Saturday, October 3, 2015

Celebrating Life

Death sucks.
Mike loved bonfires. This is the first group there.


Period.

End of discussion.

It is never easy to lose someone you love. No matter what their age. For some reason though, we seem to be a little more comforted with that person is 90 years old and lived a long happy life.

About 11 years ago now, two of my friends lost their 11 year old daughter, and a 2 year old son on the same day. They still mourn. 

Just last year, my friend's lost their little spunky Max at the young age of 7. Now, we've lost Mike who was only 41 years old.
Mike's brother and church friends playing corn hole.


There is so much life left to be lived when someone dies young. It makes you feel regretful for their future. Does that make sense? I know for me, personally, it makes me think about what they will miss in the future.

Here is the key though... we've got to stop allowing death to feel final, because it's not.

Jesus came and defeated death on our behalf. Jesus came to give us life, life to the full.

When you know Him as your Lord and Savior, your passing will be from this earth to heaven. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:8, "Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord."

There is a Big Daddy Weave song that I love. I actually want it played at my funeral. It says, "One day I will rise, to my mansion in the sky, I'll have no regrets when I leave this place for good. I'm not really dead, I'm just changing neighborhoods."

Mike traded these earthly woods and mud bogging track for a heavenly one. Last night we celebrated his life.
Mike's son driving his Razor.

My daughter said, "Mr. Mike would have loved this." I responded, "He's having more fun than we are. He's in heaven."

I pray, with all of my heart, if you don't know God and aren't sure where you'd go when it's your time to, trust Him. He loves you so much. He wants a relationship with you. This isn't just "fire insurance" from Hell. It's about living for Him and going about daily in life with Him and other believers.


The chair in the truck was set up for Mike. His nickname is Waterboy.

My friend Heather took all of these pictures last night. She wanted me to write a blog and share them with you all. Susan put on a smile a few times. She's doing well, but has crying times, then a little later, laughing times. That's to be expected. She's 40 years old and has been with Mike since she was 17. This is going to take time to heal from. But her faith in God is strong and her support system is solid. She and her kids will be fine, but will mourn like everyone else does.

Mike's dad & brother looking at what would have been Mike's spot.
We aren't guaranteed tomorrow. You never know what will happen....

But I need to tell you this.

I believe that God is in control of everything. I do.
However, I do not think that God causes accidents to happen. Accidents just happen. 

God is good and He can't do anything but good. I just don't think He would cause someone to have an accident to bring them to heaven.

Our Youth Pastor says, "If it's good it's God. If it's not good, God isn't done yet."

Romans 8:28 tells us that God turns ALL things around for the good of those who love Him. Susan has even been looking for those good things. I told her something that I saw Sunday evening that truly warmed my heart. She was so glad to know about it and she said, "See, Romans 8:28, I know good things will come out of Mike's death." 

Whatever you have planned today. Celebrate life doing it! We will continue to celebrate Mike's life by being there for his family, and letting his memory live on!

God bless you today and always.

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