Worthy of Her Memory

    The story of Dawn's sickness and passing was one that touched so many lives, many more than either of us could have ever known. And as you can imagine the past few months have been exceptionally difficult for me and the girls, I believe that it is only now that the stark reality of Dawn's passing is beginning to sink in; one reason of course my writing had ceased. However today I have once again cause for celebration reason to write, reason's that are so uplifting and exciting I dare not keep them to myself, for they truly are "worthy of her memory". A few months ago I was asked to be the keynote speaker for a Calvary Chapel Men's Conference in Woodleaf Ca. which was held this past weekend. After little prayer and consideration it was more than obvious the Lord had placed this opportunity before me and that His desire was for me to share. The title of the weekend was "The Journey of a lifetime" and our assignment was to share on the life of our favorite men of great faith in the Bible, I of course chose Paul. Why? Because I can relate to Paul, he met God in a great encounter his faith was unwavering, and his life was one trial after another. This past Friday morning (the girls were all in Medford) I awoke with much excitement and anticipation, I was going to arrive early, walk the grounds and pray and just get in the God groove if you know what I mean. My pickup is loaded, I'm making one last pass through the house, and suddenly I feel a little faint, then a pain begins to quickly develop in my stomach, oh yeah, not good! I spent the remainder of the day in and out of consciousness never far from the bathroom and on more than one occasion I was seeing things and carrying on conversations with people who were not there. I did manage to get out a few prayers and text messages and I'm sorry if you received a text that made no sense and I have already asked the Lord to forgive me for any complaining I was doing. At 3am I awoke in my bed, in excruciating pain but able to function, fully aware that I was now very late in arriving at my destination.
  I arrived at Woodleaf at 6:30 am looking much like a man who had been hit by a Mack truck, I know this because every man I saw even those who didn't know me commented on the fact that I looked like I had been hit by a truck, who knows maybe I was!
Once I was able to get my wits about me I began to get excited about what was going to happen, you see the enemy was worried enough to try very hard to stop me, and the Lord was making sure I got there. Yes I must admit sometimes I do feel like the rope in a spiritual tug of war, especially right now when my ribs are hurting form the inside out with every breath, the result of the strain that comes from turning your body inside out.
 The message I had prepared for Saturday night was one filled with many references to the word and I interlaced so brilliantly my own struggles with Dawn's passing and the promises of God and I was actually rather proud of what I had done, with the Lord's help of course. There was now only one problem; as a result of my day of sickness and misery and no doubt the will of God I now had no clue, no understanding of my notes, and no ability to recollect a single point! I walked up to the platform surrendered, fearful, and yet confident that the Lord was in control, after all He brought me here, He allowed the sickness, and of course He has a plan, all I need to do is obey. By the way it's much easier said than done therefore "Warning Do Not Try This On Your Own"! Still not sure where I was going I prayed and began to read the first passage, it was then that I heard His voice, "tonight share from the passion of your pain (in regards to Dawn)" within 30 seconds a room filled with over 300 noisy men both young old became so quiet I dare say you could have heard a pin drop! Jaws began dropping, tears began flowing, and the Spirit of the living God filled the room, and me, while I just waited for Him to tell me what to do next, and of course He was faithful! Men gave their lives to Christ, repented for sin, they came forward for all types of prayer from the team of Calvary Chapel Pastors assembled at the altar. Many men I prayed for called their wives to ask for forgiveness, some just came to weep, some to be encouraged, some just needed to be heard, but they all wanted more of Jesus and I pray they found Him. I take no credit for what happened on Saturday Night in 2010 at Woodleaf, that belongs to Him and Him alone, for He is worthy, I however am not. There many men who spoke, many who prayed, and many of you who were praying for us, all a vital part in the transformation of men's lives and prayerfully now in those of their families as they take home what they have received. I came a way with two very strong points to this weekend, one was shared with me by almost every one of the two hundred or so men who sought me out  I am now and forever committed to continue to preach the Word, as well as to live the Word, for each compliments the other and people need to see it! The second is this, that Dawn's memory, her influence, her steadfast love for the Father and commitment to servanthood live on and the message of her life and passing must as well. For hers is a story worth telling, a life worth reliving, and each time we share it, the lives of those who hear cannot help but be changed, because after all, it really is all about Jesus!