Bigstuph Blog – Thoughts from Steve

I am sitting in the airport in Fort Lauderdale, waiting for my wife (heather), and my son Josh to fly in from Orlando. I just arrived an hour ago when I flew in with Will McGinness from Nashville. I am flying to Haiti for the first time tomorrow morning for a chance to see what Mark and Will are doing with Hands and Feet. This is a ministry started by the guys from Audio Adrenaline that serves orphans in Haiti. They have a children’s village that is changing the world in that region.

For years my wife and I dreamed of the opportunity to come to Haiti and find a ministry that we could partner with that was making an impact. In 1986 my wife’s dad passed away in Haiti when he was serving as a short term missionary. He was rebuilding a roof on a church and fell and tragically died on his trip.

My wife and I are so excited to get a feel for what her amazing dad experienced before he died. He was only 46 years old when he died, but what a life he lived. Hundreds of people were impacted by the life and tragic death of this amazing man. Tomorrow we step foot in a land that has in some ways has become forgotten. What can we do to make an impact? We can tell our story and let God do the rest.

Tomorrow is LONG overdue. Dear God, Bless our efforts to impact your kingdom.

This week I have been on spring break with my family.  My oldest son Taylor is graduating from high school in a couple of months, so we wanted to make this one special.  God has been doing an amazing work in Taylor’s life.  Over the last 8 months or so, God has become real to me in a whole new way.  Ironically the journey that my oldest son is on parallels my faith journey in so many ways.  I am so very proud of my son.    

A year and a half ago, Taylor suffered a severe head injury playing football.  He was the middle line backer for his high school football team.  At 225 lbs, and a 6 foot frame he was built for football.  In November 2007 he suffered 3 concussions in one football game.  His helmet was defective.  He had no air in his “air cushioning”.  

For nearly two months we watched Taylor struggle to differentiate from his right and left, or even complete simple addition or multiplication.  He was slurring his words, and his short term memory was shot.  We had him tested, and the neurlogical psychologist informed us that in 3 of 4 the measurables, Taylor either did not score at all or was below the 10 percentile.  He had the cognitive ability of pre-schooler in some areas. 

Two months later he began to acclimate back to school, but it was extremely difficult for him to get back to “normal”.  He was unable to take the ACT test for college until the fall of 2008.  He was unable to even finish the test in two sections.  In order for him to concentrate he is on Concerta, which allows him to focus, but it makes him almost OCD (based on the amount he has to take), and as a result he was unable to skip over questions he did not know on the ACT.  

The bottom line we were beginning to determine that there could be some lasting effects of his head injury.  It has been very painful to watch an amazingly gifted student athlete unable to proudly proclaim with confidence where they are going to college.  But I would not trade it for the world.  Taylor has found God in a whole new way as a result of this experience.  He now wants to serve God as a missionary in one of the most persecuted regions of the world.  He told me today that he wants to sell his pick-up truck and buy a beater, so he can give the rest away to those in need.    

This 18 year old young man has found God and has inspired me to give EVERYTHING to follow Christ. Pray for Taylor as he finds his calling.  This week, while hanging with the family at the beach, I have seen him reading the Bible 3-4 times a day.  He can not get enough.  God is filling him up for a reason, a purpose, a calling.  Thank you God how you work. 

The cost of following Christ is EVERYTHING.    In Luke 14:33 it says unless you give up EVERYTHING you can not be my disciple. What does that mean?  I want to follow Christ.  I am willing to give you EVERYTHING.