Tuesday I did a funeral for a dear lady, Jeanne Bowman. Jeanne has been a big influence on my life and ministry. She was a person who knew how to get things done. When a prison nursing home opened in the town we lived in, people were upset, many of those men held there had AIDS. Jeanne found a way to begin a ministry to them by shopping for their needs with the meager funds they had left. Most of the men there were terminal. Jeanne witnessed to them and sat by them in their last days, often when there was no family to be found.
Jeanne had known her own losses, having to bury 2 of her six children. Her second son to die was murdered. The killer(s) have never been arrested. I wrote her a note after her son's death and mentioned Psalm 37. Here is text of the note she sent me back:
Dear Tim,
Thanks for the note and your continued prayers - you know how much they mean. I read Psalm 37 in the King James Bible and it is both comforting and promising. Having friends and pastors praying for me has helped sustain my faith in God. The older I get the deeper my faith in God becomes. Do you remember the song Lewis Staggs (an older man in the church there) used to sing "The Longer I Serve Him?" That is how I feel. I can't find it in my heart to forgive the people who killed Robert, but I am working on it! Thank you again. Love, Jeanne
I pull that note out from time to time because I need that perspective on life. Even in the hurts and the pains of this world, serving God can make life grow 'sweeter' as the song she refers to says. I am grateful for having someone like that in my life. I am grateful for the transparency of her saying she is not yet able to forgive her son's killers but I am also thankful for the faith to say in the face of such pain, with God's help, 'I'm working on it!' For that kind of person, with that kind of faith, I am thankful that I knew her. I am grateful she was in my life. I need to learn from her.
For the journey...
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