Jay is with JESUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know there can never be enough exclamation marks after that statement. I know that this day is the day that my faith and hope in Christ is fleshed out. Today, I stood in a small ICU room with my family, four other pastors, a big wig Cancer doctor, and several nurses watching from outside double doors, All of whom Jay had touched the lives of. We stood there watching him with a tube in his mouth and a colorful pink air blanket covering him (to keep him cool from his temperature being so high). He looked uncomfortable...but his soul was so beautiful! I will never forget the time, place, what I was doing and thinking when each of my family members passed away. And Jay is no different. Sometimes today I felt sorrow other times peace, happiness, worship, joy, and most of all love! Love flowing from every part of who I am. After all, love is the greatest of all of these. I (like all Christians should) long for the time in our lives that faith and hope no longer exist, because we will be in the presence of Christ...and love is all that remains.
----------------------------
My brother's favorite verses in the Bible are John chapter 1 verses 1-18:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth. (John testified to him and cried out, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me."') From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known.

Jay would tell me all the time that he was obsessed with these verses. And all the time we would talk about what they mean and why they were some of the most important of all the verses in the Bible. Tiffany shared his obsession with these verses and they would talk for hours on what they mean. These verses are so important because they speak to the divinity of Jesus Christ. The focal point of all of Christianity (this man named Jesus)......and if Jesus was not God then he was (quoting Tiffany) "just a really really great guy, that did a bunch of really really great things...that did not amount to a hill of beans". Jesus was, is, and will always be God in the flesh. He was, is, and will always be the light for and to the world that we live in, and He is The Way, The Truth, and The Life for all of his creation (those of us living and those of us who have joined the church triumphant)! And, what was said so beautifully by John could very easily be said of Jay (whose name by the way is John) and all those who share Christ in this world. I thank God every day for my brother by blood...but I praise God every second from the essence of my being that Jesus is King of my brother and lived in him just like he lives in me.

(These words may be preachy for some of you, but what can you expect from a brother who just so happens to be a preacher, heh heh....but) I beg of you to read the words of John and search for yourself the truth in them. I pray that you can find the light that Christ Jesus is and how much the one God in Jesus desires to be in relationship with you!
----------------------------
Well, we left the hospital only to drive to "Eat and Park". (yeah, I know, a very funny name for a sit down restaurant, heh heh) We ate because Sheila just knew that that was what Jay would have wanted us to do (and she is exactly right if my brother was anything like his little brother, ha ha ha. (I have always said there is something special and holy about eating with each other) We then drove back to Jay and Sheila's house. During the drive home on the radio (XM Radio listening to the Christian station named The Fish) every single song was a great song about heaven! They were all so special and wonderful! I don't know about anyone else in the car but I worshiped with my brother driving home to his old home (the one he is at now is probably freaking amazing!!!!). They (the songs) were all such a blessing that I am still blown away by how awesome God is at providing comfort in the midst of sorrow!

We got to his house and this is the place that it really hits you! This is when you go back to a place that oozes Jay. Everyone makes their home a piece of them and Jay is no different, heh. We got up stairs and helped Sheila pick out the clothes that Jay will wear on Tuesday for the funeral and worship service. Then we sat on their bed and turned on his magnificent TV that he loved so much! (It is an amazing TV BTW...much better than mine and that is saying something, heh) We watched a little of the Tonight show in High Def (heh heh) and now we are all going to bed for the first time knowing that Jay is no longer suffering and in a place that "rest" is not even a word to describe what he is experiencing.

I love you Jay! I always will!!!!!!!!!! Never, will I do any ministry unless you are beside me and with me lifting up the good news and name of Jesus the Christ our Messiah King! Give Him a kiss for us and tell him we will be there soon enough, but we are going to be bringing a few more people with us on our travel there!

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.......Amen! To all of you reading this blog, may all of your souls be at peace and may yall experience the love, grace, and peace flowing from the arms that Jesus has wrapped around you!