funny, these days.

i keep getting blessed.
last week i attended the funeral of one of the
most magnificent women you could ever know.
Sweet Hopkins.

i have decided i hate the word funeral.
that is not what it was ... it was a celebration.
a celebration of a life lived well, lived loudly to the glory of God.

when talking with a friend on the phone last week before we headed
to dallas, we talked about how it was like we were going to her party,
except that she would not be there in the way we anticipated.
but she was there, in full force. the stories and memories told were amazing.
inspiring, courageous, and set apart was this saint. i have never seen a church
so packed in all my life. she made a difference, a huge one, in the kingdom.
and the Lord is not done using her... the way He used her here will not allow her
influence to diminish now that she is with Him.

She had her priorities right. She 'got it.'
I am challenged by who she was.
I am challenged by her family in this time.
I am reminded of the brevity of life.

Teach us, Oh Lord, to number our days, that we may gain a heart of WISDOM.

last week was rich, and full, and in the midst of death, it was so very very full of life.
i want to live a life that leaves laughter and joy behind when i go, i want to impact people
the way that Sweet did. I want to know Him like she did. I will forever be blessed by her,
by knowing her, and watching her ... I am thankful that I know more of the Lord because of her.

Sweet is missed, she always will be, but she made a difference that will never, ever fade.

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called sons of God."