SENIOR SUNDAY!

After all the fun and emotions from the weekend, I somehow had to make it through Senior Sunday at church!! Every year we recognize the seniors in the church by preparing a slide show of each child from birth to high school graduation with background music! (I personally think we always try to find the saddest songs possible!!! EVERYONE BOO HOOS through this part of the service....or maybe I just always do and my vision is so clouded y tears I think everyone else MUST be crying hysterically too)

Each senior also has a church member to speak on their behalf. For many reasons I wanted to speak on Trey's behalf but did not want it to be 5-10 minutes of hysterically wiping tears! I began praying for myself to be able to do this for my brother and sat down LATE Thursday night and wrote the following!! I made it through my speech Sunday with God's help but LET IT ALL GO during that slideshow!!! 

On October 28, 1992 Richie and Tammy Fetner were blessed with a precious baby boy. Samantha Kaye, after two years of just having imaginary friends, was thankful for a real life playmate. For the first few years of Trey's life his NaNa aka Samantha did everything for him including talking for him. This was even confirmed by their pediatrician Dr Ray at an appointment where he assured Tammy that Trey would begin to talk as soon as she found a way to shut Samantha up. 

Months rocked along and Trey continued to play with Sam even if it included wearing Mom's slips and hairbows......if Trey denies that I have the pictures to prove it! However he did eventually get tired of being literally dragged around which he proved on one of Mom's home videos by biting a big chunk out of Sam's back. 

Not only did he begin to stand up for himself but he also started talking...TALKING ALOT!!! 

Trey became the KING of questions and most of them were questions no one could answer. His favorite topics included reptiles especially the Black Momba or any American president. On family vacations everyone would draw straws to see who was going to get stuck with Trey in their vehicle. 

Trey has also always been very family oriented. He wanted EVERYONE and I mean EVERYONE to be our cousin. If you ever made the mistake of telling Trey we were distantly kin to someone.....you would have to give him the whole family tree plus the history and heritage behind it! 

On the family history note.....Trey has always been quite a deep thinker and as I said before could and would come up with some off the wall questions for example....

One day he asked Mom,

"Mama, am I an Alien?"

"Trey what are you talking about??"

"Well I have blue eyes and you all have brown."

Mom assured him that he got his blue eyes from his Granny and after what I am sure was another long family tree explanation Trey excepted and was proud of his "pretty blue eyes" as we all would say. 

Speaking of Granny....I am sure there are many stories that she could tell you about this boy but one that stand outs to me is on one road trip to Montgomery which we all loved to do Granny and Trey stopped at a gas station for a snack when Trey unashamed told the lady in the store that he could not ask his Granny to take him to the zoo because she did not have her drivers license. Granny wasn't real sure if she should go ahead and show the lady her license before leaving or what.......

Seriously you just never knew what was going to come out of that boy's mouth or when! 

Trey began his career in the sports world by being ball boy for Southern Union baseball team and Wadley's sports teams. 

Mom & Dad will never forget one day Trey came in the front door early one morning sweating and out of breath. Mom frantically asked what in the world was wrong with him and where he had been. Trey preceded to tell them that he had gotten up earlier that morning and rode his bike to Southern Union to talk to some of his favorite players about not drinking and driving. This was the day Mom told Dad that Trey was going to get killed by some college kid thanks to Trey's preaching. 

I must admit Trey did have some pretty good sermons. Especially some of the one's that he could repeat verbatim from Bro Larry's pulpit. 

Sermons were not the only things Trey could repeat verbatim.......he knows just about every line in several movies including Forest Gump, Major Pain and Jungle book just to name a few. 

He still gets in his movie time every now and then but over the past several years his focus has been on sports and he has worked extremely hard to reach many goals within his high school career. Stacks of newspapers, many pictures, trophies and awards fill his room! He has met and made so many friends but most importantly learned valuable life lessons through his different sports seasons. 

This past year he prayed earnestly for God to show open the doors for him to continue if it was his will his career in sports. Trey waited on something. Just some little offer from anywhere to play ball.....It was a hard season. It was much like being in line with all your friends on the playground at school waiting for your name to be called by the team captain to be on a given team. Waiting is sometimes a horrible feeling and everyone is scared to be picked last. 

Trey was blessed with an offer from South Alabama. However Trey I never want you to forget that even though you were picked by an awesome team you have already been chosen by the BEST Team! 

I want you to remember 1 Peter 2:9 that says.......

"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light."

How wonderful it feels to be wanted. How awesome it feels to be chosen. Many times, people fall into bad relationships or immorality just because they desperately want to be wanted by someone, anyone. 

 Well, there is good news: God wants you! You have been chosen by the Creator of the universe to be with Him for eternity. You may feel you are near the bottom on a lot of people's lists, but you are at the top on His. In fact, He chose you before you were even born. As you were nestled in your mother's womb, God was already saying, "I want you with Me always."

Today, I want you to know and remember the Lord has chosen you. You have been called out of darkness and given a new life. For this He desires to hear you praise Him before those around you.

A couple of weeks ago Trey and I visited Mountain Springs and Mr Jimmy shared a couple of things that I want to share with you in closing. 

He prayed for Trey's move to Mobile and said that he knew God had big plans for Trey's athletics but even bigger plans for his walk with God. He spoke of how God has put Trey there to come into contact with people who are going to help Trey grow as well as put Trey in a position to be a leader and example for others. Trey this goes back to praising God and giving Him the glory in all you do.......my prayer is that this will be your goal at South to glorify Him.

Secondly Mr Jimmy told of how for years he and Trey met every Friday morning to pray aloud together. One particular Friday morning fell on the anniversary of Lee's death and Mr Jimmy really just didn't feel like going to meet Trey but had made the commitment and had not missed a Friday morning prayer time with him so he went but was honest with Trey when he got there and said he will never forget their conversation.

Mr Jimmy told Trey that he was having a tough morning and the reason why and said "you know Trey I might just need to pray for me this morning". Without hesitation Trey said "Mr Jimmy I will be glad to pray for you this morning but I already pray for you every morning anyway"......

I also know that he also prays for me daily and I thank  you Trey for that. Thank you for not only being an amazing brother but one of my very best friends. 

 I will also be prayinf for you and hope that during your time at South Alabama you will remember this verse often and cling to it.....

“…. since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.” Hebrews 12:1-3