Monday 9.10.07

"To me, to live is Christ and to die is gain…I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far" Phil 1:21, 23

"As long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord…We…would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord" 2 Cor. 5:6, 8

Poe Weatherford went home to be with the Lord this morning. If you are reading this e-mail you were touched by his life, whether you realize it or not. Poe had a "kairos" moment during the war, a moment when things would never be the same, he accepted Christ gift of salvation and surrendered his life over to serving our King. Some of you may have found that same gift through the portrayal of Poe's life in an event at Parkway Church entitled "Let Heaven and Nature Swing" and your life will never be the same. Many of us though were touched because of Poe's influence on his youngest son Scott. Poe was/is Scott's hero and had such a tremendous influence on who Scott is as a Christ follower. It was Poe who encouraged Scott, when everyone else thought he had lost his mind, to leave the music ministry and go to a small south Texas town and become the Pastor of a group of 39 people meeting in a mall, even though he had never preached before. I am one of those lives that were changed because of that encouragement, along with thousands of others. Because of Poe's legacy and influence my hometown is a better place. It was Poe who wanted to make sure that is was God's call in Scott's life to leave Parkway Church and start completely over in Tallahassee, Florida. He also wanted to make sure it was my calling as well and that I hadn't been "talked into something" by his son. After he was sure that God had called us to this journey, he became our biggest champion, as well as our first member! Some of you have found a new family because of that encouragement and legacy! But most importantly, a few of you have found a God who loves you so much He would take all of your sins and pay for them on a cross! I truly believe that thousands of lives will continued to be changed in the future because of one man's decision to accept what Christ did for him, surrender his life to him as his Lord and live a life that honored God. Poe probably had no idea that he influenced so many of us, until now. Who are you encouraging to follow "the Way"?

"Show me, O Lord, my life's end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life. You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Each man's life is but a breath." Psalm 39:4-5

250,000 people every day go to Heaven or Hell.

God, please don't let me ever get comfortable with that number!