Sad News

I was bothered by the news that the senior pastor and our brother, Kyle Lake, at the David Crowder Band home church, University Baptist in Waco TX, died on Sunday while baptizing a brother or sister into Christ. I find joy in that he went out welcoming another soul into the Kingdom, and I'm encouraged by the words of CCM artist Shaun Groves, who remembered his friend:

" My greatest memory of Kyle was him teaching me how to tell others about Jesus. He couldn't have been more than nineteen and I was just a couple years younger, in the youth group of FIrst Baptist Church in Tyler, Texas where we both grew up. His enthusiasm for talking about Jesus and his knowledge of scripture inspired me. I'd never seen anyone so close to me in years so far ahead spiritually, so brave and wise. We younger kids worshiped Kyle, the good looking soccer player everyone wanted to be, standing before us not to draw attention to himself - though there was plenty to admire - but to focus our desires on Christ. He pointed us in the right direction, a life of building Heaven on earth...

We know today that Kyle is seeing God clearly now, face to face, his view unobstructed by the haze of this life. He's missing none of us. He's lacking nothing. His days are infinite and his heart whole. His tears gone. His hope realized. His company is a crowd that will only grow with time, a multitude of men and women lead to citizenship in Heaven by his words and laughter, random stories and worshipful listening, prayers and preaching of thirty-three years spent well."

Praise the Lord for Kyle's legacy and ministry! I hope that when my time has come, that I can leave a legacy such as this: he loved the Lord with all of his heart, and led others to the saving grace of Jesus Christ. And I hope that "others" = a lot of people!