Reconnecting with old friends has been fun. I've been doing this for a couple of weeks now, sneaking in a moment here and there, as I'm able. Some acquaintances go back more than two decades to my adolescent years. It's cool to see kids that I've grown up with now married with kids of their own.
But probably one of my greatest joys has been to get reacquainted with the teens that I shepherded from 1991-1994 when I served as Associate Pastor of Student Ministries at Immanuel Baptist Church in Richmond, Virginia. One kid that was just coming into high school when I left is now serving in the same position! What a joy it was to see how far he's come in his theological convictions, philosophy of ministry and such. "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth" (3 John 4).
One of the teens I was able to contact came from a really good family (many of them did, actually). I especially remember how tight she was with her brother, who was two years older than she was. They were both in the youth ministry in that same short period of time that I was the youth pastor. Her brother was a tall, clean-cut kid who loved the Lord and was mature beyond his years. He was good-natured yet very earnest about spiritual matters. Without a doubt, he was the best-behaved boy in the youth group (as I recall), and his outward compliance stemmed from his inner character.
So in my correspondence with this young lady, I asked her how I could get in contact with her brother. You can imagine my shock and sadness as I read her response:
Hi Pastor Matt!
It was very nice to get your message. I have really enjoyed being able to reconnect and catch up with people through Facebook. I hope you and Ruthie and your kids are all doing well.
I guess you have not heard yet, but on June 20th this year, God called James home to be with Him. He died instantly of a massive heart attack while on his lunch break. He leaves behind a wife and 2 daughters, ages 2 and 4. It was a huge shock, and our family continues to deal with his loss. However, the Lord continues to prove Himself a good and faithful God. Even in this, we trust His plans and purposes, and we rejoice that [he] is with his Savior in heaven.
It was very nice to get your message. I have really enjoyed being able to reconnect and catch up with people through Facebook. I hope you and Ruthie and your kids are all doing well.
I guess you have not heard yet, but on June 20th this year, God called James home to be with Him. He died instantly of a massive heart attack while on his lunch break. He leaves behind a wife and 2 daughters, ages 2 and 4. It was a huge shock, and our family continues to deal with his loss. However, the Lord continues to prove Himself a good and faithful God. Even in this, we trust His plans and purposes, and we rejoice that [he] is with his Savior in heaven.
James always spoke fondly of his time with you in the youth group. He loved his trip to New England/Canada that you all went on that one summer.
If you would like to know more about his life or have any questions, please feel free to ask. I love sharing about my big brother!
Take care and the Lord bless!
Sincerely,
Sarah
If you would like to know more about his life or have any questions, please feel free to ask. I love sharing about my big brother!
Take care and the Lord bless!
Sincerely,
Sarah
What a great testimony to a life well-lived. This young man lived only three decades, but what a life he lived! I wasn't there for the last half of it, but apparently it continued to be lived to God's glory.
I thought of another young man that died around the same age - only it was nearly two centuries ago. His name was Robert Murray M'Cheyne, and he, too, lived a very full life within a very short period. He was a dedicated preacher in Scotland, and he had not completed more than twenty-nine years when God took him. Andrew Bonar, a close friend of M'Cheyne who wrote his biography, said:
Wherever the news of his departure came, every Christian countenance was darkened with sadness. Perhaps never was the death of one, whose whole occupation had been preaching the everlasting gospel, more felt by all the saints of God in Scotland. . . . He himself used to say, "Live so as to be missed;" and none that saw the tears that were shed over his death would have doubted that his own life had been what he recommended to others. . . . His work was finished! His heavenly Father had not another plant for him to water, nor another vine for him to train; and the Saviour who so loved him was waiting to greet him with his own welcome: "Well done, good and faithful servant; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."
No doubt my young friend James heard those same words as he was ushered into glory. And I can't help but notice how the rock-solid theology of his family has been used by God to strengthen them in this time of sorrow. They attribute all things to the sovereignty of God - the God who loves them and who works all things together for their good, as ones who have been graciously called by Him.
Here we find a lesson for all of us - to "live so as to be missed" by living a life of service to others for the glory of God, and to know this God intimately so that when tragedies come, "we have an anchor that keeps the soul steadfast and sure while the billows roll."