A Beautiful Weekend in East Texas
We arrived in Mt. Pleasant around dinner time and immediately decided to find a place to eat. And what a place we found. Luigi’s Restaurant is the place we dined. The food and service was fantastic. I’m talking “real” Italian!
Saturday Morning we attended the monthly GOP meeting at a local Pizza Inn (Yes, I said Pizza Inn, and yes is was 9:00am - by the way they do a great breakfast. who knew?). It’s no secret that my initial motivation to going to the GOP meeting was to let my constiuents know who I am and my beliefs. Right or wrong, that has changed. I now believe my purpose in going is to hear the voices of District Four. I must know what the issues are in our district from you. I am not running for office so Washington can hear what Gene Chirstensen wants to do. I am running to be the voice of District Four and to fight for our voice to be heard and acted upon.
We left Camp County about 11 am and traveled to Cooper in Delta County to attend the Chigger Fest. For those of you who don’t know ( I was one of you) the Chigger Fest is a celebration in honor of the last day of Chigger Season. If you ever had chiggers on you, you can appreciate why this is something to be celebrated. If you have never had chiggers eating on you, please just trust me on this. What a ceebration! Live bands, booths with everything from t-shirts to Frito Pies and Tornado Taters to rafle item. My wife is hoping to win a four wheeler. This is somewhat scary considering by her own admission she doesn’t even drive a car very well. Having said all of this, the best part was the people we met. No matter what their politcal orientation each person was kind to us and trusting enough to express their personal concerns for District Four. Thanks to each and every one of you. Your words did not fall on deaf ears. I WILL TAKE YOUR VOICE TO CONGRESS. I WILL FIGHT FOR WHAT IS RIGHT IN DISTRICT FOUR.
Fast forward to Sunday. Cheryl and I attended church. I’m not telling you this to get brownie points for going to church. I mentioned it because of what I heard. The sermon was on serving vs. self-serving . I was reminded of the story of Jesus washing the apostles feet. I was reminded that the reason Jesus did this was simply because their feet were dirty. I realize that no matter how hard I may try to keep my feet clean throughout the day, at the end of the day my feet will have dirt on them. Some days there is more dirt than others, but there is always dirt. No big deal, I shower, soap up my feet and crawl in bed. Here’s the question though? Am I, Gene Christensen willing to roll up my sleeves, soap up my hands, get down on my knees and wash the dirt away in district four on a daily basis? The answer is YES. I would like to say that once I posed this question to myself that the answer came quickly and without hesitation. If I did, I would be lying. It didn’t. I had to do some soul searching. The part that I struggled with is “on a daily basis”. Am I willing to do it on a daily basis? I AM. I WILL. I AM WILLING. If elected I will on a daily basis, to the
best of my ability, scrub dirt in District Four. I will SERVE District Four.
After church, Cheryl and I attended the Am Vet Fish Fry. I was truly honored to share a meal with these men and women that fought for our country. Then I was heartbroken. I looked around the room and saw men and women who went to war on my behalf and now live every single day in mental and or physical pain and do not receive the appropriate medical care that they so deserve. This is just wrong. I will, not just as a Congressional Candidate, but as a grateful American do all I can do change this.
