Darren LeBlanc

Are you on facebook? Please join this group to show Lyss and Ryan our support. Their dad, Joel Parker has been in the hospital for 30 months….God, please bringing healing here.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=85922696526

It’s about 10:30pm and I’m driving back to my hotel from a meeting (I’m in the boston area for work). Getting a little tired, I decided to stop at Dunkin Donuts for a green tea and a chocolate frosted. It’s not very hard to find a dunkin donuts place…there is basically one on every street corner across this fine donut and coffee lovin country.

So I pull in and spring out of my car, and quickly lock the door. I’m in a new blue Prius Hybrid and I’m not all that comfortable in the car yet….its kinda quirky. So I get my stuff and come back outside. Something was funny….I had left my lights on. Hmm, and I left the engine on.. Now, it took me 10 minutes to get this thing to start, and I almost freaked when I stopped at an intersection and it sounded like it turned off..so I’m not putting anything past this car. I get in the door and pull it shut next to me. The seat feels a little different too. And wait…oh man….my keys are in my pocket still…

Yeah, so I snuggled up on some random guys nice blue car. I quickly jumped out and got in the right one! Funny thing was that it really didn’t look anything like mine. I’m just a bit scatterbrained :)

Everywhere I go, good things happen to me. You know…its like God wants to remind me that in middle of some of the suckiest events in life (well, I guess we are in the aftermath of the worst of it) he is still there.

Tonight, I let Olivia go over Grandma’s to play for a couple hours while I work on the anthem of hope website. We are all set to launch April 1st, so there’s still much left to do. Well, I decide to multi-task and go somewhere to get dinner while working. I bring my laptop into Jesse’s Cafe in West End (Long Branch, NJ) and who do I see but an old friend, Derek. He is sitting there about 90 seconds away from starting his jazz set. Derek used to play guitar with me when I led worship at Calvary Lighthouse. He is a wonderful player and I’m not sure I could have picked a better background to have while I sit here and work. I’m almost done my quesadilla’s now and have to get working…so I’m going to go.

But this was nice. And you can see a video of my man Derek in the right hand column…just scroll down a little, below my twitter updates. I just sent it from my phone.

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UPDATE: I just got home. Two quick things:

1. Derek played “I get Misty” – and it was beautiful. Have you heard that song? One of my favorites for obvious reasons :)
2. I had a great dinner. There are really only a few places that go all out bringing you the most healful food possible; Jesse’s Cafe is one of them. If you are in the mood for eating well, and in a nice little place by the beach stop in. Let me know if you go.

Today is my best friends birthday. Scott Parker has held that role (alongside my brother) for about 18 years. He and I grew up together and then actually married 2 young ladies that happened to have been best friends with each other too (yeah, kinda weird…but nice). He and his wife Ann have been the most incredible friends that Misty and I could have asked for. Since Misty has been gone, they both are still very much a part of my life.

Scott,
Happy Birthday.
I love you and I’m proud that you are my friend.
–Darren

Today I will be tied up most of the day doing a video shoot for an Anthem of Hope web campaign. I’m looking forward to it…i’ll fill everyone in later on how it goes.

If you aren’t a techy, ignore this post.

But if you are…help me out. I was trying to find a really streamlined utility that sends video from a phone (via MMS) directly to a blog. Any ideas? Basically want to take the video and hit send, and have it show up on a blog.

I love that we have “regulars” on here. It feels like a cute little coffee-shop that I now visit every couple days and inevitably run into some familiar faces. One of our regulars, Dania, asked to hear about our travels as we visit churches that prayed for Misty. That sounds like a great idea, Dania.

Last Sunday, we visited Crossroads A/G in Englishtown, NJ. I wanted to mention this church because I have been to few places with love like they have. Pastor Frank Jacobs is an incredibly warm man, and I think we can all learn from him. Months ago, when Misty was still with us, I often got notes from him. Here is one:

Dear Darren,
I pray for you every day.  Everyone in Crossroads Assembly of God in Englishtown knows Misty’s name.  She is on every prayer list and mentioned in every service.

In Christ’s Love,
Frank

Some were longer, but basically, that is the kind of note that I think we all need to write to people who are hurting. It says, “I care about you so much, I pray EVERY DAY, and I’m making sure the people close to me do as well”. There is no Bible verse telling me “just trust God”; no personal story about how his sister’s, cousin’s, brother’s, dog-sitter’s, best friend battled cancer once; no catchy cliché about God’s grace being sufficient; no big barely understandable words like sanctification…no, just love.

Anyway, I visited his church and was so lovingly accepted by everyone there. I’m proud they bare the same name I do; Christian. So how about if we skip the clichés this week and just tell someone we love them….or we are praying for them (if we really are). Or we just give them an Anthem of Hope gift….oh wait, that’s not out yet. Coming soon :)

I have written about my friend Joel Parker…he has been in the hospital for what is now 2 full years after some complications from a surgery. Today he is being moved to a rehab. I hope you can pray with me for him and for his kids, Ryan and Lyss. This move has been tried a few times in the past, but each time he ends up back in the hospital in a very short period of time. This whole ordeal just breaks my heart…

I’m hoping for a better outcome this time.

I am kinda laughing to myself about this…Tonight is the second night in a row that each of these following things has happened:

1. I sat through an uneventful meeting all day
2. I drove into Boston
3. Had dinner with a friend from college
4. Met my friends new spouse
5. The friends I met were significantly involved in a non-profit organization
6. The non-profit organization exists to help kids in Africa

Ok, so last night it was Ryan and Katie Keith…you met them.

And tonight it was Katie (yes another quincidence – both couples have a Katie!) and Andrew Bauer (no relation to Jack). Katie and Andy are part of Kupenda for the Children. You can check out their site at: http://kupenda.org. Katie & Andy are also very close to my heart and I’d love you to pray for them and for the organization. Like Forgotten Voices International, Kupenda raises lots of money each year and is doing great things with it.

So yea, kinda funny how that worked out. Unfortunately, there is no video tonight. I had wanted to, but we were too wrapped up in discussing how the only possible fun thing to do at Messiah College on weekends is to go to Walmart…so I completely forgot :)