Celebrating and mourning

Today I grieve the loss of a very dear friend. Tony Guillen was a man who had as much love for Jesus Christ as anyone I have ever met. He was constantly excited about the things God was doing and he always had a warm greeting and smile for anyone he encountered. His love for the Lord and knowledge of the Word allowed him to be in a position of discipler for many new and returning believers. Because of this he has touched an untold number of lives. He was uncompromising in his teachings of the foundations of Christianity and almost seemed baffled that anyone would even entertain the thought of returning to a sinful lifestyle after encountering a relationship with the Living God.
Tony was faithful to me personally as well. When I was leading a worship team quite a few years ago, I lobbied to have Tony join our team as a guitar player. I wanted his maturity and leadership in our group, in addition to his servant heart as a musician. We played together for over six years and he always used to tell me how much he learned from me as a worship and band leader, but I'm quite positive that I learned far more from him than he ever did from me.
Tony also was the leader of a Christian band called Barabbas. He never worried about how many people might be hearing the band, only that the ones who were there would be drawn close to Christ.
Tony Guillen graduated to heaven to be face to face with Jesus Christ today. He was doing one of the things he loved to do, riding the trails on his mountain bike with his friends enjoying the beautiful creation that God has blessed us with. Tony was in his early 50's but exuded the energy and joy for life of a man half his age. We grieve with Dana and the boys and all of us who were so profoundly affected by the life of this faithful servant of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. Tony, your maranatha came a little quicker than ours, but we'll see you soon!