Life is Like a Vapor
I have been lax with my blog posts. Life has been busy. Why do we use that as an excuse? Isn’t life always busy? Often it is our own fault it is so busy. Then at other times life twist and turns creating a busyness. I also have to be honest; at times I tend to be lazy so my blog post (and other areas of life) fall the bottom of the priority list.
However, the last several weeks have taken a drastic twist. As most of you know my wife and I pastor Life Church in Conyers Georgia. On the Sunday before Memorial Day our associate pastor Patrick suffered a stroke. He seemed to be progressing well and was about to be released to rehab but life took a twist and about two weeks ago he died.
I am writing this the day after I preached his funeral. Let me be real clear, the grief I am walking through pales in comparison to what his family is experiencing. If you want to offer prayer for God’s grace and peace, please pray for Patrick’s family. He leaves behind his wife, 8 children and one grandchild. – And I think my life is busy. – If you knew Patrick, you knew he loved his family. You see a couple of those 8 kids are nieces and nephews but they called Patrick dad.
Patrick was one of the hardest working pastors I have ever known. His passion to reach those who did not know Jesus ran deep. He had a dramatic encounter when he first came to Christ. When Janice and I first told the church we were going to go door to door offering prayer we got a lot of strange looks, and even some negative comments. But Patrick was all in. As the years passed we added our laundromat outreach and drive through prayers on Sunday mornings. Before each one was over he would always ask:
“When can we do this again pastor?”
Being a pastor at a small church means you wear a lot of hats. He wore all of them enthusiastically. I struggle to change light bulbs but Patrick could fix just about anything. He and Yolanda (and often the kids) cleaned our building each week. No matter how early I got to church on Sunday the building would be unlocked; the air would be running and most likely Patrick would be in his office reading the word. I would ask him to do a lot and I would often remind him it was ok for him to tell me no if he couldn’t do something or if I was asking too much. He never once told me no.
Just a couple weeks before his stoke part of my sermon was from James 4:13-14 (CSB)
“Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will travel to such and such a city and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.” Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring—what your life will be! For you are like vapor that appears for a little while, then vanishes.”
I had no clue our church was about to experience just how much life is like a vapor.
He may have been the associate pastor but more than once he got me slow down and think things through before rushing into certain situations.
I pray I can be a reflection of his impact on my life. I pray my life will honor his legacy.
Life is short. So let me encourage you be like Patrick. Live to glorify God and love your family deeply (make sure they know it) each and every day.
I lost a great friend, the brother I always wanted. Janice and I could not have asked for a better partner to help shepherd Life Church. I will miss that Jamaican accent and that smile. I will miss hearing the fire when he preached. I will miss his curry chicken. Most of all, I will miss his friendship.
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