Rex

Last night, a friend of mine passed away. He collapsed while working out. Today, there is a hole in my life.

You know him. He is that guy that holds the door for you at church every Sunday. He always has time to chat and give you a warm hug. You never hear him say an unkind word. He is there to lend a hand if you need anything. He laughs easily and often.

He's the one on the right end. He is always ready to have a good time.

I feel a little guilty because I often took his friendship for granted. And I know that he would tell me not to worry about it.

Both of his kids were in my youth group and his daughter now works with the youth. He is proud of them.

He loves his wife dearly. The two of them are a wonderful example of two becoming one flesh. I can't imagine one without the other.

I don't understand this and I'm a little mad at God. It's not fair.

I'm going to miss Rex.

Thought for the day -

Treasure your friends. They are a gift from God.

In the middle of a miracle.

Hey all, I'm back from my adventures in illness. True to form, my cold turned into bronchitis. It was one of those times when I felt like I had to get better to be dead. I think I am finally over it. Thanks for all the well wishes.

In other news, last weekend was the annual District Youth Conference in Portland, Or. It was an amazing time.

The worship band totally rocked. We were getting down for the Lord with reckless abandon. I even had the chance to crowd surf. I hadn't done that for over 20 years. It is always cool to show the kids that the old guy can rock out.

This year, I got to teach a seminar on getting really real in worship. I was a little nervous that nobody would come to my class, but both sessions were well attended. Everything went well and I got some great feedback and even some compliments. Obviously the Lord was working, because I could never do that well on my own.

Sunday night was awesome. The speaker was talking about Jesus the healer. He said that if we truly believed, Jesus could heal our wounds. Both emotional and physical. I was sitting in the back and could tell that we were about to have a prayer service. I started to get really excited about going up to pray for people. The closer we got, the more juiced I became. I felt like a sprinter in the stating blocks waiting for the gun. I looked at on of my youth and told her that something amazing was about to happen.

When the call came, there was a flood of people in the center of the room. All asking for prayer. The tears were flowing freely as God took away burdens that we had held onto for a long time.

Now, it's a tradition in our group to wear glow necklaces on the last night of the conference. This was cool because I could look around the room and see where my youth were.

I was floored. I never saw just one necklace. Any time one of my youth went to their knees, two more were at their side to pray for them. I thought that my heart would burst with joy. I was standing in the middle of a miracle.

And that's not all. The next day, we took an offering. We were raising money to buy textbooks for students in Africa. We know that one way to break the cycle of poverty and disease is through education. They only asked once for the offering and then passed the buckets. There was no guilt trip. They just asked 800 young people to realize that there is something bigger than them out there.

Now, the most that has been raised at this conference in the past was $3,000. We brought in $5,000. They were putting in jewelry, gift cards, and even two ipods. Once again, not a dry eye in the house.

God is good all the time. All the time God is good.

Thought for the day -

The best tears in the world are those shed on behalf of someone else.

Just another geek with a bad cold.

I have just gotten over a week and a half bad cold. I hate colds. You are sick, but not sick enough to stay in bed. You still can do what needs to be done. So anyway, I put bloging on my non essential list. I'm back on track now.

In other news, we had geek night at youth group last night. I take pride in the fact that two of my youth dressed up as me. It's nice to know that I am a geek poster boy.

Thought for the day -

Cold's suck!