After the service Jim and Carolyn were talking about the days when they were serving on Pendel’s summer Gospel team. Evie looks back upon her association with Jim and Carolyn with great fondness as they are among the gems the Lord has brought into her life. Having to come to know them over the years, I have come to value them as well. It will be some time before we will see them again as Jim and Carolyn are now in Australia.
As many of those who know me can attest, I enjoy wrestling with the human struggle and conflict for spiritual and personal fulfillment as well as in the working out of theological and philosophical ideas in the space of life. Hence I have been fascinated with battles and human conflict. To that end, this past Monday Evie and I toured Gettysburg and its battlefields. As we toured the hallowed soil with all its monuments I recalled the stories of particular legacies left by men, many of whom gave the last full measure on the fields and hills of Gettysburg. While some soldiers knew at the onset that what was taking place on those fields was pivotal, most did not. The did their duty each day unaware that they were at a pivotal moment. None would have dreamed how their little parts determined the destiny and shape of a nation by the sweat, tears and blood they poured forth.
In my mind Sunday’s visit and walking the battle fields flowed as two independent streams into one river of thought and thereby become a single event. Seeing Jim, Carolyn and Evie interact as they talked about the days of yore reminded me that throughout our lives there are dozens of people who contribute immensely to our growth or who we recall with great fondness for a special reason. Sometimes the contribution is over months or years, but in some cases it could be a conversation or act that resounds throughout our lives as a clear majestic chord. Regrettably, we often do not to recognize their impact until years later when sober wisdom and divine hindsight have settled upon us. It is most unfortunate that such insights often come too late to say thank you.
On the tableau of my mind I started to pen a list the people who have been divine gems in my life. Once or twice a week over the coming weeks I am going to list these human gems on my blog. I will also give a brief explanation. Intentionally, I am not going to be able to include all gems in my life. Evie as my life partner has been the dominant gem of these last twenty-eight years. Parents, grandparents, siblings or my children are also gems and I am excluding because I wish to look beyond my immediate family. So over the next few weeks and mingled with my blogs I will be listing individuals who shaped my thinking in at a significant point or who I recall with great affection. The list is not intended to be exhaustive, nor should it be viewed so. I am also intentionally not listing anyone who I have come to know in the last five years as their impact will only become clearer as time progresses.
Back in June, a tag was given to the family members who were blogging. I am issuing a tag to Evie, my sisters (and Stephen when he gets into blogging) and all our family bloggers to intentionally identify those who impacted their thinking and lives. I am sure each will be surprised, as I have been, by the length of the list.
Following is my first gem posting.
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Gord and Marg Kerr – I once asked Dan Brown a friend of mine and an Advisory Board member (whom I will discuss in another blog), why he returned to going to church after decades of being away and being skeptical about faith. While I cannot recall his exact words that day over lunch, the profundity of his statement has continued to shape my thinking. Dan noted that there are two types of people in ministry. There are those who feel they are called to a church profession and seek to serve. There are those who are truly called and you can see it by their nature and how they live out a servant faith. Dan returned to church because he finally met a person in ministry who was the latter and who helped him to understand faith both at the heart and head level.
I am pleased that during my teens that I had Gord and Marg as my Corps Officers as they clearly fall into the latter group. I can say that I met the type of pastors in my teens that Dan met in his adult years. Gord and Marg had a dramatic influence upon my life, not so much by their preaching as by their quiet gentle ministry. They did not put on faith airs, they lived the faith through their patience and forgiveness. They lived out the faith by enduring unkind comments with grace and being at the side of their attacker as pastors, as if the arrows slung days or weeks before never existed. Preachers they were not, (which Gord would freely admit he was not) but the Kerrs were pastors par excellence.
They helped me to feel comfortable with expressing doubts about faith and The Salvation Army. They were the one’s who helped me to move beyond accepting the “hand me down” faith to laying a foundation for shaping my own understanding of faith that would occur at Asbury. They also helped me to understand the nature and value of transparent ministry. For numerous reasons I view Gord and Marg to be my spiritual mentors.
Years later, Evie and I were truly privileged to have them as friends and colleagues in Winnipeg. While I regret that I could not express these words to them, I also know that they would not feel that they did all that much. Let me finish by saying, well done most good and faithful servants. Rest well in your promotion and in His arms of peace.
Earl Best – Earl was a good friend of mine who came from a large blue collar family. With such a large family, Earl’s family did not have much money. What spending money he did have was earned. He helped me to get a job in a grocery store. Though Earl frequently wore hand-me downs he was neat and well groomed. He did not look at what he lacked but at what he possessed, a loving home, a welcoming Corps, a good mind, solid faith in Christ and good friends.
From my friendship with Earl I learned the value of enjoying what you had more than what you did not.
Another lesson I have taken from Earl’s life that continues forward lies behind why he transferred after graduating High School to another Corps. Earl was late to band rehearsals from time to time and would miss the odd one. The bandmaster who had been getting on him for tardiness started to get on him for not replacing a white shirt that had been becoming well worn. Earl told him that he was often late because he was picking up extra hours at work. One night I overheard the conversation and it was clear that the bandmaster was not receptive to Earl’s explanations.
The matter came to a head when, two Sundays in a row, Earl wore dark brown shoes with his uniform. I suspect that the bandmaster was attempting to uphold band discipline and trying to keep this young man in line. He told the man that he should either shape up or leave the band. Earl left the band and the Corps. The brown shoes he wore those two Sundays were his elder brother’s shoes and he wore them because it had been raining those two Sundays and his black shoes had holes in the soles.
Unfortunately, Earl died in an accident about eight months after he transferred to the new Corps. He was returning home after a band practice and he had fallen asleep at the wheel. The two days before he had worked double shifts.
As I mentioned, Earl had a fine mind. He was one of the smartest young men I knew. He would have excelled in college but he could not afford to attend. He had a brother two years younger with a mind almost as equally strong. What the bandmaster did not know, nor other Corps members, was that Earl was putting money into his family’s income and was working overtime when he could so that put money aside so that his younger brother and two younger sisters could have the opportunity to attend college, and maybe even attend himself three or four years late.
From what happened to Earl, I learned the value of listening and attempting to try to understand a person’s issues within their context. Coupled with that, I learned that there may be much more behind the presented explanation that will only come out with honest listening and acceptance. Another lesson I learned is that standards are to serve us, not us standards….there are times when the standard may actually hinder the goal that the standard is intended to achieve.
2 comments:
I am blown away by the power of your message. If I could get a hold of Barb's e-mail (if she has one), she would love to read this about her parents.
I think the Best family would be amazed as well. It's been a while since I have seen them, but if I do, I'll pass it along. Earl was the first person I remember dieing at a younger age. I remember his funeral and how devastated his sisters were.
It's amazing the lessons about life we learn from others along the way. Such little things can often give us the biggest lessons.
what a great challenge to think about the Gems in our lives. I will sit and think and rise to the challenge.
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