Gone but NOT forgotten...
Having grown up in the church I attend, I have a lot of memories of people much older than I. One thing I often think about is how quickly people are forgotten when they become too disabled to participate actively.
Chuck's aunt Joanna was such a person. She was my Sunday School teacher when I was in 7th grade. Because I married Chuck, I continued to have a relationship with her long after she quit driving herself to church. She had the ability to make each person she spoke with feel that there was no one she would rather be with than them. It was genuine. She loved people. We did not see each other often, but each time we did she would ask specific questions regarding the things I had told her the last time we were together. She was important enough to me that had I had another daughter, I would have named her Joanna.
She was such a vital person in our church that I was taken by surprise when I realized how few people I know remember her. Once she was no longer teaching a class or speaking up in meetings, or able to even attend, she faded from the collective memory.
That happens to anyone who is forced to quit coming. But there are some, like Joanna, whose lives demand to be remembered. These are people whose faith was more than words and emotions. They acted on their faith, took risks, treated people with compassion and respect regardless of class or appearance, gave up security or wealth for more important and lasting values. If they had died in their prime, perhaps their contributions would have been more remembered, but since they lived out their years we've 'moved on'.
Al Voth was such a person. Al was a humble and gentle man who quietly made a major impact on a lot of people for good. His gifts and his inspiration were in his realization that his faith had to make a difference in how he related to those who had needs. Al taught high school Sunday School classes and visited men at the local jail. These things led him to begin a program for young offenders, teaching them job skills and attitudes that would help them to be successful.
After Al died, I asked Cookie (his daughter) to post his life story on her web site, and she did that yesterday. It is worth a read. You can find it here.
I think one reason that Al's story so affects me is my son, James. There is a man like Al in his life. James has had the courage to make huge changes because this person treated him with respect day in and day out even when James had no respect for himself or anyone else. This man also came to James with humility, as someone who has also struggled and found his way through it. Those two things, respect and humility, won James over. Those things came from this man's faith.
It is amazing and inspiring to me what God does with people who humbly choose to follow him. I want to remember these people, and continue to be challenged by them.
Chuck's aunt Joanna was such a person. She was my Sunday School teacher when I was in 7th grade. Because I married Chuck, I continued to have a relationship with her long after she quit driving herself to church. She had the ability to make each person she spoke with feel that there was no one she would rather be with than them. It was genuine. She loved people. We did not see each other often, but each time we did she would ask specific questions regarding the things I had told her the last time we were together. She was important enough to me that had I had another daughter, I would have named her Joanna.
She was such a vital person in our church that I was taken by surprise when I realized how few people I know remember her. Once she was no longer teaching a class or speaking up in meetings, or able to even attend, she faded from the collective memory.
That happens to anyone who is forced to quit coming. But there are some, like Joanna, whose lives demand to be remembered. These are people whose faith was more than words and emotions. They acted on their faith, took risks, treated people with compassion and respect regardless of class or appearance, gave up security or wealth for more important and lasting values. If they had died in their prime, perhaps their contributions would have been more remembered, but since they lived out their years we've 'moved on'.
Al Voth was such a person. Al was a humble and gentle man who quietly made a major impact on a lot of people for good. His gifts and his inspiration were in his realization that his faith had to make a difference in how he related to those who had needs. Al taught high school Sunday School classes and visited men at the local jail. These things led him to begin a program for young offenders, teaching them job skills and attitudes that would help them to be successful.
After Al died, I asked Cookie (his daughter) to post his life story on her web site, and she did that yesterday. It is worth a read. You can find it here.
I think one reason that Al's story so affects me is my son, James. There is a man like Al in his life. James has had the courage to make huge changes because this person treated him with respect day in and day out even when James had no respect for himself or anyone else. This man also came to James with humility, as someone who has also struggled and found his way through it. Those two things, respect and humility, won James over. Those things came from this man's faith.
It is amazing and inspiring to me what God does with people who humbly choose to follow him. I want to remember these people, and continue to be challenged by them.
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