Someone very important in my life took their last breath yesterday and went to be with our Lord. He was a man who literally loved every single person he came in contact with. Not only did he love them, he cared for them. If you felt at all that he didn't, or that he had forgotten about you, or that he was too "busy," this simply wasn't true. He just had so much love he didn't know what to do with it.
He spoke of love for other people. When I think of what he taught all of us, I think about when Jesus is discussing the commandments with the Pharisees after they question him to test him. "And He replied to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind (intellect). [Deut. 6:5.] This is the great (most important, principal) and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as [you do] yourself. [Lev. 19:18.] These two commandments sum up and upon them depend all the Law and the Prophets." (Matthew 22:37-40, AMP)
He strove to reach the lost and those who couldn't help themselves; he had a heart unlike any other I've ever met; he was a man of God; he bragged on his wife at every chance he had, and spoke of her with pride; they had the type of marriage that stories and legends are made from; he had two amazing, wonderful sons, who listened intently to their fathers words; he was always kind; he was always forgiving. He had a heart after God's own, and he longed to be with Jesus.
When I quickly had to leave my church at the age of 19, he took me into the leadership of his own ministry. When I strayed away, not once, but many times - he was quick to reel me back in and help me realize how precious I was to Jesus. When I dropped the ball, he was forgiving. When I made mistakes, he didn't judge. And I'm certainly not the only person he did this for.
I didn't have words when it happened, and even now, I still don't really know what to say. I can't wrap my head around the fact that I will never again in this life see or hear him preach from a pulpit, or hear him tell the beautiful story of how he and his wife met, or how his dad met his mom (one of my favorite God stories of all time.)
What is hardest for me, though, is how life just seems to keep going. The world (yes, not just the Central Valley, the whole world) has lost an amazing person...yet we just keep going on with life. I personally feel like a part of my world is missing. No, he and I were not great friends, but I respected him, and learned from him. In the last few months of his too short life, those around him have witnessed just how many people he actually impacted - and those are just the people on Facebook. How many more unspoken voices are out there? Someone put it so perfectly, "[He] was a world changer." That he most certainly was. Myself, and so many others, came to know who Christ really is because of him, and he helped so many of us find our way to eternity. Some of us will spend eternity with GOD because he took the time to invest in our lives, had the confidence to speak the bold truth, and had the patience to bear with us when we messed up.
My intent is that I haven't been able to say what I feel in words, so I had to put them in writing. If that means tons of people who I don't even know read this, then that's fine. At the end of the day, our job as a human on earth is simple - love others as we love ourselves. Take a moment to care about someone else today. Have more patience today. Invest in someones life. LOVE someone who may not know what love is.
