“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”
2 Timothy 4:7
Dear Family of All Saints,
As I write to you for the September newsletter it is still very fresh in my heart and soul that two rather significant funerals have taken place in my life within just one week. For those of us here in Huntsville, we are aware of the loss of our own Eric Obermann. For Margie and me, we have just returned from Columbia, S. C. where together with the family, we have placed into the arms of Jesus, Margie’s mother, Anna Watson. Both of these funerals have become the occasion to celebrate the lives of those who have passed and to rejoice in the victory of the resurrection that is ours by faith, in Jesus Christ. And I must admit I have found myself contemplating both of these deaths these last few days. Even though they died at different ages and by differing physical conditions and/or ailments, Eric and Anna, in my way of thinking, were very much alike.
Oh yes, there was a definite difference in their lives. Anna died at the ripe old age of 90 after living a very full and rewarding life. She served her country during WWII as a dietitian and left the service at the rank of captain. She married and worked beside her husband of 62 years in the drug stores that they owned. She raised a daughter and a son and enjoyed and blessed her three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. They were founding members of Asbury Memorial United Methodist Church and supported that church through thick and thin. Because she loved people and she loved to cook, Anna could be found in the kitchen either at home or at church, preparing meals and all kinds of food for those who were sick or simply had a need for something to eat. She was known in her community as someone who would serve others without blinking eye, never caring who they were, their station in life, or what the need might be. In fact, on her deathbed, she still was asking about the needs of others.
Eric, on the other hand, died at 28 years, far too soon and far too young by worldly standards. It would be hard to say that Eric lived a full and rewarding life, in normal, average terms. A mentally bright and musically talented young man, Eric never had the chance to complete college after his ALS diagnosis. He never married, never had the opportunity to influence his own children or grandchildren, never really had an adult job or developed a successful and lengthy career as such. He was, however, well known in his own church and with the ALS community in the state of Alabama. Although his own body was constantly failing, Eric never minded being transparent and would share his story and his struggles openly. Eric was willing to serve others by speaking out and drawing more awareness to ALS. His willingness to serve even went as far as speaking before Congress to lift up the need for funding so that further research could be accomplished and a possible cure for ALS could be found. Even in the last months of his life, Eric still had a passion for a number of different charities. In death, he donated his brain and spinal cord for ALS research.
Eric and Anna were two very different people who lived out two very different lives. But they had one thing in common: both loved the Lord with all their heart, and soul, and mind. That fact was quite evident in the way that they lived their lives and appropriated God’s love and grace. Both placed their faith and trust in their savior, Jesus and believed without a shadow of a doubt, that they would one day stand before him, healed and whole once again. And both shared that hope in their own unique and different ways. When one considers the legacy they lived, shared, and leave behind, well, that becomes the reason why we can say that both lives were full and well lived to the glory of God, as different as they were.
God has blessed you and me with the gift of life. That life begs to be full and to reflect the glory of God. Our prayer ought to be that the grace of God will be sufficient for us to live our lives in such a way that we care for others, serve others, and help others to see God’s grace in all of our words and actions. If we do this, then we too, will leave a powerful legacy for others to emulate.
