Uncle Steven's 39th Birthday

Happy Birthday, Uncle Steven! In honor of the birthday of our BIL--and Kate's uncle--Steven, I'd like to share a little story about the old man (he's 39 this year!). That's him over there on the left, holding Kate less than a week after she was born.

OK. Let me set this up with a little background: A few years back, I found myself traveling to the Minneapolis headquarters of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association for work. (This was before the ministry moved its main offices to Charlotte.) If you know me, then you know I had a camera with me--and besides that, I was jazzed to be able to visit the organization in the first place. Anyway, in the cafeteria area (or lunchroom/break room--can't remember exactly what it was called) ... there was this display of selected pieces of interesting mail that the ministry had received over the years. If you know me, then you know that I have an interesting (or disturbing, depending on how you look at it) fascination with mail and the post office. I loved this display--thought it was so cool. You may remember that years ago, it was widely known that if you needed to contact the Rev. Graham, you could write to him at ... and I quote ... "Billy Graham, Minneapolis, Minnesota ... That's all the address you need." How cool is that? I love it--and this special mail display featured envelopes from folks that definitely took that to heart.

One envelope in particular struck my fancy. It had a photo of Billy Graham on the front for the address. It *might* have had the city and state on it as well, but I'm not sure--and it's too hard to tell in the photo I took. (This was before I went digital.) I thought that was really cool--that God had used this man to preach His Word ... and had blessed him and spoke through him so much that he was well-known enough to receive mail with just a photo for his address. Very cool, IMO. (I've always wanted to meet Billy Graham, but unfortunately never have had the opportunity--although I have heard him speak a few times, which was very uplifting.) Sorry, I am getting sidetracked ...

Anyway ... I took photos of the display and later told family and friends about it. When I mentioned it to Steven, he said that if I sent him a letter with his photo for the address--with a ZIP code, of course--then he figured he'd get it just fine. You see, he and my sister and their family live in a small town in Tennessee--the kind of place where everybody knows everybody (or just about), AND he grew up there. Steven's a pretty well-known kinda guy around town--the kind of guy that doesn't have any enemies. Not only that, but also ... they have a P.O. box, and a good friend of his works at the post office. (In fact, once when they were expecting a package of something I had bought ... and the package never came ... I was able to call the post office and explain the situation, asking if any package had been received for their family. The response I got? Something like, "No, I don't remember any packages for them--and I'd remember that.")

Sooooooo ... I decided to put this to the test. I dropped a little something in the mail to Steven. For the address, I put his photo and ZIP code. Well, sure enough, it got there! He received it with no problem in the family P.O. box!

The letter hung on the fridge at their house for a little while--Steven never even opened the envelope, if I remember correctly. (Didn't want to cause any suspicion when he told the story, I suppose.) He may even still have it intact.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, STEVEN! We hope you have a wonderful day! BLY!

This last photo of the birthday guy and family is from last September--it was taken just after Rebekah's 6th birthday party. :o)