New Birth

Humbled once again. Wednesday night a group of kids showed us how it's done. After church we witnessed the new birth of four friends as they were baptized one right after the other, all of them 8th grade boys and girls. The outpouring of love and support from their friends was something to behold. I bet there were 30 or 40 kids there from their school to witness their example of following Jesus. There was so much hugging and laughing and joy in that room that night. It was amazing. God reigned. It was holy ground. I was privileged to have a small part in it. One of the kids was my son, Max. That's him on the left.

Over the last 8 months there has been a huge change in this big ol' wonderful 13 year old kid. It all started in January at Winterfest and with the wreck our youth group experienced on the way home in which we lost Brody. So much pain and sorrow following 2 solid days of praise and fun and love and worship. The outpouring of love and support from people all over the world sustained us and brought us closer to God than we could have imagined at a time when every one of us could have turned away. Months of healing later and another friend, Jade, is lost in another accident in June. This sent us all reeling, but especially Max - and his friends. In the next two months Max had to face some fears and overcome them as we sent him off to camp. He didn't really want to go - away from home - in a bus to New Mexico. But he went. And God reached out to him there and touched his heart. And drew him in. I am so grateful. So very grateful.

A lot of other things have been going on at our house over that 8 months. It's been quite a year for us all. We've grown a lot. I am so thankful that God has placed in Max's life these friends who at the age of 11, 12, 13 and 14 know the value of a friend and they hang onto each other all the more tightly because of Brody and Jade. This is a year we will always remember. It will both haunt us and buoy us. We will never be the same. Normal has been changed forever.