Live Like Josh 4.14

Over a year ago I wrote a post about my own experience of redeeming the time and today I lived through that same truth again. This morning we gathered at our church, Bara Church, to celebrate life in the one year memorial service for Josh Hernandez. I shared briefly about Josh in another post, but for those who aren't familiar, Josh was a Senior last year at Byron Nelson High School here in Trophy Club. He was killed on April 14th, 2012 in a car accident. He was known for loving people and loving Jesus. The LLJ Foundation has been set up in memory of him. His story hasn't been forgotten by our community....everywhere you go people are wearing bright blue Live Like Josh tshirts and "LLJ" is a popular sight to see across town. We even heard about Josh's story when we were at our former church last year. So in honor of Josh and his family, our church wanted to open our doors for people to come and celebrate the life of this student.  

The service began with a video of Josh. It is very emotional to watch footage filled with the life of somebody who was so clearly loved. You might have expected this service to be sad, as we were all remembering a life that was cut short......

But it was absolutely filled with JOY! Josh's twin brother, Jesse, is an intern at Bara. And today, one year from the day he was with his brother in his final moments, Jesse stood up and preached. He spoke about the truth of finding joy through the pain. WOW. This was phenomenal. Jesse didn't sugar coat it. He didn't lie and say " I love God so everything is now perfect." No, he was honest...he shared about the days of feeling numb....the times he was far from God....the struggles he walked through even this past week as the date approached. And then he shared about the realness of God....the BLESSING of having a relationship with Jesus Christ....the ability to stand on the truth that God is always with us....the STRENGTH that he found not in himself, but in a God who loves him and has never left him. He had Josh's door from their home on stage and used it to share how God is always waiting for us to walk through the door to him....we can choose to close that door and fight through pain on our own, or we can choose Him.

Last Sunday we had gathered to pray that tons of students came and WOAH was God faithful to answer that prayer. We had almost 700 people there!!! You bet that our God is faithful!!!!

At the end of his message Jesse talked the brokenness that is within us...the need for something more...the need for Jesus to come and redeem us. We had over 100 people come down and put their faith in Jesus!!!! I have honestly prayed for revival for this community for so long. I've spent days and days and days asking for God to do awesome things in this community that will show more people the truth about who HE is and how HE loves us. 

Ryan and I got to pray and hug and love on the students that came down. I love seeing tears of joy and the sweetness of knowing Jesus for the first time.

We even had 2 students that we had served with at Redeemer come because they knew Josh. It was awesome to get to pray with them and hear about their lives now. Still praying for these friends!

And then we celebrated! Christianity is not about achieving salvation through a rigid set of rules...the church is about the JOY and LOVE and CELEBRATION that comes when you realize that you need a Savior and that putting your faith in Jesus is what brings healing and wholeness to our lives. The church is about a community that cares for each other and encourages each other. What an amazing day.

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.

James 1: 2-5

We desire to live like Josh...because he lived like Jesus.