I Don't Do This Often...

...but I'm especially close to this one.

See, I met Keith and Barie almost 15 years ago. Actually, I met Barie. She went to the church that had just hired me and didn't come to any of the classes. See, she was a normal band kid. The students that were in those classes were the type of kids who sat in the back of the room because their parents made them attend. So, since there were 5 disinterested peers, she just went to church service...see, she wanted to grow.

So, like any good youth pastor, I told her that I was her youth pastor regardless of whether or not she came to my stuff and asked her how I could help with her growth. Ultimately, she suggested I teach a small group Bible study with a few of her friends. The only time we had that worked was 6AM on Fridays.

We called it The Breakfast Club...which grew to about 75 kids in about 6 months. Even the 5 disinterested peers became interested and found their niche.

Well, Barie was dating Keith. Keith had a servant's heart and used his gifts & talents to serve that ministry. Joined our church, too. Served in the big church service, too. That ministry grew because kids bought into the idea that living as a response to God's grace, the exchanging of your life for Christ's, and being a part of the Body right now (against being "the church of the future") were all important things.

So, Keith goes to college. Makes wise choices to grow spiritually and develops some ministry gifts.

So, Keith graduates college and marries Barie. I got to be part of the ceremony...the first time I ever accepted some True Love Waits rings to make room for their new rings. Very cool.

So, Keith gets a job in youth ministry while he attends seminary. Not just any seminary. MY seminary. Really cool. Barie puts him through seminary via accounting.

So, Keith graduates seminary. They become a part of a church-planting ministry in Austin, Texas.

So, I pray for them regularly. They're on my list. I get e-mail updates. I check their blogs. We have a history. We have a now. We have a future. It's all very cool.

And I get a blog comment from a former student yesterday who is a mutual friend. She was an integral part of The Breakfast Club, too.

Keith had a seizure Saturday night.

A seizure...of all things.

He's in intensive care with all the things that are a part of intensive care.

They don't know what's wrong yet. But, thankfully, many "major" things that could've caused this seizure have been eliminated from the discussion of diagnosis.

But they still don't know what's wrong. And there are some things that seem scary to me.

So, can I ask all of you to pray for the doctors around my friend Keith?
So, can I ask all of you to pray that Keith would become consistently alert & responsive?
So, can I ask all of you to pray for Barie, not to mention the 4 children under 5 years of age?

Yes. They're surrounded by a loving church family as well as their family that's keeping the detail work under control with meals and child care and all that.

Yes. The "major" things have been eliminated as causes, even if it seems to me that whatever might be causing this has become "major" in my way of thinking.

No. I can't think of anything else to do.

But I love those two.

A lot. Even if from a distance.

And I want to fix it.

But I can't.

So, I'll just pray for now. And, while I certainly don't want to be an imposition, could I ask all of you to as well?