May 20, 2013 (Monday)
Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness..(Words from the Lord Jesus).
Yesterday I was in Centerville, Texas, for the funeral of my brother-in-law, Joe Lynn Sadler. Joe would have been 78 in a couple of weeks. He had been ill for about a year. Cancer was the only thing that could slow him down. He lived a rich, full life and the testimonies of his daughter and three of his grandsons at the funeral showed how influential he was in their lives. When we met, he was 16 and I was 20. As they say, “a lot of water has run under the bridge” since then.
Today I will join others in participation in the funeral of Mark Gilliam, who joined the First Baptist Church of Rockport before I retired as pastor. He was a police officer for a number of years and then was sheriff for eight years. He died last week in a tragic automobile accident at the age of 52. He was a very likeable person who “never met a stranger.” He loved music, and was a part of the “police quartet,” “The Gospel Force,” for many years. He loved to play the saxaphone.
As you might imagine, at age 81, it isn’t easy any more for me to drive these distances and do these things, but I am very thankful that people still want me to do them. It’s good to be wanted and needed in the Lord’s work.
Devotional Thought: The trip to Centerville took me back to the days when I was pastor at Oletha, in that area. It was a little cafe in Centervile in which I proposed to Wanda. It was at Oletha that I met the family that had the funeral yesterday. Wanda was a member of that family, that’s where I met her, and that’s where our life together began. So it was a nostalgic experience for me. Serving the Lord is a great privilege. If anyone reading this feels the call of the Lord to do something for Him, I hope you will respond with a positive, “Yes!” It will be worth it all.