Kirk Cameron is coming to my town!

I am so stinkin' excited about this!!! As you may have noticed, I sport a link in my sidebar to a website called 'The Way of the Master'. If you haven't already, please take a few minutes to go over and check it out. It's very informative and encouraging for believers and unbelievers! Click the banner to go there now or read further, then come back to it.

Today my mom comes into my office (yes we work together) showing me a bulletin from her church for upcoming events. She says, "Oh wow, sis! I almost passed right over this page, until I noticed a familiar face!" I was thrilled to find a segment advertising a conference coming next month with Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort. They have a great ministry and I can't wait to go!

Here's the back story: When I was a teen, I became absolutely obsessed with Kirk Cameron. I often used my babysitting money to feed my addiction of new photos from teen magazines. He graced the cover of many Teen Beats and I wanted them all! I'm not kidding...I had over 2.000 photos of Kirk on my walls and ceiling. Of course, only full page or centerfolds were special enough for the ceiling. I would lay on my bed and dream about him. I'd listen to the radio and dream about him.

Reading anything and everything about him went right along with it. He always seemed like a decent guy. I never read about involvement with drugs or trouble with the law. Back then, I could tell you pretty much anything that was in print about the boy! I knew I would never meet him. Who was I? Some fat poor chick living in the Mid-West! I considered writing to him but he received thousands of fan mail everyday. There was no way he would get mine. Besides, what would I say that he hadn't heard from 10 million other screaming teenage girls? What could I say to him that would make a lasting impression?

So I decided to pray. My prayers were very selfish. I didn't pray that I would meet him. I didn't pray that if we met, he would fall in love with me. I don't think I was obsessed with him in this way, exactly. It was like I just really had a burden in my heart or something for him. It was impressed upon my heart that I knew I would never meet him on this earth so I prayed that the Lord would bring *someone* into his life that would tell him about Jesus and that he would get saved and believe so he could go to heaven and then I could meet him there! I could spend eternity visiting and not have to worry about what I look like or what to say. I prayed that way a few times, I don't know how many times or for how long. I know now that although it was great to pray for him to find God for his life, it was still wrong of me to do it with such selfish intentions.

The feeling of concern for Kirk weighed this way on my heart, until one day. Kirk's face began to fade from the front pages of the magazines. He became less and less visual in the Teen Beat scene. Then one day, much to my joy, I clipped my last photo of Kirk Cameron from publication. It was a photo of him standing with his arm around Billy Graham! From the time my eyes found that photo, that weight and burden has been lifted from my heart and mind!

So now, to see him happily married with 6 beautiful children and fervently working a ministry to help others get excited about evangelism for God, I couldn't be happier! It really touches my heart in a special way and I guess you could say, Kirk Cameron was my first real answer to prayer! And WOW what a big answer it has been! God sure knows how to show us that He has a plan and it's better than we could imagine for ourselves!

I hope I get the opportunity to meet Kirk at this conference at First Baptist Church of Arnold, MO and let him know that I prayed for him back then. I'm pretty sure he would appreciate knowing that :) If not, I'll see you on the flip-side!