On January 5, 2012, the world lost an awesome person. However, heaven gained an amazing soul! I want to dedicate this blog post to a dear friend that I went to church with for a little over a year. His name was Stephen Jordan Long, went by Jordan, and was a senior in high school. He was the type of person that was a NON-STOP jokester and was always in a great mood. He was friendly, caring, hilarious, and very creative! He loved to act, draw, read, and write. He was one of the first people I met when I joined the youth group, and I don't have a single church memory without him! I can't say enough how great his personality really was. He always had such a great joy about him. However, Jordan is sharing all that joy in heaven now! Jordan dedicated his life to the Lord on August 5, 2010! His love for God always showed :) I have two very specific memories of Jordan that I will never forget, and I want to share those here.
In 2011, my youth group and I went to Kentucky for a week to a camp called Mission Fuge. MFuge was awesome! We spent time together as a youth group, but we also met other people in community groups we were placed in by the camp. However, one memory of him takes place when we were together as a youth group :) But...I have to give some background info so bare with me. At MFuge there was a talent show that featured 5 different acts. One of those acts was a group of three people...if I remember correctly...and they were performing a drama. The only guy in the drama happened to be someone in my community group. During the drama, He portrayed Jesus being crucified on the cross. Ok, now back to Jordan. So, as I mentioned before Jordan was always a jokester and that's the only side of him that I had seen up to this point. Well that all changed really quick. While in our own youth group, Jordan brought up the guy in the drama. (I'm going to try my absolute best to remember as close to his words as possible, but it was about two years ago...) He said that when the guy was standing there with his arms extended, just how Jesus was, the shadowed that casted off of him was the most realistic version of Jesus' crucifixion that he'd ever seen. The way he described it was absolutely beautiful, and honestly, it left me speechless and confused. Confused because it wasn't typical Jordan. But at that instant, I saw a completely different side of him that I would never forget. He earned more respect from me because just by his words, I could hear the love he had in his heart for his Lord and Savior.
Memory number 2, yet another youth group trip! This time, in 2012, we went to Pigeon Forge, TN for Strength to Stand. Well while we were out and about in Gatlinburg one day, me and Jordan began talking in british accents. With him being the actor and all and me loving to talk in a british accent, we went on...and on...and on! We said we were foreign exchange students from England and we were "brotha and sista." Oh, and our "fatha" was with us too! *pics will show this later :)* It was funny because other youth members said my accent was better than Jordan's, and he was not having that! haha Well at Jordan's funeral, our "fatha" whose name is actually D said that he had seen on the news where one student from Jordan's school was interviewed. The student said that Jordan sat behind him in class and always talked in a british accent... Definitely got teary eyed after that. But tears of joy :)
Jordan's memorial service was very beautiful. I'm sure he loved it as he was looking down from heaven. There were so many school mates of his there and tons of other people also. He was truly loved by so many people. Below is a poem Jordan had written that was put to music by our old youth pastor. Jordan Long will be greatly missed, but never forgotten! We love you and will miss you Jordan :)
He is With Me
by: Jordan Long
Through You I receive my strength
Through You I can do all things
With Your love I have no complaints
From within my heart comes the song I sing
He is everything I need
I don’t have to worry
I don’t have to fear walking through death’s valley
For He is with me
Your Glory is matchless in all ways
Your name is timeless through all days
With Your love I am so blessed
Lord Your Kingdom beats down on this chest
We lift our gaze to Heaven
We lift our hands to You
We live by Your holy word
Lord It cuts just like a sword
In Loving Memory of Jordan Long <3
