Andrew
His name was Andrew… he was 13 years old. He was a bright, funloving kid…
At Soulfest ‘06 (www.thesoulfest.com) Andrew caught a true glimpse of just how much God loved him, and that absolutely revolutionized his young life. He filled out the Soulfest Pledge (you can too, online) and thus, committed to live everyday for God’s higher purposes of love. Andrew carried that heart declaration, home from the festival - to his own neighborhood.
Andrew lived it out, too. He looked for simple ways to better his family, school, and community every day. He began to invite his friends to his church youth group. He wanted them to know the passion that his own soul had realized. Sadly, his group of pals seemed uninterested. “They don’t want to come,” exclaimed Andrew to his mother. “I just don’t understand why not.”
In March ‘07, some six months after the Soulfest event, Andrew contracted meningitis and passed away. Despite the efforts of the doctors, and the prayers of his family, he slipped quietly from this life - to meet the Jesus that his soul had loved, face to face. It was hard to understand how a loving God could take Andrew at such a young age… with so much “life” ahead of him. Until…
The Sunday after he died… a large number of Andrew’s friends showed up at his church youth group for the very first time, wanting to know about the Truth that had taken hold of their friend Andrew. 17 of them ‘gave their lives’ to Jesus - picking up the life-pledge that Andrew had left behind. From heaven’s balcony - I am sure Andrew was exuberant. He had laid his own life down when he had picked up the passion of the cross - just like the One who had first carried it… Andrew understood what we must all come to know; that life is a gift to be given to others - and that there truly is a God who shows us how that is done. He modeled it for us 2,000 years ago.
Andrew’s mom came to Soulfest again this summer… and gave us a photo of her deceased son. We took a nail, a hung that photo on the 12 foot cross beside the main stage. It remained there for the four days of the festival… and remains in my heart this morning.