My Blessed Life
A Journey of Faith, Family, and God’s Provision
“I wouldn’t take nothing for my journey now.” Gordon opens his book with that line from an old spiritual, and it sums up eighty-some years of trusting God from Austin to Minnesota and home again.
A working man’s life, and a faithful God who always showed up
Born at home in Austin in 1940, Gordon Friday learned to wire a three-way switch before he started first grade. He went on to be a railroad brakeman, an Austin firefighter, a would-be cattle baron with a blind bull, a framing carpenter, a math teacher, and for nearly sixty years a union electrician, all while answering a call to preach.
Here you will meet the old farmer who flagged down a rock train one rail length from a broken track, the teenagers who carried in twenty-one sacks of groceries the day the pantry was empty, a Minnesota winter of forty below, and the September day the Bastrop fire reached the church door.
Above all, it is the story of Jnoetta, the little quiet girl who said, “I guess I can stand it if you can,” and of a faithful God who always showed up.
Five homes along the way
The book is told in five parts. Each one has its own birdhouse on the cover.
Part OneRoots
Austin · 1940–1959A home where Dad read the Bible every night, Hyde Park Baptist, McCallum High, and the little quiet girl.
Part TwoLearning the Hard Way
Baylor to Walnut Creek · 1959–1969A wedding in 1960, the Southern Pacific, the Austin Fire Department, a Pflugerville farm, and the call renewed.
Part ThreeAnswering the Call
Clute to New Mexico · 1969–1977Teen Night, the beach ministry, missions across the river in Matamoros, and the road as a film evangelist.
Part FourShepherd and Tradesman
Sandy Creek to Minnesota · 1977–1999Pastoring with a hard hat in the truck, then Little Falls, St. Cloud and Choate, where forty below was just a Tuesday.
Part FiveTimberline
The Lost Pines · 2001–2021Twenty years at the Timberline Fellowship, the 2011 Bastrop fire, a sawmill, and a hundred homes rebuilt.
- Oct 28, 1940
- Born at home on 38½ Street in Austin, the fourth child of John and Tessie Friday
- Feb 21, 1945
- Oldest brother Joe Hayden is killed aboard the USS Bismarck Sea off Iwo Jima
- June 3, 1960
- Marries Jnoetta, “the wisest decision I ever made”
- 1977
- Begins pastoring the little mission at Sandy Creek
- 1983–1999
- Ministry in Minnesota: Little Falls, St. Cloud and Choate
- 2001
- Starts the Timberline Fellowship near Bastrop
- Sept 2011
- The Bastrop County Complex Fire reaches the church grounds
- Jan 2021
- Gordon and Jnoetta move to Rockwall to be near family
Stories to ask Granddad about
Gordon wrote this book so his family would know where they came from. These are a few of the stories inside. Each one shows God providing at just the right time.
Family prayers on their knees
Chapter 1 · The Baby of the FamilyEvery night his dad read a Bible passage, and the whole family knelt to pray.
One rail length from disaster
Chapter 8 · Working on the RailroadAn old farmer flagged down a rock train just short of a broken rail.
The $20 tithe
Chapter 13 · CluteA young family gives what little they have and learns how God answers.
Twenty-one sacks of groceries
Chapter 18 · Knee Deep in AlligatorsThe pantry was empty. Then the teenagers came up the walk.
Forty below in Little Falls
Chapter 25 · Twenty-Two Months in Little FallsA Texas preacher learns about Minnesota winters the hard way.
The sawmill and the Mennonites
Chapter 30 · Fire in the Lost PinesAfter the fire, 50,000 board feet of free lumber and over a hundred homes rebuilt.
Photographs from the journey
Photos will be added here as the family shares them.
- Photo coming
Young Gordon in Austin
A childhood photo from the 1940s or 50s, or the Friday family with John and Tessie.
- Photo coming
Joe Hayden in uniform
His brother’s Navy portrait from 1944, if the family has one.
- Photo coming
The wedding, June 3, 1960
Gordon and Jnoetta on their wedding day.
- Photo coming
The working years
Gordon with the Southern Pacific, the Austin Fire Department, or on the Pflugerville farm.
- Photo coming
Early ministry
Clute youth group, the Surfside Beach ministry, a Matamoros mission trip, or the World Wide Pictures years.
- Photo coming
Sandy Creek
The church building, a congregation photo, or Gordon on a job site.
- Photo coming
A Minnesota winter
Snow at Little Falls, St. Cloud or Choate, preferably with a Texan in it.
- Photo coming
Timberline Fellowship
The church in the pines before the fire, and the new addition the Mennonite crews built.
- Photo coming
After the Bastrop fire
The sawmill running, lumber stacked for families, or volunteers at work.
- Photo coming
The whole family today
Gordon and Jnoetta with their children and grandchildren, recent and outdoors if possible.
Recent portrait of Gordon (the same photo planned for the back cover).
Gordon and Jnoetta Friday
Gordon Friday served as a minister of music and youth, a film evangelist, and the pastor of churches in Texas and Minnesota, including twenty years at the Timberline Fellowship near Bastrop. He and Jnoetta have been married since 1960. They make their home in Rockwall, Texas, close to family.
Grandchildren’s names will be added here once Gordon approves them.
