A MEMORIALFOR BEVERLY Some years backBeverly passed away and went to be with her Savior. She was a very quiet,shy person. I knew Beverly because she was my wife’s cousin andbecause for a number of years we attended the same church at SalkumWashington. Early in life tragedystruck in her family that left her a widow with several small children. James,her husband died in an accident when he was working down in a pit atLongview Fiber in Longview Wa. Fumes from poisonous gas entered his lungs and killed him. Beverlynever re-married. Fellow workers from James’job built her and the children a nice lake front home on Mayfield lake. Shereceived a widow’s pension which allowed her to remain at home andraise her children. Since my wife and Ispent most of our time in South America as missionaries we seldom saw Beverlybut we knew that she lived a very quiet, private life. It wasn’t until weattended her funeral that we heard the minister give a statement that Beverlyfaithfully cared for the nursery in the church, Sunday after Sunday for thirty-two years.That’s called faithfulness. It’s called ministry. That’s called devotion and love forGod. It also reveals her unselfish spirit to remain in the bawl room(my pun) whilethe parents listened to the sermon. I don’t think they ever put a loud speaker in the basement of thechurch where she could hear the sermon & being occupied withchanging diapers, holding bottles and cradling crying babies would have been quitea distraction anyway. I have attended manyfunerals and heard many good things said about the deceased ones but nothing hasgrabbed my attention more than “Beverly served here in our church nursery for 32years.” Most people attend church in the hopes of getting something from thesermon to better their lives. Beverly went to serve. She went to church for manyyears, thirty-two of those she never heard a sermon, but Beverly was a sermon. Shedemonstrated her message in a quiet way, never thinking that she was doing so. Weonly got the message after she went to be with her Lord and Savior. Some of the childrenshe took care were babies but some were old enough to learn to sing choruses andlisten to Bible stories which she faithfully taught them. God, through theinspiration of His Holy Spirit had men record some interesting incidents thatcontinue to be read, heard and proclaimed for centuries. The widow who put her last twopennies in the offering for God, left a sermon. The disciples, no doubt were preoccupiedwith observing the wealthy ones who dropped in big offerings. Jesus was looking atthe heart of the poor widow and pointed it out to His disciples who were oblivious toit. In the church Ipastored for a year in Bolivia the major part of the believers were dirt poor. The more wealthypeople of the society attended the prestigious Catholic church. However, we did havetwo families who were ranchers and were well off financially. One dear lady from therich rancher family would always wait until the offering was taken and carried to atable in front of the pulpit. She would then rise from the bench, go up front and beforeshe dropped the money in the offering plate she would turn around, face theonlookers, dangle the money briefly in the air and drop it in the offering dish. For a time, notwhen I was pastoring there, they would put up a written list of the givers and theamount they gave for all to see. Jesus drew attentionto the woman who came and poured a very costly ointment on His head and wascriticized for it by the disciples who became indignant over so much money beingspent to be “wasted” instead of selling and giving the money to the poor.Jesus rebuked them and said that “I assure you that wher- ever this gospel ispreached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as amemorial to her. In John chapter 12 :1- 8 we again find Jesus at the house of Lazarus, Martha and Mary. This occurredsome time after Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. Martha was again in her roleof serving the table and Mary was busy anointing the feet of Jesus with a poundof very costly oil of spikenard. Notice that Mary anointed His feet while thewoman mentioned in the book of John anointed His head. In both cases there wasmurmuring from one of the disciples(guess who?) Judas who later betrayed Him andcared not for the poor but was a thief and carried the money box and he usedto take what was put in it. Jesus said “ Let her alone; she has kept this for Myburial. For the poor you have with you always, but Me you do not have always. Thisis also recorded as a memorial to Mary for her devotion to Jesus. Jesus said inMatthew10:42, And whoever gives ones of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the nameof a disciple (because they are a follower of Jesus)assuredly, I say unto you, he shallby no means lose his reward. There are going to be some big surprises when thebelievers in Jesus stand before the judgment seat of Christ to receive rewards. All thosedeeds done to be seen of men—to serve self—and even because of competition withothers, will be wood, hay and stubble and will be burned up. Someone said that “there is nolimit to what we can accomplish for God is we don’t have the need to do it to impressothers”. Jesus talked about those who loved the praise of men rather than the praise fromGod. He said that they wouldn’t openly confess Him as Lord before men because theyfeared men & not God. There’s a little chorus that says” Dare to be a Daniel, dare to standalone, dare to have one purpose and dare to make it known. If the whole world wasblind and only I could see, it wouldn’t matter what kind of car I drove, what kindof house I lived in, how I dressed or what I ate. Which in essence is saying thatwe are living for other people’s eyes. And most of them could care less how we live.There is one who loves us, cares for us and knows our thoughts and pain, our joys andsorrows. Because He does love us and cares for us and sees and hears us ourlives should be lived to glorify Him. If in the mix we are a good testimony to others, so much thebetter. However, with many people unless we live according to their thinking and their priorities we have erred. There is only one lifeand it will soon be past, and only what is done for Christ will last. Jim Elliott, who wasmartyred by the Auca Indians in Ecuador said “A man is no fool To give the life hecannot keep for something that he cannot lose. These two statements are more thanredundant clichés, they are truth’s that we will experience when we stand before our Savior. Dear Beverly will bethere standing, in her quiet, humble way and it will be a thrill to see her face when herreward is given to her as she stands before the Lamb of God when He reads fromthe book of life her selfless service and says, “well done, you good, andfaithful servant. Her unsung service willhave not been in vain. |
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