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October 22, 2005
SO AMAZING!
Our dear friends...
Once again we have been completely blown away by you and the way God has used you. To those of you who attended the concert last night, thank you! For those of you who didn't, we had an outstanding time together.
Around 800 of you showed up in great spirits, ready to remember, celebrate, learn, enjoy, and GIVE... and boy, did you give! I wanted to let all of you know that altogether, we raised over $10,000 for the memorial fund! Because of your generosity and excitement in continuing the legacy of Rick, we are going to be able to not only cover all of the medical and funeral expenses, but we have a huge jumpstart in the support of the four ministries we informed you of last night: Compassion International, Youth Ministry Resources (Bigstuf), Mountain Lake Church, and Passion Conferences.
SO AMAZING!!!!!!!
God exceeded all of our expectations for this benefit! Thank you all for being a part of that, even if you weren't able to be there. I believe it was honoring to my brother.... I believe it was honoring to our God!
Please keep reading, as we hope to keep updating on this site fairly often. It is through this site that we will make you aware of future fundraisers, as well as give you updates as to how we've been able to use the funds specifically for each ministry.
Thank you again!
WE WIN!
Candi Pearson Shelton
Posted by Rick at 04:16 PM | Comments (16)
October 17, 2005
Hello from the family.
Our wonderful friends...
It has been a while since I've posted anything to you. I think it has taken this long for us to gather enough of our thoughts to make sense. The past month has gone by so quickly, and yet it seems like years all at the same time. One month has been long enough for some of you who found yourselves as literal watchdogs of the web to return to a semi-normal life. One month has found others of you struggling a little harder to find normalcy. Our family is walking the very bizarre and awkward line of fast moving life and very present grief. At times we are able to share laughs (as we watch episode after episode of "Friends"!), and at other times it seems nothing can shake the vividly terrifying reality that Rick is no longer making the world a little brighter. He is, however, in the presence of his Creator and King, which is of great comfort at times... at others, it seems to bring little peace. But this is all part of walking that line- life & grief.
We have been overwhelmed with each new day, knowing that God does in fact still hold us all in His hands, as much as we'd like to think He dropped us for a bit. We know that the echoes of Rick's God-glorifying life are still ringing and are still being heard. These are the most comforting and beautiful reminders of God's perfection and will. He is using each day, each new emotion, each new story to weave a tapestry of glory, and my brother is one of the boldest colors! We are so proud of him. As Suzanne often says, "I'm so proud of him! He finished so well!"
We have also been so thankful, beyond our mere words, to all of you for the continued support and encouragement in these days. As we sent thank you cards to all we knew to send to (please forgive us if we have overlooked you somehow, knowing that we are truly grateful to you all for the amazing ways you've become the body of Christ!"), a sense of awe filled our hearts. I can't adequately convey to you how FLOORED we have been! There are no words...
On that note, we would love to send thank you notes to everyone, but obviously we don't have addresses for you all, especially those of you who contributed monies to the National Christian Foundation for the memorial fund. If you happen to be one of those, we hope you won't mind sending an email to rickpearsonmemorial@yahoo.com and include your address. If you'd rather remain unreachable, we totally understand. But for those of you who don't mind, we would love to send you a personal thank you from our family!
I'll leave you with one more reminder about the benefit concert for Rick. I encourage all of you who don't have plans this Friday, the 21st, to come. We are very excited to talk about the ministries that Rick loved and supported and to raise money for the continued support of these. There will be great music and musicians, as well as some fun videos to help us remember Rick. The night starts at 7 pm at Stonecreek Church in Alpharetta. We would love to see you there!
Our love...
Candi Pearson Shelton
Posted by Rick at 01:32 AM | Comments (13)