Saturday, May 20, 2017

Nancy & Jim

People come into our lives at what seems a random order. What seems random is part of God's plan. He uses each person for a purpose. In fact, you may be the person that God is using for a purpose for someone else. The hard part is noticing what each person is doing in your life.

I attended two funerals today. The first one was for Nancy Phillips. I met Nancy at Second Baptist Church in Russellville in 1993. I never knew her very well. She was always at church. She was well respected in the church and community. I knew her husband because Joe was the county judge.

Nancy's main contribution to my life was through her daughter, Linda. Linda is a Christian counselor. She's good at both. I wandered into Second Baptist Church after a divorce and I didn't know if life was worth hanging around for. The church was about to start a small group Bible study called "Making Peace with Your Past." Linda was the facilitator. I had no idea what the class was about but I knew my past was making me miserable so I showed up for the first session. That class, that church, and Linda changed my life. I'm sure that I'm here today because of those days.

I sure am glad I met Nancy Phillips. I'm also glad I met Jim Meister.

Jim's funeral was at Geyer Springs First Baptist Church this afternoon. His grandchildren are friends of my son so Jim's son and daughter-in-law are our friends. I met Jim last summer when he was in the hospital and our friends were out of state.

I walked into Jim's hospital room not knowing anything about him and not much about his situation. He was dealing with complications from a hip surgery. He was clearly in pain when I met him.

Instead of complaining about the pain and excusing himself from the visit, Jim welcomed me and struck up a conversation as if we'd been friends forever. Jim's a member of a church that is much larger than mine. In fact, he taught a Sunday School class that was larger than my church.

But Jim didn't want to talk about himself - except for his grandkids. He wanted to talk about my church. He kept talking until the pain was too much. Then he asked for pain meds. After the nurse brought him something he kept talking with me until he drifted off to sleep. I said goodbye although he never heard me, and I left. I was so encouraged and I expected to encourage him. That's just the kind of guy he was.

So God moves people into our lives for a purpose. Receive that blessing! And be the blessing to those people into whose lives God moves you.

3 comments:

nascarnonna said...

Thank you for a tribute to my daddy. What a message in your words. Daddy was a special man and will be greatly missed.

Cathy Meister Melton

nascarnonna said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Bob said...

Cathy, I'd like to have known him longer. I believe everything that was said about him today. The service was wonderful.