A Tribute to Marcus Mullings

This photo is from the Abilene Reporter News from December 2009. Marcus was riding his bike in a snowstorm, meeting a friend for coffee at McDonalds.

Well before I met and personally knew Marcus... I think I was in Abilene Christian Junior High and I was going to Hamlin on a bus to play football against the Pied Pipers, windows rolled down wearing my uniform thinking I looked great, truth is quite otherwise I am sure, with the sweat almost cool trickling down my face.

Anyway we saw Marcus on the northbound side of State Hwy. 83 with his broken down car. It may have been one of those old VW Beetle Coupes, the one called a Stoll, maybe not. It was beige and I cannot say I ever saw that car on the road. Always beside the road.

After the game, team stopped at a Dairy Queen on the way home, the one in Anson. I don’t recall but I bet I had a dipped cone and fries as I always thought of both my economy and my ecology. There was Marcus, chilling out and eating a Beltbuster. I’d love to say we gave him a ride home though we did not but from that point on I always thought Marcus was like an angel, you never knew when you would see him or what he would be doing. Once I got to know him better this was confirmed, both the uncertainly of his appearance and his angelic nature.

I love that man and I’m quite melancholy for the those times when I saw him often, but these days are better still. Though I see him less I have known him. What I would give to eat at a DQ with Marcus on the occasion of his birthday or sit alongside a road with him and learn the wonders of his ways, to entertain this angel no longer unaware. How did he get from there to here? We will never know how he does it but we do know who he is as he does it, both along the way and once arrived at his destination. And that my friends is a gift Marcus has given us. We are wise to hold it dear.

God has Brought Goodness, Grace and Mercy

Eleven years ago today our community was suddenly changed by a senseless shooting at Wedgwood Baptist Church.

From Wedgwood’s website: Just before 7:00 pm that evening a crazed gunman entered the building and interrupted a youth activity, a "Saw You at the Pole" prayer rally. He fired over 100 rounds from two different handguns, and exploded a homemade pipe bomb. Seven young persons were killed, and seven others were wounded before the gunman ended his own life.

Following the shooting a relationship of grace and reconciliation began between Wedgwood and Altamesa. You can read an article (one I originally wrote for Heartlight and Wineskins) about Altamesa’s response to the shooting by navigating here.

You can also read an article in today’s Fort Worth Star-Telegram by navigating here. I told the reporter how we have learned lessons the hard way, how our two churches genuinely love one another and how in the wake of a really terrible thing, God has brought goodness, grace and mercy.

The shooting brought abrupt and painful changes out of darkness. The decade since has brought changes from God’s light, the more time-consuming ways we experience grace and love.

And if you have not read the great testimony to God’s power to forgive and redeem in yesterday’s Star-Telegram you really need to take a few minutes to do so. Really.

Say a prayer for all who have suffered. And say a prayer for Aaron Ashbrook, brother of the shooter. Aaron and his family have worshipped with us at Altamesa the past two weeks. Pray that the God of grace and creator of all tomorrows gives Aaron grace and a good day tomorrow.

Come to think of it, that’s not a bad prayer for all of us.

Remembering Randy Moody

Today is the three year anniversary of Randy Moody’s death. His mom and dad, Lora and Don subscribe to my weekly e-mail, as do a few others who knew Randy well and loved him much. Randy and I have been close friends since college days. I did not realize how his death would rock my emotional world. I spoke at his funeral and broke down, weeping and unable to speak at the microphone for almost a full minute. As I wrote three years ago, “To say I will miss Randy Moody is not quite right. I will miss him. But I will not be the same now that he is gone.” So true. Below is my original post about Randy from my blog. That post became a spot for people to remember Randy, getting thousands of hits and producing hundreds of comments posted from literally all over the world. You can also read the article about Randy that ran in The Christian Chronicle here the day after Randy died.

I Am Glad I Got to Walk Part of it with Him

From September 3, 2007

My dear friend Randy Moody is gone.

A brief news item is posted today at the Newnan Times-Herald website. About half hour south of Atlanta, Newnan is one of those small towns that has become a bedroom community.

The article simply says, "A Newnan man in his late 30s or early 40s died of smoke inhalation Saturday from a fire at his home."

I received a call last evening from Lynn Anderson, a mutual friend and mentor to both Randy and me, telling of Randy's death. Early this morning, as I stared at the words on the computer screen, I knew the unidentified man was my friend and preaching colleague.

Randy and I met the first week of school as freshmen in college. We ended up going to grad school together. As seniors we tied for faculty votes as "Outstanding Communication Student of the Year." We received matching plaques and, somewhere, I have a photograph of us smiling and sharing the honor.

Randy had easily become an NCAA National Debate Champion and later coached consistently winning teams from tiny Abilene Christian against powerhouses such as Oklahoma and UCLA. And when he turned his focus to his first love he was the best preacher the Churches of Christ produced in my generation.

We took more than a couple of road trips. He was the first guy I knew who bought a Mazda RX7 (one of the "it" cars back in the 1980's). He was the first guy I knew to buy a Mac (one of the first generation 128K's), and the first to buy a CD player (when we wondered if this new technology would catch on).

If it hadn't been for me, he would have been the last of us to get married. I was there, wearing an uncomfortable white tux and tight shoes in his wedding.

Two decades later I cried with Randy when he and Lara divorced. He left preaching for a while and sold Cadillacs. A couple of winters passed and he met Susan. He told me over a long phone conversation how his broken and lonely heart had found its cure.

He had begun preaching again, at a church in Newnan. I spoke with one of their elders last evening. He was gracious to step out of his grief for a few minutes and minister to me in my shock and heartache.

To say I will miss Randy Moody is not quite right. I will miss him. But I will not be the same now that he is gone. A friend has died and a voice for grace and redemption has been silenced.

About ten years ago Randy wrote a book, Living in the Real Church: A Fresh Look at How Christians Treat One Another. You can still find it at Amazon here. I will miss the guy who believed with all his heart that there was a way to live and love, a way shown by God. It's a way not free of trouble but the way through our trouble. It has been Randy's way and I am glad I got to walk part of it with him.

God bless you Randy. We will see one another again.