Remembering John
If someone had told me three weeks ago, after sitting in the living room and visiting with some of the dearest people on this earth to us, that one of them would be gone, I would never have believed it. It is so difficult to imagine my life without John Brindley... an Indianola without John Brindley. I have thought long and hard over the last couple of days about why John is so special. There are so many things I will remember about John when I look back...his beautiful voice (there is truly none other), his sense of humor ("How are ya?... Alaska!), he ability to motivate and lead (have you heard his choir??)... but those of us who knew him well will remember most of all how he loved.
John didn't have the kind of love you can muster up on your own. He had the kind of love that flows freely and abundantly from a heart that loves God and has given himself up as a vessel for his work. John understood what so many of us miss, which is that there is no meaningful life apart from the work of God. John didn't waste a single day... he gave them all over for the glory of God. At the end of his journey he heard "Well done, good and faithful servant!"
I am encouraged because I know a love like Johnny B's never dies. It leaves a powerful legacy that will live on far beyond his earthly life, and will last far beyond mine. It will endure in the hearts of his children, his grandchildren, his wife, his friends, his brothers, his sisters, and in all of us who had the privilege to know him, if only for a moment.
I pray that God will give me the love and wisdom to impact others the way John impacted me. I want to believe in others the way John believed in me. When I think of John, I may hear the sounds of his strong baritone voice singing "Lily's Eyes" or "Midnight Cry" in the background, but what will always be in the forefront is the passion with which he loved his God. Praise God that I got to share in the glory of the Father because I was blessed to be close to one of his faithful children.
There are so many mixed emotions-- I am exuberant....my friend is gone to be with his LORD!! I am broken...my FRIEND has GONE to be with the Lord! I have rejoiced and I have wept. "There is none holy like the Lord: for there is none besides you, there is no rock like our God. (I Samuel 2:2)"
Oh God, give us the grace to live for you. Let John's memory remind us. Let him live on through us. Let us look forward to the day we will see our John again, to the day we will see you. Thank you for a hope that does not disappoint. Thank you for John's legacy of love.
John didn't have the kind of love you can muster up on your own. He had the kind of love that flows freely and abundantly from a heart that loves God and has given himself up as a vessel for his work. John understood what so many of us miss, which is that there is no meaningful life apart from the work of God. John didn't waste a single day... he gave them all over for the glory of God. At the end of his journey he heard "Well done, good and faithful servant!"
I am encouraged because I know a love like Johnny B's never dies. It leaves a powerful legacy that will live on far beyond his earthly life, and will last far beyond mine. It will endure in the hearts of his children, his grandchildren, his wife, his friends, his brothers, his sisters, and in all of us who had the privilege to know him, if only for a moment.
I pray that God will give me the love and wisdom to impact others the way John impacted me. I want to believe in others the way John believed in me. When I think of John, I may hear the sounds of his strong baritone voice singing "Lily's Eyes" or "Midnight Cry" in the background, but what will always be in the forefront is the passion with which he loved his God. Praise God that I got to share in the glory of the Father because I was blessed to be close to one of his faithful children.
There are so many mixed emotions-- I am exuberant....my friend is gone to be with his LORD!! I am broken...my FRIEND has GONE to be with the Lord! I have rejoiced and I have wept. "There is none holy like the Lord: for there is none besides you, there is no rock like our God. (I Samuel 2:2)"
Oh God, give us the grace to live for you. Let John's memory remind us. Let him live on through us. Let us look forward to the day we will see our John again, to the day we will see you. Thank you for a hope that does not disappoint. Thank you for John's legacy of love.
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