She Said Yes!

In the course of the last year, I have walked through an amazing season. As you would know, the loss of Veronica was the greatest shock of my life and one that has shaken me to the very core of my being. It has been a year of soul searching and seeking the heart and the purposes of the Father for my life and my family. I have worked very hard in this last year at maintaining a proper balance between my personal sense of recovery, healing for my family and of course, the ministry of the district. Some days have been filled with delight and some have been tough to even get up in the morning and move forward. While I still can't find the answers that I would desire in my own heart, I have come to a place of peace, knowing that my Father desperately loves me and my children, and He has a hope, a promise and a future for our lives.

The purpose of this blog is to share some really exciting news. I will get to that, but I have to ask you to walk with me briefly on part of my journey in the last few months, to lay a foundation...here we go!

After Veronica went home to be with the Lord, the word of the Lord came to me that “you will remarry, but don't look around your life...your wife is in California.” What a relief that was knowing that I wouldn't have to pursue a natural course of seeking after relationships. I assumed that one day I would move to California, and God would bring somebody into my life. I relaxed and began focusing on my life, returning to my job and giving needed attention to my family. I was very much at peace, not having to worry or focus on anything in my life except what was required of me.

At the end of May, we were delighted to host the Foursquare Connection in the great city of Atlanta (had to throw that in) and I was honored to serve as the convention host. As you might could guess, that is a huge responsibility and an enormous task. I was busy from the first day to the very last! At the beginning of the week, I had left my suite and was headed to the elevator for an early morning meeting when the Lord spoke to me again...this time it was only two words...”She's Here.” I knew immediately what God was referring to. Now, I'm on full alert...I didn't know exactly when, where or how but I felt like there would be a significant connection that would eventually materialize into a relationship in the future...or at least that's what I thought. I went the entire week and nothing! It was literally the last session and the very last song and I chocked it all up to having not accurately heard the voice of the Lord...I've made that mistake before I thought I had made it again. At the end of the song, while ministry was taking place, I ventured over to the right side of the auditorium to speak to one of our pastors, when I saw her!

I looked up and saw a young lady walking from the altar back to her seat and every sense and every thing in me went on full alert! I had no idea who she was, I didn't know if she was married, I didn't know how old she was...and I didn't know where she was from. None of that deterred me however. I was determined to say hello and introduce myself. I stationed myself at the front of her section and waited for her to come around as she was leaving...as she got closer my heart began to pound, my knees began to grow weak and I started to sweat...I felt like a young kid all over again!! She was getting closer and closer and the moment was upon me...I reached out my hand and all I could think to say was...”have we met”? Seriously? The great articulate man of faith and power...the convention host and all I could say was “have we met”? She was gracious and we introduced ourselves...guess where she was from? California! Well, that was a start!

Afterwards, I found her on Facebook and asked her to be my friend, she accepted and we began a friendly exchange of letters during the course of the next few months. Obviously, she was curious as to what I was up to and I was curious as to what God was up to. I find myself in the midst of recovering from the greatest loss of my life and at the same time, I have a unique sense that God is bringing this woman into my life. As we continued to dialogue through FB, I discovered more about her and all that God was doing in her heart and life, and I can tell you that this is no ordinary woman.

I found out that she was a graduate from Life Pacific and Azusa Pacific and had been an elementary school teacher for eight years. Eventually, her father who is a Foursquare pastor, asked her to come on staff as the youth pastor at their church and she has now served in that role for 7 years. She serves on the Foursquare Cabinet representing the Greater LA district, and obviously is an ordained Foursquare minister. I am delighted to introduce to you through this letter, Michelle Long. Michelle's parents, John and Angela Long serve as the senior pastors of Praise Alive Worship Center Foursquare Church in Monterey Park, Ca. Pastor John also serves on the Foursquare Board of Directors.

There is so much that I can tell you about Michelle, but you will be meeting her for yourself in the near future and will discover the amazing woman that she is. I do want to share this part of her life with you, however...Michelle is younger than I am, but I am the first relationship that she has had. She made a decision as a young girl, that she would guard her heart and her life and would not surrender her heart to a man unless she knew that it was God's choice for her life. She carries an amazing anointing on her life and besides serving as the youth pastor of their church, she is also a very gifted and anointed musician who not only leads worship, but also plays the piano and has a deep passion for worship.

I have to make a long story shorter...but I am writing to you today to let you know that I have asked Michelle to marry me, and she said yes! From the very beginning of this relationship, I have submitted this entire process to not only Tammy Dunahoo, the General Supervisor of The Foursquare Church, but also to Glenn Burris, the President of The Foursquare Church and have carefully abided by the guidelines and mandates that they saw to be wise. I have submitted this to Michelle's parents as well as to Chuck Shoemake, the national counselor of The Foursquare Church and have found their blessing on this decision and can come to you with absolute certainty that God has brought us together, has led us throughout the past few months and has brought us to this place of decision. I am so excited to share this with you and I know that you will rejoice with myself and Michelle! I can hardly wait for you to meet her. My family is very excited...my kids love Michelle and have developed their own relationships with her as well. In fact, both of my girls were with me in California when I proposed to her. You'll love this...I took her back to a little Bistro in Santa Monica where we had our first date, and my girls went over early to deliver roses, engraved glasses for a toast, and make sure everything was set up perfect...I love those girls! It was awesome!

We have set May 21^st as our wedding date. Because our wedding will be in California, we will do several receptions around our district, so that you will have a chance to meet her personally. Whew! There it is! I know that some of you might have some questions for me and I would love to speak with you personally if you desire. This has not been an overnight process, but I haven't had the liberty to share it publically until this time. I appreciate your thoughts and prayers and can hardly wait until you are able to meet her in person!

I spent almost 24 years of my life with an amazing woman of God! Years of great joy, ministry and family. I miss Veronica deeply and to think that I had those years with somebody of her caliber and now God is bringing Michelle into my life, blows me away! I told somebody that it has to be the divine favor of God, because I'm just not that good. He has smiled upon me and I am so thankful to share the rest of my life with a woman who loves God, is called according to His purposes and wants to share her life with me. I love each of you and thank you for being a vital part of this journey with me that we call life...

Canaan is Closer than you Think!

Don't you love the start of a brand new year? There is something wonderful about a new start, a fresh change and a new season. I know that in the wisdom of God, seasons emerged as a blessing to those of us who would walk through life, and would be ready for a new season. I like what Israel Houghton says about new seasons..."they are not relative to a calender of months and days, but revelation and insight." My prayer for you is that even as we enter into a new season chronologically, that you would also have a fresh sense of revelation, purpose and insight relative to your life and ministry! Recently, I was reading about the call of God upon Abraham's life to leave his father's country, to take his family and to fully follow the Lord in a new season of life and adventure.

Abraham was literally asked of the Lord to leave everything that he had known, the people that he had grown up with and the life that he was comfortable with. He was under a mandate to follow the Lord into a new land, full of unknowns with nothing but the promise of God upon his life.

If I may, please allow me to make a couple of observations that I think are particularly applicable to many situations that we encounter in today's world. It's interesting to me that In Genesis, chapter 11, we find Abraham's father (Terah) setting out with his family to head to Canaan. In verse 31, he made it to Haran and stopped there. In fact, it's where Terah would end up dying. After the death of his father, Abraham enters into a brand new season of opportunity, revelation and challenge. Haran literally means "to be scorched, charred, burnt, angry and dry." How many times have we ended up in places just like that? Obviously, Terah had a vision to get to Canaan, but he never made it. He ended up about 400 miles from his destination. In today's travel, he was only about 5 hours away! The trick of the enemy is to get us stuck in a place that is charred and scorched and to end up dry and angry. That was the possibility that Abraham faced, except for the word of the Lord over him and his willingness to obey God and follow Him into the unknown.

With the promise of blessing upon his life (by the way, you have that same promise of blessing upon you! Gal. 3:14), Abraham set out to finish the job that his father started. He was headed to Canaan! The root word for Canaan is "Kana", which means to submit and to be humble. Wow! God has already released a blessing of promise upon Abraham, but in order for him to experience the fullness of the promise, he is going to have to walk humbly before God and submit to Him even when He doesn't understand all that is being asked of him. Abraham would discover a life of faith that would lead him into unexpected blessings and opportunities to bless multitudes. In fact, they were still talking about it way over in the New Testament and even in today's circles, we talk about the life of Abraham!

You might be in a place that you would define as Haran! Maybe you have begun this new season and it doesn't feel like a new season at all...it just feels like you're beating the same old drum, with just another chronological date attached to it. I'm here to tell you that God is calling you out of Haran! He may not be calling you to a different locale, but He is calling you out of a dry and angry season. He is calling you to a life of humbly submitting to His word over you, even if you don't fully understand it. You are a person of promise and a person of blessing and God has an amazing future for you. It may mean that you have to walk away from the things that you are comfortable with. Many times, my own comfort zone is what causes me the greatest amount of hindrance in my life. I must be open to new and fresh ways of doing things and to allowing God to bring new people into my life. My prayer for you in this new season is that you would come into a new revelation and a new insight into the calling and purposes of God for you and the ministry to which He has called you. There are multitudes of families that are waiting for you to walk into the realization of the blessing that is upon you. It's closer than you think and you are the anointed of God for this season and His favor surrounds you on every side even as a shield! God is for you, NOT against you!

Me and My Boy!

Just over four years ago, our family traveled to Guatemala City, Guatemala to meet an amazing little boy...Juan Jose! From the very first time I saw him, I had a sense in my heart of the uniqueness of this little guy. It wasn't just that he had more energy than the energizer bunny, but God had already been preparing our hearts to receive the newest addition to our family! Adoption had been very close to our hearts for several years and in fact, we had experienced many dissapointments as we pursued our passion to adopt.

I clearly remember sitting in a restaurant with my wife as we explained to our pastor that we were no longer going to push in to adopting a child. The pain of dissapointment was too much to bear! It wasn't long after that however, that the Lord made it very clear to us that even though we were exhausted, He wasn't finished yet. The door opened for us to consider adopting from Guatemala and when we both saw Juan Jose's picture, we instantly knew that God was up to something unique. Following our decision to once again, pursue what we believed was God's heart, we were the recipients of a very generous donation that enabled to move forward with great confidence!

Our time in Guatemala was extremely satisfying and we made a very quick connection with Juan...in just a couple of days, he was calling us Mami and Papi! Our hearts were full and we felt complete. Juan Jose was born to a young lady in the mountains of Guatemala City, who gave him up shortly after adoption, due to her inability to support him. For the first 3 years of his life, he was raised by foster parents who deeply loved him and had every intention of making him a permanent part of their family. His foster dad was a cab driver in the city and earned an equivalent of thirty U.S. dollars per month. His foster mother became pregnant with their second biological child, and were forced to make the decision to open the door to adoption. That's when God brought us in!

After our son came to America, we turned his name around and americanized it to a degree and he became Joseph Juan Scott Reece! Although he only spoke spanish, he quickly became an integral part of our family and the fact that my wife was hispanic minimized the language barrier. Even at that, it wasn't long until he was speaking english and giving us a run for our money! From the very beginning, he fit right into our family and none of us ever made a distinction between our three biological children and Joseph. His mother always told him that even though he may not have been born in her tummy, he was born in her heart!

When Joseph was only seven, his mother, my wife, Veronica, went to be with the Lord very unexpectedly. When I realized that at only seven years old, he had lost three mothers, my heart was deeply broken for this precious little boy. I have to admit to you that I questioned many things after the passing of my wife, among which was the wisdom of God in allowing us to adopt this little boy when in His sovereignty, He knew that I would ultimately be raising him without a mother. I had many times when I wondered if I was even up to the task. The initial days brought a lot of doubt and concern into my heart, but I have to tell you that in the almost nine months since Veronica went to be with the Lord, I couldn't imagine not having Joseph as a part of our family and my life. I can't begin to tell you the discussions that we have had about his mommy and about heaven and all that we have gone through. In the honesty and innocence of his questions, he has helped me see and understand things that I most likely would have missed.

As I write this, Joseph and I are in the mountains of North Carolina together, spending the weekend. We've been out to eat, we've been shopping and just spending time chillin, watching SpongeBob on TV and just having a guys weekend together! I know that I cannot fill the place in his heart that his mommy did, but I can be his dad and I can be the very best dad for him that I can be. I love the nights when he and I have devotions together and as I pray for him before he goes to bed, he reaches up and grabs my face with an adoring look...I love the pictures he draws of his dad and the stories that he writes and the stories he makes up. I love being a part of his world. The other night as I was sitting in my recliner watching the World Series, he asked if he could come up and sit with me...of course he could! He jumped up in the chair, took a look at me and pulled his arms up behind his head...just like his dad! I love that stuff!

As I consider where I am in life, where we have come from and all that is ahead of us, I know that God never makes mistakes and that He has orchestrated and ordained the fact that my youngest son is a part of my world and a part of our family. I have a strong sense of responsibility in terms of the spiritual destiny of this young man, who was born in Guatemala and brought into a ministry family in the state of Georgia. The word ambassador continually comes to my mind and I know that I only have a few short years to groom and mold the heart, soul and spirit of this amazing child who has an awesome call of God upon his life. I have every expectation that there will be a day when the national stadium of Guatemala is filled to overflowing and my son, Joseph Juan Scott Reece will preach the gospel! I plan on being there!

Finally, may I suggest to you that adoption is the perfect will of God! I believe that we could change the world if more people would open their hearts, their lives and their homes to children around the world. It is a fertile harvest field and is still largely untouched, not only in terms of international adoptions, but even domestic. I pesonally know people who have changed countless lives through being foster parents. May I ask you to simply pray and ask the Lord how He could use you to make a difference in a precious heart and life by opening up yours?

The Real Man!

After several years of being a participant of and actually leading a "Men's Fraternity" in my local church, there are some foundational elements that I have come to understand about being an "authentic man of God"! I would like to take the opportunity and share those with you in this blog. Listen to this interesting statement made by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 13:11..."when I was a child, I talked like a child, I reasoned like a child, I thought like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me." We live in a world that is largely populated by grown, males who have yet to become men. A real understanding of authentic manhood has been methodically stripped away, leaving us with a generation of gender-confused young men who have no role model to follow in life. They have largely been left without a true "north star" or a mentor that can or will provide them with a moral compass in their lives. The marketplace has sucked the heart and soul out of many men and television consistently paints a picture of men as nothing more than juveniles. We have been left without a significantly defined image of masculinity and end up with nothing more than "machoism".

There are only two biblical models of manhood. The first model is Adam, who according to 1 Corinthians 14:45 was a life-taking soul, who was led by his emotions and abdicated his role of leadership in the garden. The second model is Jesus Christ who is the only perfect man who ever walked the earth! Jesus, as opposed to Adam, was a life-giving spirit who was led by the Spirit and is the ultimate role model for what authentic manhood really is.

Men, may I say to you (in this blog) that it's time to stop talking like a child, reasoning like a child and thinking like a child and to become a real man who follows the ultimate man? So, that leads us to the question...what is a real man? According to the teaching of Dr. Robert Lewis, the national leader of Men's Fraternity, there are four specific things that mark an authentic man of God. They are as follows:

A Real Man:

1.) Rejects Passivity

2.) Accepts Responsibility

3.) Leads Courageously

4.) Expects the greater reward, God's reward

C.S. Lewis pointed out that there are two strands of manhood: fierceness and gentleness. When the two find balance, authentic manhood can be realized. In other words, if you have strength without godly tenderness, you end up as a brute. On the other hand, if you are full of tenderness and compassion, but lack masculine firmness, you end up as a man who will fail to lead or inspire others.

Since Jesus is the only perfect man, it will do us well to look at the life that He lived and the balance of manhood that He exemplified. In Him, we find the perfect balance of a man who understood His role as prophet, priest and king and became the perfect picture of biblical headship! Men, you are the "priest" of your family. In other words, you are the primary intercessor for your family, you have been given the responsibility to lead your family before the Lord and into His presence. You are the one who is to remind your family of God's mercy, His grace and His forgiveness. You are called of God to oversee the spiritual condition of your family. I know that sounds like a lot, but God never calls you to do anything, where He has not anointed or equipped you to do it. You have it inside of you!

Not only are you the priest of your family, but you are also the "prophet"! You are the one who speaks for God. You are the bearer of the Word of God...now, that doesn't mean that you have to be a biblical scholar or a theologian, but you are the initiator of releasing the Word over your family...you are a spokesman for righteousness and a declarer of hope! A prophet is the one who hears from God...you have to spend time with Him and in His word in order to hear from Him. A prophet establishes standards of convictions and develops a language of faith. In other words, not everything goes! Just because the world embraces it and it's the popular thing to do, doesn't mean that it's right or righteous for your family. A prophet also faithfully proclaims the truth and is willing to lovingly confront sin and call those you love back to repentance.

Finally, you are the "king" of your family! Now, before you get all excited, let me tell you what that DOESN'T mean. It doesn't mean that you rule and reign with an iron hand and everything is "your way or the highway". It doesn't mean that you come in and find your place on your "throne" (the Lazy Boy) and get a grip on your "scepter" (the remote control) and start dictating your will to anybody who listens! In fact, if that's your approach, nobody's gonna listen to you very long, anyway! The king's primary responsibility is to lead, protect and provide for the the safety of his family. He is to justly apply the law and the government of God and to not only be a warrior, but a representative of the "realm". He is to secure the infrastructure necessary for civilization and to plan the strategy's, negotiate alliances and apply the Word of God to daily conflicts.

As you can see, your job description as an authentic man of God can be overwhelming! Do not fear, you are not in this thing alone. God has gone before you, has provided the way for you and has promised you that He will never leave you nor forsake you in that which He has called you to do! It is His desire to steady you, to give you a vision and a passion for the job and the blessing that is before you.

May I encourage you, that if you feel like you have been falling down on the job, to rise up...get before the Lord, repent of where you have been and make your godly determination to be the man that you have been ordained to be. This is your season of leadership, of authentic manhood...get with other men of God and let them speak into your life. Allow the Lord to use other men to help shape you and fashion you into an authentic man of God!

Singles...this IS Your Season!

A Word of Prophecy for Singles!

Do not regret the season that you are in at this time of your life. You are not left out, you are not forgotten, but quite the contrary...you are part of a very unique Army that I have raised up in these times says the Lord! I have ordered and ordained the season in which you find yourself. There are those that are single and it is not of their own choosing, but know this, I am the redeemer of the days and I will not waste even one moment of your life and existence. These are not days of regret, but those of knowing me in the fullness of my power and anointing. What I am doing in you is done by virtue of your submission to my hand upon your life. Know this, I am working beyond that which you can know or understand in the natural - I am moving circumstances and situations on your behalf...do not stretch out your hand to steady the Ark. All that you have need of, I know of. Do not become impatient, but use this season of your life to allow me to both define and refine what I am doing in your life. Do not sit back in complacency and wait for a relational breakthrough, but press in to become everything that I have called you to be even when it doesn't seem to make sense. Be found faithful and be pure before me.

The one that I am drawing to you will be discovered as you know me in intimacy...do not attempt to open doors or go through doors that I have not set before you. Do not be tempted to become something that I have not called you to be in order to set yourself up. It is your faithfulness that will go before you and establish you in that which I have called you to do and become.

Do not get into fear, but stand steadfast in faith and give of yourself to serve my kingdom. This is the time for you, not to passively wait, but to avail yourself to the ministry opportunities that I will set before you. Lift up your head, open your eyes, prepare your heart, your emotions and your spirit. Your blessing has already been released and is on it's way, even now. Do not circumvent what I have ordained by becoming anxious and careless in your life. The days of your blessing have begun...it's a new season, a new blessing. Do not look at yourself as just single, but look at yourself as the servant of God, set aside for such a time as this!

Facing Life's Greatest Loss with the Anointing to Live!

In November of last year, my world was changed forever when my father passed away. The man that had shaped so much of my life and had a significant investment into the way that I lived and even processed life was gone from me forever. As many of you know, who have lost a parent; the pain was unlike anything that I had ever experienced. Little did I know that only three short months later, the unthinkable would happen.

The first weekend of February was an exciting time for our family. We would find ourselves at the supervisor's home at our beloved Camp Courtney, in the mountains of North Carolina. Camp Courtney is a place that has been a source of life and healing for me personally for many years. On this particular weekend, we would be with the youth of our district for the annual Winter retreat. As our older children participated in the events of the weekend, I was moving back and forth from being with them to being with my wife, Veronica who was nurturing our youngest son, who wasn't feeling too well. We had a delightful time sharing each other's company and relaxing in the atmosphere of a place that we love so much.

On Saturday, I kissed her and said goodbye as I made my way to a speaking engagement for the weekend and towards a fun week of playing golf with several friends of mine in the North Carolina area. The next day, Veronica and our children traveled back to Atlanta, Georgia. Throughout the week, she wasn't feeling well and even went to visit the doctor a couple of times, thinking that maybe she picked up something from our son. In the middle of the week, she started feeling better, only to relapse toward the end of the week. By Saturday, she was completely exhausted and her phone call to me that morning, caused alarm. So much so, that I had our children take her to the emergency room. As I rushed home from Charlotte to Atlanta, I could never have imagined what would lie ahead of us.

I found my family at the emergency room and from what the doctors told us, prepared myself for a short two to three day hospital stay as Veronica recovered from what we were told was the stomach flu. We would find out later that she actually had contracted the H1N1 virus and it had gone unchecked and untreated. After my arrival, just two short hours later, my precious wife of 24 years, went into cardiac arrest and before I could even imagine what was happening, she was gone from us forever.

Devastated, shocked and in disbelief, I went home with my four children. We sat and cried through the night and held each other, not knowing what to say or what to do. At that point, I wasn't even sure that the sun would come up in the morning, and I wasn't really even sure that it mattered one way or the other. The next few days would bring hundreds of people into our lives as we did our feeble best to not only attempt to make sense of what had just happened, but to say goodbye to the most precious person that I have ever known, the love of my life, and the mother of my children.

The first few days following Veronica's death really didn't make a lot of sense to me and I found myself quickly spiraling emotionally downward. I couldn't grasp what we were going through or why. Our family seemed so perfect to me, and so protected from this type of tragedy. We prayed together, and we believed God for health, healing and wholeness. The last week of Veronica's life; we prayed together every single day and stood on the Word, believing for her healing and believing and confessing long life on the earth. Now, it seemed that God had let me and my children down and had failed us in the worst possible way. I wasn't sure that I could recover from this. I wanted to pick up the Bible and find life, but I was afraid to. I had a deep sense that I would hear God tell me that everything was going to be okay, and quite frankly, I wasn't sure that I wanted it to be okay.

Thankfully, friends that were with me recognized what was going on in me and refused to allow me to go down the path that I was about to enter. I was quickly reminded of God's love, His sovereignty and His ability to carry us through this time. As I began to turn towards the voice of my Father, and to His Word; I also began to find life in the valley of the shadow of death. In the midst of our devastation, life and love washed over me and my children. Thousands of people around the world were praying for us and we started feeling the power and the effect of those prayers. One particular day, the Lord spoke very directly to my heart that while He had not done this to my Veronica, He had allowed it to happen. As I pushed into the heart of God to know why He allowed it, He simply told me that it was because He loved us, and that He was incapable of allowing anything outside of His love. Honestly, I still can't fully grasp that in the natural, but deep in my heart, I know that we are surrounded by His love and that He is walking every single day with us, touching us where we are most vulnerable and strengthening us for the journey that lies ahead without Veronica.

Throughout my life and ministry, I have sought hard after God for His anointing. I have come to know and understand the anointing as “the supernatural enablement of God that exceeds my natural capacity”. The anointing is designed to operate in every single arena of your life, not just when you are doing a ministry assignment, but in the way that you live out your life. Recently, I found myself asking God to bring healing and wholeness into my life and my family. I was absolutely surprised when the Lord spoke to me that what would sustain us through this season would be the anointing. He reminded me of the scripture found in John 10:10, that even though the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy, He has come that we might have life and have it in abundance! That's the anointing to live!! Even in the midst of the greatest tragedy my family has ever known, I stand on the promise and the enablement of God towards the abundance of life. Surrounded daily with reminders of 24 amazing years, with an amazing woman, I hear God say to me that my best days and the best days of my children are still ahead of us! Only God can make a promise like that!

I'm not telling you today that we aren't still hurting, we are. I'm not saying that there aren't tough times and moments of breaking down, there are. What I am telling you is that God is the strength of our hearts, He is our promise of tomorrow and He is the hope and the joy that better days are ahead. The anointing to live is a promise, it's a hope, it's a word of encouragement that no matter what we face in life, He will NEVER leave us or forsake us. Many reading this have been through similar times, many haven't. My prayer for you today is that no matter where you are in life, and no matter what you face, and no matter how difficult, that you will find the abundance of God's love, His grace, mercy, forgiveness and strength as you stand on His Word and walk in the anointing to live!

Today my Daddy went to Heaven!

November 7, 2009

Yesterday I flew to Florida for a planned 10 day trip for a total of approximately 23 events with Foursquare Churches, Divisions and Pastors. It is a trip that I have been planning for quite some time. What I didn't plan on was the call that I received from my Sister at 8:25 am. When I saw her name on the caller ID, I answered excitedly because she was supposed to call me when she got my father home from the hospital. He has been in the hospital for 5 weeks, following an open heart surgery. The recovery from the surgery itself went relatively well, but he had several complications including pneumonia, an infection and extreme dizziness. The doctors were permitting him to go home this weekend on a "day pass" to see how he did and possibly to release him on Tuesday for good.

When I answered the phone, my sister really didn't need to say anything because I knew immediately what she was going to tell me. She was extremely upset and couldn't gain her composure. When she finally was able to speak, her words shot through every fiber of my existence..."daddy has died". I am so thankful for my sister and she is one of the greatest people I know. She has been with my Daddy every day and night for the past five weeks of his life and has been an amazing gift to him during this last season of his life on the earth. She has nurtured him, cared for him and served him as few people would for another. She literally put her life on hold in order to care for my Father.

So, I enter the season of my life without my earthly father. I guess I always knew that this day would come, but somehow the impact of it has affected me completely different than I would have anticipated. I have experienced a deep sense of loss, even loneliness and an acute awareness that my life has been completely altered and will never again be the same. Just knowing that my daddy isn't where he has always been causes a strange sense of void for me. I have yet to make the trip home (we leave in the morning), but I'm almost regretting going into his workshop...to see his inactive tools, unfinished projects and the essence of who my father was. He was extremely talented with his hands and could make projects come to life. He loved his workshop and spent all of his extra time there. I can't begin to tell you the stories, the jokes, the serious discussions and even the nonsense that went on in that workshop. My daddy loved life in his own way and lived it on his own terms! I believe that during the last many years of his life, my Father thoroughly enjoyed his life and who he was. He basically did what he wanted to do, when he wanted to do and how he wanted to do it!

Growing up, my Daddy was a pretty tough guy! He grew up tough and joined the military at an early age. He carried a lot of hurt and issues into his marriage and into his family. But time has a way of mellowing us all and my Dad was no exception. His heart became extremely tender and my children only knew him to be a big teddy bear, complete with his "old man's beard"...he eventually took on a look of an "old mountain man" and he would have had it no other way. I remember as a teenager of being embarrassed by my Father at different times, but I have come to realize that he didn't fit the typical mold. Now, instead of being embarrassed, I am deeply appreciative of the fact that he had enough self-esteem and confidence to just absolutely be himself.

Looking at my life, I realize that my Dad has shaped me in a lot of ways. There are ways that I think now and my outlook on life that was strategically shaped by my Daddy and I'm not even sure that He was doing it intentionally as much as it was intuitively. I can still remember sitting by my Daddy in his red, Ford truck and him allowing me to shift the gears on the column. At times, he would also let me steer the truck and I bet I logged at least 100,000 miles up and down the old dirt road beside his shop prior to getting my driver's license. I have said many times that even though I didn't grow up "in" the country, I definitely grew up country. The values and mindsets that were invested into me gave me an appreciation for the simpler things of life and how to appreciate people from every walk of life.

I think what strikes me the most about the events of today is that my Father has abandoned his earthly body and entered into the awesome and amazing Presence of the Lord. Over the years, i have witnessed to my Father and talked with him about his salvation. He has always assured me of his personal relationship with the Lord, but there has never really been any evident fruit. A couple of weeks ago, prior to his surgery, my brother-in-law witnessed to my Father and prayed the prayer of salvation with him. In his conversation with my Father, he asked him if he was praying because they wanted him to....my Dad's response was that he prayed because he needed to. It was very obvious that God was doing something unique in my Dad's heart because every time we prayed with him, he would begin to cry. We never saw that in my Daddy before.

As humans, we see death as this prolonged event that includes arrangements, visitations, caskets, funerals and cemeteries. Death is actually none of those things. Those are simply our responses to this "transitional event". I distinctly remember the Lord speaking to me that death is nothing more than the crossing over a threshold...and literally takes that long. For the Believer, one moment you are on this side of life and the very next, explode into life eternal and into the Presence of God!

Even as I write this, I still live in a body that is aging day by day and experiences the issues of life in an imperfect body that exists in an imperfect world. Not my Daddy...he is no longer an old man, he no longer has a heart that is defective, he no longer carries the aches and pains in his body or has the torment of past failures, mistakes or regrets. He knows in fullness and completeness. He has an awareness of everything that I have been preaching and studying and preparing my life for in the past 31 years. He has been reunited with his family members that have gone on before, and today is his first day of who he really is and will be for all of eternity!

Although the next few days will be filled with grief and mourning because of my Daddy's natural departure, I also have a deep, abiding peace and a joy of what God has done in his life. I heard an unmistakable word from the Lord today that none of the events of the past few weeks caught God off guard. In fact, I am convinced that the last few weeks of my Father's life on the earth were strategically orchestrated by God. He was surrounded by friends and family and the love that each of them have for my Daddy was very apparent. It was during this time that my Daddy gave his heart to the Lord and in my opinion, Heaven just got sweeter...there's an old mountain man up there and I'm sure that he's telling "preacher jokes"!!!