from finley...
well, yesterday was one of those...give it all you've got, press on, joyful, wonderful, terrible, horrible, tragic, "God, can this really be happening?" kind of days. God was very faithful and i feel extremely blessed to have lived it.
it started with an early morning alarm so i could get up, put on my suit and drive to russellville for a funeral. the father of one of my small group leaders was killed tragically on new years day in a freak weight lifting accident. i rode with clark lasse to russellville for the funeral. it was so difficult to see the family mourning the loss of their father. funerals always remind me of the shortness of life and the urgency that we should have with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
on our way out of town i received a text from one of my teammates about a teacher who was killed that morning who worked at Harber high school. he said that several of my cell group guys had him as a teacher. i received a phone call a few minutes later from one of my guys who was really struggling with it all. we decided to get together last night to talk about it. *we did stop by What-a-Burger for a burger, fries, and shake, which managed to sooth my belly, but not my heart.
during the drive back along I40 i received a call from Abel Schafer that the doctors had decided to go ahead and deliver the twins that Sarah has been carrying so faithfully for 38 wks. it was all going down at 5:30. i got back to church and caught up with a few people and checked a few emails. about 6pm i headed up to the hospital to see the schafers (and my wife who had already been there taking a few pictures, of course)
wow! what a blessing. to stand there next to a dear friend and look as the nurses were prepping Stephen and Joshua Schafer for their new world was incredible! so small and so new, the miracle and blessing of new life was truly astonishing. to come from a morning of sorrow and loss and then to see the hope and promise of two twin babies that evening made me be very mindful of my life, its purpose, and the time that we do have here.
i rushed home to see my kids for a few minutes, give them a bath, eat some dinner and then i headed over to a house where several of my cell group guys had gathered. we watched the office for a few minutes to lighten the mood but then talked for over an hour, sharing stories about their teacher and talking about the realities of death. teenagers rarely have to deal with such things and they had lots of good/typical questions. why? how could God let this happen? what do we say to our friends? how can we help the family? is it okay that i feel this way? we answered a lot of questions as best we could and then prayed for his wife for a while and the ministry that the guys would have the next day at school.
Death - Life - Death ... quite a sobering day for me yesterday. i feel humbled that my life is what it is, that my God has chosen me for such a time as this, and that my time needs to be used in every way possible so that by God's grace (in my weakness) he might draw others into his eternal presence.
