my grandpa | Father Tom Tirman OSM

What a glorious day! Despite just four hours sleep, I started the day in Nashville, and then met up with 58 other excited people to launch the first worship service of St. Paul’s in Greenfield! It was such a blessing to be a part of such a powerful and moving event!!

By the time we left Greenfield however, I was in real need of sleep. Ben slept in the car, so of course that meant that he was wide awake when we got home. We tried to put him down, and even tried sleeping with him, but he sees me quite often as a jungle gym, and today it was a jungle gym he hadn’t played on in days since I had been out of town! So I am totally exhausted, especially since I had to stay awake to watch the game.

And for those of you checking in to see if I will gloat, think again. Though I have been teased mercilessly about the Indianapolis Colts beating my (and God’s) favorite team, the Chicago Bears in the Super Bowl a couple of years ago, I will not take any revenge. No, I am not afraid of the three other Colts fans I live with (Ben likes the Bears), I just enjoyed watching the game. It reminded me of watching the Bears with my grandfather every week growing up. They played like the used to (which makes me yell at the TV a lot less) but the whole thing brought back some very special memories.

Of course now, nothing is in the way of my sleep but finishing up this, but I did want to share. Today has been a day of tremendous blessing, like a great big ice cream Sunday. And now to finally get to sleep at its end, is like the cherry right on the top!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tom+

Today, June 23rd, was an important day in my life….it always is. On this day in 1989 I was ordained to the diaconate. Yep, it’s the 19th anniversary of my ordination.

But more important than even that is that today is my grandfather’s birthday. My grandfather passed away in 1996, but he was truly the architect of my life, and not a day goes by that I don’t miss him. He and I spent a lot of time with each other, and yesterday when Ben was wearing a number 34 jersey for pajamas, I thought about how my grandfather would have loved that…..after all 34 was worn by my favorite player of all time, Walter Payton, running back for the Chicago Bears. We were big Bears fans, and we still are…..but being in heaven he just has better seats to the games than I do now.

I remember fondly eating too much and then falling asleep every Sunday afternoon as my grandfather and I watched the games. He watched from his chair, and I from the davenport. I never thought that life would change in those days, and didn’t want it to. But his health failed, I grew up, and a lot of time has passed since then. I still watch the Bears, but it’s now with my kids. Walter Payton is gone too, to liver cancer, but I am sure he had a glorious welcome when he arrived, since the Bears are also God’s favorite team!

I thank God that even though my grandpa is gone, that one day I will see him again. And, I’m thankful that day wasn’t two months ago when I had my stroke, and I am sure he is too. But in God’s time I will get there….we all will. But for today I am thankful to share with you how very blessed I was to have my grandpa (who I remember this day on his birthday) in my life. If I turn out to be even half the man he was to me, I will be doing better than most people I know.

Thanks for everything grandpa! And Happy Birthday!

God Bless!

Tom+

Father Tom Tirman OSM

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