So What?

I got an email that made me ask "so what?" about insignificant things like my pool. It was about a woman I've never met or even talked to before. Her name's Valerie.

The Story
I found out that Valerie was a woman in her thirties who really believed in Discovery Church and what we're doing here in Greenville, NC. She worked at a hair cutting place and decided to donate her time and all the money she made on Thursdays from 3-8 to Discovery Church. I thought that was extremely nice, but when I found out she had cancer (again) I was more than impressed. We had only recenty started doing pre-launch services at the theater and so I had my kids make some homemade cards and we asked people to sign them and write notes of encouragement to her. We sent one or two every week.

The Rest of The Story
We sent the last note we had on Monday this week. We found on on Wednesday that Valerie had died. As I write this, they just finished up holding a celebration service to remember her life. She leaves a husband and son as well as family and friends. But what totally had me crying was this email I referred to. It came from someone at the church Valerie attended and they mentioned that Valerie had requested that instead of flowers, people make donations to Discovery Church! We'd never met and here she was continuing to bless us even in death. I can only pray that she will meet in Heaven, some of the people we reach because of her prayers, sacrifice and servant's attitude.

Thank you Valerie for modeling the self-less love of Christ. I'll see you when I get there.