do you really love jesus if his name ain't on your beltbuckle?

*editor's note:this post is orginally from April 2009, but is just too full of great memories for me to not repost this Easter weekend. thanks for visiting!!*

Easter! What a glorious day! I would like to share with you a few details of my Easter 2009.

This year, we toyed with the idea of having our own “church service” at the lake house. Since a Robinson church service would lack any sort of music team and that’s the best part of Easter Sunday, we headed into Marble Falls for the 11 o’clock service at First United Methodist. It was surprisingly great! The music, even though they left out my dad’s favorite “Christ the Lord has Risen Today,” was awesome. Three high school girls sang a lovely version of “Mighty to Save” and the choir/guest orchestra was great.

Speaking of the orchestra - when they introduced the special orchestra at the beginning, they mentioned that all of the performers were from nearby colleges: Texas State, that little school in Austin, and Texas A&M University. At the mention of TAMU, proud exclamations of “whoop!” could be heard across the sanctuary. I immediately knew I loved this church.

Then during the “greet each other time” a woman in the row behind us made a big fuss about my brother’s name. “Gentry!?! Why, what a wonderful name!” She elbowed the woman next to her to get her attention. “Ethel! Ethel! This young man’s name is Gentry. How long has it been since you’ve heard such a fine name as Gentry?”

I had to turn away to hide my laughter. Apparently since I hear the name Gentry most everyday, it’s sort of… lost its sparkle. Sounds just as good as Courtney to me.

Back to my point. The youth minister stood to tell a story and host children’s time. He climbed a few steps to the front and we all noticed his shoes: lime green, turquoise blue, and cream snakeskin monstrosities. And a matching tie.

Yes, I encourage you to re-read the previous paragraph. The minister was wearing lime green and turquoise dress shoes with his suit. And, to top it all off, his belt buckle: it said JESUS in bold silver letters that were in the shape of a Christian fish. I had to blink a few times to be sure I wasn’t imagining it. Awesome.

Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, the Children’s Choir came up to perform. They were really good, with matching sign language to accompany their singing. My mom, Amy, and I had our eyes glued on a little boy on the front row. He was probably about five years old and missing most of his teeth. He constantly looked confused and was five full seconds behind the rest of the kids when it came to the sign language part, or singing the words. He was precious, and we smiled watching him so much that my cheeks were hurting by the end of the performance. I'm not sure I noticed any of the other children. After they were done and we rose to sing a hymn, the woman behind us tapped my brother and Amy. We were crammed tight in our seats, me next to Amy next to Gentry, and I just couldn’t help but overhear.

“Do you two have a child in the choir?” She asked with a beaming smile.

Ah! I think all three of us stared at her like deer in headlights, mouths open, no response coming out. But my 21-year-old brother somehow sprung to attention and forced a smile. “Oh, no, m’am. We do not.”

“Oh,” the lady looked disappointed. “Well, that cute little boy up there sure looks like you.”

In the lady’s defense, the boy did have on slacks and boots just like my brother. And his head was larger than average, also adding to the resemblance. But Amy is nineteen years old! The thought of she and my brother having a five year old in the children’s choir in Marble Falls, well…it was too much. I had to hide my head and whisper the story to my parents as quickly as possible before I lost all composure.

Caitlin Hodges likes to say, in situations like these… God definitely has a sense of humor.

I encourage you to ask yourself,
"if you don't got Jesus' name on yer beltbuckle, doya really love 'im?"