Meeting the king

My Aunt Pam passed away this past Tuesday, she was 64. She and my mother were best friends in high school, had the same first and middle name, they had the same birthday month, married brothers, each had 2 daughters. Their life each also filled with pain from dyfunctional families, divorce and addiction. They shared the good and the bad times of life and one of the most told stories of their life was when they met Elvis Presley. They were 17 years old and Elvis had come to Miami to film a TV show at the Fountainbleu hotel. They were given tickets from a local radio station and were able to sit in the audience and watch the taping of the show. That wasn't enough for these fanatic followers of Elvis. During a break in the taping, they decided to try and find him or his hotel room. They found out he was staying in the penthouse and proceeded to take the elevator to his room. When the elevator reached the top floor, they got out but soon realized that it was not the penthouse. The elevator they got on did not go to the penthouse. My aunt Pam soon created a plan to climb the fire escape of the hotel to get to the penthouse. Whenever my mom would tell this story, she always mentioned how the fire escape ladder was on the outside of the building, so as you climbed up you could look down and see the street and cars drive by. She said she hung on for dear life. Once they were safely on the carpeted hotel floor, they proceeded to go around the corner to find his room, and there he was sitting in a chair in the hallway. He heard their giggles and motioned for them to come over and talk to him. My mom always said that made her an even greater fan because he was so kind to them. He asked them where they went to school and took pictures with them and gave them each autographs. To this day, I still have the photo and autograph as a promise to my mom that I wouldn't sell it.
Losing your mom is probably one of the hardest people in your life to lose. It has been 13 years and I still wish my mom was just a phone call away, I have so much to tell her about how proud she would be of my life and her grandchildren's lives. I know that I will see her again. I encouraged Renee over the past couple of years to make sure she spoke to her mom about salvation. Renee was able to have that gift and knows that her mom did accept Christ. We could not change the choices that our parents made with their lives that ultimately caused probably sooner than need be. But we can take the good that they have given us, make better choices, stop the cycle of addiction and live each day as a fanatic of the real King, Jesus Christ.
Rest in Peace, Aunt Pam, I know my mom was there to meet you!

Every privileged American should have this experience

I am so blessed to have been given the opportunity over the past few years to have a job that allows me to use my gifts and experience the desires of my heart. A couple of weeks ago I travelled to Peru with a group of 21 teenagers on a mission trip. We were able to experience so many God moments, moments that you just walk in the spirit and trust that God is leading you in unknown steps of your life. I loved watching the students as they were taken out of their comfort zone and hopefully began to learn what it truly means to have faith and trust. We spent time in Lima serving at an orphanage, watching the kids eat pepperoni on their pizza for the first time and many more locations. Each place we went we met special people that God placed in our path. Along my journey I met Carmen at the orphanage, Mira at Pachachutec, Brandon in Iquitos, the women in the tribe at the jungle, Emerson in Lima and Violeta at FRC Lima. On a mission trip we are taken out of our normal routine and forced to notice the less fortunate than ourselves. But when we come home do we continue to look for those hurting people that God places in our path. This was the lesson that I was hoping my privileged 15 year old daughter and the rest of the teenagers would grasp. The first day we went to the orphanage and the little girls who live their wanted to show our kids their bedrooms. As I followed a group of our girls up the stairs and into the room, my daughter came out of the room crying very hard. She could not express in words what she was feeling, but I believe she had her first moment of realization of how those with less live each day and are proud of what they have and how blessed she was. Our students would share in different ways how they were observing those that live with less but love and serve God with so much more passion than we do in America. For 3 days we went to the jungle town of Iquitos and visited tribes and villages of those in need. It never felt like we gave them enough, but we always shared the gospel and many accepted Christ and that really is the greatest gift we could offer. The photos in this blog are of my daughter with a child from the tribe and her placing an anaconda over her shoulders. Last night when I picked her up from a friend's home, she asked me if she could go in a couple weeks to feed the homeless down in Miami with a ministry called PB & J. My heart smiled and I immediately thanked God for the opportunity she was given to go on this mission trip. I hope she is getting that calling yourself a Christian is more than just a label on her myspace page, but a lifestyle of action and service. James 2:14-26

Where have you been?

I know those of you that read blogs religiously probably don't come to mine when I haven't written consistently for the past few weeks. Honestly they have been very busy traveling to Peru on a mission trip, adding the morning gym ritual to my schedule, working longer days planning 2 major camps along with the regular weekend planning that happens each week, and having all the family home for summer. Most people look at summer time as a time of rest and relaxation, but honestly in my life it is probably some of the longest days. It is a busy season in student ministry with mission trips, camps, students home from college hanging out at my home and at the office. My son is also home from college and that means late nights. I can't go to sound sleep until I know he is home and when he does come home we seem to have this ritual that we sit in the living room and talk for a while. Teenagers schedules tends to be late nights whether they sleep in or have to get up. They have a great tolerance for lack of sleep. I also went on the mission trip to Peru and I was fortunate to witness my daughter's first experience with poverty and serving the needy in a big way. And finally something just for me, going to the gym. My daughter has been wanting to join and like I have said before, with teenagers, you find what they like and where they are and meet them there and it definitely keeps the communication lines open. The challenge from Troy to the staff and the inspiration of Carson also helped add this to my crazy days.
This week unexpectedly my aunt passed away from a stroke and massive bleed in her brain, she was 64. Her and my mom were best friends in high school and married brothers. Her daughter is one of my best friends and knowing what it is like to lose your mom, I felt very strongly that I needed to be with my cousin just to "be there", to pray and to comfort.
I have different stories that have to do with each of these and will blog separately about them.
Life has been busy, but we can always see God at work and the enemy attempting to work sometimes even harder when we moving toward the likeness of Christ. Stay tuned...