Spiritual Glue

Acts 2:42-47

They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. 

The above passage was used in a talk to the Tween Mission Weekend Breakfast. I had been asked to come speak because Melia Warren, the Director of Children's Ministry at HUMC, was taking the children to TC Thompson Children's Hospital and to Ronald McDonald House as part of their mission project. Those places have a special place in the hearts of both of Will's parents. The purpose of those missions involved having the children make teddy bears and then have them delivered to children currently in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. The unit that Will, and his family spent the last week of his life. They also made goody bags that were going to be given to the nurses who work in that unit.

The group also took food to and toured the Ronald McDonald House. Will's mother, Kacey, holds that organization close to her heart as they allowed her to stay and remain close to Will. They do that for all families of critically ill patients and it is a huge service. There are families that would have to travel 100 miles or more from their home to be with their children.

I was asked to give a talk on why this was an important mission and what it means to me. What followed will become a cornerstone of "Will's Way Ministry". To me what came out of preparing this talk was the true purpose of what I want people to see coming out of this tragedy. I have spoken before of the blessings I receive on a regular basis of Will's presence. He is still all around me and I am grateful for that. With Father's Day coming up and his recent birthday, those moments are going to be really important. Before I spoke, I got the overwhelming sense of his presence. He played in that gym and I could still see his lunch bag lined up on the benches by the door. I could even see him running toward me when he saw me with a big smile on his face. Sometimes I would stand quietly and watch him play, loving every moment of that memory. During that morning devotional i was speaking at, they played a song that he had learned in vacation bible school. One of the ones he could never get quite right, but I felt him singing it with them and remembered how adamant he was that he had it right. That was one of those arguments you just don't fight. It was never that important anyway. Will always seemed to get the gist of what they were teaching. He always showed the unconditional love that Jesus taught. That I am proud to say was who Will was.

This brings me to the point I want to make. The Holy Spirit is the glue that binds all believers together. what ever your Christian background, the stuff that makes us unique is the presence of the Holy Spirit. with out it we have no power and are ineffective in our walk. I felt the Spirit move in so many ways this weekend and want to send out a special thanks to the people of Hixson UMC and to all those world wide who prayed for us and continue to do so. Will learned what he learned from this fellowship of believers and I learned, so I could pass it on to him, from this fellowship of believers.

We as Christians should always remember our infant Baptism as I remember Will's. It was a promise from the community to love, nurture and support the immature child. My community of faith did just that for me and my son over the last several years. They continued to extend that to his mother and her family, and to strangers we met in the hospital. With this act of mission outreach they are still teaching children and extending this heart of community to others.

That is to become the legacy of Will. He was brought up in a loving community, was prayed for by a world wide community and his reputation as a peace maker continues to resonate in peoples hearts. That is the power of the Holy Spirit! The Body of Christ! That is what community is supposed to be about.