse repeatedly. I started reading the Bible for hours. I found these verses that spoke about the parable called the Parable Son. Jesus was talking about me! I was the prodigal son!
My life has changed dramatically since I restored my relationship with God. He has been with me every day, all day and I have grown and learned so much since then. I know for many, 2020 was a rough year, but as I look back, it was a fabulous year for me.
Luke 15: 11-31
The Parable of the Prodigal Son
11 And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. 13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. 14 And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to[a] one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.
17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’ 20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’[b] 22 But the father said to his servants,[c] ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.
25 “Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ 28 But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, 29 but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ 31 And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.
