Pastor of Peabody Bible Church
Reduced to a sack of tears.
I tried to hold them back, but couldn’t.
A slide show flashed pictures of moments in the life of the man that we had all come to remember. It was his memorial service.
I didn’t get to see all the pictures … clearly; the initial tears became a sobbing downpour. I hadn’t planned that. I went to honor the life of a man who had helped to change and shape mine.
Don Dewelt had been my teacher and, I’d like to think, my friend.
However it wasn’t just the pictures that moved my heart and soul.
Don loved to sing. His voice would explode out of his smiling face in genuine praise aimed directly at his God.
But this time his voice was not pouring out of his mouth, as it had so often in chapel. No, this time it was being released out of large speakers. A recorded gift of praise.
“The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell,
It goes beyond the highest star
And reaches to the lowest hell;
The guilty pair, bowed down with care,
God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled
And pardoned from his sin
O love of God
How rich and pure.
How measureless and strong.
It shall forevermore endure
The saints and angels song.
That, my friend, is the message of Christmas. Giving. Sacrifice. Love. Merry Christmas.