Donnie Moore…there are probably countless people who can easily consider you a father to them. I know I can. Donnie was there for me in a very hard and critical time in my life. My first born son Elijah was born and began to have some internal complications. He was rushed over to the Oakland Children’s Hospital. While we were there, all of a sudden through the NICU doors comes a massive mountain of a man that I recognized…Donnie Moore. He asked my wife and I how we were doing, held my son and prayed over him. After his visit, it seemed like no time at all we were leaving and everything checked out great! In this particular instance, I love how Donnie saw a need, showed up and started to work. As many people mentioned at his memorial service about his alligator shoes, I’m pretty sure he had them on that day. Lol.
A funny memory of Donnie I have is that he called me one day and said he wanted to buy a gazebo for his backyard and needed some help putting it together. Well….turns out he bought the one that was made out of the heaviest material ever and here I show up thinking it’s made out of plastic and a fabric top. Haha! Was I wrong! But you know, building that for Donnie was fun, challenging and I believe we chatted a bit during the process.
Another memory I had was one day he called me. This time he said “kenny, bro I bought this stereo system and I need help to get it up and going in my gym.” So, me being someone who loves stereos and electronics it was an easy “yes” from me. So I go to his house and meet Donnie out in his weight room and he brings out this box. Inside is a stereo receiver…and that’s it. I said “Donnie, I thought you said you bought a new stereo system, this is just a receiver.” He said “yeah I got it from a guy in a white van in the parking lot (I can’t remember what store he told me) but it doesn’t have speakers, but I have speakers.” Inside I’m shaking my head and saying “Donnie…I’ll be surprised if this can power a 5-watt speaker”. But I gathered all the different components and speakers and mounted them up and made the best “ghetto” sound system for him in his gym. After I was done (before I could leave) he asked me to re-mount his tv in the weight room too. At this point I discovered that Donnie didn’t know how exactly to do things like this. Lol. However, he knew how to ask who could! So I stayed a bit longer and mounted the tv for him. He was so happy and proud of how it turned out.
I remember Super Bowl parties there, he had us go into the weight room and sit on the sectional in the room (which was just the oddest color to me) but man was it comfy! It took everything inside of him not to interrupt the game and showing us his Eagles live concert dvd he found (which he DID end up showing us later at another hang out time).
One of my most memorable times though was at camp. One year, I believe it was a Wednesday night , and we were playing worship at the altar call (I was on the worship team at the time), and I remember the spirit of God hit so hard that for the first time in my life, I dropped to my knees while playing and could do nothing but cry. I had never felt so much at once and just broke. It was a mixture of the great things God was doing in the room, but also the hurt for those who were suffering, whether in the room or back in the cities where we all lived. I remember at multiple camps where Donnie had walked by each of us on the worship team and prayed for us. I always felt peace when Donnie prayed over me, just something about it just made everything better.
Even though I didn’t see Donnie as much as my real father (when he was still alive on earth), Donnie felt like another father to me. I’ll never forget that Donnie took time to get to know me, that he didn’t make himself “too popular to talk to”, and that he allowed God to speak through him to me and tell me what I needed to hear.
These are just a few things I remember at this moment, but I’m sure I’ll remember more and life goes on.
Donnie, thanks again for everything you’ve ever done for me and my family. I truly see how you are all about family! Love you! See you soon! Save me some good grub, don’t eat it all before we get there!