Friday, April 16, 2021

Semester #2 DONE

 Submitted the final assignment yesterday and now gearing up to perform the wedding of a childhood friend in Idaho (April 24th) as well as attending the funeral of my Best Man's brother in Florida (30th). We celebrated the life of my Grandma (Tutu) Jeanette on April 3rd in Sequim. It seemed fitting since the day after we celebrated Christs resurrection on Easter Sunday. There was something profoundly beautiful about that. We share stories, laughed and cried. Having been born in Hawaii, she could vividly recall staring down a Japanese Zero shooting up her neighborhood while she held the hands of her two younger siblings walking home from mass.  She will be remembered for her generosity, laugh and choosing life for my father. She prayed, "God, I can take care of Phillip, but you're going to need to take care of Michael." The rest is family history. 

In a very strange way, wild Portland is beginning to feel like home as relationships deepen at Door of Hope, our church. Lauren and I began attending daily 6am prayer at our downtown church following Easter. Our pastor is an evangelist/revivalist who was good friends with the late Louis Palau and his heart is to see the gospel explode in this city. Not only have we been missing out on sleep, we also missed out on the epic drug raid at the apartment complex next to us around 6am-ish. Local swat teams descended upon our neighbors residence (didn't know them and probably won't get the chance now :)) 15 minutes after we left and our closest neighbor explained to me they felt the flash-bang tossed into the adjacent complex like a bomb going off... the things we miss. Anyways... I wanted to conclude by showing a series of photos taken by Michelle Davidson. I've known Anna since 6th grade- more than half her life. What a joy. If you've never thought about doing youth ministry, could I change your mind with five photos?   


6th Grade (Youth Intern)


8th grade (home from New Zealand for a minute for gallbladder surgery)


Baptized her as a Junior (Youth Pastor)


Senior (Youth Pastor)


March 14th wedding at Salem Chapel in Rice, Virginia 

I cried like it was my daughter getting married



1 comment:

Unknown said...

Awww...loved this.