Excerpt from Don't Wait For Friday, by Melissa Joy Kong

      Below is an excerpt from a beautiful tribute by Melissa Joy Kong to the lives of Ty & Terri Schenzel, pastors/founders of the Hope Center in Omaha, NE.  They were killed one week ago today in a head on collision as they were heading to a conference with another couple.  They have affected the lives of thousands, including our youngest son, who was in Ty's Youth Group when we lived in Omaha.  You can read the rest of the article here.

"Today, we said “goodbye,” and “thank you,” and “we love you” to Ty and Terri Schenzel. Thousands of people showed up. Thousands. That’s how deep and vast their love spread.

Ty was known for joking, “Jesus loves everyone…but I think he loves me more!”Which is perfect, because that’s how the two of them made everyone they met feel. Every interaction was important. Every moment they spent with people was so breathtakingly intentional.

There are thousands of us who have been infected with their overwhelming love. Each of us who have gotten to know them has experienced a piece of heaven on earth.

They live on in their four gracious, loving, beautiful children, who inspired thousands today with their touching eulogy — with the immense love they have for their parents, and for each other.

They live on in each of us who got to know Ty and Terri — however long or short, whenever the season.

I miss them deeply. I’m always going to miss them.

If you’re reading this, it might feel like a story about their death. But it isn’t.

It’s a story about their life.

A collective life that was, to borrow the words of author and movement-maker Jamie Tworkowski, “a living, breathing, screaming invitation to believe better things.”

So many of us wait our whole lives for happiness.

We wait the whole year for summer.

We wait the whole week for Friday.

Not Ty and Terri. They never waited.

Every year, every season, every week of their lives was bursting with love, grace, and intentionality.

While incomprehensibly bittersweet, it is fitting that they left this earth together on a warm, sunny Thursday afternoon.

Because they were the kind of people who never waited for Friday.

If you’re reading this and you never got to meet Ty and Terri, I think they’d want you to know that they really wish they could have met you.

That they believe in you. That they are proud of who you’re becoming. That they want you to live a life full of joy and hope and love.

They’d want you to know that you matter.

That your life was given to you so you could do something breathtaking with it. That you are a gift, and the world wants to break you open, pour light in, and encourage you to share all you have to give with as many people as possible.

They would tell you to pour love into, and squeeze as much life out of, every single day. As much as you can.

They would tell you that there’s a question inside each of you that you were born to help the world answer. A problem you were built to solve. A pain you were meant to heal. They’d tell you to go pursue that deep calling in your heart.

They’d whisper to you, “Don’t wait for Friday.”

Don’t wait for Friday when every day was made for you.

They’d tell you if they could."