For the last year I have had the privilege to spend time working as a Chaplain for an Oilfield Services Company (I have now completed the Holy Trinity of Vocational Ministry - Pastor, Missionary, Chaplain). It has been a great joy on so many levels, and I'll talk more about it down the road. Yesterday I got the kind of call you never want to get. We lost one of our brothers in a car accident. Despite the tragedy, there was huge grace surrounding his death.
Not too long ago I got to preach Psalm 23:4 at our church. It's crazy how the sermons I get to preach are the ones that I most need to hear. I'm grateful today that death is nothing more than a shadow, and it is truly something that we just pass through. I'm grateful for an identity that is more for the world to come than the world I currently wake up in. I'm thankful to know that my brother is in the presence of God - not because of fate or good works, but because of his commitment to his faith.
I'm praying for the comfort of the Shepherd's rod and staff over our Covenant Family. Here's the sermon from Psalm 23.