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Last week in my blog I mentioned how the winds around me are shifting. I also mentioned then that it was amazing how much can change in a week. Yesterday in church I postponed my new series, Deal With It!, to deal with the grieving and loss in our church family.
Last Monday I mentioned that my brother-in-law, Gib was in the last stages of this life. He passed on later that day. A few days later, on Thursday, our church brother Paul Jessup passed away suddenly and unexpectedly from a heart attack. Susan and I went to the hospital Thursday night to be with his wife, Jeannie. Then Friday we went to Henryville, Indiana to be with my family and conduct Gib’s funeral on Saturday.
Sonny Pettie called while I was in southern Indiana and told me his brother-in-law, Philip Bothast, had passed away in hospice care. His wife, Linda Bothast, is Sonny’s sister. Philip’s funeral will be this Wednesday. Thank God I don’t have to conduct all these funerals, but it was truly an honor to be a part of Gilbert Bridges’ funeral and reunite with many of his family, and mine.
I truly feel I am entering a new season in life and the winds are shifting from resistance to acceptance. We only continue a short time on this earth, then we stand before our creator to examine our lives from his perspective. I pray in my final years to conduct myself in a way that is pleasing and acceptable to the Lord. I see that this will involve comforting others as the ends of their lives draw near, but it will also involve sharing with them the promises and comfort of the Scriptures concerning death and dying. This is what I did Sunday for Paul’s widow, Jeannie. She was so faithful to show up for services and we gathered and prayed for her strength and guidance over the next few days of grieving and planning. She meets with the funeral home today to lay out the final arrangements (watch for updates on our Facebook page).
My message Sunday (available on Facebook @calvaryassembliesofgod) was mostly a call to remember that this life is not all there is. We should live in the light of that fact. However, I did mention how Paul came to our church a few years ago and became one of our most faithful people. He involved himself in everything. He praised the Lord loudly and freely. He also listened earnestly to the preaching and sought to incorporate it into his life. Paul was making great progress and becoming an example for others to follow.
This is what I believe each of us should focus our remaining years upon—being an example of a believer. Our society needs more examples to emulate. Too often they will point out the one among a thousand that is a bad example so they can discount the others. Our lights should shine so brightly that they will overshadow those who are just a pretense of what a believer should be. May God help us to be that example.
My brother-in-law, Gib, was such a man. He didn’t have to say much about what he believed, it showed in the way he treated others. Being a living example of service to others was the hallmark of Gib’s life.
I think with each soul that passes into eternity, we should pause and reflect on our lives and the impact we make on those around us. Too often we spend our entire lives dealing with issues that hinder the expression of the true nature God has given us in Christ. Too often we keep going back to the same sins and failures of the past and dragging the guilt in over us. The shifting wind I feel now is to let the past go and press on into the future God has for us.
“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal,
but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.”
Philippians 3:12 (NIV)
“Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example
for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.”
1st Timothy 4:12 (NIV)
Pastor Brian Jenkins
Calvary Assemblies of God