Jump Start # 1388

Revelation 14:13 “And I heard a voice from Heaven, saying, ‘Write, ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!’ ‘Yes,’ says the Spirit, ‘so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them.”

  His name was Richard, but I always knew him simply as Dick. He was a friend and a good man. He passed from this life last Sunday morning. He was born on a Sunday and he died on a Sunday. I really like that. He died on the one year anniversary of another dear friend’s death, Billy.

I had only known Dick for about seven years, but the time was stacked full of memories. We had golfed together. I cooked steaks on his charcoal grill in his back porch and then enjoyed a wonderful meal with him and his sweet wife, Billie. He had eaten in my home more than once. We loved to talk about N.B. Hardeman, one of his teachers in college. But more than all of those things, Dick was a preacher. He loved to tell folks that he taught school to support his preaching habit. The places he preached were small. The work that he did was grand. There is a special bond among preachers. We tend to understand each other, and although there was a generation difference, we had that bond. He taught the Gospel of John that was very rich and thorough. When we met, we both shared a common expression, “How ya’ doin’, preacher?” He was witty, sharp, and loved music. He was gifted in that area. We had some plans that just didn’t pan out. He was going to write some class material and more than that, we were working on having Dick read some of our Jump Starts so folks could listen to them as well as read them. He had a rich and easy listening voice. But sickness took over and finally took his life.

There are two special things I will always remember about Dick. He was always so kind to me and saw things that few others did. He would take me aside and ask me, “How is it that you can pull so much out of a verse?” Or, “How do you see all those things in a passage?” I even shared a few books with him that had helped me open my eyes and to look deeper. In his eighties, Dick wanted to learn to see and pull from Scriptures what I had learned. He was a student at heart. I hope I can be like that until God is finished with me.

The other thing I will always remember about Dick is that he was a true fan of our Jump Starts. He read them diligently and talked about them often. He was interested in how many readers we had and how far they were spreading. I shared some of your emails that have been written to me with Dick. I wish you could have seen the twinkle in his eyes as he read them. Being the teacher that Dick always was, he’d call me and say, “You didn’t study English in college did you?” I knew where he was going. I’d say, “No, I was a science major, mostly Biology. What did I do today in the Jump Start?” Then in his kind way, he’d instruct me, ‘you can’t go from past tense to future tense to present tense in the same sentence. Also, you mix the singular with the plural.” There would be a long pause. I’d say, “did I do that?” He’d laugh and say, “Boy, did you.”

I learned from this sweet man that a person needs to be kind when they correct others. He was that way with me. I saw in him the joy of the Scriptures. He loved to talk about passages. It came so easy to him. Dick probably didn’t realize it, but he was laboring and helping me, even to the end. And now, according to our passage, there is a sweet rest awaiting him.

Recently, someone asked, “Why are all the good ones leaving us?” I believe the technical answer would be that they have finished the journey that God had planned for them. But it may just be that they were ready. Maybe God is giving the rest of us more time. More time to be ready. More time to help others.

It is only fitting that I pull a famous passage of our Lord from the Gospel of John, the book that Dick cherished and understood so well. At the death of Lazarus, the Lord’s friend, Jesus said to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” He will live even if he dies. That’s Dick. That’s the Lord’s promise. That awaits all of us who believe. Death isn’t the end. There is no “The End” to our story. The journey ends with God, not the cemetery. He lives even if he dies.

We can get so caught up being busy with things that simply do not matter. Our time here is precious. We can fuss and get folks all upset about things that really do not matter. Holding to faith, walking with the Lord, loving God’s people, and doing whatever we can to make things better, especially spiritually, are the labors that we ought to pursue and be engaged in. How tragic for a person to be given decades of life, only to say that he went to work, had a family and that’s about it. That’s it? We have before us each day the opportunity to shed light, be kind, show Jesus and improve the hope we have in Christ. I fear that when this time here is over and the Lord asks us what we have done, the only answer some will have is that they went to church. That’s it. That’s all. Isn’t there more that we can all do to help others? Remember the section, “I was hungry and you fed me…naked and you clothed me…” We could stretch this to, I was discouraged and you helped me, I didn’t understand and you taught me, I was afraid and you comforted me, I was mourning and you came to be with me, I was new and you included me, I was old and you helped me, I was young and you didn’t over look me. I was a preacher and you were kind to me.

The resting from our labors that our passage mentions, has nothing to do with working at an office for forty years. It does, however, have everything to do with our walk with the Lord. Those early brethren labored to keep the faith. They were chased, hunted down, abused and killed in the name of Christ. Yet their voices were not stilled nor quiet. The kingdom grew. The kingdom became strong. It was hard. They labored. This is the rest that they will enjoy. This is the work that we must do. Our jobs are not going to the office each day, our jobs is the kingdom work. Like my friend, Dick, we work to support our habit of building the kingdom.

Even this morning, I can see Dick saying to me, “Hello, my friend.” My friend. What a special, special person he was. My last words to him were, “I love you,” of which, he quickly fired back, in a soft, weakened voice,  “I love you, too.”

We are marching to Zion, beautiful, beautiful Zion. Let us be busy in the kingdom, until the Lord stops us. I am blessed to have known so well this sweet, sweet man. I am thankful that the Lord allowed our paths to cross. The memories are rich. The stories are many. The time was much too short. However, his memory will not be forgotten.

Thank you, Dick Dewhirst. You were and remain a friend.

Thank you, Lord.

Do you believe?

Roger