Tuesday, September 12, 2006

I'm Turning Out A Lot Like My Dad

I think I could end up being a funeral junkie just like him.

Dad, Drew and I attended Mr. Heppell's funeral this morning. We sat with hundreds of others in the overflow section and watched the service via live video projected onto the brick wall of the gymnasium.

I didn't bring enough Kleenex.

He was an amazing man who loved an awesome God. What a life.

I have been inspired by the stories of a 68 year old potato farmer who loved.
Loved Jesus. Loved his wife. His kids. (6 of them. Born in 7.5 years) His friends. The church. People.

His passion was relationships. Relationships with every person God put in his path; his kids' friends, his friends' kids, his neighbours, his brothers, their kids, work associates, other farmers, the youth at his church, the young adults at his church, his grandkids, his children's neighbours...
He wanted to know if they knew the Lord. And if they did, how was their walk with Him?

I am his son's summertime neighbour. And his daughter's friend.
He saw me at school one day 3 years ago and re-introduced himself to me.
"How are you doing? How are your boys? How are they handling the divorce? Do you like living in Langley? What are your struggles? How is your spiritual life? I want you to know I'm praying for you..."

On the day when he received the diagnosis that he had pancreatic cancer, he had been in his barn office, memorizing this:

(I've personalized it...)

When I think of the wisdom and scope of God's plan, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and earth. I pray that from His glorious, unlimited resources He will give me mighty inner strength through His Holy Spirit. And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in my heart as I trust in Him. May my roots go down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love. And may I have the power to understand how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love really is.
(Eph 3: 14 - 18)

Rest in peace, Mr. Heppell.



Shalom,

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