The Weight of 21.

I can remember our oldest two sons praying for a baby brother when we lived in Texas. They were telling God (and Lea and I) night after night as we prayed at bedtime, “God we want a baby brother.” I know they meant it. I don’t know how all of that works in the heavenly realms, but Damon Trey Kelly was born on January 3, 2001 in Dallas, TX. It changed our lives. What a profuse blessing Trey is in our life.

It snowed that day in Dallas.

As I review back over these 21 years of Trey’s life, there is SO MUCH joy and SO MUCH weight. So many things are firing in my mind as I write those words.

Soccer sidelines.

The snow games.

Paideia buzzer beater.

Bearden 2 time state soccer champions.

Cookout.

Super Legit.

Lip Sync.

Hapworth.

Thanksgiving football games.

Korean Church of Knoxville.

Covenant College Soccer.

Falcons/Dawgs.

Chic Fil A breakfasts.

Lots of conversations.

Monday was Trey’s 21st birthday. At about 5:00am, Lea and I heard a crash somewhere in the house. We shot up in bed. I immediately began walking through the house to see what was happening. In the next minute Trey was standing in the living room asking what had just happened and if it was really real. He told us that he thought a tornado had hit the house.

As we went to his room and turned on a light, it was hard to take in what had happened. It was hard to see the wreckage on top of where Trey slept moments earlier.

A massive tree slammed into the front of our house right where Trey’s room is. When the tree slammed into the house it crushed the roof in and about half of the ceiling in Trey’s room collapsed in on him on his bed. It struck his forehead when it fell and he scraped his leg when he was crawling out from under the plaster and sheetrock. Trey waded through all of the wreckage and granulated insulation that had collapsed into his room and emerged stunned.

We stood in the kitchen in sort of a daze verifying that what was happening was real and audibly praising God for protecting Trey’s life. His injuries were not life threatening. As our shock wore off in the coming hours we assessed the scene in Trey’s room. What we are proclaiming is that God protected Trey. Period. He did it. I know that there were different outcomes for thousands of others in the same second this happened to Trey. God helped Trey.

Thank you God. Thank you.

Monday was Trey’s 21st birthday.

It snowed that day on Signal Mountain.

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