Mike Yaconelli
I first knew of him due to his publications in the US.
He was also a games person like myself.
Then he came to Greenbelt, the festival which makes faith real and live in concrete.
He came to visit the Rolling Magazine and fit that space like hand in glove. Everyone loved him.
The Very Stinking Late Show, starting at 11pm and finishing at 1 0r 2 was also the place to be for this great man.
He was so funny. So powerful midst the humour.
So real..........................
Recently Joan and me have travelled in the car and listened to the essential c.d.'s bought at Greenbelt 2003. John Bell and yes, of course, Mike Yaconelli.
I know of his family, his church, his kissing, his passion, all through his open and honest speaking. I know his wife Karla first hand and through the talks. I want to be with her now to express those/these powerful feelings.
For so many years I have felt the person so close as we sat in the bar late night after GB. The pint of beer and the cigar cemented in place by passionate conversations. Sharing stuff, not heady debates of opinion.
I remember one evening, a few drinks into the evening .......... Mike started to weep. He was expressing his sense of freedom being here at Greenbelt. Being here with people who loved him and never judged him. A place far from home, where he felt at home.
The tears were his best communication of that.
We loved him then in is vulnerability.
We love him now in his ultimate vulnerability.
Lord have mercy
bhp
"work like you don't need the money
dance like no-one is watching
sing like no-one is listening
and
love like you have never been hurt"
www.pipwilson.com
