Great Job, Justin!

I went to church with the family and Grandma. We met lots of the kid's friends and found their church to be very friendly and welcoming. The music was terrific and the preaching was great. The one thing that really stood out to me is that about 95% of the people there are between the ages of 20 and 30. It is a young church, right in the downtown area, so not many children and not many older people (like me!). The pastor was giving a final sermon on a theme, and was ending with a message about sleepwalking through your life, not taking your faith seriously. About midway through the sermon, Justin got invited up to speak.

The pastor introduced him and told us that Justin had a story to tell. So Justin took the microphone and began to talk about his life, where he went to school, college, etc. He told about losing sight of the goal of being a youth pastor by getting caught up in the fun of college, but never doing the work. He had collected and downloaded so much music that it froze his computer. Everyone laughed. Fast forward to April of this year when he went to bed one night and woke up the next day in an ambulance. He told the audience that he was diagnosed with incurable brain cancer. We could hear a collective "punch in the gut" sound as the audience took this in.

Then he explained to them that unless the Lord intervenes with healing, he doesn't have lots more years to live. You could hear a pin drop. Then he explained how that knowledge has turned his life around. He is more motivated than ever in his life to be close to the Lord, to make every day count, and to start living to the best of his ability.

As Justin finished speaking, you could sense in the room a quietness. They really took a hard look at "what if that was me?" Then pastor finished up with a message of importance: be ready! Don't take your life or your faith for granted.

After church, lots of young people wanted to stay to talk with Justin. We were there about an hour after church was over. He spoke with so many, and they were all interested in his story.

Great job, Justin! You may never know how many lives you touched until we are in heaven.