On this Father’s Day I want to pay homage to several men I have known over the years. So thankful for Christian men.
Recently Milan and I were watching the Gaither program on PBS and Gordon Mote, this extremely talented totally blind singer and pianist, sang a song he wrote about a church janitor who came in each night and cleaned the church and had his own prayer meeting with the Lord using a prayer list he found on the pastor's desk. He sang about this janitor who didn't have to be "up front to get attention, he just wanted to work behind the scenes, doing what he could do best, emptying the trash, dusting the pews, so that others could come and worship the next day.
It really touched my heart as I thought about the different men who worked at the Oakland Church behind the scenes, not seeking any glory or credit for themselves but just so the rest of us had a nice clean place to worship.
I thought about my very special brother-in-law, Bill who spent so many hours in quiet unassuming service during the years we were there - driving the church bus, helping the elderly ladies step down safely, carrying umbrellas out to people who arrived in the rain, carrying food in and out for our big dinners, cleaning off the tables, sweeping the floor and a million other little jobs no one else even noticed. I loved him so much and miss him so much.
I thought about Don Fulkerson and Robert Porter and Lynn Wood who worked with Milan at different times there at the church. Robert built the picnic tables and made the hymnbook racks and helped Milan rewire down under the sanctuary where they had to crawl around on their stomachs just to get the work done. Don would go out with Milan many nights and help him clean the church and then they would have prayer meeting. I loved them both and miss them so much, also.
Lynn and his wife Brenda took care of our nursery every Sunday and Lynn was our faithful treasurer, keeping track of the finances and paying our bills and serving as a loyal board member handling the business matters of the church.
And during our 12 years of ministry there, Milan would go out almost every Saturday night after working all week, and clean the church, staying out there until midnight, sometimes with
Don or Robert or one or two more, but usually by himself. That's a lot of nights to drive out into the country, a 16 mile round trip. And then on Sunday morning he got up early to be there first to serve breakfast to all who came, then sang in the choir, and then taught children's church. In our 12 years there he, like Lynn and Brenda, rarely got to actually attend a Sunday morning service, maybe a dozen times in all.
I have shed so many tears today thinking about these Godly men who never sought glory for themselves and would be embarrassed if you tried to thank them for going the extra mile. Ps 84:10 was their testimony: "For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, Than to dwell in the tents of wickedness."
Milan and Lynn are the only ones still living out of those 5 men who were happy just to be the doorkeeper in God's house in various ways. The other 3 have gone on to heaven, and while they didn't have much reward down here, they are now enjoying heaven's reward. They and several others kept the church going, because a church with a female pastor, like the Marines, “needs a few good men”. And we had them, and I’m so thankful. And I could say the same for the Farmington Church of God where I pastored, again so many faithful men, serving the Lord week after week.
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