I'm all messed up

I shared with our church today about an experience I had this past week that ended with me being "all messed up" [for lack of better descriptive words]. I'm not super emotional but this got to me as it does every time. As I sat in my office I watched a DVD with some footage of people telling their stories of how their lives had been changed by Jesus through Ridge. I get so excited about this stuff because it's God sized stuff. I found myself overwhelmed and silently hoping that none of my staff ventured into my office at that moment because I was a mess!

I asked Rusty to condense it and give a few snippets for our service today. Check it out and I'll tell the rest of the story below.

The rest of the story...(brief version)
Part of the story--a truly incredible part--that will never appear in one of our video testimonies is the story of one of the guys in the video's dad. He was almost 60 and in failing health when he started coming to our church. He came multiple weeks in his wheel chair with his oxygen tank in tow. Truthfully, for this church full of young families and college students--"This kid was not like the others!" The short story is that he ended up putting his faith in Jesus at Ridge Church. When I talked with him he relayed to me that when he was around 19 he went away to war and his dad died while he was gone. He blamed God and disengaged from God and church for almost 40 years...UNTIL RIDGE CHURCH! He placed his faith in Jesus and then his health took a turn for the worst. Less than two months later he went home to be with the Lord.

If he could say something to those of you that bleed for ridge, give to ridge, and serve with all that you have I don't know what words he would use but I do think he would tell you that "It matters!" Keep serving and keep giving because eternity hangs in the balance.

Today I challenged people to dig deep for Ridge so we can keep doing the stuff that matters the most! I can't wait to see what comes next! Great to be a part of this church.