This past Sunday, our pastor Joey Butler passed away from a two-year battle of cancer. We were told the news at church that Sunday on God's perfect timing. I was surrounded by my Gateway family and was able to process the news the way God intended.
Joey was a lot of things to a lot of different people. He was a devout husband, a proud father, Joey was a friend, a mentor, to some he was a coach, but to most of us--to all of us Joey was a shepherd. He was a man that used God's spiritual giftings on his life to lead other's to Him and make disciples. When I look at the all the titles Joey proudly upheld, I think of his first and most important one: Joey was a follower of Christ, and an obedient follower at that. He went where God took him, sat where God told him to and allowed God to speak through him to reach so many souls whose callings were shaped because of the words God spoke through him.
When I found out about Joey's cancer I remember sitting in church that Sunday in December and I prayed for healing. I prayed that God would save lives, I prayed that He would perform miracles. I can say without a shadow of a doubt that God did just that. In these past two years, I've witnessed miracles, I saw those lives saved and I saw more healing than I could have ever asked or imagined; far more better than physical healing. God used something so ugly to bring glory to Him and Joey was His obedient tool.
I look at my community, my church family, even here at school in Springfield and I can see Joey's ripple effect wave over. What most excites me about Joey's life is that he was a tool used by God until the very end. He was worthy of His calling and so am I; so are you. I pray daily that the example Joey gave us isn't left without void, that we don't strive to just be more like Joey, but we all strive to look more like Christ.
Tonight, at Joey's celebration of life, God will continue to use Joey to draw us close to Him. My prayer is that we look towards God and submit to His plan for our life as an obedient follower, just as those who have gone before us.
"All of my life, in every season
You are still God, I have a reason to sing
I have a reason to worship" -Hillsong
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