Texting to Heaven

I got a frantic call on Sunday at 9:11 AM from Jim who is a sound man at a church where I had just installed a digital sound board three days earlier. It wasn't working. At all.

I had been out of cell phone range so I didn't get it until after 10 AM. So I texted instructions to him, another tech, the pastor, and the worship leader that I'd been coordinating with through the installation.

No response from anyone.

Until 12:04 PM. The sound man called and we talked a bit about the crisis. Then he asked me if I'd heard about the other Crisis. I hadn't.

One of the people I'd texted had been in heaven for about 4 hours already. The worship leader.

Tasha hadn't been able to be at the installation on Thursday because she'd been sick for almost two weeks. She was so disappointed to not be there for the exciting moment when what she'd been working on and hoping for for months (years!) was complete.

I had been texting her updates and pics during the installation. She was giddy.

She had even been lending me tech support!

As the weight of the call from the sound tech sunk in, I looked on Facebook to try and find some communal grieving. This sequence from Tasha's wall sums it up:

We met at an EMM commissioning in July 2004. She invited me to speak at a training for the youth group worship band at her church that fall. I accepted, even though I was the backup, backup, backup, backup person to ask. We laughed. She apologized for asking me "so last minute" - the event was almost a month away. (she had no idea how I roll)

I worked with Tasha and the leaders at Mountville on and off for several years and she's always super helpful and accommodating. She's one of those leaders who is so teachable and hungry for knowledge.

And now, she's in the freest, happiest place in the world. But the transition was so quick and unexpected that I'm thunderstruck. Man, I just can't wrap my mind around what just happened! 

She was always unassuming, her email a fitting moniker: claypot33...we have this treasure in earthen vessels to show that this power is from God and not from us. Tasha, your legacy of faithful service, cheerful dedication, and love for people will live on!