Legacies

Tuesday night I was blessed to attend the wake of Brenda Van Dunk, a long-time Social Work professor at ACU. She succumbed to cancer after a seven year battle. One person told me after it was over, "Now I know the difference between a wake and a visitation."

At a visitation there is mainly socializing, viewing the body and hugging on the family. At Tuesday night's wake, it was a combined praise service and testimonial time. The Highland singers sang some hymns and we read some Scriptures. One friend of Brenda's sang a solo. The bulk of our time, however, was taking turns standing up and telling the crowd of how Brenda had impacted our lives. Social workers, fellow professors, nieces, professional colleagues, her students -- a variety of folks who were deeply influenced by Brenda's life had something positive to say. And most of them mentioned her deep faith in the Lord. One of my favorite testimonials was from a woman who went on and on about how Christ lived in her friend and then she said, "Brenda taught us how to die."

The next day was the funeral, held at New Light Baptist Church -- Brenda's second church home. It lasted two and a half hours. I loved it. I had never been to an African American funeral before. The choir and preaching and piano and organ music while Scripture was being read -- it was all good.

The last preacher (there were four of them) delivered a riveting message from John 14 - where Jesus tells His disciples of the new commandment He is giving to them, to love one another as He loves them (and us!). This preacher said that Brenda told him, "Don't talk about me at the funeral. Talk about love."

This morning as I reflected on this funeral and all the testimonies about how Brenda's faith in Jesus impacted so many people -- students, colleagues, young black girls she mentored, the community -- I realized that when someone dies we tend to realize what really matters in life.

What if at our own funeral they showed a Powerpoint presentation displaying the front of your house, the car we drove, our closet full of clothing and a balance sheet displaying our retirement and savings account? In contrast, what if the Powerpoint consisted entirely of photographs -- photos of people impacted by Jesus through us?

Children who grew up in Christian orphanages homes that we supported

People's faces of different color from various nations who heard the gospel and were saved because we supported missionaries that shared Christ with them.

Men and women who were once trapped in the grind of poverty but were able to escape because we gave to ministries to the poor.

Isn't that the kind of legacy that you want to leave behind? Makes me want to live in a way where I'm consumed with doing the Father's will -- every day.

I heard a song on my CD player on the way to work this morning that put a capstone on what I experienced these past two days at Brenda's wake and funeral:

"This is what I'm glad to do
It's time to live a life of love that pleases You
And I will give my all to You
Surrender everything I have and follow You.
I'll follow You."

Amen. Thank You, Father, for showing us the way of love in the Name of Jesus through the life of Brenda Van Dunk.

Jim