First time to Houston - Tammy and I went for an ecumenical conference, where I was supposed to give a talk. But I got hit hard with a stomach flu, missed the second day of the conference, didn't get to give my talk, and didn't even get to meet the royalty that were there (a prince of Luxembourg, a prince of Liechtenstein, and a princess of the Habsburg line, of Hungary).

Funny thing is, I realized (after attending the first day of the conference) that my talk would have been out of place there. I would have given it anyway, but it would have been a bit of a challenge to the Protestants there, probably received as too apologetical for the mixed audience - something like a lecture, when the other talks were more like a testimony. While laying in bed sick, I got it in my head that God didn't want me to give that talk. I said to God, Did you have to give me this terrible stomach flu? And the answer came back immediately, "Anything less and you would have powered through and given that talk."

You never know, when you hear the voice of God, whether you are really hearing your own brain having a conversation with itself. But either way, it was a very humbling experience. I went into that conference as a professor, but the conference didn't need a professor, it just needed a believer. In the end, Prince Paul of Luxembourg took my place, so although I didn't get to meet him, they got a prince instead of me.