Patrick Glynn Marley - a tribute to his life and an awesome God

This blog post is a tribute to Patrick Marley, a former Rescue Mission resident and staff member whose life was truly changed. Patrick worked in our food service department and came to know Jesus while in the program. As he grew in his faith, he also took on a new life and identity.

Patrick Glynn Marley, age 35, passed away unexpectedly on July 18, 2009. One way to see this sudden death is "well, you never know." And we don't. None of us are promised tomorrow.

Even so, what's great about Patrick is that when he came to the mission for help, he left with a new life and the hope of heaven. That's why our mission statement reads that we "assess and meet" peoples' needs - including (especially) their spiritual needs. And as it turns out, Patrick was not the only one affected by this.

This is Patrick getting baptized in 2006

(that's right, it's a swimming pool!)

This is Patrick getting a hug after his baptism - a happy man!

As I went to the funeral home earlier this week, I was greeted like a family member by a family I had never met. Those who were close to Patrick knew that the Mission played a role in changing his life, and they were clearly grateful for that. They knew that Patrick was ready to go to heaven, although no one anticipated it would be this soon.

"O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." (I Corinthians 15:56-57).

May God grant grace, comfort and peace to Patrick's family and friends, with the assurance that we can have hope of seeing him again because of the free gift of eternal life offered by Jesus to anyone who comes to Him in faith. This is the "Mission" of the Rescue Mission - that people come to get temporary shelter and leave knowing they have an eternal home.

Natalie Grant sings Perfect People

Here is a great video with a great message. Watch this and tell me what you think. Too often we try to make people think we are perfect - God already is and he takes us as we are. This video says that really well. Sorry it's not more graphically interesting, but it's a great song anyway.

Line Dancing

Laura and Jon doing motions for kids to sing to

Laura loves Vacation Bible School. The reasons are simple enough. She loves the kids, the excitement, the penny collection, and most of all, the music. In this shot, she and Jon T. are doing synchronized movement to the Bible School Music. Since this is a Baptist Church, can we call it dancing? Well... uh... not officially. But they sure had fun.

Wanna see more pics? try this: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/album.php?aid=2012969&id=1464796259

Talking to Rocks

Remember that line in "A Bug's Life" where princess Anta politely commented on the "gift" of a Rock from (I think it was) the praying mantis acting as a magician? She said "It's a... rock!" Sometimes I have looked at God's creation like that. Well, that's nice, but it's just a tree, it's grass, it's... a rock!

Recently I was at a retreat where rocks were personified and this guy talked to a rock like it could hear him. And I thought that was a little over the top until I read this verse from the book of Joshua. “Behold, this stone shall be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words of the Lord that He spoke to us. Therefore it shall be a witness against you, lest you deal falsely with your God.” (Joshua 24:27)

The rock heard? hmmm. It was a witness against them. Huh? Could it be that God enlivens His creation for His purposes? And while I don't worship the rock (any more than I worship any human being), maybe I should respect his creation a bit more. For those that know me well, this will be a bit of a shock, but it makes sense of integrating my life with all of God's creation.

So this weekend, I am going to a men's retreat where we will consider what the rocks will teach us. If you had told me this two years ago, I would have thought you were a bit "new age-y." But now I see that God can enliven and personify His creation and I can grow closer to the Creator when I do that too. And now I understand - the rocks can hear.

Reunited and it feels so good...

They are coming back tonight - after almost 4 weeks (ok, exactly 26 days) of being away, my girls are coming back from their Michigan vacation to visit family, friends, and celebrate the 4th of July.

Laura also led music in Vacation Bible School while there. Here is Pastor Bruce getting the promised haircut after they had over 200 kiddos there.

I actually joined them for part of that time, and got to learn a little about golf while I was out there (that is a subject for another post). So all three of us will be together again before I go away for a very much needed men's weekend.

Oddly enough if you check out my blog list, you will see in Tyler Jacob's blog that he is re-uniting with his beloved and little ones also. Praying for safe travels all around.

Tribute to Fred Griffin

Last Thursday, July 9, I attended the memorial service for a great man. Fred Griffin was 95 years old when he passed away on July 5th at Acacia Village in Utica, NY. Rev. Mary Lynn Gras from the First Presbyterian Church did a great job leading the service for this wonderful man. I want to post here the comments that I made at the memorial service in order for you to know the nature of the kind of man that God used to make the Rescue Mission what it is today.

The way that I know Fred is as an encourager and Rescue Mission ambassador. Our tagline, "reaching out... changing lives" is one that Fred understood. He "got it." Fred understood some things:

1. Fred knew that people are needy for love as well as the basic necessities.
2. Fred knew that this love ultimately comes from God.
3. Fred knew that people see God's love in what we do before they will hear what we say.
4. Fred knew that we are His ambassadors, all the time, in word and deed.

Fred also knew what Edmund Burke stated; namely, "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

Fred reminded me of Denver Moore in the book I read recently "Same Kind of Different as me" (an exceptional book, by the way!) who humbly summed up his life's mission this way: "Just tell 'em I'm a nobody that's tryin to tell everybody about Somebody who can save anybody."

Another quote that sums up Fred's life is this: "The truth about it is, whether we is rich or poor or somethin in between, this earth aint no final restin place. So in a way, we is all homeless-just workin our way toward home." Ain't that the truth now!

Welcome home Fred, welcome home.

This is where it starts

I have decided to start a blog after being challenged to do so by a couple of friends. Tyler Jacobs, who I think is a blog master, suggested I do so, so here I go.

In the days to come, I hope to share about people in my life, my passion for helping others, and my faith. I welcome comments from those who wish to do so. I hope this will help me to keep up with family and friends who are all over the country.

Thanks for reading.