Last week we lost a member of
our family. My sister Diane’s husband, Harold, went to be with the Lord. He was
an incredible man of God. He was a pastor for over thirty years, and a
missionary to Ghana, Africa for over eight years.
For more than a year now he
has been having multiple mini strokes called TIAs. He would heal up from them,
but eventually they were making him weaker and weaker each time. Finally, he
got to where he could neither walk nor talk. He was not in pain but was
extremely frustrated.
My husband, Ray, had a very
hard time with it all. He kept asking me why God would let such a faithful
servant as Harold suffer, and why He would let the family suffer watching him
go down like that. It made no sense to him. He kept asking why God didn’t just
take him quickly.
I would just tell him that
God has a plan. We might see what it is, or we might never find out, but God
always has a plan going on behind the scenes. He tells us that His thoughts are
higher than our thoughts, and His plans are higher than our plans.
The doctors offered to put a
small new device into Harold’s heart that would stop blood clots from escaping
his heart, where they are formed, and he should not have any more strokes. They
assured them it was very safe and highly successful. This seemed like it might
be the answer they needed so they agreed to have it done.
Unfortunately, Harold was one
of the few people who reacted the opposite of what was expected, and instead of
stopping the strokes, it caused him to have more. They put him into a rehab
hospital to help him get through it and hopefully get well. However, he kept
going downhill. A week and a half ago he had a bigger stroke which left him paralyzed
on his right side. The next day he went home to heaven. That was what he had
been telling Diane and everyone else that he wanted to do, was to go home to be
with the Lord.
Of course, Diane was broken
hearted, but some wonderful things happened as a result of it all. While Harold
was in the rehab hospital he had two different roommates. As a result of these
two men watching Harold and all of his Christian visitors coming in and talking
to and praying with Harold, Diane had the opportunity to speak to each of them
about God and pray with them.
One of the men she thought it
was very possible that he had accepted the Lord and became a Christian. We are
really hoping so.
The other man was a very
rough, tough, crass biker type. The day before Harold died this man spoke to
Diane. He said, “he is dying.” Diane said, “I know, but he is a Christian so he
is going to heaven.” This tough biker guy teared up and said, “I want to go to
heaven.”
Diane took the moment to tell
him about God and explain the plan of salvation to him. She told him how he
could ask God to forgive his sins and be his Savior. She asked if he would like
to do that and he said yes, so she prayed with him right then. She said she
really felt like he was sincere and had truly become a Christian.
They moved Harold to another
room, but the whole rest of the time she had with this man his eyes were filled
with tears. Harold passed away the next day.
I was telling our prayer
group at our church all about what happened in the hospital. We agreed that
Harold had devoted his entire life to telling people about God and leading them
to salvation. We all believe that Harold would have gone through his ordeal a
thousand times without complaining if he knew these two men would come to know
the Lord while Harold was there in the hospital with them. You see, if Harold
hadn’t taken the path to his death the way he did, they never would have met
these two men. Who knows if either one of them would have met the Lord if God
had “mercifully” taken Harold quickly. I believe that Harold ending up in that
hospital with them was God’s behind the scenes plan.
The Bible tells us about
Elijah and Elisha, and how Elijah threw down his mantle to Elisha, who picked
it up and carried on Elijah’s work.
About a month after my father,
who was an incredible man of God, and a preacher who was constantly leading
people to salvation, had gone home to the Lord, I was thinking about him one
day. I asked God who would witness to all the people my father would have told
about the Lord. God spoke very clearly to me and said, “That is your job now.” At
that moment I realized my father had passed the mantle to me. It was
overwhelming.
I believe that as Harold was
slipping out of this world, he threw down his mantle to my sister. That was why
my sister who is naturally a rather shy person, was able to boldly speak to
these men and lead them to the Lord. She had picked up the mantle.
I also believe he threw down
his mantle to his daughters, and everyone else who knew him. Now it is up to
each one to decide if they will pick up the mantle.
When I say “pick up the
mantle” I am not saying the mantle is something magical, or that we can absorb
his spirituality. Each person’s spirituality is the relationship between them and
God. I believe the “mantle” is the challenge God gives us to continue the work
and be witnesses for Him. We can all do it if we choose to. The question is,
who among us will pick up the mantle?
As I told you, my father was
a powerful man of God. He was a pastor for about fifty years.
When it really hit me who my
father really was happened at his funeral. In my mind he had always just been “Dad”
also known as Bill.
We had three local pastors
give eulogies at the service. One of them was a pastor named Glen Parks. He gave
a wonderful eulogy, and he ended it by quoting from the Bible, John 1:6.
It says, “There was a man
sent from God, and his name was John.” However when he closed his eulogy he
said, “There was a man sent from God, and his name was Bill.” That was when I realized
who our father really was. What a privilege it had been to have him as our
father.
Harold lived his life the way
our father did. They both were always about the Father’s work.
Now I would like to use that
Bible scripture one more time and say, “There was a man sent from God, and his
name was Harold.”
So, what do you say? Will you
pick up the mantle?
Think about it.
