JRaitz

A Heck of a Day

I haven't had much desire or time to blog as of late. There is so much going on. Just keeping up with our family, work and the house is plenty.

But, I wanted to share a pretty cool story.

A couple of Friday's ago I took the day off. It actually was Friday the 13th...not that has anything to do with it. But, a couple from church worked it out to keep the kids all day and Tracie and I had the day to ourselves.

It was awesome. Since the fire, we really haven't had anytime like that. We have had a few date nights (which were awesome!), but to have the whole day was really special. Just to talk and be with each other.

Well, here's a pretty crazy part of the story...as we were leaving...they handed us an envelope. Inside was a gift to Walmart for $1000. Yup, one thousand dollars. They told us they had prayed about it and really felt that God had laid it on their hearts to do it. They just said...we know there is probably so many little things you lost...so, go get them.

Wow. We have been overwhelmed...to say the least by all the generosity we have received, but this was another one that just humbled us. What a crazy cool blessing.

So, we bought a bbq, a basketball hoop for the kids, a wagon for Madison, a batting tee and pitch back for the kids, a fire emergency latter for upstairs and a few other things.

Tracie and I had a great day together. We don't get to that too often and we loved it.

I am still so thankful. So, blessed. So, humbled.

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Just Amazed

I am at my favorite Friday morning spot...Panera Bread. Friday mornings are wonderful.

M-TH mornings are pretty full and active in our house. Getting 4 kids up, breakfast, driving Tracie, Zach and Madie to church (Tracie works at the daycare at church and we need to leave the house by 715 to get her there on time...so, as you can imagine...getting 6 of us out the door by then is an adventure) make lunches, backpacks, snow gear, bus stop and then I get ready to head to church. Try to tackle the ever growing monster of email and spend a few quiet moments before I walk out the door.

Then I get Friday mornings. They are a gift. I get up early...well, I get up early every morning, but early enough to head to Panera Bread to read, pray, journal, write and then I induldge...I read the USA Today. I love the USA Today. Then I spend a few minutes saying hi to some other Willow folks who use Panera as their offsite spot and then I head into the office.

This morning I am using my time to finish preparing for a weekend of teaching at Camp Timber Lee in East Troy, WI. It's no secret...but I love Timber Lee. I love their staff, their volunteers, the way do camp and I love being there. Our family looks forward to a week there every summer.

But, as I sit here this morning...I still have a such a huge feeling of amazement. I am just amazed.

Amazed at how...

Good God is. How much He loves me and my family. How He provides. How His plan seems to work perfectly and at such incredible timing. How each day His word seems to pierce my heart with exactly what I needed to hear. God has put incredible people in my life. My friends pray and care for me. Wonderful my wife is. Spoiled I am to have her. Beautiful my kids are. Blessed I am to have the parents that I do. Humbled I am by people's generosity. People we don't even know have blessed us. People we do know have poured their own time & resources into my family. We have a house full of furniture. That the kids have closets full of clothes. Robbed I feel by the fire. Easy it is cry thinking about the week after the fire. Emotionally drained Tracie and I are. I am pretty Sad. I wish my kids didn't have to experience Jan. 09. Tired I am. In the midst of my weakness, God is strong. God never leaves our side and He walks with us. A Church body came around us and provided in ways that boggle my mind

The bottom line is...I am just amazed. A friend took our kids last night for a few hours and Tracie and I went to dinner alone. Truly Awesome. I can literally count the times we have gone on a date with my hands the last couple of years. But, we were alone. It was so good. We went to dinner and just talked. We talked about how amazed we are and how thankful.

One last thing...this verse in Psalms 36:5-6 (message) has really meant a lot lately.

God's love is meteoric, his loyalty astronomic, His purpose titanic, his verdict oceanic. Yet in his largeness nothing gets lost; Not a man, not a mouse, slips through the cracks.

Wow.

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The Weekend

I have been looking forward to this weekend for a few weeks.

Not because of Valentines Day...but, I do need to get my Valentines something! I have 3 girls in my house now...Man, thanks Hallmark!

Not because it snowed last night. Heck NO! I hate the snow! I don't hate much, but Snow...Ice...Cold are my top three. And of course...poverty...racism...global warming...etc.

Quick side thought...I was out with Zach the other day...and he sees all this trash in a parking lot. And he says.

..."Man, why can't people pick up their trash...I don't want the polar bears to die"

Ok, don't know where that came from...but I guess pollution in a Target parking lot will cause polar bears to die.

Anyways...back to this weekend.

I am looking forward to it because my parents are coming out to visit. We miss both sets of parents and I love that they are able to visit us. I work weekends, so it's hard to go in and visit them. And...Tracie's parents really can't travel because of Bryan (their son with severe cp and a whole heap of medical issues).

So, my folks are coming and I can't wait. I love talking with my parents and I love spending time with them. Our house is still a disaster and knowing my mom, she will help organize and she will get my dad to build stuff, hang pictures and move stuff around.

We are also celebrating all the Raitz girls birthdays tomorrow night and that will be fun. Tracie's 32nd birthday was on Jan. 12th and we didn't do anything because my parents were coming out the next weekend and we were going to do it then. Well, with the fire, we just didn't do anything. So, I can't wait. I haven't been able to get her a gift in years and I was able to this year and I can't wait!!! Madison turned 1 last week and Bekah will turn 9 next weekend. 9 years old! Can't believe. I am two and a half years away from her being in Elevate. I can't wait and I can!

Also...I am teaching tonight at Elevate. We are in week 2 of our Burly Girly series. Scott is taking the 8th graders and I am taking the 6th & 7th graders. My title is..."How to be attractive without looking good" and my big idea is...It's not about how you look, it's about how you live. All about pursuing purity instead of pursuing dating and all that stuff.

So, that will be fun and I am looking forward to spending time with my small group...the beef jerkey's. I was in Tulsa last Saturday night and I missed them.

Alright, time to go home and clean & organize.

Yeah!!

PS...I actually like cleaning...I am weird.

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A weekend in Tulsa

I had a great weekend in Tulsa. First of all...It was 60 degrees. Oh man...I loved it. Second...I was able to hang out with some friends and that was so good. I was so blessed and honored to be a part...so humbling.

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A Happy Night

A couple of days after the fire...Tracie and I were at the house and we were trying to figure out if anything was worth keeping. One of her friends showed up and convinced us that she needed to take a couple of the kids stuffed animals, a blankie or two and a couple of clothes.

We weren't hopeful. But, she scrubbed them by hand and then washed them with a special detergent 5 times. Well, tonight we got them back. We opened the bag and no soot smell. Tracie handed a couple of stuffed animals to the kids and a blankie to Zach and you would of thought we handed them a $1000.

It was a happy night.

Then...a moment of sadness. You see...Bobby is our biggest blankie lover. He loved these two little torn up blankies. Well, I searched for them, but couldn't find them in the house. It was a sad moment and then Zach told Bobby that he would share his blankie...another happy moment.

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Happy Birthday Madie!

I am a tad bit late on this...so...don't put me up for a "bad dad award"...but our baby is 1! Madison Jean turned 1 last this time last week. She is an absolute joy. Her smile and her joy is contagious. She is such a blessing to our family!

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Good Pictures

I thought because I have only posted bad pictures...or of what the fire did...I would post some pictures of what people have blessed us with.




A friend from St. Louis sent these...very cool!




Here are some toys that were given to my kids.




A great dining room table. We have already had some great meals together.



A wonderful couch!

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More time needed...

It's almost been a month since the fire. Seems like forever ago.

I went for a run this morning and ran by the house. I stopped on the opposite side of the street and you can still smell the soot.

Lately I have been thinking about all the moments that led up to the fire and all the moments right after the fire.

Leaving for work that morning...
What we left on the counter...
What was in the dryer...
Getting the phone call from my brother...
The sound of his voice...
Seeing the smoke from the church parking lot...
Seeing the fire...
Standing in the street feeling helpless...
Hugging Tracie late that night...
Taking the kids by for the first time...

I had an interesting thing happen today. I saw a picture of my kids in the house before the fire. How it looks now seems to be pretty strong in my memory and it was almost like an...oh yeah moment. Don't know if that makes sense.

I just feel like we need more time. It has flown by this past month.

Time to organize. Time to thank. Time to pray. Time to remember all the people who have been so good to us. Time to thank God for providing in incredible ways. Time to goof off and have fun with the kids. Time to just be...

I have been so amazed and humbled by how many people have emailed us, facebooked us, sent cards, letters, or have called us. From all over the country. It just means so much.

One last interesting thing has started to happen. All the change has (I think) really started to catch up with our kids. Bekah is pretty short tempered lately. Bobby is just tired. Tonight was a hard night. Zach won't talk about the "fire house"...that's what he calls it. And...if he walks into a room and someone is talking about it...he covers his ears and says..."I can't talk about that". Then there's Madie. She is just incredibly wonderful. But...right now she has a fever and is not her self.

Through it all, we are just so thankful!

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A suitcase for Tulsa

Today I head to Tulsa to be a part of Jr. high Believe. I have been looking forward to it and I was bummed that I had to cancel on them a few weeks ago in Arizona. It will be a blast teaching, but it will be really good to spend some time with some friends. Johnny & Chase and Alan. And...tonight I'm grabbing dinner with Mark. Can't wait. The other thing I really love about Believe is that Scott (my boss & friend) is one the other speakers. That really helps the preparation factor. It's cool.

On Wednesday I was starting to think about the trip and remembered that we don't have any suitcases. Wouldn't you know it...that day, someone sent us a set of new suitcases in the mail. Crazy.

3 weeks after the fire I am still amazed. Amazed at how good God is. At how good his people are. We have been so blessed.

My hope is to start posting all the stories of God has provided for our family...it's really amazing.

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Zach's Joy

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My wife is truly amazing. It's no secret that I married way about my pay grade...she's fantastic.

Currently she works 3 days a week at church in the daycare. She is a teacher for 2/3 year olds and has a good amount of kids in her class. With 4 kids and 2 with PKU...it takes a lot to get us all out of the house in the morning. But, she never complains and she takes care of us beautifully. Every night it takes her about an hour and half to get Zach and Madie's food & milk ready for the next day.



Because of their PKU...everything has to be weighed, measured and written out. It's a pretty tedious process. I am ashamed to say that I don't help enough. I cover a good amount of the cleaning in our house and she covers a good amount of their food and tracking it.



Anyways, I took this picture as a reminder of how hard she works just to go to work. This is Madison's food for the next day...and it's not even dinner or her milk.

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2 Weeks ago...

It's been two weeks since the fire. It really feels like a lifetime. It's amazing how something like this makes you feel older and makes time seem to speed up.

A few happenings for the Raitz family...

1. We are figuring out the new house. The first couple of days our kids just wanted to go back to the old one. They wanted their clothes and their Christmas presents back. They didn't know where anything was and there were piles of stuff everywhere. Our first morning Zach got up and just sat on the stairs and started to cry. My mom asked him what was wrong...and he said...I just don't know what to do. Where do I put my pull up? Where is my milk? He's got a bit of the dramatic in him.

2. We are in the same neighborhood and only about 3/4 mile away from the old house but it still feels far away. We didn't ever come to this side of the neighborhood.

3. Our neighbors are pretty awesome. Neighbors to the left have a 4th grader...so he walked Bekah and Bob to their new bus stop...very nice of him. Neighbors to the right gave us a twin mattress and let us know they are here to help..whatever we need. Pretty cool.

4. Tracie is getting sick. Not a good thing. She's really stuffy and probably is getting a sinus infection. I am co-teaching this weekend and we are working overtime at home to get everything sorted. Please pray she stays healthy.

5. Tracie came home today and there were 9 boxes from Target wating for her. I still can't believe that people are sending us stuff. So humbling. And...it's from all over the country. So nice. It's really just amazing. Even with the all the economic stuff, people have really blessed us.

6. Utility companies need emergency numbers. Like a hotline for people whose houses just burned. I have been on hold so much and for many hours lately...I am really getting tired of it.

7. I really dislike Comcast. First they deleted our personal email accounts on accident. Then, they couldn't come out to the new house for 2 weeks to set us up with cable and internet. 2 weeks. Actually...it's been kind of nice without TV. Never thought I would ever say that. Oh yeah, then they deleted our personal email accounts on accident, again. I tried to call them on consecutive days after the fire to tell them and I waited for 20 minutes each time.

8. A question I have been thinking about a lot lately is...how do we repay people? The outpouring has been amazing. Furniture, money, clothes, kids toys, new stuff, used stuff cards, messages, texts, letters and everything in between. Not to mention all the home cooked meals for my family.

9. Gratitude & Thankfulness. Going through something like this really takes these things to a whole new level. It's been an eye opening experience.

10. It's been quite a year. 2008 started off really good. I really went after my weight and by May had lost 45 pounds, then in June I broke my ankle and then in July I got MRSA. That was awesome. I had an iv pic line for a month and a half and it knocked the energy out of me till about October. Tracie and prayed for a better year and 2009 started off with the fire. Interesting. But...in the midst of it all...my eyes have opened to the beauty of the body of Christ and the unbelievable goodness of God. Experiencing this makes Pr. 3 :5 come to live a little more. Trust in the Lord with all your heart...

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Tired & Blessed

I really wanted to have a little more time this morning to write this post, but my time lately seems to be moving pretty quick. I spent a few hours this morning just working on bills. It's crazy, but bill companies still want their money...even when your house & your stuff is destroyed. Well, that's life.

The last couple of days have been a blur. It took us 2 days to clean out the house of all of our stuff. And, yesterday, we feverishly moved into to our new place. Even as we were moving in, the plumbers were still trying to fix the 12 leaks they found. 12!?! It was crazy. They were able to turn the water on and we are praying we don't find any more leaks. But, I am so thankful for that plumber!

It's weird moving. In 11 years of marriage, Tracie and I have lived in 9 different places. That's crazy. We have lived in apartments, parsonages (boy...that was sure fun...300 landlords...that's a story for another day), and houses. Every time we have moved it's new and different, but there is always one thing in common...our stuff. This move is different. We don't have our stuff. We have stuff...boy...you should see the stuff.

People have blessed us! It's really amazing. I will write more about that later. But, it's weird being a new place, with some new stuff and having no idea what we have and where to put it. Thankfully we have friends who are helping us organize and all that good stuff.

I can't even begin to imagine where we would be without friends & family & our community. To know people are praying for us all over the country...well, it's really humbling!

Thank you so much for praying for us!

Jason

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More Pictures

Bobby...our 6 year old boy...was really intrigued by the melted microwave.


This was a sad picture. Madie had recently gotten these little croc like shoes and all that was left was the soles.


Day 1 dumpster. Filled and ready for dumpster # 2.


What the heck happened here? These are real apples frozen in a bowl that use to be yellow. Kind of spooky and weird.

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Day 7

I am awake. It's actually pretty rare for me to be up past 10pm. My friends make fun of me...I am ok with that. I just get up earlier than they do. But, my mind is racing and won't slow down and I just can't figure out why my body is still bending.

Yesterday and today were really long days. To help save money, I opted to clear out our home of all of our ruined stuff. My friend Matt lined up 2 dumpsters and a bunch of friends helped me and we are done. It was cold, but I am so glad it wasn't as cold as it was this time last week. It has felt like a heat wave lately...a balmy 22 degrees...and we had no wind or snow or rain or ice. God really blessed us. It took both days, but we cleared everything out.

So many emotions to process. This was day 6 for me of being in the house and the sight has sort of become normal. Now, still walking into the girls room and seeing their dolls & blankets covered in black soot is still hard, but I am kind of used to it.

One of the toughest moments of the day came when Tracie stopped by on her way to the store and that was really hard. She's only been in the house a few times and it didn't take long for her to tear up. She caught me in the basement as I was going through a box of the kids "first" stuff that I was getting ready to throw away. It was a really hard moment. We just keep reminding ourselves that it's just stuff, but it's still hard.

It was just so weird throwing all of our possessions into a cold...huge dumpster. After the 5th or so hour of doing it, I just wanted to be done. Without some incredible help...it would of taken us forever. I was just reminded over and over again today that our stuff is not eternal and it doesn't really matter in the long run.

I am still continually amazed every day at how wonderful people are treating us. From the Rubins (who have put up a family of 6 for 7 days) to friends who worked out in the cold to throw away black soot and wet covered stuff to friends who have organized gifts, to people who have brought meals to friends who have emailed/texted/called/facebooked (those really do mean a lot...and it never gets old to hear someone is praying for you) to friends who ask me how I am doing to people we don't even know sending our kids toys & clothes to people who sent us food for Zach & Madie (you should of seen Zach's face when he saw all that food!) to neighborhoods and the list goes on and on.

We started moving some of our new things into the new house tonight. Man...I can't even believe some of the problems our new landlord has had over the last week. Pipes froze and they have fixed 9 different leaks! How crazy is that?! But, tomorrow we will start moving in and we will pick up some of the furniture people have given to us. It will be a another big day.

I have talked with so many insurance people...my head is spinning. I spent time with the fire inspector yesterday and read through his forever long report. It was crazy to relive the details of it. I still can't get the site of the flames pouring out of the house out of my head. Or the smell of soot.

I did find out today that there was another fire that night in our city after ours. A family had been watching TV for 45 minutes before they realized there was a fire. They all got out safe.

Tonight I wondered what all this would be like I didn't have God's hope and His hand guiding me through this? I can't imagine how people go through tragedy or devastating times without His hope and hand.

Day 8 is tomorrow. Lot's to do. I am sure my cell phone will be blowing up again. I have to meet with some insurance people. I need to move stuff into the new place. Pick up furniture. Call utility companies. And much more.

Thanks for praying for us!

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Wednesday's thoughts

Yesterday was one of the hardest days yet for me. Not sure why. We took the kids to school and we met with their principle (a wonderful woman and Willow attender for years) and the kids teachers. It was a tough morning. I think just reliving it with them and seeing their care and how much they want to help with our kids...was again, overwhelming. Bekah shared the story with her class and answered questions. Bobby shared it through his teacher.

From there I went to my office and spent a couple of hours calling bills. On a side note...these companies really need an emergency line. I was able to cancel a few things and get out of an extra or two we had in our budget. Nothing major, but every penny counts right now. Just the weight of our finances is really heavy right now. Figuring our security deposit for a new place, and so many of the little things that come up. All that being said...I just can't believe people's generosity.

To top things off, we had a flat on Sunday...not a bad one, nothing a can of fix a flat wouldn't fix. But, I just didn't want to worry about it. So, my dad and I headed out to get it fixed. My wife called and told me to go to her bosses husband's shop, he's the manager of a Firestone. We dropped off the van and my dad and I headed to a near by restaurant and just ate pizza and watched football for a few hours. I can't even tell describe how much I needed and loved that time with my dad. I admire him so much and he's my hero. Just to spend a few hours alone with him was so incredible.

I am not great at sharing sometimes. It's something I am working on. But, I needed him to know a few things. Now that I am dad and I think back to how he was with me, I just want my kids to feel that way about me. My dad worked hard while we were growing up. Sometimes working two jobs. Yet, he still played catch with me. He still pitched me batting practice. He is a great dad. I remember hearing him get up so early to pray and I just remember his incredible patience with me. So, I thanked him for all that. We turned into a couple of crying guys in a bar...and we weren't even drinking!

When we went to pick up the keys the mechanic handed my me keys and told me it was all set. Again, so grateful for people's generosity.

My parents needed to get back to work, so they left early Monday morning. I woke up around 5:30am and just cried. I just felt so alone. Even though I have Tracie and the kids; it was just so nice to have my mom and dad. About 2 seconds into my cry fest, I realized that we have an amazing family upstairs who are showing us love like we have never seen. I can't even begin to write how much we admire, love and are so thankful for Scott & Lynette & their boys. They have been so wonderful. Once I realized they were still there, an amazing sense of relief came over me.

I also walked through the house again with our insurance person. We had to go room by room and try to make a list of everything we owned. Our renters insurance will cover up to a certain amount, but they have to make sure that we owned that much...even with it's depreciated it value. It was terribly exhausting.

I just keep thinking and wondering how people without a church community go through stuff like this. I am witnessing and am a part how of the body of Christ takes care take cares of it's community.

Today's a full day. Actually the next few days are pretty full. I meet another insurance crew at the house this morning. Then, I need to track down a dumpster and to save money, (instead of paying a company) my brother and I and friends are going to throw away all our stuff. We will also pack up anything that can saved.

It's funny at a time like this what you get emotional about...when you think about losing your stuff. We immediately thought of our family pictures...but we kept them in a rubber maid and they are safe. Thanks rubbermaid! We thought of all of our pictures of our computer. Chris & Matt & Keith from our Elevate team were able to get everything off our hard drive. Thank you guys! And...of course I was sad about my the Office dvd's and my baseball glove. But...I just keep reminding myself it's just stuff. It's going to burn someday anyway and I can't take it with me to eternity. It's funny because I hate clutter, so I am always getting rid of the piles Tracie makes.

Well, no real direction in this post, but I know friends and family are praying for us and I wanted to keep them updated.

Oh...looks like we have a found a house to rent in the same neighborhood! Answer to prayer! It's a little more a month, but the kids will have the same bus and some of the same routine. But, we went the other night to get keys and turns out some pipes burst in the basement. Really!?! So, our new landlord was getting them fixed and we are waiting to hear when we can move it.

Thanks for your prayer, financial help and your thoughts. It's amazing how much facebook messages, emails, texts and voicemails mean at a time like this.

One last thing...I read this verse this morning and it knocked me back.
Psalm 107:43 (Message) If you are really wise, you'll think this over--it's time you appreciated God's deep love.

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From Monday Morning on Facebook

Before I head out today...I just wanted to write a quick note to say how thankful I am. To be brutally honest, I am a prideful...arrogant...& stubborn guy. I don't like to ask for help and I am having a hard time processing all the help that we getting.

All that being said...I am just so thankful for our community. Our family, our co-workers, our church, our neighborhood, our friends, and the many people who are praying for us and care for us. The reality of all this has set it. The last couple of days it almost felt like a dream and we would wake up and be able to go home and get in our pajama's, put the kids to bed and watch an episode or two of the office. (I shouldn't be sad I lost all 4 seasons of the Office, but I am?!)

But, today I meet with the insurance people, see if we will be approved to rent a house in the same neighborhood (thanks for praying for that) and start figuring out all the financial stuff. We will have some insurance money coming, but it turns out I didn't have a very high amount of coverage. When I sent up our renters insurance I didn't know what to get...I do now. All that being said, I am so grateful and thankful we will have something coming.

It's just amazing to process when you start thinking of putting back together 11 years of marriage and 4 kids worth of stuff. Now...it's just stuff and we care most about our family. We just keep telling ourselves that...it's just stuff. And...we really didn't have that much stuff anyway.

We are staying in our very dear friends basement...Scott & Lynette Rubin. Would you pray for them? Pray for rest? Pray that all this hospitality would come back to them 10 fold? I can't even begin to describe how I feel about them. They are a huge blessing and we love them.

We walked through a rental house yesterday that would be perfect for our family...so we will see today or tomorrow if the people will approve us. I think they will because they want to help, but who knows. It's really nice and has a lot of space and I find myself feeling bad that it's so nice. Not sure why. I need to figure out things like security deposit and stuff like that today.

There are so many amazing stories to share, and I will in the weeks to come. We believe God's fingerprints are all over this. Like neighborhood kids sending our kids their Christmas money and friends going to to the store to buy us clothes. But, I wanted to share one today that blows me away.

A very good friend and prayer partner of mine sat down with his family and asked what they could do to help us. He told them that my 6 year really missed his nintendo DS. Well, his jr. high boy went up to his room, carefully packed up his DS and brought it down and said he wanted to send it to bobby. I cry as I type that. I told Bobby about it and he's been asking when does the mail come each hour. Coincidentally, he doesn't think it's fair that there is no mail delivery on MLK day.

One last overwhelming feeling. People by the dozens have been stopping by or sending cash or gift cards to us. There is even an account set up. Again, so hard to believe that people would send financial help. I can't even believe that kind of generosity...it blows us away! It's so hard to accept them and on the other hand they are so helpful.

If you do want to help, in any way, email me and I can point you to someone on our team. We have someone who is organizing clothes, furniture and money gifts. jraitz@willowcreek.org.

Thank you from the Raitz family....Jason, Tracie, Bekah, Bobby, Zach & Madison.

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A look at the house

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So Overwhelmed...

Another night that I didn't sleep all that well. My mind has been racing, my body is tired and I can't get the image of fire pouring out of the house out of my mind. I just can't stop playing the what if game. What if my kids were home. What if my brother wouldn't of smelled the smoke from his room in the basement. What if. But, I know I can't.

If you haven't heard, on Thursday afternoon a fire started in our garage and took off through the rest of the house. The left side of our house is pretty gutted and the right side is covered in black soot and water from the fire department. The basement filled with 8 inches of water and everything got drenched and then froze in the sub artic temperatures.

I just feel so blessed that no one was hurt. My brother was home at the time and as he was coming down from the upstairs shower he immediately noticed the smoke filing the house. He searched all over and finally looked in the garage where a wall of flames singed the hair off his arms and some off his head. Heroicly he ran to the kitchen sick and filled a container of water to throw on the fire. That didnt' work, so he ran into the garage and started to beat the fire with a rake and it fell a part in his hands. The garage door started to melt and he ran outside in only track pants. After he was outside he realized our family dog, brownie--the sweetest chcoc. lab, wasn't there, he ran back in to get her.

No shoes and no shirt in -10 degree weather. He was outside on the snow & ice for about an half hour before the police got him in the back of their car. He ran out of the house and he called the fire department and he called me. I was in a meeting and didn't pick up at first. Then he called right back. That's our signal if we really need to talk to each other. He was hysterical. I couldn't understand and he sounded horrible. I started to hear him yelling fire, and I immediately grabbed my coat and ran to my car. As I left the church parking lot I could see a tower of smoke coming from our neighborhood. We are so blessed to rent a house in a neighborhood right next to the church. This house has been the most incredible home for us this past year and a half.
As I turned the corner, I was just praying he was ok. As I arrived, it looked like a movie set. The flames were pouring out of the garage and the first & second floor bathroom windows. The fire fighters were spraying water on the fire from the sidewalk, a good 15 feet away. I saw vinyl siding melting and the garage door was already gone. I heard glass breaking because the fire fighters had to break out all the windows.

I saw a neighbor with our dog and I ran to her. She was covered in soot and I put her in the back of my car. Then I ran to the house. I was immediately detained by a police officer and taken to the back of his car. Not a comfortable place, but my brother was there.
He was screaming and crying and going hysterical. He wanted out, he wanted to help with the fire. I remember grabbing him and yelling. Your ok, that's all that matters. He just screamed the house, the stuff. I grabbed him again and said...I love you, you are all that matters. Before we started talking, he had accidentally called my mom's cell phone and when she answered she could just hear him screaming and me trying to calm him down. Imagine the worry of a mother hearing that from her sons and being 6 hours away in Detroit.

The fire cheif (who was incredible) came to me and made sure that no one else was in the house. For some reason I asked if they could retrieve Zack & Madie's medical formula from the front hall closet. Zach & Madie have a PKU ( a genetic disorder) and they need that formual to live. The fire cheif had a fire fighter run and they were able to get all the cans. So blessed!

At that moment Scott & Chris found me. They had (as wel as all my other co-workers) had followed me as they saw me running out of the church. Scott & Chris took care of brownie and immediatley starting helping me sort through everything. I had to meet with the fire inspector and I had to call insurance companies.

I then asked Scott to go get Tracie from work. She works at church in the daycare. He raced to church and went right to Tracie. He firmly said that she needed to come with him. She looked really puzzled and he pulled her aside and told her and she grabbed her coat. I saw them pull up and I will never forget seeing her face when she first saw the house.

I didn't have our renters insurance phone number, and I had remembered that I got it through Geico, and I had that number in my phone. I called them and was put on hold. They really need to have an emergency number! Once I got through to the insurance company I got the needed information I needed because the house would need to be boared up after the fire fighters were done with it.
They took my brother to the hospital. As they did that, a neighbor who we weren't really close with, opened the door to the fire inspectors truck that Tracie and I were in and put money and her phone number in Tracie's pocket and just kept saying...whatever you need. She was also the one who brought my brother shoes and socks and a jacket when we were in the back of the police car.
We needed a place to talk and deal with the flood of phone calls so we went to her house 3 doors down. It was there that Scott found out that her husband is the director of the ER that they took my brother to and he immediately called and made sure they took great care of him. They had 2 doctors and a team of nurses waiting. His feet were look at for frostbite, he was given oxygen and treated for second degree burns on his back and arms. In my mind he is a hero. He tried to put it out, he called the fire department right away and he saved our dog.

At about 930pm we were allowed to enter and I will never forget it. I can't even describe it. Awful. The dad side of me was the most hit as I saw my kids stuff either destroyed by water or fire.
The whole time, Scott...my boss and friend, was at my side. He didn't leave...actually he didn't till Saturday afternoon and we joked it would be weird not to be glued to each other. My parents drove in Friday and my mom called in tears on TH night because our local newspaper ran a story about the house and included pictures. And when she saw them she broke down.

Right now we are living in Scott's family basement and the care and love and support from our church community has been overwhelming. The people I work with have organized themselves in teams. A Clothing team, a furniture team, a gift card team, a money donation team. Scott's family is amazing and we are so thankful for them. Robin, Courney, Leah, Melissa, Chris, Matt, Brandon, Tersea, Nick, Pam and so many others have been so wonderful. It's really hard to think about all the help we are receiving, especially since I don't do a great job asking for it.

That night I called my prayer partner Dave Kurt and I wanted to get him praying. Dave is a guy who lives what he believes and he started praying. He right away started organizing friends and family and really so many people that I don't know who wanted to help us. He set up a facebook page..."People who want to help the Raitz family". And he has been so incredible...texting me scripture and of course the occasional joke. I love him.

Friday morning was really hard because I walked Tracie through the house. It was really emotional and it was hard seeing her process looking at little baby shoes melted to the counter, and the kids projects destroyed and the baby crib covered in soot.

We took our kids through on Saturday and that was hard. Our 4 year was very afraid and didn't go in, our 6 year boy kind of though it was cool...I mean...seeeing a microwave melted doesn't happen all that often...and our 8 year girl cried the whole time. We were able to save her doll morgan...this doll has been with us for 8 years. We gave her a few baths and she still only sort of smells like smoke.

My 6 year boy...who is the most tender little guy, upon arriving at the house, his first thoughts were for our neighbors...he wanted to make sure they were ok. And then he wanted to make that the gentlemen who we rent from would be ok.

I rent the house from a guy who is currently out of the country. His parents came to the fire that night and met with me on Friday morning and assured me that they care most of about my family and wanted us to know they would help in any way. It was so encouraging.

I am just overwhelmed by our church community and our community across the country as well. The emails, cards, texts, phone calls have all been so enouraging. It's so hard to get handed a card with money or gift cards or a bag of clothes, but we have nothing nad it helps so much.

If you would like to pray for us...please pray for a home in the same neighborhood. We would like the kids to be able to stay on the same bus and have a sense of normalcy. Pray for my brother. Pray for rest for all the people taking such great care of us.

Thanks
Jason, Tracie, Rebekah, Robert, Zachary, Madison

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Only 9.5 hours

It only took us 9.5 hours to drive 350 miles...that must be a record. We sailed through Chicago and Indiana and then the storm of all storms hit. It was the worst driving conditions I have ever experienced. We saw 52 vehicles that slid off the road. We also saw some really disturbing pile ups. They were horrific! We tried to stop at a hotel, but they were all full.

But, we made it.

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Some Fun Stuff...

Thrive Church. One of my oldest friends is starting a church. He's leaving his current church (a congregation in Houston, TX) and is living out his dream of planting a church. I am very excited for him and will be praying for his launch team and for their financial needs to be met.

Oh yeah, his name is Tom Elmore and you can find his blog here.

Middle School Ministry. I can't wait for this book to come out. Not only because Marko and Scott are writing it, but because I know it will be a great resource and help to many middle school pastors. It's been fun talking with Scott about it. Here's more about it.

Shift 09. It's on the campus of Willow Creek and is April 22-24th, 2009. A few weeks ago our team sat in a Shift meeting and go the low down of what's happening at this year's conference. I have to say, I am pretty excited about the line up. Speakers include...

Francis Chan

Mark Matlock

David Kinnaman

Kara Powell

Bill Hybels

Marcus Buckingham

This is way cool, but I get to lead a breakout called...Teaching Jr. high students...Speaking with, instead of At.

And, I am hosting a cup of coffee with a discussion on...Events from Beginning to End and everything in between.

Youth Worker Book of Hope. This is both cool and fun for me and probably falls into "sweet brag" territory. But, this is a book coming out next August and I was asked to contribute a chapter for it. My chapter is called...When the Event Fails. Even though it is was hard, writing this chapter brought a lot of healing and I hope it will help some others.

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Weekly Check In

Good Weekend at Elevate. It feels good to have Elevate done for 2008. We get the next two weekends off and then we start back up Jan. 3/4th. Scott taught this past weekend on Matthew 1:23 and finished our Christmissed series. It was really cool to walk by small groups and hear some of the discussion they were having. It was also a blast to thank our small group leaders and wish them a Merry Christmas.

Fun & busy week ahead. Our Elevate team leaves tomorrow for a quick 2 day staff retreat up in the great state of Wisconsin. It will be nice to unplug, spend some time together, do some planning and...I bought a little treat for the retreat. I found a the Office trivia board game and hopefully there will be some interest in playing.

The plans. I made some headway on the strategic plans I have been preparing and I hope to put some more cement to them this week.

Writing strategic plans and dreaming up events is definitely something I love to do and enjoy spending time doing them. I am really having a blast dreaming about our March event and I really think we will be able to use it as a catalyst to get students who don't call Elevate their home plugged into a small group.

Parenting. We have really hit some roadblocks lately with our kids. Tough to describe, but it's been a hard time. Really pushing us to our limits. Our 6 year old is keeping us on our toes...BIG TIME. To top it off, I feel like we are still trying to figure out having 2 kids with PKU. I try not to talk about it too much, because I don't want to complain. But...the time involved and the cost of 2 kids eating low protein food is becoming much more of a weight than I ever imagined. I can't imagine what it will be like in a few years. Zach is already eating a ton and is hungry all the time. I do know this...we are so blessed to have Zach & Madie!

Physically Speaking. 6 months after my foot surgery and it still doesn't feel back to normal. It's much better than even a month ago, so I'm hopeful. I am going to start running again after Christmas and look forward to getting back into a morning running routine. To top it off, I am joining a bunch of other Elevate people in a Elevate's Biggest Loser Contest starting Jan. 2. I lost 35 pounds in 08 and hope to lose at least that much in 09. Bring on the stairs!

Thinking Lately about a few things...

• What I did with ALL the time I had before kids. SERIOUSLY. I use to complain that I was busy and had no time. HAH! It's amazing how you learn to enjoy even a few minutes alone.
• How do people spend great time writing & preparing messages with families? I am on a journey to figure it out. Years ago I would rely on working at night or the wee hours of the morning, but now, I have to be as productive as possible in the office. Mornings are crazy around here with getting 6 people ready and out the door and when we get home...we have the same pattern every night...homework, dinner, story time, play time, baths, jammies, bed time and then Tracie and I pass out from exhaustion.
• I need to spend more one on one time with each of my kids. And...I need to be creative with how I spend that time. Planning missions, taking Bekah on dates, playing ball with the boys or wrestling.

Post that left me thinking this week.

• Andy had an interesting post this week that made me think. I agree with him, but I'm not ready to throw in the towel yet. He basically said he's done with blogging because he's so tired of all the narcissism. We'll miss you.

Looking forward...

• Serving at our Christmas outreach...Light.
• Driving back to Detroit, spending time with family, hanging out with old friends, being at 3DYC, getting some to write and get ahead.

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My HATE continues...

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Weekly Check In

Good Weekend at Elevate. It was good to be back after a two week break (trip to nywc & thanksgiving). I taught this past weekend on Matthew 1:21..."Jesus came to save with us" and I felt it went well. We are doing a two week series called Christmissed and we are looking at the things we normally miss at Christmas.

Important Couple of Weeks. I have two and half weeks in the office before a very nice Christmas break. I hope I will never take for granted that I get the week off in between Christmas and New Years. So many of our volunteers have to work that week and it's a great blessing that Willow gives us.

Projects that are on my priority list...

• Summer Camp strategic plan
• March outreach event strategic plan
• Recruiting Interns
• Follow up on potential small group leaders

Currently Reading. Leading from the Second Chair and I am re-reading Axiom.

Getting Ready For...3DYC, Believe and Timber Lee. My plan is to hopefully get all these talks written before Christmas.

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Charles Ryrie + Ken Davis = Jason Raitz?

It's hard for me to believe, but Charles Ryrie was my first "speaker crush".

Do you have any "speaker crushes"? Speaker crushes are people that you could listen to non stop without getting tired of and you start to find yourself sounding a whole lot like when you teach.

It was 1995 when I first heard Charles Ryrie. My pastor at the time, Rev. H. Dalton Myers, took our staff from Covenant Community Church to a hear a seminar he was doing on...I think...premillennialism and the Brownsville Revivals.

Let me tell you...it was quite a day! HAH! But, back then, I worked at a very conservative church and 2 of the pastors I worked with were graduates of DTS and Theology was everything. It's all we talked about. It's all we did. There was barely any of talk of strategic plans, creative worship services or outreach...we talked and taught theology.

I have always been a front row guy and I found my seat. A few seconds later a really, really old guy sat next to me. Then he did something I will never forget. He looked down at his bible and smiled and then he looked at my bible and made a goofy disgusted look. I had a NIV study bible and he had a Charles Ryrie study bible, NASB of course!

It was a little weird. I didn't know if this old guy wanted to fight or what. Well, the host came up and introduced the speaker, Dr. Charles Ryrie. You guessed it. The old guy sitting next to me. He got up, gave me a wink and I just had to laugh. That day I got my first "speaker crush".

For a few years I tried to be Dr. Ryrie for my youth group. Which worked for me because I was under constant scrutiny that my teaching wasn't deep enough for the church kids. So, I would find myself sounding like a lecturer and I felt really good when my talk read like a commentary.

That all changed a year later when I heard Ken Davis for the first time. I was in love. Speaker Crush number two. My youth ministry professor, Jenni Knowles, had us read his book...Secrets of Dynamic Communication. Then, shortly after, I read...How to Speak to Youth and Keep them awake a the same time. My crushed blossomed and not only did I love Ken's communication, I had found a way to communicate with focus, clarity and power. And...it really worked for me.

Those were my first two speaker crushes. They couldn't be more opposite and I learned a lot from both of them. Probably more from Ken, because honestly, I really never knew what Dr. Ryrie was talking about!

It took me a long time to realize this, but I didn't need to be Charles or Ken...I needed to be Jason. I could learn from them, but I needed to still be me, when I taught. It's taken me a long time, but I feel the most comfortable now, then I have ever felt when it comes to my teaching style.

I still have speaker crushes.

1. John Ortberg. I listen to his talks all the time and I read everything he publishes.
2. Bill Hybels. Every time I listen, I learn something new.
3. Francis Chan. New to my list.

Questch...Who do you a speaker crush on?

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