Life Together

"When you are weak I will be strong,
 when I fall back won't you pull me along-
This is LIFE TOGETHER!"

For six years (from 1994-2000) the student ministry of the First United Methodist Church of Kissimmee was my family.  We laughed together, played together, prayed together and cried together. We took amazing trips, had incredible adventures, learned great lessons and survived some huge failures. We lived life together in the name of Jesus, and, in the process, became a community that loved and counted on one another. The years and the miles may have separated us, but that has not made our youth family any less important in our hearts and in our memories.  The fact that 80 or so different folks have been visiting the Reunion Facebook Page on a regular basis since Teresa Reep Tysinger put it up over a month ago is proof of that.

On April 20, 2013 there will be a reunion of that family.  Almost 19 years to the day after Marilyn and I arrived in Kissimmee, we will gather to greet old friends, tell old stories and share our new families with one another.  While there will certainly be important members of our group missing that day, we are anticipating a good crowd and great times.  Old friends like Lisa Kraus Spires, Courtney Moon, Connor Lewis, Carol Kraus, Lauren Carr Cacciatore, Cindy Martin, Angie Whalin Klein, Jerry Hanbery, Stephanie Potter and Kelly Jeck Trace are already officially signed up, and we trust many more will join them! We will once again be sharing life together.

The slideshow below is my love letter to the hundreds of students and adults who made the Kissimmee years such an amazing part of my own journey.  It features over 90 pictures from those years- some of which have not been since since they were on the bulletin board in The Attic.  It also features the great Geoff Moore & the Distance song Life Together- a song we used as our Youth Week theme in 1997 when Geoff and the boys came to play a concert for us. You may remember that we lost a lot of money on that concert.  You may also remember that in our failure we grew.  Life together does that to you. When you share life the way we did, it is not all rainbows and unicorns. Neither is a life spent following Jesus.  When I decided to put this together to help us get excited for the reunion, it seemed to me that this was THE song to tell our story.  As you watch this video, listen to the words.  I can promise you that the pictures on your screen and the lyrics of the song are together for a reason.  They tell the tale of a youth ministry that changed lives.  I have tried to include pictures featuring as many old friends as possible, including a few who are no longer with us.  And one particular 3 picture section is a thank you from me to all of you who have loved me through my own trials and tribulations over the years.  

You will want to pause the show at various points so you can spend more time viewing certain pictures.  That is great- but let me ask a favor of you.  The first time through, just let it play.  Take in the whole story.  Then go back and explore.  It is my hope that this will serve as one more reminder of why we will gather April 20th.  Enjoy this gift, and please let your old friends know it is here.  I love you guys.

Because of Jesus,