A poem read and written by Natalie skeith at Corban's funeral. BEAUTIFUL!

My dearest nephew Corban,

You have never met me; I am your aunty Nata. Even though we have never met my sweet little boy I don’t think I could love you any more than I already do. I remember the day your beautiful mommy called me; I was the first one to know you were alive besides your daddy. I was in San Francisco with Nathan when your mommy called and we screamed and danced around the room for what seemed like hours, tears of joy poured out of my eyes. We had waited for you for 3 years! Even before I knew you were here I bought you little boots from Italy.
I hope that even when you were so little you could somehow hear or feel or know the love that has surrounded you since your first moment of existence. Your Daddy had been so anxious for you to be here and never stopped talking about how much he wanted you. From that phone call on every Thursday the whole family and the church that loved you too would ask what size you were. First you were just a tiny dot but soon strong boy you were a grain of rice, a blueberry, a peach, a softball, a honey dew melon, and stronger and bigger you got. We watched mommy’s stomach grow knowing that God was forming the most wonderful man inside of her.
At first, I’ll be honest; I thought you were a girl. I’m sorry! But before the doctor told us God gave me peace that you were a boy and I couldn’t have been happier about it. Who were you going to become? What gifts and quirks was God weaving into your heart? My heart dwelled on you day and night. I think Mommy’s favorite times with you were spent with Abba. Every morning she read you the bible, she prayed for you and with you. Baby boy you have been prayed for more than anyone I have ever met. So many hopes and dreams were prayed into your life. You are so special and cared for, you would have to be coming from the two best parents anyone could ask for.
It is very hard to know that I will never get to baby-sit you or throw a big first birthday for you with Mommy, it is very painful to know that your perfect little spirit is not matched by a perfect little body. But how blessed I am to have seen your beautiful face that long night at the hospital. Yes my precious one many tears of love have been cried for you. Your Mommy and Daddy love you so much and they don’t want to say goodbye. Everyone wants to hold you and play with you! Little man there is one who loves you even more than Mommy and Daddy, can you believe that? He is your Abba, your Daddy in heaven, he is your best friend, your king, your savior. Little one you get to be with him right away. Your life here on earth has already been hard, and we are so sorry that you ever had to have anything less than the best. But now you can run, play, jump, hug, learn; you get to be the man God has created you to be, fulfill an amazing purpose in heaven, and live in the unbroken and perfect relationship with your Abba that all of us down here crave. May you be blessed and loved beyond measure baby boy. We are all in a hurry to get where you are so that you and Abba can show us the ropes of perfect beauty, purpose, love, and relationship.
You are loved little one. Forever and ever and I am anxious to hold your perfect little hand.

Your aunty,

Nata

Nicoles beautiful God given voice

Nicole right before her final treatments. She did amazing!!!

The success of timing!

Recently i've seen the hand of inteligence at work. Things such as time, location, certian people, or moods have made this apparent.

Years ago my wife worked with a woman named Taylor. She was agnostic and sure of it. My wife is a Christian and would take every oppurtunity possible to let her know she's open to talk. They engaged in conversations that went well, but nothing happened as far as change, or so we thought.

Yesterday was Corban's funeral (years from then) and she came. Worship was sang, poems were read, an invitation was given, and people cried. Taylor cried as well, but not because of Corban as much as her desire to just know who this God was we talked so deeply about.

You see God is about timing, timing, timing. Yesterdays was Taylors time to see God so real. after a lifelong debate she and many tears came to the conclusion that surrender is the only way. She didn't have all the answers, instead all the emotions.

I write this so you Know that timing is the great battlefield for people. We can't see the immediate result and it kills us, yes me too. But after months of battleing in your heart perhaps it's best to know that timing is everyhting and nothing.

We will see her at Crossroads this sunday!
-Short version nevertheless a great one

baby Corban!

August 6, 2009 baby Corban went to be with Jesus.

He took a few powerful breaths and hung on as long as he could, but departed soon after. Can you blame him? I wouldn't have even hung on that long, but perhaps he new how much we wanted to see him and hold him.

He was 2.5 pounds and 11.5 inches long. He was bruised to extreme measures and every bone in his body was broken. I think he was going to look like Aly, especially his hair, but he had my nose, haha. Probably good he was going to look more like his mommy as she is much more beautiful than myself.

I want to tell you about His purpose. Yesterday at the 11am service here at Crossroads, my dad from Washington state came. We have been praying for him for years, it just never quite happened, salvation i mean. We sat in the chairs after service and sure enough he saw a picture of my baby Corban and thought, "If that precious baby boy is in heaven there's no way i'm staying out." So he gave his life to Christ and got baptized. This is the short story, but know that Corban is having eternal impacts on lives, especially those in my own family.

Love you my baby boy.

What if we did...

This week we’re talking about how to demonstrate honor through thoughtful actions. One of the best ways to ensure this is by systematizing your thoughtfulness.

Most of us have every intention of being thoughtful toward those we care about. It’s the execution that trips us up. For years I found myself wishing I would have thought to bless someone in a certain way…after the fact. I was always a day late and a dollar short when it came to celebrating birthdays, anniversaries, and accomplishments, or meeting needs.

Adopting a systematic approach to thoughtfulness translates your good intentions into meaningful expressions. Now that I have a larger support staff, I’m able to systematize thoughtfulness on a level I used to only dream about. I’m able to write personal birthday notes a month or so in advance for every staff member and some key volunteers. I also honor our staff systematically with different types of gifts and gift cards for their birthdays and certain other occasions-and it’s all done way in advance.

My office sends personalized Bibles to certain volunteers commemorating each sermon series. I always try to bless my mentors with gifts on their birthdays and special occasions. These events don’t catch us by surprise-we make our plan at the beginning of each month, keep lists of the tastes and preferences of my network of friends, colleagues, and co-workers on hand, and make it happen. I think it means a lot to the people in my life.

-Steven furtick

Nothing at all

NOTHING Is Impossible With God!

Posted: 21 Jul 2009 04:02 AM PDT
I began reading through the Gospel of Luke this week…and Luke 1:37 always captivates me,
“For nothing is impossible with God.”

This verse is the response of the angel Gabriel when asked by Mary, the mother of Jesus, how she was going to have a child since she was a virgin.
“For nothing is impossible with God.”

God is SO MUCH HIGHER than our problems, pain and perceived impossibilities that NOTHING is impossible with Him.
Mary’s question got her an answer that forced her to focus on the greatness of who God is…and the “impossibiities” that He can accomplish rather than depending on her own strength and wisdom.
“For nothing is impossible with God.”

SO…how about you…are you facing a seemingly impossible situation?
Maybe it’s your marriage…you’ve tried everything you know how to do and it looks like this is the week where you guys are going to hit the proverbial wall and it is all going to fall apart. You see no signs of things turning around and are tempted to give up…
“For nothing is impossible with God.”

The same God who brought Jesus back to life can bring your marriage back to life as well. Don’t give up on God–He hasn’t given up on you.
Maybe it’s your church. You are a pastor and/or a church planter and are SO ready to throw in the towel. You’ve actually caught yourself whispering to God, “I didn’t sign up for this.” If something don’t happen…if there isn’t some sort of breakthrough you are done…
“For nothing is impossible with God.”

Remember…it is HIS church (Matthew 16:18), He loves it WAY more than you do…and if He called you there then you’ve GOT to trust Him to do the unexplainable and undeniable! MAYBE the reason you are ready to give up is because THAT is exactly where He has been trying to get you so He can move and blow your mind!!!Maybe it’s your children…you’ve tried your absolute best to raise them right…and now they have gone down a path that is absolutely breaking your heart. You’ve quoted Proverbs 22:6 so many times it isn’t even funny and have asked God, “what did I do wrong.” You want to give up on them…but the unbelievable love inside of you won’t let go…
“For nothing is impossible with God.”

HE KNOWS…and it breaks His heart as well. This is the point as a parent where you have to admit your lack of control and fall on your face at the feet of the One who reigns…the one who CAN bring your child back…no matter how far he has wandered away!
Maybe it’s your family member/friend that does not know Christ. You’ve tried to talk to them, you’ve invited them to church–maybe they actually came once to shut you up–but you have seen NO change in them. No matter how hard you try they seem to grow more cold and indifferent…
“For nothing is impossible with God.”

Our call/mandate from Jesus is to spread the Gospel (Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:15, Luke 24:48, John 20:21, Acts 1:8). SO…don’t give up…keep on keeping on! Personally…I am SO glad a guy named David didn’t give up on me…he invited me to church over and over and over…and I finally went! It was several months before I fully surrendered to Christ…but it took me getting there (and someone continually asking me to come) for my heart to begin to soften.
NOTHING is impossible with God–NOTHING!!! Sometimes He brings us to the end of ourselves so that we can fully rely on Him by seeing how limited we are and how unlimited He is…
“For nothing is impossible with God.”

spirit lead old school with new people worshiping