the i in we

some thoughts on kyle
if you’re behind, first read the post below this one.

–>last week i read a student’s paper on widowhood and thought about how good it was. i thought of my mom while i read it, who became a widow after my dad died from a fatal heart attack fueled by alcohol and smoking and stress. i do not want to think about jen, kyle’s wife, who became a widow for no good reason.

–>kyle and i had one really good lunch together when i first started going to ubc in waco, at a chinese restaraunt that in its last incarnation was a nail salon. we both had massive diet cokes and talked about people we knew who went to bethel college…which led to him getting me in touch with the pagitts, which leads to me working for solomon’s porch, which leads to me sitting here today.

–>kyle, as can be seen in the photos, is very cute. while at baylor, he was in a fraternity which was higher in the social stratosphere than my sorority, and unfor. that crap means something in central texas. so, when i first started attending ubc, i was intimidated by him. then i was cowed by his lovely blond wife, whom i was sure would be terrible, and who turns out to be extremely nice. then, 2 things happened: kyle started calling me “kp” (he was the ONLY one down there to do that), and i heard him singing jay-z’s “hard knock life” to himself one day when i was sewing a cover for crowder’s couch. intimidation, gone; friendship, begun.

–>a couple summers ago i met some heads of christian publishing houses at a conference, and was pursuing some leads. i knew that kyle had recently been pursued to write, so we emailed for a couple days about the truth of those publishers. it was more than 5 years after my college graduation, and not only did he remember me, he called me KP. he was funny, and truthful, and encouraging. what more can you ask?

–>about a month ago, a little boy named juan who is friends with many at solomon’s porch died in a bike accident by his village in guatemala. i didn’t blog much about juan, but here i am blogging about kyle. why? i think i am stunned by the fact that church is not always safe. literally. that such a normal occurance (using a mike in the baptismal) can be fatal, in front of 800 people, including one’s spouse, is scary and sickening. and, very rarely are there people in one’s life who changed your whole direction. kyle did that for me.

i wish i could be there.

the accident was on cnn, and msnbc, and i am reading his best friend’s blog every once in while (his bff lives with my good friend Tom). you can check the ubc website yourself to see more of the goings-on and the new life of the church.

this morning at the church i attended in college, my friend, the pastor kyle, was getting ready to do a baptism, entered the baptismal, and was somehow electrocuted via the microphone. he died at 11:30 am.
that’s kyle on the left. to his right is ben dudley, the community pastor, and then dave crowder, the worship pastor.
the whole church saw, including his wife. kyle and jen have 3 kids. ubc has this message on their site right now:
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This morning, Sunday October 30th, our pastor Kyle Lake was involved in an accident during a baptism and was transported by EMS to a nearby hospital. Kyle passed away around 11:30am. Not only did we lose a pastor but we’ve lost our friend. Funeral services are pending and we will update the website as soon as we have more information.

There will be a gathering tonight at 8pm at First Baptist Church Waco which is located on the Corner of 5th and Clay. This is a chance for reflection, an opportunity to be with friends and to pray. There will be counselors available if anyone needs to talk to anyone.

We are confident that Kyle is in heaven today because of his trust in Jesus Christ as his Savior.

“And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. “ -1 John 5:11-13

Please continue to keep the Lake family in your prayers.
Thank you,
UBC
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oh my goodness it’s on CNN