Tears of sorrow, tears of joy

I attended the funeral for Gil Jarrard on Monday. Mr. Jarrard is the grandfather of Adam, a good friend of mine. During the funeral service at the church, Mr. Jarrard's grandchildren got up and spoke about their grandfather. Having never met Mr. Jarrard I enjoyed hearing from each grandchild as they shared fond memories of this great man. I heard a lot about the man. Mr. Jarrard was a veteran, having served his country in the armed forces when the duty called. He was a politician, serving on the Lebanon city council for more than 20 years. He was a friend to many helping out throughout the community. But mostly, he was a sold out, on fire, God-fearing, grace receiving believer in Christ. He would take any opportunity to share the Gospel with anyone. Not only did his family share of Mr. Jarrard's love for Christ, but also his love for his family. It was a very moving experience to be a part of. Though there were tears of grief and sorrow, there were quite a few tears of joy and hope. Hope in the promises of Jesus Christ and the His Father. Hope in the comfort that only comes from the Spirit. Hope that Their loved one is worshipping God in all His glory. And that is really the point of all of this. We too want that hope. We want that hope for ourselves and our loved ones.

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New Life: Underground

I had a great opportunity this week. I was invited to serve with an old friend and to make some new ones as well. Doug Hill invited me to play bass with the praise band at New Life: Underground, a community of faithful believers living life together. It was a great time of worship, teaching, sharing, and fellowship.
Tom Planck, and Doug are really nurturing an environment of creative worship and fellowship. I read a lot about new trends in Christian communities. And unfortunately, most trends die off in a few years. But the strength of New Life is that it is not about being trendy. It is about experiencing authentic relationships with God and His people. And that is exactly what I felt Saturday night. Thanks for having me Doug and Tom!

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Prayer Blog

I am considering making a page within this site designed to be a prayer request blog. Basically we could post prayer requests and praises and other readers can pray for them. My prayer life is awful to be honest. This is a feeble attempt to jump start my own prayer life, but also to encourage those of you who have requests but don't know who else to ask for prayer. I am strongly considering this. I will devote myself to one hour daily in prayer for these requests. What do you guys think?

mike

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