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Today I had the great opportunity to take some new promo photos for my boys from the band Disco Curtis. They are fresh off of their Hot Topic tour and are gearing up for Warped Tour this spring. Be looking for them in a city near you. Here are a couple shots from today. Make sure to check them out and purchase their EP on iTunes.

A lazy drive home today from a great day in Roanoke with my rockin peeps. Hope you enjoy a little creative fun on a Sunday afternoon.

On To The QT!!! from Trevor DeVage on Vimeo.

Last week was harsh to me. I mean from an outside perspective it was a week like any other, but for those close to me they knew it was tough. Last Tuesday night I stood over the NICU bed of a two month old little boy who was brain dead. His precious, but lifeless, body lay still as machines kept him alive in the earthly sense. I watched as his mom and dad laid close to him, touched him, spoke to him, and held on to him.

Wednesday morning I woke up to the bitter cold of the 17 degree wind and freeze of the night before. It was time to break out the winter coat, scarf, and gloves. Today was going to be another heavy day. I bundled up and headed to the funeral home to meet with another family who had lost their 78 year old grandfather, dad, husband, friend, and coworker. The family had chosen to do a graveside ceremony, but the kids wanted to have one last moment with their beloved before we made our way outside. They cried, shared stories, commented on how good he looked, and then we prayed. Outside we shivered through a celebration of this mans life and impact on those around him. When it was done we scurried to our cars for warmth.

That afternoon I found myself back in the NICU with baby Isaiah. This time it was just me and him. I laid in the same place that his mom and dad had laid the night before. I curled up next to him for just a moment and began to pray and speak to him. I would like to think he heard me, but I am certain he did not. I prayed more for his family and tried to tell him that they would make it through this tough moment of life. After a few moments I found the family in their suite at the hospital and loved on them one more time.

Friday night as I laid down on my couch full of emotional and physical exhaustion that comes with a week like this one, as I was about to be unconscious for the next few hours, my phone buzzed and on the little 3.5 LCD screen it said: “Baby Isaiah went to be with Jesus a few moments ago.” My heart sank at what my mind already knew. Not long after I got a call asking if I would be willing to do the funeral the following week.

Side note here: Baby Isaiah was going to be an organ donor and as a result he was going to save 14 other lives.

There are so many biblical parallels here I don’t even know where to begin

1. This baby was much like Christ in the sense that he would give life for others to have life.

2. His name is Isaiah. Much like the prophet of the Old Testament, his little life screamed, “Here I am God send me.

The little life brought redemption to others. Not just 14 other little lives, but to a family, friends, and even distant connections to the story.

Tuesday morning I woke up knowing that today was going to be a long day. I was praying more than ever that I would wake up and this would all be a horrible dream and that there would be no pain or hurt today. Alas, I woke and not much had changed. Text messages were flooding in from the family with details of where we would be meeting to do this funeral. I made my way through a meeting or two early and then I found myself at home in the quiet of my living room changing into my funeral attire. The quiet was very surreal for me in this moment. I longed to hear my girls screaming and playing, but they were at school and the silence was deafening. I got into the car and did not turn on the radio, did not grab my phone, did not utter a noise. Over and over in my head I tried to make more sense out of a seemingly senseless tragedy.

The funeral home was nice. It felt and smelled more like my grandmas living room than it did a place of death and mourning. I walked in and the family was there looking at their little boy. He looked beautiful in his little casket. He did not look lifeless, he looked…well…asleep. I was blown away by how good he looked. So much so that I made sure to tell the lady who had prepared him how good he looked. I loved on the family, shed tears with them, and even laughed with them. When there was a lull in the conversation baby Isaiah’s dad asked to talk with me in private. Immediately knots stirred up in my stomach. You see, normally when people want to talk with me in private it usually means they are upset about something. I braced myself for the upcoming conversation.

Have you ever had a moment when you were completely blindsided by God? Well…this was that kind of moment for me. We made our way to the private little room that the funeral home let me use to prepare and keep my belongings. We sat at a little glass table with floral patterned chairs. I looked at this dad who was about to bury his 2 month old son and asked, “What’s up man?” He looked at me and began to speak. His voice was quivering and his eyes were full of tears that were ready to sprint down his face at any moment. Then his words rocked my world. He said, “I have never encountered a church with people like you guys before. I have been rebellious my whole life. I have been messed up with drugs. I have not lived a very good life. But, I have realized that through this whole ordeal with my son that I can no longer run from my call. I am called to share the love of God with students. I am called to help them not go through what I have gone through. I need to give my life to Christ and was wondering if you could help me understand what that means?”

After I picked my jaw up off of the floor I looked into this dad’s eyes and said, “ABSOLUTELY!!!” We prayed right there and began talking about what this journey might look like. He finally looked at me and said, “Even if my little boy had not saved 14 other lives with his, he has saved mine and that is worth all of this.” I could not believe that this was happening. God used the death of his 2 month old son to bring him redemption, hope, love, and LIFE!!!

The ceremony ended, the graveside was over and I walked over to hug the family for the last time that day. As I grabbed a hold of the dad he held on tighter than I ever imagined. He whispered “Thank You” in my ear and then said, “This is not the end, this is only the beginning.” What he was really saying was this:

This is not the end of my sons life,

This is the beginning of my life in Christ.

This is not the end of a horrible day,

this is the beginning of life lived anew.

This is not the end of our friendship,

this is the beginning of life long relationship.

This is not the end of life as I know it,

this is the beginning of eternity…

It was cold, dreary, misty, and yet beautiful all at the same time. I watched as a mom and dad traipsed behind their boys as they ran across a wet field to take their places in front of the glass eye that would briefly capture a moment in time that would never happen again. The oldest son was all smiles and ready to jump straight into the spot light. The younger was eager as well, but in a much less obvious and mischievous kind of way. As dad and mom reached our destination we began to snap life moment after life moment. It did not take long and in the end we ended up with some great photo’s of one of my favorite families. Here is a smattering of what came as a result of our short journey.

Yesterday I felt like trash. Woke up with a 101.5 fever and my throat was on fire. I was convinced that the swine flu had descended on my body at last. Impending death was immanent. Most of the day I stabled out around 100 degree fever and sandpaper ridden throat. Never before have I thought that I felt bad enough to need to send my sermon to someone else on staff to have them ready to preach. However, yesterday morning I found myself in that boat. This posed an issue for me on so many levels. I am STOKED about this series. I love being with our Roanoke people. We were prepping to baptize some people today. There are new people coming every week. You can see my dilemma.

I spent the vast majority of my day in the same spot on the couch in and out of consciousness. I finally took some Benadryl and went to bed at 8:30pm. Minus some pretty jacked up dreams I slept hard until about 3:0oam. I woke up sweating, got up and got something to drink, checked my kids and went back to bed. Woke up this morning at 5:30 and felt like a million bucks, well at least one hundred bucks for sure. The throat was still a little scratchy, but for the most part I felt good. As I drove through the quiet dark of an early Sunday morning I began to pray for God to do some incredible things in our midst today. Here are some of the things I got to experience today.

1. Talked with a woman in our church who’s son was ready to never set foot in a church ever again who came over Thanksgiving. She was in tears as she told me that he is now looking for a church where he lives.

2. Talked with a lady this morning who is going through some monumental things in her life and told me that our church was the one place that she felt comfort, peace, and love. She asked that we continue to walk through life with her. I assured her we would.

3. The message today started our Christmas Series and it was AWESOME!!! I loved communicating the love of Christ. That never gets old and it never gets old seeing people resonate with it.

4. We had record attendance in our children’s ministry today. So proud of Robin Nagengast and her incredible team of volunteers that love on and teach our kids every week.

5. When our worship team did Hosanna today in first service I could hear our people singing louder than our worship team. That NEVER gets old to hear and see people connect in worship.

6. I prayed with a lady today who is in a physical battle with her health, an emotional battle with her life, and a spiritual battle with God. Today she released much of that to Him and found some new freedom.

7. MY FAVORITE PART OF THE DAY: We baptized three people today. It was a celebration Compass Roanoke style. We piled 40-50 people into the Wilson’s house, ate incredible food that Mr. Rod Wilson himself prepared, and baptized three people in their hot tub in the 40 degree weather outside. I had the privilege to baptize Michael Logan who has only been a part of our church for four weeks. He is in LOVE with Christ.

8. Jeremy Peterson, campus pastor extraordinaire, Baptized Grant Long, one of the most incredible guys in our church. The beauty was that he came up out of the water and immediately baptized his wife Shelly. IT WAS BEAUTIFUL!!!

9. After missing my long run yesterday I decided to do it today. 5 miles in 51 min. 31 sec. The cold was invigorating as I listened to Rob Bell preach on being salt and light. That was the exact sermon I needed to hear tonight.

10. Learned that when you don’t put anti chaff stick on your chest it looks like Andy’s chest from the Office when they did the rabies fun run. If you are an Office fan you will appreciate that.

THINGS I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS WEEK:

1. Cookie Decorating for Underprivileged Kids in our community on Saturday morning at the Roanoke Elementary School.

2. Our women getting together Monday Night for the Annual Women’s Christmas Gathering. I cannot go cause I am a dude, but am stoked that all the tickets are gone.

3. Getting back in the groove of my training for the Cowtown Half Marathon that I am running with a bunch of our Compass Roanoke peeps. You should join us.

Hope you guys have a great week. Cannot wait to see what God is going to do over the next season of life with our incredible people here at Compass Roanoke. Much love to you all tonight. Now it is time for bed.