Jason M. Goodwin: Five Years Since You Went To Heaven 2/19/06

I remember it like yesterday, February, 19 2006. My brother called and said, "Hey Sis, are you gonna be home for a while 'cause I need to come and talk to you?" I told him that I was on my way home from church and that we would be there all afternoon. I remember thinking immediately that something was wrong but I erroneously assumed that it was something that had to do with mom or dad. So I told Mike what Jim had spoken to me and immediately proceeded to call mom and dad to check on them. They were both fine. So I waited. In the meantime, we had just experienced our Sunday morning as usual only this was our first Sunday in the new sanctuary at our home church,FBCR, because the weekend before the new sanctuary had opened while we were on a trip to the Bahamas and had to miss it. Mike was finishing up his last day of "call week" for both hospitals and it had been an unusually hectic week. I was so looking forward to resting and chilling out after church.  We always eat out after church but on THIS DAY, we decided to go home.

 Sophie, Molly and Jonny were all staying with us that weekend. next thing I saw was surreal......Jim, my policeman brother, Pastor Ken and a state trooper walking down our driveway. I shouted out to Jonathan, "Did you get into any trouble last night?" He shouted back from the basement, "No." By then they were at the door. Mike answered it as I procrastinated heading that way but fidgeting with some groceries I was putting away in the fridge. It was as if I could prevent hearing what I was about to hear by avoiding answering the door. But I slowly walked over.  Jim looked at us and asked us if Jason lived on Sheridan Drive in Lexington to which I replied, "Yes." He then said that "Jason has been killed in a car wreck earlier that morning."  Our jaws dropped and we were in a state of disbelief.  Wait!  What did he just say?!  Jason had just been at our house earlier that morning on his way home from snowboarding at Snowshow as he headed back to U.K. He and two buddies, Justin and Peter, stopped in around 5:00a.m. to let us know that they were traveling on back to Lexington instead of staying with us and going to church later that morning. I didn't even get up when Mike told me that the guys were down in the kitchen. Vanity I guess. But I asked Mike to get a picture of them and then said, "never mind" because I knew Jason would kill me for requesting a photo shoot at 5a.m. Mike gave them McDonald's money, prayed with them and told them to be careful. Approximately two hours later, the driver fell asleep just past the Mt. Sterling rest stop. The jeep veered off I-64 westbound milemarker 109 and flipped over and eventually landed right side up in a ravine. The driver managed to crawl up the hill to the interstate where a passing motorist stopped to help. They called 911.  Justin was airlifted to UK Medical Center in critical condition and Jason was pronounced dead at the scene.

Upon receiving the news, Mike and I broke down and cried and I remember Mike praying and asking God to be HUGE for us right then. I remember thinking the thought of how could someone so healthy and large be gone just like that?

The kids were all downstairs and weren't aware of what we had been told (but yesterday, 2/19/12, Molly told me that Sophie had called Grace and they were all actually pacing because they knew something wasn't right). Mike called them up to the kitchen and had them sit down and gave them the news, "Jason's dead." It was profoundly difficult to not only receive that news but then have to tell the kids those devastating words was almost beyond bearable. The kids listened. Then they cried. My brother, Jim, and Pastor Ken were still there but the state trooper had left. God had surrounded us with two people who knew and loved us to tell us what no parent or sibling ever wants to hear.

I immediately began to evaluate what had taken place on the last day I had seem him which was Friday, Feb. 17th, 2006.  He and his friends stopped in to spend the night as they traveled to ski and snowboard at Snowshoe, WV. Jason bear-hugged me like never before when he came in the door and then we laughed because Calvin , the Jack Russell from next door, was wearing a cone because of an injury and he wouldn't stop jumping at the door. The thought that I should call the kids to come home popped into my head. I now know why I had the wherewithal to call Molly, Jonny, and Sophie, as they were all out with friends on a normal Friday night. The Holy Spirit had prompted me to! So when Jason showed up, I immediately called all three of them and said, "hey your brother is home. You need to come home so you can see him." And within like 15-30 minutes, they all showed up(a miracle in and of itself). We all hung out together in the TV room and talked. Mike bonded with Peter which would be an important detail two days from then. Jason had asked me if we were still thinking about medical missions somewhere. He told me that he would be interested in going with us sometime. And Mike laughed at the thought of Jason being a mechanical engineering missionary.  After Mike and I had gone to bed, they all stayed up and played pool together.  God had orchestrated a "goodbye" if you will.

Molly and Jason talked about the Brad Paisley/Dolly Parton song, "When I Get Where I'm Going," to the point that when it came time to pick a song for the funeral slide show, she knew exactly the one it would be. After a few minutes of trying to process the news, we each went into action mode as best we saw fit. The kids got out photo albums and began looking at pictures of Jason and talking about him. Mike had the task of calling Jason's mother, Mary, who was in Lake Charles, Louisiana, visiting her elderly mother. I listened to him speak to her on the phone. I knew giving that news to her would be horrible. Mike doesn't mince words so when I heard him say, "Jason's dead," I cringed. I guess I would have worded it differently maybe hoping to soften the blow a bit by saying, "Jason was in a car wreck and has passed away." But in the end, he was right. Jason WAS dead. Poor Mary. She was at lunch with her mother and she fell to the ground. Then she had to make arrangements to travel from Louisiana to Kentucky carrying the weight of losing Jason with her. It took her two days to get to our house. Lauren was next. She was a senior in college at Warren Wilson in Asheville, NC. He gave her the news and thankfully, Joel was with her and was able to drive her home immediately.  My brother called my parents and sister. Dad was in Russell and mom was in Ormond Beach. After that, I don't remember how people found out. I don't think I called anyone. But within the hour, the youth group from our church was at our house which was also a good/God thing for all of us. Then people started bringing food. It's sort of a blur. But not really. Had we still been drinking alcohol (not since 2/3/04), we would have popped open the wine and begun to medicate. By God's grace, that didn't happen. He was enough. We felt the pain of it instead of becoming numb to it. We made arrangements to fly mom home the next day. We began to think about the funeral service.  Just when you don't want to have to think, that is all you do when something like this happens. You make decisions. Times, dates, places, etc. And you have to write. Obits. Everything it seems is all about making decisions. Maybe God wants it that way to keep the family talking.  After all we had been through with Jason......drugs, alcohol, arrests, rehab, salvation, walking in victory with Jesus Christ, this was how it was going down?! In the blink of an eye. But we had to trust God. So we did. Thankfully, we had some history with Him and we KNEW He was good, merciful, loving, compassionate, affectionate, and so much more. He was our loving Father. We knew Him. We trusted His decisions. A time to be born. A time to die. Not our will but His was done. So we committed to glorify Him through Jason's funeral.

When a young person dies, people in the community notice. It beckons them to question their own mortality. If I died today, what would happen to me? This is an important question and most of us avoid it like the plague. But God's Word says that it's better to go to funerals than parties(Ecc. 7:2 NLT). They force us to look at our lives and examine our eternal destiny. This is a GOOD thing.

Jason had made a decision for Christ four years prior to his death. And he lived those last four, for the glory of God. He was an awesome young man of God. And God used him. Bottom line: Jason loved God and people. The two priority commandments he followed.  As you can see, it's not how you start but how you finish this life that matters.  We are so proud of Jason's finish. I hope the testimonies by his friends will prompt us all to examine ourselves and just exactly what we are living for.  Jason wasn't perfect. But His Savior was.

By the way, my brother never works the "beat" he worked the day he got the call to go and help a state trooper find an address to deliver a death notice.  But God ordained it for THAT day so that HE could deliver the news to us by people who knew and loved us. When Jim found out who the death notice was for, he immediately called Pastor Ken.   God is so loving, even when He gives us bad news.

A Siesta Hello and a Happy SMT Update

A Siesta Hello and a Happy SMT Update

Help The Haitians, With Your Prayers

I was invited by a local church recently to go to Haiti at the end of February and participate in orphanage work and speak at their ladies day event. Needless to say, I was excited and humbled to receive the invitation and wondered if God was leading me to do something so radical. I knew I needed to hear clearly from Him ASAP in order to make preparations to go seeing as the trip was just around the corner. I asked Mike to pray about it. I also asked one other friend to be in prayer. I knew that we had other ministry obligations going on but I told the LORD that I wanted to do His will. A couple of days later, I got on my face and asked God to speak to me and give me wisdom about the trip. Within a minute or so, I sensed Him say, "Help the Haitians." At first I thought I got a green light to go. But He continued a few seconds later with the words, "with your prayers." So then and there I had my divine instructions. I would not be going to Haiti. But I would be praying for them and thereby helping them.

It has been almost one year since the devastating earthquake struck that country and I have prayed for the people there off and on since. But now I will be listening for specific prayer prompts in response to this new mandate. Lord, teach me how to pray for those precious people. The thing I love most about hearing from God over ministry assignments is KNOWING that IT WAS HIM, so that I don't ever have to second guess myself. I am just free to pray and serve. And that peace that surpasses all understanding will guard my heart and mind in Christ Jesus is priceless!!

Cash Express

Processing this CHRISTmas has begun as I clean up boxes, tissue paper and bows and put them in their proper places. We aren't into saving whales and such at my house but everyone knows the importance of and often shouts out while people are opening their gifts, "save the bows." Bows are not on the extinction list or anything but it is an important cause and everyone in my house knows our position on this. As I sifted through the "stuff" to discern trash from treasure, I came upon an envelope that was specifically designed to hold money. I opened it up knowing that more than likely the receiver of this gift had in NO WAY forgotten to grab the loot and sure enough, it was empty of cash that was most likely tucked away safely in said wallet. But as I pondered why the actual card and envelope were not worthy of keeping as well, a thought occurred to me. I, too, have made sure to grab what was inside while disregarding the message my heavenly Father had given me. What I mean to say is that I am so very quick to receive a gift while leaving behind the card it came in which is just as much a part of the gift. God blesses us frequently and we are quick to get the blessing out of the package while leaving the card. In other words, all we want is what HE can give us without getting HIM. In this scenario, He is the card and the money is the blessing. My point is that all we really want is His cash. We open the gift, grab what's inside and quickly move on to our other gifts. But if God is represented by the card and message it speaks, we discard the true Gift. Joy, hope, peace, and love were the words that graced the front of this particular card and infer that He is willing to give that away as well. A relationship with Him would be characterized by joy, hope, peace, and love would it not? So if all we want is the loot, we forfeit the divine joy, hope, peace, and love. What if God was speaking to me through those words and I just glossed over them to see the $$$, then tossed the card aside but grabbed the cash, thus never receiving the most valuable part of the gift. It happens all the time. We miss the greatest gift of all, a relationship with the Giver, when all we really want is what He can give us. LORD, change my heart and that of my families to want YOU more than anything! Don't let us miss the greatest gift of all.....a relationship with You. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Eli Stone.....Not Gonna Watch It Anymore

Mike and I have been enjoying the series Eli Stone for the past month or so as Molly owned season 1 on DVD and got me season 2 for my birthday. The show's characters were so likable.....Eli(a prophet who gets visions from God on what cases to take although more like Balaam than a true disciple), Patti the secretary, Maggie, Taylor, "The Dowd," the acupuncturist and Mr. Wolensky, and law cases they represented were always on the side of doing the right thing in a totally secular sort of way that you couldn't help but get sucked in and intrigued by the entertainment value and the way the show was presented. On Saturday, we were up to episode 7 on Season 2 when (although many of the episodes had questionable topics regarding unbiblical viewpoints on sex, morality, relationships, the environment and whatnot) the subject matter crossed a line that we could no longer tolerate. Without going into too many details, the topic was about a female methodist minister who was suing her church because they fired her due to the fact that she had a sex change operation and became a man. At one point, this minister formerly know as Michelle who was now Michael, led a Bible study with mostly transgender people and read Scripture from Galatians 3:28 upon which he totally took out of context. "There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." It was at this point that we began to feel super convicted because of how they were applying the verse. Of course, Paul is speaking about Believers in Christ here but the writers of the show spun it to read how they wanted it to. We finished the episode shaking our heads believing that it is wrong for us as genuine Believers to watch such blatant blasphemy and misinterpretation of the passage. Galatians 3 is clearly talking about people who have put their faith in Jesus Christ and His shed blood on the cross for the atonement of sin. One of the ways Satan's agenda is being accomplished is by subtle suggestion about our belief system and by getting us to agree with him about "seemingly" good things. When he maligns God's word, we cannot continue to stand (or sit) by a TV and watch. As we headed upstairs to get ready for bed, I picked up a gray polar fleece blanket I had put on the floor for Boaz our boxer who recently lost his best friend and sister boxer, Emma. I had never noticed before that this particular blanket had a cross appliqued on it but as the cross caught my eye, the thought "trampling on the Son of God" came to my mind. I knew it was in the New Testament but didn't remember the entire verse. I knew God was speaking to me about why it was wrong to watch the show any longer. A new conviction came over me as I didn't want to personally trample Jesus. I knew better and knew that God was serious. He cares about what we allow to enter our minds and perhaps inadvertently condone via a TV show that is all in the name of "entertainment." And His standards are clearly for our own protection. The next day, I found the verse He had highlighted in my mind. It was Hebrews 10:29. "How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace. By watching the show Eli Stone, we were in essence treating as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified us. In the Message, the verse reads that "If we give up and turn our backs on all we've learned, all we've been given, all the truth we now know, we REPUDIATE CHRIST'S SACRIFICE and are left on our own to face the judgment." To repudiate is to deny or to reject.

So here's the deal. If I am not schooled in the whole counsel of God's Word, I could hear the show recite that verse and agree that it makes sense the way they meant it to. But, because I know the Word of God well enough and I have God's Holy Spirit to guide me, I heeded God's warning to me as did Mike and now know that He is calling us to not watch the show any more. We will not finish the series. That is the obedience He is calling us to. We are more interested in honoring Him and will heed this word.

Dr. McDreamy

March 27, 1999
Molly, Lauren, Sophie, Me, Mike, Jonathan, and Jason

Show Us Your Life at Kelly’s Korner is asking for bloggers to submit their best marriage advice and although I wrote this back in October of last year, I submit this post today as my best marriage advice evah!

Today I wanted to share about something Mike and I do whenever we have an argument, disagreement or any type of conflict or strife. Approximately six or seven years ago, we started a conflict resolution solution that seriously works to the point of healing all grudges, bitterness, friction and gunk! The Lord taught this method of conflict resoulution to us and it is completely failproof because it is of Him.

Whenever the "fight or conflict" occurs, the "bigger" Christian (LOL! The one most willing to humble themself) at the time will encourage the other to walk together to a quiet place (bedroom) where we both get on our knees and pray something like, "Father, we have sinned against You. We ask for Your forgiveness in dishonoring You by how we have spoken or treated each other. Then we look at one another and ask forgiveness of each other. We tell each other we are sorry. We ask the LORD to completely heal the hurt and pain we've inflicted upon one another (and we mean it! If not, repeat the process!!! This takes humbling oneself). By humbling ourselves before the LORD, He has never failed to come through and completely heal our wounds. This way, we never carry unforgiveness into the relationship and thus, our marriage remains healthy. I am not saying this is easy. Pride is stubborn and admitting our wrongs is terribly hard at times. But if you choose to trust God and go with Him here, HE works!! He heals!!! Usually within one hour, the feeling of hostility subsides toward my mate as God supernaturally displaces it with love. This IS supernatural!!! I completely forget the angst or inner turmoil that previously consumed me. Then when I see or hang with him as our day progresses, he is back to "Dr. McDreamy" to me in my heart and in my mind. Only the supernatural power of God's Holy Spirit can do that kind of divine work.

Hanging onto unforgiveness can kill a marriage! We know. This is the second marriage for both of us. Oh, wait, one more tidbit of advice......PRAY TOGETHER. Push through any awkwardness and do it!!!! Pray, pray, pray!!!! That is all.

James 4:7-10 says it perfectly, "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and He will come near to you......Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up."

Also, 1 Peter 5:5b says, "All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."

Psalm 51:4a "Against You, You only, have I sinned." (NIV note: David acknowledges that his sin was preeminently against God)

Beyond My Wildest Dreams: A Display of His Splendor!

Planting For Eternity In A Topsy Turvy World came and went. A few highlights from Sat., Aug.28th, and my spin on what God was speaking through Tina Hutchison.

Do you want to be woman who is never able to acknowledge the Truth? Just what kind of plant are you in God's garden? Wilted? Dead? Plastic? Flourishing? Are you bearing fruit? How do you know if you are in the center of God's will? Are you in the desert? Are you growing as a Christian? Productive, rootful, fruitful? See: photosynthesis......light, air, and water. How's your soil? Does it need to be plowed up... how 'bout allowing God to break up your unplowed ground? Our soil is in the unseen realm of our lives. While the roots are growing, fruit is not; while the fruit is growing, the roots are not. Harvest must come in its due season. Soil must be prepared to house healthy roots. How's your soil? Path, rocky, thorny, good? Ephesians 3 speaks of being rooted and established in love. How do we get there? We must be grounded in God's Word by spending time of intimacy with Him daily. This is where we are fed and watered by the Master Gardener. Our roots must be connected to the source that sustains and breathes life in us. Deep roots secure and hold us in times of drought and storm. The root ball feeds and holds us in place. The deeper your roots are, the harder you are to uproot! Oaks of righteousness? A display of His splendor? We were meant to be. But ya gotta cooperate!! Then your life's meaning, experience and impact will go beyond your wildest dreams. You got this!

Tina looking stunning in her custom made Ray-ban's.......Lisa a.k.a. Miss Sunflower!
Tina and me.......this one's for T-Rav
Cindy and Tina.......a.k.a. Naomi and Wynona.........a.k.a. Billy Ray!!!
Paige, Me, Lisa, Tina, Paula,Katherine, Doris and Alissa (minus Mary)
Me, Paula, Tina Hutchison, and Cindy Ellis standing by the "inspiration piece."