While You Were Sleeping...

I can't believe that I'm writing this on Christmas Eve. It has literally creeped up on me again! I guess my mom was right: the older you get, the faster Christmas will come!

What if there's a bigger picture?

This morning I had one of the biggest wake-up calls that I have ever had in my life. For my Dad’s birthday, he was given the book “Radical” by David Platt [thanks, Gee!!]. I was begging to hear something challenging so when my dad finished it he gave it to me to read. I hadn’t really had a good chance to get into it because it was during finals, but now I’m finally getting that chance! Now for this morning’s wake-up call…

Live Like Mike

It’s hard to believe it’s been 3 years and I can still remember December 1^st  2007 so clearly in my mind just like it was yesterday. The time. The phone call. The tears. The breakdown. It’s so vivid and it probably will always be that way. I lost a dear friend that day and it took me months to cope with the fact that he was gone. Today, I stand by his memory. I stand by Michael Hendrickson and what he lived for. I want to live like Mike.

It’s been said that Michael was always a good Christian guy. That he always said the right things, praised the “right” way, laid down everything at the altar; however, it was the last 6 months of Michael’s life that he truly impacted most people. He finally realized that he wasn’t doing something right, that every time he went down to the alter to lay something down and “surrendered it all” he always took something back with him. His final year at River Of Life (ROL), his life changed. He understood the act of surrender and lived his life in reckless abandonment to the God who loved him so unconditionally. He turned to inviting homeless people out to lunch in Athens, donating money, and fully surrendering himself to the life that Christ called us to.

I guess that’s why I took it so hard. He was one of the “good ones”, one of the most Christian guys I knew that was living in complete surrender everyday of his life to God’s will. That was Michael. And just when he had finally gotten it right, he was gone.  It’s amazing how much the life of one person can change. Michael’s radical change impacted so many people’s lives that after he passed, at least 10 (maybe even more! I don’t remember Eric’s exact number) came to know Christ just because of how Mikey lived his life. I want to do that. I want to be so in love with my creator that I live in reckless abandonment to his will, not being afraid or scared, but being comforted by the one who never lets me go. I want to live like Mike. Do you?