Subject: Tom's memorial

With love,

Russ

·        For those of you who have been to Granbury Live, you’ll appreciate knowing that only Sandi could get away with asking me to follow Carey Dyer on stage.  I usually make Linda do that.

·        I am honored to speak on behalf of my wife, Wendy, our other partner, Cass Moore and his wife Carolyn, and the rest of the Granbury Live family.

·        As you can see, I am listed as “friend and business partner”   and I could ask for no better title, adding only “Christian brother.”

·        OK, I might also add

o       “friend of that man on the Square,” and

o       “only guy who will ask Tom one more time to stop singing with the band when he’s onstage”

·        Proverbs 27:17 says “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.”  I thank God for sending Tom into my life.  Neither one of us planned Granbury Live; in fact, Tom would tell me, “Russ, I’ve never planned anything in my life.” (I never asked him if he was advising me to do the same.)

·        He was my mentor and I am grateful that in some small way, God used me in Tom’s life.   Pray today that God will bring into your life a “Proverbs 27:17 friend” like Tom McRae.

·        On behalf the Granbury Live family, I want to thank you for your outpouring of love and support this past week.  We will miss him, but the ministry of Granbury Live will go on here and wherever God leads us. 

·        God has taken Tom home and we are left with unfinished business and unfulfilled promises.  James 1:2 says “Count it all joy when you encounter various trials.”  Tom loved to complain about that verse because he knew the truth of it and the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to set him free from the burdens of life.  I pray that if you have come here today with a burden or a trial, leave it here, give it to the Lord Jesus, let go of it.  Our Lord said in Matthew 11:28, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”