Jan 23

Painful Silence

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Have you ever wished desperately to hear from someone that you love? The silence can be painful. For just a moment, consider that experience from a different perspective.

Elijah had been missing for two weeks, and we were not sure why he wasn’t contacting us to let us know he was safe and well. During that time God used his younger brother Isaiah to minister to our family in rather profound ways. One day their mom, Melanie, was telling Isaiah that she just wished Elijah would let us know that he is OK. Isaiah responded by saying, “Mom, you need to know that Elijah is being cared for by God Himself. No matter what, Mom, Elijah is happy right now.” Melanie responded by saying, “Yes, but I just miss him so much. I hate not hearing from him. I wish he would just call and talk to me.” Isaiah’s response was quite memorable. “Mom,” he said, “don’t you understand?  That’s exactly how our Father in Heaven feels about us. He is with you all day long, even with you now as you sit on this couch. Imagine how much he wants to hear from you, yet you don’t talk to Him.”

Maybe silence isn’t always so golden after all…

 

Please ‘like’ and ‘share’ this post as you find it helpful and inspiring. Thank you.

-Ken Buchanan

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Jan 22

Catching Fire

Firepit Flame

A wise person once told me, “Don’t worry about others catching fire. Just catch fire yourself. At least others will gather around to watch you burn. And they may well catch fire from you!”

The picture above was taken one month before we lost Elijah. I was burning some brush in our fire pit early one evening, and was impressed by the size of the flame. I knew the large flame wouldn’t last long, so I quickly took this picture. I was actually walking away when I thought that I’d better check to make sure everything was OK. It’s a good thing I did! The ring of fire that had just started from the large flame was working its way outwards past my containment area. It was starting to catch my wooden chairs on fire. I was able to stamp out the ring of fire, but I felt silly that I hadn’t noticed all the leaves that were gathered near my large flame. Only later when I looked at this picture did I notice how the large flame had already created a growing ring of fire.

At just nineteen years old, Elijah’s life seems way to short. But his fire burned brightly during those last two months of October and November. We continue to hear from people all over the country who’s lives were changed because of Elijah. I consider that to be part of the ring of fire that he created from the intensity of his faith in God and his desire to spread the good news of God’s love to others.

Sometimes we only see the impact of the spreading flame as we look back at past events. That was true with my near disaster at the fire pit. It is true as we reflect now on the impact of Elijah’s life. But in this case, I won’t be stomping out the fire. Elijah would certainly want it to keep spreading!

 

Please ‘like’ and ‘share’ this post as you find it helpful and inspiring. Thank you.

-Ken Buchanan

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Jan 20

Life On Purpose

Thank you to all who supported our family and helped to honor Elijah as we learned of his passing. Elijah was an amazing young man, and his life and death have had a significant impact on the lives of so many people. As we understand more of Elijah’s life and the touch of God upon him, we see the fingerprints of God on many aspects of who he was. Elijah was determined to have an impact on the world as he wanted people everywhere to live their lives on purpose to the glory of God.

We are publishing this website to provide ongoing insights and encouraging thoughts as we explore how God’s fingerprints are everywhere if we simply pay attention.

Elijah

 

Please ‘like’ and ‘share’ this post as you find it helpful and inspiring. Thank you.

-Ken Buchanan

Jan 20

Elijah’s Last Notes

We found Elijah’s personal notes from November 23, 2014. He was preparing to create an inspirational video to reach people for God, and these were the thoughts he was preparing.

Follow your dreams and passions and don’t sit around living someone else’s life. There’s no sense in getting upset you can only look at the positives. Do what you know in your heart is right and important and always listen to what your heart is telling you. Some people think they aren’t capable when they really are and they just don’t see it with the correct mindset. You can find happiness and joy in virtually anything you are doing with the right attitude and approach to life. Always have faith in God because without him what else is there? 

Everything in my life is like a constant chain of mistakes and I have practically imprinted lessons learned by each of them. I have become strong and have learned so much and all of the glory goes to God… because you should never glorify yourself over Him. God is the one who created you, and the glory needs to go to Him. My reasoning involves the fact that you look around and can see all these people struggling to get by with no beliefs and flawed perspectives on life…

Think of how Unfathomable the life we live really is… A life this unexplainable only can lead to one true explanation… God!

Give the glory in everything you do to God… always. No matter what the situation, no matter what position your life is in, if you are sad and feel God has let you down, then you are misunderstanding the big picture. Until you become capable of giving God all you have he will continue to test you and challenge you…

There was a time in life when my ego consumed me… it took over me after having had escalated for years of thinking I was too good for any authority… deep down I was a great person but I succumbed to the norms of society… and my assumptions of life which came about from my inflated ego all started ultimately from refusing to submit myself to God.

I now realize it is similar to just my name Elijah and how shy I was about it, because Elijah was such a great prophet of God and I saw so many similarities in how he was calling me to reach people for him. Now I know that I can be proud of the gifts that God gave me because I realize it’s all about giving the glory to God…

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