yesterday, the Level 2 cohort of our Youth Ministry Coaching Program had a special guest join us for a couple hours. Jimmy Abegg is an amazing creative — an amazing guitar player (played in Rich Mullins’ band, and Steve Taylor’s current line-up, and with so many others), a professional photographer, a designer, and an amazing painter (i hope to own an Abegg one day).

with a life given to that sort of work, one could understand if Jimmy were deeply struggling with depression over the dramatic loss of his eyesight. but he’s just the opposite: positive and genuinely hopeful — not hopeful that maybe he’ll be healed, but hopeful that his loss of sight will lead to all sorts of good.

here’s an excellent 13 minute video about Jimmy and his sight loss, VERY worth watching:

Peripheral: Painting in the dark from Derek Pearson on Vimeo.

our merry band of youth workers had a fantastic rambling conversation with jimmy about how to respond when one’s expectations about the future run up against major redirects or roadblocks. a few pearls i furiously scribbled down:

Maybe I’m getting this (vision loss) earlier than most because it’s a good story.

find who you are and go for broke, because i’m betting there’s a hell of a lot more in there than you’ve discovered yet.

not to be sure of what’s goin’ down has to become part of what’s goin’ down.

finding more of me is more exciting than regretting the loss of some aspect of me.