The Fruit of Losing One's Life
As I've probably written before, one of my greatest joys in directing the Christian Service Center is to work with such a wonderful team of volunteers. Yesterday on my trip to the Food Bank to get our weekly supply of food, I sensed the Lord putting on my heart a great conviction and inspiration about two of these volunteers -- -- Jim and Vera Dukes.
Jim and Vera have worked at the Christian Service Center for nearly 14 years. They’re both in their 80’s, having gotten married after each of their spouses died. Jim runs our food pantry and is there nearly every day. He keeps track of our inventory, makes weekly trips with Vera to the Food Bank and insures that every client that comes in with a legitimate need receives a generous amount of food.
In his evenings at home, Jim works on the computer, updating the inventory of food. And then in the mornings he brings a new list of the food that we have in the pantry. Jim also serves as our song leader at our morning devotional. He loves to sing because he loves the Lord.
One of my favorite stories about Jim happened a couple years ago. He was in the hospital one weekend. Monday evening I visited him in the hospital, watching him being rolled into his room on a gurney after undergoing another test. The next morning, at about 8 o’ clock, as I looked out on the parking lot of the Center, I saw something that totally surprised me. Here were Jim and Vera, walking towards our building. Jim had been released from the hospital early that morning and came straight to the Service Center. And he worked a full day in our food pantry.
Vera is also a tireless worker for our ministry. She served for a long time in our receiving room, and then later oversaw our linens department. A unique part of her ministry here is that she did a lot of her volunteer work for the Center at home. She is a gifted seamstress, making fitted sheets and then donates them back to us for our clients. Vera also made pillows for our clients - to this date over 1,000 of them!
Yesterday morning Jim needed me to pick up Vera at their house and help her get the food at our local Food Bank. As I pulled up in front of their humble house, it hit me. Here is a couple in their '80's who live very simple lives and are actively involved in helping the poor. They don't care much for new cars or a bigger house. Jim was sitting in their one car garage, where their washer and dryer was - waiting for a man to show up and install a portable car port. I took Vera to the Food Bank and helped her as she patiently went through the surplus items, picking out items that she knew our clients would eat. As I helped her load these boxes, I thought, "I worry about my simple little 'problems' such as not having a swimming pool like my neighbors. And here is Vera, living her simple life and caring for the poor week in and week out. God, forgive me."
O, Father, help us learn from Jim and Vera Dukes what it means to live for Jesus, to be unattached to this world and to love the poor. Thank You for showing me through this couple the truth of the words of Jesus: "Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." -- Matt. 10:39
Jim
posted by Jim Clark @ 8:06 AM
4 comments
4 Comments:
good one. May God richly and deeply bless Jim and Vera.
Convicting, to say the least!!
May God continue to richly bless their sweet lives and hearts. Their eternal crowns will be a-glitter with precious jewels for their constant and long-term serving of those in need.
Thank you for sharing this, Jim.
So poignant, yet again!
At our diocesan conference this past Feb, one of our speakers was speaking about those who struggle to grow in Christ because they become ignored by more vibrant age groups. Within each adult age group of, say, 30's/40's/50's, we experience more, sometimes, the curve balls of life. 'It's so hard to be a Christian' can become a mantra.
Here, there are still many 'vibrant' folks who lived through the horrors of WW2 and the years leading up to it (for at least 4 years without American support, they remind me!) and its aftermath into the early 70's (takes a long time and more sacrifice to rebuild after the devastation) have extremely fresh memories. My husband and friends continually remind me of at least two full decades of rationing after the War, when most folks here had no cars, had to wait for housing to be built, no TV until the 60's and then only one channel, the pirate ship radio stations, etc -- things I wasn't bothered with in the USA during those times.
Anyway, all that to say that when the speaker talked of people at various stages in their life grappling with their faith, there were some pretty extraordinary circumstances that I and my family and friends were not confronted with. The speaker told of a group of women in their 40's and 50's who were complaining about how to stay close to God in difficult times. If they could JUST find the strength some days to have the countenance some of the older ladies displayed!
Vera (and Jim) reminds me of some of these precious pensioners I have had the blessing and honour of getting to know. We younger 'kids' look up to them when we realise they have been there all along. Well, the speaker back in Feb, and then just recently one of the 80+ women in my home group both said:
'I have found it is much more difficult to be a Christian since turning 80!'
Your tribute here to Jim and Vera is so precious. We younger kids sometimes forget that in all the quiet service these folks perform, they do so without fanfare, and without a thought to their 'status' in society. And lots of times, they do it on days that are really more difficult for them than they would ever want to let on to the rest of us. They serve because of discipline and conviction, without much encouragement from the rest of us. They are masters, many of them, at hiding behind their own problems so that others can climb over theirs to reach for joy and sustenance worth striving for – through Jesus.
Thank you, Jim, for sharing this lovely vignette of two wonderful people who teach what it means to wear Christ and the lesson of the Beatitudes daily. I hope when I am 80+ that I can wear Him just as graciously, no matter how difficult it becomes to pick up His mantle!
(Sorry for the length and ramble of this.)
Tremendous thoughts, Deb. You are a blessed woman to live outside the U.S. and get this wonderful perspective. I'm afraid that those of us who grew up with all the comforts of life, not having to face a world war or a great depression, have become soft. I certainly have.
As one of my graduate school professors once said, "Soft climate produces soft character." But of course the opposite is true -- when people go through tough times they can potentially be stronger. Of course, for the Christian, this refining and discipling process that the Lord takes us through certainly can make us believers in Christ with stronger character -- if we continue submitting to Christ. Heb. 12 comes to mind.
Jim
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