How To Get Close To God - Mike Lafferty & Bob Kuebler

Managing the Mentoring Process

All relationships will bear some kind of fruit. Mentoring relationships have fruit producing principles.
This is the first in a series of Mentor Force teaching videos sponsored by Youth With A Purpose Inc. The star of our first mentoring video is Jimmy Darby from Buffalo Peacemakers and Open Buffalo. Thanks Jimmy for your valuable insight and sharing your heart. Jesus loves you and so do we.
#ywap716 #mentorforce #ywapbuffalo #openbuffalo #JLYASDW

Mike Pelechaty Was A Knight Who Let His Wife Wear The Shining Armor

          Most of the story you're about to read was written on September 8, 2013. It sat partially finished in a draft folder until God brought it to my mind about a month ago. I decided to finish it today October 9, 2017. Both Mike and Cathy are now in heaven. I wrote the original story when Mike was still with us. The original story is in purple while today's continuation is in blue.

YWAP Thanksgiving at Holy Cross November 19, 2017. (Mike is on the left.)

          Many women think they're looking for a knight in shining armor. A guy without kinks in his armor really doesn't exist this side of heaven. Most guys are more like fruitcakes in tin foil! A woman would be better off with a guy who's transparent with his weaknesses. The kind of transparency that fuels a fire that burns away the chaff of his character. A guy should be willing to sacrifice himself and lift his wife into the glory for which God created her. Mike Pelechaty is one of those guys. He let his wife Cathy wear the shining armor.

          Together with their daughters Erica and Olivia, Mike and Cathy have lived lives of sacrifice for the past few years. Living in the shadow of cancer is like growing a broken heart. The brokenness spreads as the disease advances. My interaction with the family has been mostly as a friend of Mike.

          I was a regular reader of Cathy's posts on The Father's Breadbox - Devotions & Teachings by Cathy Pelechaty. God reached through her and touched those of us who read her words. I was nourished spiritually by reading about her time with God. Here is a quote from her page:

"Never Forget That ~
Walking With God Changes Everything ~
Talking With God Changes You..."

          Mike was a good friend of mine for several years. He's a Doctor and a Pastor. Those titles don't begin to describe who Mike is. He's a Dad who loves his daughters in a more excellent way. He talks about his family constantly. He loved his wife in a more excellent way. He was in enormous pain for the last 3 years. He carried the pain of his wife and his daughters. He carried his own pain. Cathy left her world of physical pain and was welcomed into heaven on September 8, 2013.

          Many married men would gladly take away the pain of their families and carry it themselves. That's also true of a great majority of married women. Mike and I met for breakfast one morning at the Gardenview Restaurant in West Seneca, NY. He told me how hard it was being a husband, a father and a doctor. A husband wants to take the pain away and a doctor is supposed to know how to heal. Mike could do neither of those things for Cathy. At least that's what he believed.

          I think Cathy must have known how much she was loved. There is a kind of healing that happens when you know you are loved. Her relationship with God was revealed through her writings. She was an excellent wife to her husband. Her children called her blessed. Cathy Pelechaty was a friend of God.

Her children bless her.
    Her husband also praises her.
 He says,

“There are many excellent wives,
    but you are better than all of them.”

- Proverbs 31:28-29 IBC

          His love was raw and genuine. As a man, I deeply admired him. Yeah, I wanted to be like Mike! He desperately wanted what was best for his family. He was also a man who followed hard after God. He served as a Board Member for our ministry called Youth With A Purpose. He asked the tough questions that nobody else would ask. He helped plan the future of the ministry which is still growing today. His words are still alive in my heart.

          Mike left this world and was welcomed into heaven on December 18, 2016. I can only imagine Jesus smiling with one arm around Mike and one arm around Cathy. I think God allows us to see physical representations of heaven like this because we couldn't handle what heaven is really like. The immenseness of God's glory would simply blow us away. No pain, all mercy, full of grace, unending oneness with God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit. Mike and Cathy are alive in the greatest story ever told! They get to live everyday from Alpha to Omega for eternity.   

          I miss Mike. I miss Cathy's writings and Holy Spirit delivered wisdom. They're both Bright Spots in a world that sorely needs them. Because of who they were in relationship to each other and in relationship to God, they still live on as Bright Spots today. My wife and I have prayed for their daughters Erica and Olivia and will continue to cover them in love. Will you please do the same?

Thanks for your time. Go do something nice for somebody.
Jesus loves you and so do we.
#JLYASDW