A loss of a dear friend and future plans

Last time I wrote we were on our way back from Sweden to Finland. The same day we arrived in Finland we checked in at our hotel where we rested the day before the meeting in Sion church in Helsinki. I did not know what to expect from that night and my emotional feelings were mixed. The same day we left Sweden we stopped by and visited our dear brother and friend Tommy Tiger Ove Björk who then was in hospice due to his cancer. I had a feeling that it was the last time I was going to see him here on earth. We had visited him when we came to Sweden and we spent three days together with him and his closest family. It was a time of tears but also joy.

Tommy Ove Björk moved home to be with the Lord, February 4th in the morning and I remember I woke up early that morning and I said to my wife that I think he is on his way home. Only a couple of hours later I received the phone call from his sister who told me he had moved home and that he left with a smile on his face.

Tommy Tiger was well known within the racing scene in Sweden and together with him we founded the Ambassadors For Jesus Christ Hot Rod & Racing Team. We had wild dreams about traveling the world together as well as reach the car people in Finland and Sweden. He also had a goal to raise half a million Swedish kronors to the cancer foundation for children in Sweden. He was a wonderful brother and friend. He had a good sense of humor and he was kind and loving to everyone.

I did not know him for a long time. It was last summer, July 8th and I had had a bad day for some reason. I do not remember why. That very same night I received an e-mail from someone called Tommy Tiger and the subject on the e-mail was; Thank you for being there! I read his mail where he told a little bit about himself and encouraged me in the work I do world wide. He hoped to meet one day and since that day we stayed in touch. Together his home church Life Center in Västerås, Sweden we organized the Motor Rock 2014 event and Tommy was so thankful to do this. Before he had organized many major racing events and car shows in Finland and Sweden. This became his last event and it was a blessed day we had.

In November when I was in the US he was also there. I was in Florida and He in California, so close to each other but still so far away. We talked on Skype almost daily in December and January and he was a true fighter. He truly had his hope in Jesus and even if the news from the doctors got worse and worse the more he planned and dreamed. We were going to travel the world together and his wish was to take his children with him. His family was very important to him and he always said that we need to make sure all our friends gets saved so we can work together. He was on fire for the Lord.

Even when we spent time together just weeks before he moved home, he planned to join me on the trip to Florida now in March. He did not give up. The last time I met him at hospice he was still on board and he said "we are in the leadership, lets drive! This is important!" I believe he knew that he was on his way home but he had peace. He was not afraid, he said; "I know where I am an going and with who!"

He became a close friend to both me and Sebastian and we loved him dearly. Now he is home and there is no pain. I am attending his funeral in Västerås, Sweden in a couple of weeks and I am going to sing some of his favorite songs. His sister told me that during the entire time on hospice there was only one record playing and that was the "Thankful" album. I am thankful for the time I got to spend together with my brother, he was a great inspiration to me and I miss him but I also know that we are going to be together in heaven forever as we both belong to Jesus and as the Bible says; there is no other way to the Father than through Jesus Christ.

Anyway, the meeting at Sion in Helsinki was great. There were lots of people and it was a great atmosphere. I also met Finnish guitar legend Jukka Tolonen there that night for the first time since 1995 when we met at Tavastia Club in Helsinki, Finland. Both of us then in our past and both of us went through hard times but today we are both saved and happy. It was such a pleasure to meet him and he is going to play some piano on my upcoming album.

Besides having a meeting at the local methodist church last Sunday and leading worship in my home church last Wednesday I have been working in Nordic Audio Lab Studios together with Martin Kantola. We have been working on the new album and so far we have recorded six new songs for the album. One of them is called "Tommy Tiger" and it is a song to the memory of Tommy Ove Tiger Björk. I am very excited about the new album. The sound is getting so much better in the progress. Sami Ontermaa has been laying drums on some of the tracks and Jani Sandvik played steel guitar on a couple of songs.

This record project is very interesting since most of the songs are new originals and I really feel God's favor in the music. His timing is the right timing. The difference between the earlier records and this is that this is going to feature some of my old friends as well as some of the great American christian musicians. Dave Hlubek, founder of Molly Hatchet has already played guitar on the album. Jukka Tolonen is going to play some piano and original Status Quo drummer John Coghlan, who I used to tour with in 1996-1997 is going to play drums on two of the songs. There are more names to come and some of them might actually surprise you, but I won't tell everything here and now. I am excited about the new album and I hope we have it ready and out on the market in October this year.

Last Thursday I visited the church of Ilmajoki and it was a powerful and wonderful night with lots of people and the presence of Jesus was tangible. I love seeing the Lutheran Church of Finland on fire for Jesus! Peoples lives were changed and that is what happens when we enter the presence of Jesus.

Next weekend I am traveling to Skellefteå, Sweden to do three events with the band from Gothenburg. One of the concerts is against drugs. The weekend after that I am traveling to Västerås for the funeral and three days after I come home from there, March 5th men and my son Sebastian are taking off again. We fly from Vasa, Finland to Frankfurt, Germany and we are doing two events in Germany before we jump on the plane, a non stop flight from Frankfurt to Orlando, Florida.

We will be at Daytona Bike Week from March 9th until the 15th and rest of the month we are serving out of my home church Fountain of Life Church. I have a feeling that it is going to be a busy time in the US again and I am looking forward to visit some of the Florida prisons, alcohol- & drug rehabs, Teen Challenge as well as a few churches.