Man Man.

Lea and Trey went over to our friends the Odoms when Trey was younger. Buddy grows a glorious garden each year and he invited Lea and Trey to come over and work in the garden. Buddy invited. That's what he does. He just wanted to be with them. In the garden. Trey got to hoe and prepare soil, touch and drop seeds in the ground, water and be with Mr. Buddy. Trey was just a young boy at the time. Buddy called Trey "Man Man". Those are tender words for my heart this morning. As a young boy, Buddy was speaking vision over Trey.

There's Man Man in the picture up there. I unexpectedly got to go to upstate New York a couple of months ago with Man Man on our youth group serving trip. Man Man and I were on a work team together with a dozen other folks from around the country. I was so excited when I found out that our work for the week would be putting a new roof on Miss Georgette's home. I had never done any roofing work until I began the glorious years of summer serving with students at Operation Backyard with my Knoxville Leadership Foundation homeboys ( shout out to Adam, Dan, David, Jay and Chris). Man Man had never done a roofing job. I was so pumped. It was hot that week. Really hot. In the closing days of summer I watched Man Man and his new friends dominate this roofing job wrapped in joy, skill, determination and love. Men with actual roofing experience literally gawked at the job they did and legitimately said that it was the kind of quality that would be paid for. I got to watch Man Man and his friends quietly love and labor and it affected me.

Man Man affects me. God has lavished Man Man with a lot. A lot of brother love. A lot of parent love. A lot of new sister love. A lot of family love. A lot of friend love. A lot of coach love. A lot. Abundant. And......

a lot of forming. So much forming through lavish love, struggle, disappointment and shattered dreams. Man Man knows.

The shaping that Lea and I have watched Papa do in Man Man is so intimate that I intentionally choose to allow the words to be invisible on this page. My formed words cannot even begin to capture the beautiful, severe shaping that I have witnessed in Man Man's life. As I try to consider the breadth of the fullness of Man Man's shaping, my heart aches and worships simultaneous. It is so holy. So set apart in the life of Man Man. I bow my knee as I watch the unrivaled, powerful pursuit of my son's life by the King. It's staggering. So much love. Such abundant, strategic investment.

Man Man packed up and set out for college a few weeks ago. The courage that I have witnessed in these last weeks as Man Man presses into being a student athlete is stirring. The courage is evident. The King's pursuit is pervasive in his life, aware or unaware.

Though there are plenty of intentionally invisible words on this page, here are words that I can't help but write. I miss Man Man. And by saying that what I'm saying is.....I love Trey. I miss his presence in my daily living. He is one of my best friends.

In between the weeping and the worshipping as Trey has launched is a yearning hope for the powerful forming that Papa IS doing in Trey. Watching it is one of the greatest and most humbling honors of my life.

Here's to Man Man. I see your courage.

Here's to the undeniable work of the King in Man Man. I see Your majestic pursuit.

Trey Kelly.

There's more.