<%@LANGUAGE="VBSCRIPT" CODEPAGE="1252"%> <% Dim sActiveMenu sActiveMenu = "Blog" %> The Life and Times of Jon Graves
 

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Share it, give it, know it, live it

Many things have happened over the past couple of weeks. In a way, most were remarkable, at least inasmuch as they had significance. Most remarkable, perhaps, is that I was invited to speak at a local school to discuss my experience with cancer among the seventh grade class.

Jon Graves with the Correia Middle School 7th Grade ClassThe students were wonderfully attentive, and their teacher a top-notch educator, adding real-life experiences to book-learning, and providing iPods to each group so they could record each speaker's discussion and produce their own podcasts. I told each of them that having cancer doesn't mean you're dead. Jeseca lived more passionately in the last four years than she ever had, never losing her smile or zest for life, even during the worst moments of treatment. I then showed them the Bessie Coleman book she illustrated (just one of her many incredible accomplishments), and gave it to the most charming young woman (seated in the middle of the front row). She responded in kind and gave me a flower. The experience was beyond rewarding.

Next, the boys, their Uncle Mikey and I went to Boomers today to have some fun. We've been there several times in the past eight months. Today seemed to be the most fun. I won the first three races (in typical, rub-your-nose-in-it fashion), then tragically lost the last two. Hate that.

Jon Graves and son, Christian, winning go-cart racing at Boomers And now, after typing for nearly two straight hours, I am just 10 entries away from finishing Jeseca's journals. I have to say that I'm unsure how to feel about it. This project, transcribing her journals for all to read, has been an integral part of my life these last several months. As I near the end of it, I can't help wondering what to do after I finish it. It's just.......well.......

I'll leave you with an entry from her journals dated September 12, 2006 (11 months before she died.)

Your love sustains, empowers, and gives courage. It builds bridges, closes gaps, and puts out fires. It gives new hope, new dawns, and new days. It opens doors, closes them, and breaks them down.

Your love heals hearts, heals bodies, and heals minds. It protects the helpless, the hopeless, and all who are lost.

Your love is a light, a small flame, and a blazing fire. It always protects, never rejects, and always believes.

Your love sends us forth into the world to places we don't want to go to help people we never would have helped.

Your love: To share it, to give it, to know it, to live it.

posted by Jon Graves at 2:19 AM 2 comments links to this post

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Falling from 13,000

13,000 feet and 120mph straight down. Shan, this is for you. Go for it.

posted by Jon Graves at 11:27 PM 1 comments links to this post

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

SOLO

I looked at that title for quite some time before writing tonight. Look at it........ What does it mean to you? Solo. I have mixed feelings as I write this, for on one hand it describes how I jumped out of an airplane for the first time. The other describes my life. Today is the 8-month anniversary of Jeseca's death.

I think back on all of the time we spent dreaming together. Living together. Holding each other up as we fought the storms together. And loving more deeply than I knew was possible.

Can I look back? Should I? How can I not? Every day pulls me back in some form or another. Today it was a waitress who looked and acted much like Jes when I first met her. Yesterday it was my entrance into karate. The day before that? A quiz show at church. The pastor asked three contestants to describe their lives in 30 seconds. (Try that.)

Now I sit listening to my favorite soundtracks...scores from Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Cinderella Man, The Last Samurai and Pearl Harbor. They're beautiful scores, and all are marked with the memory of the woman who chose to share her life and love with me for nearly 12 years.

........................................

As I thought about how I would answer the pastor's call to sum up my life in 30 seconds, I realized that it's not about one thing or another that I have done, but about the whole story (to date) God has written about me, and how it has affected my heart for Him. I found the answer there. The story is obviously far from complete, thank God; what I have to say takes less than 8 seconds.

I've faced the storms of life, and I've found that God is good and faithful through every one.

Now I feel as if He's asking me to begin living as I used to...adventurous, risky, fun, on the edge...but this time, I need to do it with Him by my side. This time I need to do it right. I need to invite Him along for the ride. (Come with me, Lord.)

........................................

I have much, yet, to teach my boys. One of the most important lessons I want to pass on is that God wants us to live freely. To live alive. Proverbs 29 says that the "fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe." It is with that spirit that I jumped out of an airplane from 13,000 feet and plummeted toward earth at terminal velocity. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life, and God was there in ways I have yet to describe.

As I think about it, I'm not really going solo, am I? People may see it that way, but they're not looking at the invisible God by my side. He's there. I know He is. For He is the strength they see. (May You always be praised from these lips, Lord.)

posted by Jon Graves at 11:57 PM 2 comments links to this post

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