Dinner With A Cool Guy

This is who I sat across from at dinner tonight. His name is Nathan, but you can call him Nate Dawg. He is quite the little gangsta sometimes.

Flights with Stan

Stan's Plane

I got the call. It was about 11 am. I was in my office and my phone rings. It's Stan. "Corey" he says, "I'm gonna bore a few holes in the sky at lunch. Do you wanna come?" Without hesitation I say, "Yes, of course. I'll be there!" So, we meet at the San Marcos Airport about 12:30.

This is the second time Stan has taken me up on a short flight in his plane. Stan is a volunteer in the Student Ministry and a father of two teenagers. He is just one of those guys you really respect and want to learn more from. He also has some pretty good aviation stories to tell after being a pilot for 20+ years. I have enjoyed getting to know Stan during our time in San Marcos.

The first time I went up with Stan was my first time ever in a small plane. I was thrilled to be soaring through the air. What a rush! Stan even let me control the plane for a few miles. It was awesome! This time around I brought along our camera. Below are a few shots from the skies above San Marcos!

Texas State University

Our House
(the one in the middle)

First Baptist Church, San Marcos

The old FBC San Marcos
(Now The Sanctuary Lofts)

Interstate 35 looking South

My God is Real!

I don't think anyone has ever accused me of being the kind of Christian who "wears their faith on their sleeve". In fact, I am sure that you could make a pretty good argument that I am not open enough about my faith. I'm not the kind of guy who's going to hand out Christian tracts on the street or harass people coming out of a bar or nightclub about the spiritual direction of their lives. I try my best to distance myself from the Christian Subculture that exists in our nation. For instance; I don't wear Christian t-shirts (not because I don't agree with the message, but mainly because they are just cheesy), I only listen to a handful of Christian bands, and I have never given anyone a Testamint! With this said, I must share some things that happened in my life last week that, although seemingly small and insignificant, remind me that God is real and alive and working in the lives of His people.

First, something really small, but still gave me chill bumps. I was doing some research for a talk about the divinity / humanity of Jesus Christ. Almost a decade of theological education gave me at least one thing, a lot of books! So, I took one of these books off my shelf. It's called, "Theology for the Community of God" by Stanley Grenz. This is one of those theology books that could anchor a cruise ship. It has 890 pages of small print and absolutely no pictures. I took this book off my shelf and opened it on my desk. This was the title at the top of the page: "Jesus as Divine and Human". It was about 10:15 at night, I was at the church in my office alone, a storm was raging outside my window, and I was suddenly aware of the presence of God. Coincidence? Maybe, but I would like to think God was helping in my search for information.

The second thing was not so small. I love Facebook. I have reconnected with so many faces both present and past. One of those faces is a guy named Chris. Chris was two years older than me during our teenage years. His dad, Mike, was our Youth Minister. I always looked up to Chris because he played guitar, dressed really cool, and was an all-around nice guy. I looked up to Chris' dad too. I know that one of the reasons I felt a call to serve teenagers was due to my relationship with Mike. He was a really awesome guy. Not your typical Youth Minister, though. He was in his late forty's when he came to our church. Even though Mike was the age of our parents, we all loved him. Mike had a heart attack and died when I was a freshman in college. The day Chris accepted my Facebook friendship I sent him this message:

Hey man! Facebook is a crazy thing. One second you're looking at your best
friend's pics, the next you are sending a message to someone from way..way..way
back. Looks like things are well for you. You are working at a church I see.
That's cool. I am a youth pastor in San Marcos, a little south of Austin. I was
thinking the other day about your dad. I remember riding in the trunk of his
HUGE car with Derek on our way to Ellen's Fairway. There wasn't enough
room in the car so we rode in the trunk. Seemed like an obvious solution to my
13-year-old mind. Good times.

I still miss your dad. He is one of the reasons I do what I do. I wish I could ask him some youth ministry questions sometimes. One day I will.

Take care,
Corey

Not long after I sent this to Chris he replied with the following message: (some portions have been omitted)

I miss him too. Today is actually the anniversary of when he went home to
be with Jesus. He would be proud of you too. Keep up the excellent
work.

Peace,
Chris

I had no idea the day I sent my message was the anniversary of Mike's death. Wow, that's just one of those moments when I just had to sit back from my computer and say a little prayer to God thanking Him for this bit revelation and intervention in my world.

My God is Real!