34

Yesterday was one of those days when in an instance everything changes. I was in the middle of getting ready for what is going to be a packed weekend when the phone range. 'Todd, coach Crews' 'Hey coach, how are you?' 'Alright. We'll be at Jim & Milt's tomorrow at 3:00pm'. This is a fairly typical Crews conversation. Brief and to the point. And than the real reason he called came out. 'Johnny Smith passed away today'. 'What?'. 'Yea, he has pneumonia and stopped breathing this morning. They couldn't bring him back'

Well my day just changed. How do you do anything after that? Johnny Smith was No. 34 on the Godby JV football team. He moved to Tallahassee six weeks ago from Chicago. They had a team meeting and decided to go ahead with their game last night. Ironically the final score was 34 to 20. God is so good at meeting people where they are. You and I are way too sophisticated to ever believe that God made the score 34 because Johnny's number was 34. Not so fast my friend. If it causes people to think of Him why wouldn't He?

As much grief as all of these guys are going through right now I since hope in hearts. Maybe all this talk of eternity and life being bigger than just what we see here really has taken root in their hearts. Coach Crews says Johnny was an angel sent to us from God. If an angel is a messenger he may not be that far from the truth. Pray for the Cougars. Pray for Johnny's family.