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?

"I struggle daily with my faith and I try to find answers to why I struggle. I know what causes me to struggle and fall away from God. It is my inability to trust God with everything. I never wake up in the morning and say God, this day is ...for you. I never go to God when I struggle with my personal problems and I rarely ask for Gods help anymore. The answer to this problem is that I have to once again trust that God will help me when I feel tempted. I have to wake up every morning and tell God that I trust what he has in store for me. Whatever temptation that is in front of me will not be a problem because of the trust I have in God." -Michael Hendrickson

It is always the simple things that change our lives. And these things never happen when you are looking for them to happen. Life will reveal answers at the pace life wishes to do so. You feel like running, but life is on a stroll. This is how God does things.—Donald Miller