Not the Post I Intended
The other day I had thought of a topic to post, but now I can't remember it.
Last night was the memorial service for Pastor Wendell Smith. It was available live, on-line and I watched. It's not the same as attending, but since I could not get to where the service was held, it was the next best thing. Well, ok, perhaps the actual "next" best thing would have been to see the live stream in a local, large venue with others, but I wasn't able to do that either, so I guess being alone in my house was the next, next best thing.
It was awe inspiring. There were over 5,000 attendees in-person at the service, with thousands more watching live, on-line, all over the world (literally). He had a tremendous impact on anyone he met. The recurring proclamation throughout was "he fought the good fight; he kept the faith; he finished the race". And it is true. I wept (I'm not ashamed to admit it). Partly because I knew him and will miss him, even though he and I had not spoken or seen each other in years (not that we were "estranged" or anything; it's just life sometimes), but also because comparing my life to his left me feeling inadequate. Which I know is (at least on one hand) stupid and I know that he would not want me to feel that way. But there it is all the same.
He was a rare soul; intelligent, creative, passionate, compassionate, gentle but firm - the list goes on and I cannot do him justice here. He is and will continue to be missed. A friend of mine said, "...I pray my life has 1/10th the impact on those around me as [he] had in this world.", and I know many others feel the same (as do I). His life is worth emulating.
Words fail me right now.
Last night was the memorial service for Pastor Wendell Smith. It was available live, on-line and I watched. It's not the same as attending, but since I could not get to where the service was held, it was the next best thing. Well, ok, perhaps the actual "next" best thing would have been to see the live stream in a local, large venue with others, but I wasn't able to do that either, so I guess being alone in my house was the next, next best thing.
It was awe inspiring. There were over 5,000 attendees in-person at the service, with thousands more watching live, on-line, all over the world (literally). He had a tremendous impact on anyone he met. The recurring proclamation throughout was "he fought the good fight; he kept the faith; he finished the race". And it is true. I wept (I'm not ashamed to admit it). Partly because I knew him and will miss him, even though he and I had not spoken or seen each other in years (not that we were "estranged" or anything; it's just life sometimes), but also because comparing my life to his left me feeling inadequate. Which I know is (at least on one hand) stupid and I know that he would not want me to feel that way. But there it is all the same.
He was a rare soul; intelligent, creative, passionate, compassionate, gentle but firm - the list goes on and I cannot do him justice here. He is and will continue to be missed. A friend of mine said, "...I pray my life has 1/10th the impact on those around me as [he] had in this world.", and I know many others feel the same (as do I). His life is worth emulating.
Words fail me right now.
posted by TubaMeister at
07:51
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home