Happy Birthday, Kyle!

My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. (Proverbs 2:1-5 ESV).

Today, 46 years ago, our oldest son, Kyle was born. His career accomplishments are numerous. While searching the internet to see the lists of his patents I came across the following description from the University of North Texas College of Pharmacy, where he is now the Chair of the Department of Pharmaceutical Science:

 

I received a BS in chemistry from Texas A&M University in 1996 and a PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2001. I joined the Oncology Medicinal Chemistry group at GlaxoSmithKline in RTP, North Carolina in 2002. While at GSK, I was a member of multiple interdisciplinary drug discovery teams focused on the discovery of novel small molecule ATP-competitive kinase inhibitors for the treatment of cancer. In 2008, I joined the Vanderbilt University Medical Center as Research Assistant Professor and the Vanderbilt Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery as Associate Director of Medicinal Chemistry. While at Vanderbilt, I led several research efforts directed toward the design of novel small molecule allosteric modulators of G-protein coupled receptors for the treatment disorders of the central nervous system. I joined the faculty of the UNT System College of Pharmacy in July 2015.  In September 2018, I was promoted to Professor with tenure and accepted the position as Chair of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences.

 

Fortunately we don’t often talk about his specific work. I would need a translator for most of it! This whole train of thought was prompted because of his birthday today. It happens to coincide with our continued look at Proverbs. Solomon calls us to wisdom from the source of both the fear of the Lord and the knowledge of God (v. 5).  “Knowledge” has always been a priority in our family. I’m proud of all of the boys as they have sought to master their areas of life with information and study. This requires discipline.

 

It simply does not come naturally, especially in regard to spiritual knowledge. Storing up God’s commands and turning our ears to his wisdom doesn’t come naturally. It takes regular Bible reading and reflection. Living as disciples of Jesus Christ, we must make the effort to learn God’s Word. Make this your priority today and in the future.

 

Happy Birthday, Kyle! While you have many accomplishments, I love you because of who you are, not merely the things you’ve done!