A Cool Memory

One of my best friends growing up was a guy named Jon Bolles. We met in junior high school and became fast friends. We went to rival high schools, but stayed close and actually roomed together for two years @ Baylor. Jon is a great guy. We still talk to each other every once in a while, but not as much as I’d like. I was reminded this morning of something he did on his birthday our sophomore year at BU. He took all of his buddies out for a milk shake at Health Camp. And he bought! This was a tradition for Jon – to give to others on his birthday.

Normally people receive gifts on their b-day, but Jon would give. Now you have to understand the budget of a college student… Buying 8 milkshakes at the Health Camp was a sacrifice. We thought Jon was the man!

I’ll never forget it – because I remember the smile and satisfaction on his face as he would buy the shakes. It was his day. He was the man. Everyone loved it. But no one loved it more than Jon.

Bye Bye Michelle & Michaela

Tonight our Rightnow Team celebrated the departure of two of our own - Michelle Fong and Michaela Anderson. We didn't celebrate because we were glad to get rid of them, we celebrated because of where they are going. Michaela takes off on Tuesday to fly to an undisclosed location in the Middle East where she will be working for a missions organization this summer. This is the first step for her to full time missionary work overseas. Michelle heads home to San Fran for a few weeks and then begins her process of moving overseas to work with an un-reached people group in Southeast Asia.

How cool is that? I love what Michaela & Michelle are doing. They are living whole-hearted for Christ. They are an inspiration to me because they are showing the world how much they trust in Jesus. Both girls are in their 20's and are very bright. They could be doing any number of things with their lives and making a nice living doing so. But they are choosing this. I'm sure they have people in their lives that think they are crazy. Maybe they are crazy? Maybe Abraham was crazy? And Joseph, Joshua, Jonathan, Josiah (J theme going strong) - maybe they were crazy too? I don't know, but I do know that they were faithful. And that is worth celebrating!

Shanna Makes Me Sad

Shanna makes me sad because tomorrow is her last day on the job with The Rightnow Campaign. Shanna and I have worked as a team for the last four plus years. She is as much responsible as any other human being for the implementation and success of our ministry and specifically our Leadnow and Fusion Conferences. I have leaned on her in so many ways and it's honestly hard to imagine doing our ministry without her.

I was always told that it takes 10 positive statements to take away one negative statement. So I'm going to say 10 positive things about Shanna and one negative. That way she won't feel bad if she reads this.

Positive

1. She a servant
2. She is married to an Aussie
3. She has bailed me out of many, many situations
4. She doesn't like Aggies
5. She is has backbone - the girl is tough
6. She makes tasty cookies
7. She is passionate
8. She makes everyone else look like they know what they are doing
9. She is the real deal
10. She really, really loves Jesus

Negative

1. She is leaving The Rightnow Campaign

I don't like to say goodbye. And in a very real way I am not saying goodbye to Shanna tomorrow. She is going to work for her church and they are really involved with our ministry. She has even agreed to help out with our Dallas event in September. But I've also been around the block enough to know that things never stay the same. Our ministry and our events will literally never be the same without Shanna working on them. Don't get me wrong, I believe that God will take care of us. I have no doubt that God is in control. However, God is going to use different people to do what Shanna has done and therefore, things will never be the same.

My favorite memory of Shanna is from our very first Fusion event in 2004. We were the first ones to arrive in the Dallas Convention Center on November 12th and the last ones to leave at something like 2 am on November 14th. As we left that mammoth, empty space we paused for a moment to just soak it in. I'll never forget that. The look on Shanna's face completely captured my emotions: it was a mixture of absolute praise to God for what He had just done and amazement that He let us do it.

Don't tell me it will be the same, because it won't.

I'm gonna miss Shanna.

Shipment from DC

Over the weekend we received 4 pallets full of all of our gear we took to DC for the Leadnow & Fusion Conferences. I took a few hours to unpack all of the items and re-pack them to get ready for Dallas. As I worked on the inventory I couldn't help thinking about the guy that drove the truck all the way to DC and back. His name is Nate...

Nate is an amazing man of God. He is a professional truck driver who happens to go to my church. When he heard about our need he made sure that his own company would send him on any routes in the Northeast. Of course, God arranged it for him to need to be in Baltimore the day after our event. So Nate, volunteered to take all of our stuff to DC. And when we got to DC and met up with Nate he stuck around the whole weekend helping out in any area that he could. Nate is a big, strong man. He can easily do the work of two men, but the amazing thing is that he always does it with a servants heart. Nate has one of those contagious attitudes that all servants have.

I admire Nate.

Thankful for friends

I saw an old friend today at a Gas Station. He was a guy that I met my first week at Baylor and have loosely kept in touch with since graduation. This guy is amazing to me. He is someone that I really look up to. He has a life that I envy, a life that I desire. He is so devoted to Christ that he cannot help but speak truth. It’s as if Christ is running through every single thought that he has.
One thing that I love about him is his profession. It’s not just the profession itself, but how he views it. He is a Coach at a Junior High School. He could be at the High School making more money and having a better career. But he’s at the Junior High School because that’s where he thinks he can have the most influence for Christ.
I would love to live in such a way that I didn’t let my ambitions and pride get the best of me. I long to have a life that takes every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. I am thankful for real life examples like my friend who draws me into a deeper union with Christ.