I heard just a few minutes ago that an old, dear friend of ours passed away suddenly today. His name was Ed Courtney. My wife and I met Ed several years ago while we were youth pastors at Southside Assembly of God in Jackson, Mississippi. When I was hired, I was young and green and didn't know anything about being a paid church staff member. I learned a lot of difficult lessons and when it was all over, there were a few people that we managed to stay in touch with in the years that followed. Ed and his wife, Syble, were two of those few people. We've been able to keep track with them through the years as they traveled the globe as missionaries and allowed us to read of their adventures online. I wish I could say that I knew Ed longer than just the short time that we lived in Mississippi. But, God had other plans. However, as I'm grappling with the news of Ed's untimely passing, there is one life-changing encounter that Ed participated in with Danelle and me that probably no one - possibly Ed included - ever knew about.
In the fall of 1997, my wife and I were looking for direction and answers. We had been youth pastors in Mississippi from 1993-95 and we then returned to Texas to be on staff at First Assembly of God, in Kaufman, Texas. We were on staff there for 15 months before I resigned my position and returned to Malakoff, with my family, to live with my parents. My wife and I had 2 small children and were expecting our 3rd. We were in debt up to our eyes, we were emotional basket-cases and our marriage was in shambles. What were we to do? Where would we go? We had no idea.
About this time, I heard about a revival that was going on in Florida. It started in 1995 and was still meeting nightly. I had spoken to others who had been to this revival and it had made an impact on them and became convinced that I had to go and experience it for myself. My wife, being the good wife she is, she tried to be supportive. But, it was clear that taking a trip from Texas to Florida and back was probably not in our best financial interests. She tried to dissuade me, but I was convinced that we needed to go. So, she reluctantly went along with me.
We arrived in Florida on a Friday evening. We checked in our hotel and then went to the church service that night. We saw some crazy stuff. But, that's what we came to Florida for. After the service, we went back to our room got some sleep and prepared for the next day. While in the parking lot, we ran into our friend, Ed Courtney. He had come in from Jackson to catch the Saturday night and Sunday morning services. Ed had attended many of these services and was quite familiar with the schedule. After the Saturday services, we went and grabbed a bite to eat. Over dinner, Ed talked about the things that were going on in the church he was attending, River of Life, back in Jackson, MS. We discussed our plans and told him we'd be going back through Jackson on our way home. Ed asked us if we'd be interested in stopping by the church services at ROL. I was more interested in what was going on in Florida, but my wife told him we'd try to make it by there on our way. The next morning, we attended the morning service at the church in Florida with Ed. After it was over, we followed him to Jackson and went to the Sunday night service at ROL.
At River of Life that night, they had a special speaker, a missionary to Poland. He ministered to orphans who were released from Polish orphanages and had nowhere to go. He told his story and then offered to pray for anyone present who wanted any kind of special prayer. In the course of praying for people, he asked Danelle and me if we would let him pray for us. In the course of his prayer, he told us "you are going to experience a new beginning. God is going to start showing you things, what to do and what not to do." Those words stuck with us and carried us back to Texas the next day and the 13 years since. Within a month of returning from Florida, I took a job in Houston which marked a clear change in direction in my life and family.
Now, as I'm sitting here thinking of that weekend in Florida, it wasn't the trip to Florida and the revival that really made an impact on me. It in was that service in Mississippi that made the difference. In such a small way, I like to think Ed was responsible for that.
I wish I could tell this personally to Ed...I know I'll get to at some point...thanks for spending that weekend with us in Florida. You probably never knew it made such a difference for us, but it did.
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