A summer of shock and grief has continued for me, with word that a dear niece, only in her early twenties and with all the world before her, is wrestling with disease and the spectre of cancer. It brings me to my knees in prayer and to the Scripture for sustenance.
The Scriptures are full of hope in the face of pain and uncertainty. The cross of Jesus shows the love of God reaching into the brokenness of the world, living in the midst of darkness, humbly submitting, and taking on the pain and overcoming it. The Lord's dying cry in John, "It is finished" certainly refers to his life’s work on one level, but it also means that evil is defeated: sin and death are finished. The power that brings salvation strangles evil for good.
In life, we see suffering coming from many places at all of us at some time or another. And sometimes that suffering seems more than we can bear. That is when we need God and each other the most. Whether suffering comes by disease, or accident or human cruelty, there’s nothing that we will encounter that Jesus has not known. Christ lived and was tempted and wept just like us. He suffered immensely. He died intensely. He knows what we are going through, and He is with us each step of the way. Praise God that Christ, the sinless Son of God, died for our salvation! Sin cannot and will not remove us from his loving grasp.
The eternal truth is simply this -- evil can attack us and knock us against a very hard wall, even seeming to have an advantage. But that seeming advantage is just a temporary illusion. We know Who wins in the end. Through Christ, we have the victory!
That is the watchword of the Christian life. Let us live in faith and hope, and face life courageously, living in the sure confidence that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, our Risen Lord, has triumphed over sin and death and holds us close in His mighty hands. This guarantee rests secure in His spiritual bank. In Christ, we have the victory! Amen. Amen!
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Remembering Special Friends -- Rick and David
The deaths of two good friends from my past, both leaving us within the last two weeks, has thrown me back emotionally to a morning in late 2003, when Elder Lois Berkeley of Kake, Alaska called me to tell me that Rick Mills was missing. Rick, 43, and his son David, 14, and his good friend Gery Davies, 28, left Kake on Tuesday morning, December 30, in a 16-foot skiff to hunt deer on the southern part of Admiralty Island. They were expected home that night.
Sadly they never made it back home. Bad weather and a dangerous sea claimed their lives, leaving the village of Kake devastated, especially Gery and Rick's families. What a blow it was to Rick's wife Judy, and his surviving children, Rae Ann, Johnny and Chelsea. It was also a major trauma for the Kake Memorial Presbyterian Church, where Rick was an elder and David was key member of the youth fellowship. They were both beloved bythe people of Kake.
When friends die it makes you take a strong stark look at your own mortality. It also makes you cherish the memories of times with the friends you lost. Without a doubt, Rick Mills made the world a better place with his strong commitment to family, to church, and to children and youth. Now, over two and a half years later, my family and I still feel a great loss. The world became lot worse off without Rick Mills in it. He was a very special person.
He was a great friend and teacher, a person who loved his family dearly, who was a pillar of his church, and a tower in his community. His life was a special blessing to all of us who knew him. He loved life and he loved people. He has been be sorely missed by his family and his village.
His passing seemed too quick – he was too young, too vibrant, he had so much to give, he was too important to his family and village – yet he was gone, and many folks were left with gaping holes where their hearts should be beating. His life light burned brightly and warmed us all for a while, and now the world was darker and the winter seemed colder.
But Rick would urge us to go on and do our best. Rick's faith was always steadfast. He was a pillar of the church and community, doing good deeds for many people. Only a few people knew about many of the special things he did, because Rick did not seek the limelight. He just tried to do what was right, day after day, year after year. He touched many with his acts of compassion.
He was a wise mentor, explaining Tlingit ways to me, and taking me on my first seaweed-gathering trip, when he kidded me about my looking much like a wounded walrus as I slid around the rocks as I grabbed the precious seaweed. We had a lot of fun gathering seaweed and fishing, and he taught me so much about the history of Kake and its people. I will forever be thankful for his kindness and his good advice and expert assistance.
I remember how much he loved his chosen profession of teaching and how dedicated he was to the school system and the children of Kake. I had thought he might become a pastor – he certainly had the gifts for it – but he saw teaching as his truest calling. He was an advocate for the youth. He helped many a young person to grow strong and to learn to make the right choices.
He lived to help the children, in any way that he could. They were the future of the village and he helped them prepare for their futures. But he was also a custodian of the past as a teacher of Tlingit history and he took that job very seriously. He respected the elders and the rich history of the people and the culture.
He loved the little church that we served together, and he and Judy helped it survive and grow with their faithful service and enthusiastic leadership. He was always there when you needed a hand, whether to say prayers, or visit the sick, or lead communion services, or clean up after a potluck. His gift of hospitality was abundant, and he helped four Village Youth Ministers feel at home in Kake as they loved and nurtured the children of the village. I know that John Schwartz, John White, Neris Bicunias and Kathy March will always be grateful for the love and care extended to them by Rick and Judy and their wonderful children.
The VYM program worked because of Rick and Judy. The same might also be said for the various Mission Groups that came in to lead Vacation Bible Schools in Kake. If Rick and Judy were in town, they were there helping us to teach the children and to make the groups from the lower 48 feel welcome. Rick had a knack for making people smile. He had a gift for sharing with others the things that God had given him. He opened his home and his heart to everyone he met, in Christian love.
Rick loved his family. He cherished the time with his wife and children as much as any man I have ever known. We went on some wonderful cookouts to beaches with another beloved family, the Kondros, and out to Point McCartney with the whole family and it was evident what a good and loving father he was to his children. And all of his children were special to us. David was such a good boy. He was smart and handsome and friendly and had so much promise.
One of the moments I will always remember with Rick was when he and I came across sports journalist Byron Ricks, while the author and his wife Maren were on an epic kayaking trip through the Inside Passage. They were resting on an island near one of Rick Mills' favorite seaweed gathring spots. Rick invited them back to Kake for shelter in the Presbyterian church. So we got to spend some time with the adventurous couple, and my wife's good cooking even made it into Byron's remarkable journal of their journey, all because of Rick's natural hospitality.
Rick Mills was always the gracious host. That little visit to Kake made it into a chapter in the wondrous book, "Homelands: Kayaking the Inside Passage", which is chock full of wisdom and adventure, and a good read that goes way beyond kayaking. (It is still available on the internet.) In those poetic pages you get a snapshot of the wisdom and depth of Rick Mills. Rick was a joy to know. He was unforgettable.
Sadly they never made it back home. Bad weather and a dangerous sea claimed their lives, leaving the village of Kake devastated, especially Gery and Rick's families. What a blow it was to Rick's wife Judy, and his surviving children, Rae Ann, Johnny and Chelsea. It was also a major trauma for the Kake Memorial Presbyterian Church, where Rick was an elder and David was key member of the youth fellowship. They were both beloved bythe people of Kake.
When friends die it makes you take a strong stark look at your own mortality. It also makes you cherish the memories of times with the friends you lost. Without a doubt, Rick Mills made the world a better place with his strong commitment to family, to church, and to children and youth. Now, over two and a half years later, my family and I still feel a great loss. The world became lot worse off without Rick Mills in it. He was a very special person.
He was a great friend and teacher, a person who loved his family dearly, who was a pillar of his church, and a tower in his community. His life was a special blessing to all of us who knew him. He loved life and he loved people. He has been be sorely missed by his family and his village.
His passing seemed too quick – he was too young, too vibrant, he had so much to give, he was too important to his family and village – yet he was gone, and many folks were left with gaping holes where their hearts should be beating. His life light burned brightly and warmed us all for a while, and now the world was darker and the winter seemed colder.
But Rick would urge us to go on and do our best. Rick's faith was always steadfast. He was a pillar of the church and community, doing good deeds for many people. Only a few people knew about many of the special things he did, because Rick did not seek the limelight. He just tried to do what was right, day after day, year after year. He touched many with his acts of compassion.
He was a wise mentor, explaining Tlingit ways to me, and taking me on my first seaweed-gathering trip, when he kidded me about my looking much like a wounded walrus as I slid around the rocks as I grabbed the precious seaweed. We had a lot of fun gathering seaweed and fishing, and he taught me so much about the history of Kake and its people. I will forever be thankful for his kindness and his good advice and expert assistance.
I remember how much he loved his chosen profession of teaching and how dedicated he was to the school system and the children of Kake. I had thought he might become a pastor – he certainly had the gifts for it – but he saw teaching as his truest calling. He was an advocate for the youth. He helped many a young person to grow strong and to learn to make the right choices.
He lived to help the children, in any way that he could. They were the future of the village and he helped them prepare for their futures. But he was also a custodian of the past as a teacher of Tlingit history and he took that job very seriously. He respected the elders and the rich history of the people and the culture.
He loved the little church that we served together, and he and Judy helped it survive and grow with their faithful service and enthusiastic leadership. He was always there when you needed a hand, whether to say prayers, or visit the sick, or lead communion services, or clean up after a potluck. His gift of hospitality was abundant, and he helped four Village Youth Ministers feel at home in Kake as they loved and nurtured the children of the village. I know that John Schwartz, John White, Neris Bicunias and Kathy March will always be grateful for the love and care extended to them by Rick and Judy and their wonderful children.
The VYM program worked because of Rick and Judy. The same might also be said for the various Mission Groups that came in to lead Vacation Bible Schools in Kake. If Rick and Judy were in town, they were there helping us to teach the children and to make the groups from the lower 48 feel welcome. Rick had a knack for making people smile. He had a gift for sharing with others the things that God had given him. He opened his home and his heart to everyone he met, in Christian love.
Rick loved his family. He cherished the time with his wife and children as much as any man I have ever known. We went on some wonderful cookouts to beaches with another beloved family, the Kondros, and out to Point McCartney with the whole family and it was evident what a good and loving father he was to his children. And all of his children were special to us. David was such a good boy. He was smart and handsome and friendly and had so much promise.
One of the moments I will always remember with Rick was when he and I came across sports journalist Byron Ricks, while the author and his wife Maren were on an epic kayaking trip through the Inside Passage. They were resting on an island near one of Rick Mills' favorite seaweed gathring spots. Rick invited them back to Kake for shelter in the Presbyterian church. So we got to spend some time with the adventurous couple, and my wife's good cooking even made it into Byron's remarkable journal of their journey, all because of Rick's natural hospitality.
Rick Mills was always the gracious host. That little visit to Kake made it into a chapter in the wondrous book, "Homelands: Kayaking the Inside Passage", which is chock full of wisdom and adventure, and a good read that goes way beyond kayaking. (It is still available on the internet.) In those poetic pages you get a snapshot of the wisdom and depth of Rick Mills. Rick was a joy to know. He was unforgettable.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Brother Stanley Shaquanie Is With Jesus
It happened again this week. One of my good friends of the past left this life in the present. And I am left sorrowful for his death, but joyful for his life. With the hope that Jesus gives to us, smiles eventually defeat the tears.
Stanley Shaquanie, my Tlingit brother in Kake, Alaska, said farewell to this terrestial plane earlier this week. He leaves a great family mourning for him, and an entire village in the double clutches of grief, since they had just lost another revered Elder, Lois Berkeley, early last week. Our prayers are with his dear wife Alberta, and with his entire family, and with all the Ravens and Eagles of Kake. May they help each other dry the tears on their faces.
Stanley was a strong man, physically and mentally, and he had been through a lot of tough times in his life, including his own recent battle with the difficult disease of cancer. I hate cancer. It devastates people and families like few other diseases do. It claimed the life of Stanley, of his young son before him, and has attacked two of his beautiful daughters and his own dear wife.
But through it all, Stanley was a man of strength and courage, and always had a smile and a kind word for others. He was always ready to cheer someone else up with his good humor and special ways. My daughter Joanna remembers him fondly, for his laughter and his kidding, and his words of encouragement. We knew him to be someone ready to lend a helping hand to anyone in need.
Stanley was a truly wonderful man who worked very hard, and who did a lot of good in his life. He was a family man of the highest degree, and in a native Alaskan village that is an extremely high compliment, because family matters greatly, and the whole village works together to help each other out. The rest of the world can learn a lot from the Native Alaskan people and their time-tested values and ways. Stanley believed in the old ways of respect and community values. He also was a strong believer in Jesus Christ, and he served ably as an elder of the Presbyterian Church. He saw how true Christianity and the ancient Native Alaskan values were often like hand in glove.
Stanley Shaquanie was not afraid to proclaim the faith he had in Jesus Christ and he would freely tell you how Jesus makes a difference in our lives here, and how the Lord makes possible our life to come. We say "see you later" to Stanley, because we are confident that he is even now in the arms and care of God, and that some glad morning, when this life is over for us, we will be reunited with Stanley again.
Stanley and his good wife and family seemed to have far more than their fair share of suffering in this life. Sometimes it seems that God calls on some people to carry a cross of greater suffering in this life, in order to teach the others of us good life lessons we need to learn. Stanley was willing to that, if God called on him to do it, and so it was that Stanley taught many of us about courage, dignity, and family, and about strength and grace under pressure.
John 3:16 plainly says that Jesus came that “all who believe in Him might have eternal life.” In the scriptures we see a pattern -- The Biblical call is to trust both the present and the future to God.
Jesus was the Lamb of God that took away the sin of the world; He became our priest and sacrifice, all in one. Confronted by our hopelessness in sin and death, Christ interceded by offering himself -- His entire person and work -- in order to reconcile us to God. It has been said that when our Lord passed through the door of real human death, He showed us that there is no sorrow He has not known, no grief He has not borne, and no price He was unwilling to save us. Jesus died, his mother grieved, but death was conquered!
And on that fine day beyond the future, time will be no more, and the newest dawn will break upon us from on high, and we will be in the sweet by and by. Until then, may we all have a closer walk with our God on this earthly plane. One day, in that bright land the Scriptures talk about, through the grace of Jesus Christ, we will celebrate with families and friends, reunited in the Day of Resurrection! And I will give Stanley Shaquanie a big hug! What a day of rejoicing that will be!
Stanley Shaquanie, my Tlingit brother in Kake, Alaska, said farewell to this terrestial plane earlier this week. He leaves a great family mourning for him, and an entire village in the double clutches of grief, since they had just lost another revered Elder, Lois Berkeley, early last week. Our prayers are with his dear wife Alberta, and with his entire family, and with all the Ravens and Eagles of Kake. May they help each other dry the tears on their faces.
Stanley was a strong man, physically and mentally, and he had been through a lot of tough times in his life, including his own recent battle with the difficult disease of cancer. I hate cancer. It devastates people and families like few other diseases do. It claimed the life of Stanley, of his young son before him, and has attacked two of his beautiful daughters and his own dear wife.
But through it all, Stanley was a man of strength and courage, and always had a smile and a kind word for others. He was always ready to cheer someone else up with his good humor and special ways. My daughter Joanna remembers him fondly, for his laughter and his kidding, and his words of encouragement. We knew him to be someone ready to lend a helping hand to anyone in need.
Stanley was a truly wonderful man who worked very hard, and who did a lot of good in his life. He was a family man of the highest degree, and in a native Alaskan village that is an extremely high compliment, because family matters greatly, and the whole village works together to help each other out. The rest of the world can learn a lot from the Native Alaskan people and their time-tested values and ways. Stanley believed in the old ways of respect and community values. He also was a strong believer in Jesus Christ, and he served ably as an elder of the Presbyterian Church. He saw how true Christianity and the ancient Native Alaskan values were often like hand in glove.
Stanley Shaquanie was not afraid to proclaim the faith he had in Jesus Christ and he would freely tell you how Jesus makes a difference in our lives here, and how the Lord makes possible our life to come. We say "see you later" to Stanley, because we are confident that he is even now in the arms and care of God, and that some glad morning, when this life is over for us, we will be reunited with Stanley again.
Stanley and his good wife and family seemed to have far more than their fair share of suffering in this life. Sometimes it seems that God calls on some people to carry a cross of greater suffering in this life, in order to teach the others of us good life lessons we need to learn. Stanley was willing to that, if God called on him to do it, and so it was that Stanley taught many of us about courage, dignity, and family, and about strength and grace under pressure.
John 3:16 plainly says that Jesus came that “all who believe in Him might have eternal life.” In the scriptures we see a pattern -- The Biblical call is to trust both the present and the future to God.
Jesus was the Lamb of God that took away the sin of the world; He became our priest and sacrifice, all in one. Confronted by our hopelessness in sin and death, Christ interceded by offering himself -- His entire person and work -- in order to reconcile us to God. It has been said that when our Lord passed through the door of real human death, He showed us that there is no sorrow He has not known, no grief He has not borne, and no price He was unwilling to save us. Jesus died, his mother grieved, but death was conquered!
And on that fine day beyond the future, time will be no more, and the newest dawn will break upon us from on high, and we will be in the sweet by and by. Until then, may we all have a closer walk with our God on this earthly plane. One day, in that bright land the Scriptures talk about, through the grace of Jesus Christ, we will celebrate with families and friends, reunited in the Day of Resurrection! And I will give Stanley Shaquanie a big hug! What a day of rejoicing that will be!
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Promoted to Glory! Grandma Lois Goes Home
Lois Berkeley went to see the Lord on Sunday. She had been seeking the Lord’s presence every Sunday for many, many years in her long, fruitful life. Each week, without fail, she would go to church. For many years in her home village of Kake, Alaska, Lois went twice on Sundays, first in the morning to the Memorial Presbyterian Church, where she was a member, and then in the evening to the Salvation Army Church, where she was an adherent and loyal supporter.
Sunday after Sunday she was faithful still, even when her body got older, and her joints ached with age, her youthful enthusiasm for Christ kept her going to spend time with Him in His houses each Sunday. She was over eighty in earthly years, but her love of the Lord and His people remained ever young and strong.
Last Sunday morning Lois got up early and got ready to go to church as she had done thousands of Sundays before. She could see the classic church building down by the shore, down a steep hill from her Senior Center apartment. So, as she had done so many times before, Lois dressed for her trip to the Presbyterian Church, and sat ready, with her purse in her lap. She was waiting for Pastor Eric Gebhart to come by and give her the customary ride to the church by the ocean. But on this Sunday, God had an even better destination for his faithful servant Lois. On Sunday morning, instead of going to the little white wooden church, Lois went home to be with the Lord.
When they found Lois body patiently sitting in her chair, a smile was on her face, and she had a look of peace that spoke richly of the peace that had been in her heart for a long time. Lois knew Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, as Elder Brother and Friend. She had responded to the gracious gift of salvation with a life of service to God and neighbor, acted out for many years in the Native Alaskan village of Kake, working as a part of two churches and as a part of the great Tlingit tribe that is Kake, Alaska. A white woman who married a revered Native man, a longtime resident who was twice adopted by the people of Kake, Lois dearly loved the beautiful village on Kupreanof Island. And the people loved her as much as she loved them. She was cherished by her family, churches and community.
She was a familiar face at every village event and every church gathering. As long as she had breath, she lived to be a helping presence in the place where God had planted her – Kake, Alaska. Often she made donations to help the needy, usually without anyone knowing the name of their gracious benefactor.
Lois was known as someone you could depend upon. He word was her bond, and you could trust her promise, which was as permanent as the mountains of the Alaska that she loved. God blessed Lois with a strong will, and it grew stronger over the years, as she worked building airplanes for her country in WWII, and as she learned to fish and hunt and trap as well as almost anyone in the Great Frontier, and as she served the Lord as a faithful Christian year after year. Lois was a rock because she knew the Rock of Ages. Lois was a good wife, a wonderful mother to her daughter Carol and son-in-law Greg, a matriarch to the great Berkeley family, a revered grandmother and great grandmother, and a genuine friend to many, many people.
Lois spent many years working as key assistant at the only store in the village, which belonged to the legendary Raymond and Florence “Ma” Bell. Florence was know as Kake’s Guardian Angel, best known for delivering more than 100 babies during 32 years in the picturesque Southeast Alaskan village. In her early years, “Ma” Bell worked as a nurse and nursing instructor in hospitals and schools on the East Coast and in the South. After her first husband died, Bell joined the U.S. Public Health Service which sent her to Alaska on the U.S.S. Hygiene. She soon settled in Kake, where she met and married Raymond Bell, proprietor of the town's only store, and became friends with Lois. With no doctor in Kake and no roads to other towns, Bell's role as nurse and midwife was critical to the community. Lois saw much of this good work first hand, and spent much time in prayer for it.
"She saved many people's lives, you bet she did," Lois told me, obviously proud of the work that Bell did. And Lois played a role in much of that good service, by helping free “Ma” from her duties at the store and being a constant prayer support for all that Ma Bell did.
After “Ma” Bell retired to Petersburg in 1978, Lois still continued in the work of guardian angel, but mostly as a prayer warrior for those in need of help in the village. Not a day went by when Lois was not praying for Kake and its people. One of my great privileges was praying many times with Lois. She always was thinking of others. She took their concerns to the Lord in prayer. Often Lois would call on us to agree in prayer for people who needed comfort and care.
In 1997, a grand Presbytery meeting was held in Kake, with over a hundred visitors coming to the island. Lois was at the top of her game, serving as a gracious host and helping with much of the behind the scenes work of the great event. She had served as treasurer and an elder of the Presbyterian Church for many years, so she was always in the middle of helping with projects and keeping the church strong.
To honor her many years of service, the session of the church had Lois be their Presbytery representative and she gave the speech reporting the progress at the little church, which had been very active in recent years. Lois looked physically like a grandmother from Norman Rockwell’s paintings, and sometimes she spoke slowly and often kept silent in a respectful way. But on that Friday night in October, Lois had the big crowd laughing and smiling with her quick wit and gentle humor. She closed with a story that said so much about her, and about the strong, frontier spirit of a little church that came close to closing in the 1980’s, but held on due to the strong faith and faithfulness of members like Lois Berekley.
Lois told of a big storm coming to the island one winter Sunday years before, dumping snow and ice in its wake. Somehow, as was her pattern, Lois made it to the church despite the bad weather. She made some coffee for others to warm themselves when she came, then she went from the Wilson-Dewitt fellowship hall into the main sanctuary of the historic church building and waited for the others to come. But no one came. Minutes turned to an hour and more, and all she heard was the wind howling outside.
But Lois was a good Presbyterian, so, since she was there, she decided to have church. She read some Scripture aloud, sang a favorite hymn (“Amazing Grace”), and said a prayer for the church and the village. Then she turned off the lights and went home. “But we still had church that day!” she proclaimed with a smile. And the Presbytery meeting said Amen with a thunder of applause and gales of laughter. Lois had a gift for speaking the truth with love and a smile.
We loved Lois as a one loves a favorite aunt or a mother. She was a dear friend who we will miss immensely until we see her again on that beautiful shore. Our children called her Grandma Lois. They cried on Sunday evening after hearing of her passing. So did my wife and I. But as long as we have church on this side of the veil, we will remember Lois. She was always faithful and true, trustworthy and strong. Until we meet again, Lois, we will cherish memories of you.
Sunday after Sunday she was faithful still, even when her body got older, and her joints ached with age, her youthful enthusiasm for Christ kept her going to spend time with Him in His houses each Sunday. She was over eighty in earthly years, but her love of the Lord and His people remained ever young and strong.
Last Sunday morning Lois got up early and got ready to go to church as she had done thousands of Sundays before. She could see the classic church building down by the shore, down a steep hill from her Senior Center apartment. So, as she had done so many times before, Lois dressed for her trip to the Presbyterian Church, and sat ready, with her purse in her lap. She was waiting for Pastor Eric Gebhart to come by and give her the customary ride to the church by the ocean. But on this Sunday, God had an even better destination for his faithful servant Lois. On Sunday morning, instead of going to the little white wooden church, Lois went home to be with the Lord.
When they found Lois body patiently sitting in her chair, a smile was on her face, and she had a look of peace that spoke richly of the peace that had been in her heart for a long time. Lois knew Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, as Elder Brother and Friend. She had responded to the gracious gift of salvation with a life of service to God and neighbor, acted out for many years in the Native Alaskan village of Kake, working as a part of two churches and as a part of the great Tlingit tribe that is Kake, Alaska. A white woman who married a revered Native man, a longtime resident who was twice adopted by the people of Kake, Lois dearly loved the beautiful village on Kupreanof Island. And the people loved her as much as she loved them. She was cherished by her family, churches and community.
She was a familiar face at every village event and every church gathering. As long as she had breath, she lived to be a helping presence in the place where God had planted her – Kake, Alaska. Often she made donations to help the needy, usually without anyone knowing the name of their gracious benefactor.
Lois was known as someone you could depend upon. He word was her bond, and you could trust her promise, which was as permanent as the mountains of the Alaska that she loved. God blessed Lois with a strong will, and it grew stronger over the years, as she worked building airplanes for her country in WWII, and as she learned to fish and hunt and trap as well as almost anyone in the Great Frontier, and as she served the Lord as a faithful Christian year after year. Lois was a rock because she knew the Rock of Ages. Lois was a good wife, a wonderful mother to her daughter Carol and son-in-law Greg, a matriarch to the great Berkeley family, a revered grandmother and great grandmother, and a genuine friend to many, many people.
Lois spent many years working as key assistant at the only store in the village, which belonged to the legendary Raymond and Florence “Ma” Bell. Florence was know as Kake’s Guardian Angel, best known for delivering more than 100 babies during 32 years in the picturesque Southeast Alaskan village. In her early years, “Ma” Bell worked as a nurse and nursing instructor in hospitals and schools on the East Coast and in the South. After her first husband died, Bell joined the U.S. Public Health Service which sent her to Alaska on the U.S.S. Hygiene. She soon settled in Kake, where she met and married Raymond Bell, proprietor of the town's only store, and became friends with Lois. With no doctor in Kake and no roads to other towns, Bell's role as nurse and midwife was critical to the community. Lois saw much of this good work first hand, and spent much time in prayer for it.
"She saved many people's lives, you bet she did," Lois told me, obviously proud of the work that Bell did. And Lois played a role in much of that good service, by helping free “Ma” from her duties at the store and being a constant prayer support for all that Ma Bell did.
After “Ma” Bell retired to Petersburg in 1978, Lois still continued in the work of guardian angel, but mostly as a prayer warrior for those in need of help in the village. Not a day went by when Lois was not praying for Kake and its people. One of my great privileges was praying many times with Lois. She always was thinking of others. She took their concerns to the Lord in prayer. Often Lois would call on us to agree in prayer for people who needed comfort and care.
In 1997, a grand Presbytery meeting was held in Kake, with over a hundred visitors coming to the island. Lois was at the top of her game, serving as a gracious host and helping with much of the behind the scenes work of the great event. She had served as treasurer and an elder of the Presbyterian Church for many years, so she was always in the middle of helping with projects and keeping the church strong.
To honor her many years of service, the session of the church had Lois be their Presbytery representative and she gave the speech reporting the progress at the little church, which had been very active in recent years. Lois looked physically like a grandmother from Norman Rockwell’s paintings, and sometimes she spoke slowly and often kept silent in a respectful way. But on that Friday night in October, Lois had the big crowd laughing and smiling with her quick wit and gentle humor. She closed with a story that said so much about her, and about the strong, frontier spirit of a little church that came close to closing in the 1980’s, but held on due to the strong faith and faithfulness of members like Lois Berekley.
Lois told of a big storm coming to the island one winter Sunday years before, dumping snow and ice in its wake. Somehow, as was her pattern, Lois made it to the church despite the bad weather. She made some coffee for others to warm themselves when she came, then she went from the Wilson-Dewitt fellowship hall into the main sanctuary of the historic church building and waited for the others to come. But no one came. Minutes turned to an hour and more, and all she heard was the wind howling outside.
But Lois was a good Presbyterian, so, since she was there, she decided to have church. She read some Scripture aloud, sang a favorite hymn (“Amazing Grace”), and said a prayer for the church and the village. Then she turned off the lights and went home. “But we still had church that day!” she proclaimed with a smile. And the Presbytery meeting said Amen with a thunder of applause and gales of laughter. Lois had a gift for speaking the truth with love and a smile.
We loved Lois as a one loves a favorite aunt or a mother. She was a dear friend who we will miss immensely until we see her again on that beautiful shore. Our children called her Grandma Lois. They cried on Sunday evening after hearing of her passing. So did my wife and I. But as long as we have church on this side of the veil, we will remember Lois. She was always faithful and true, trustworthy and strong. Until we meet again, Lois, we will cherish memories of you.
Monday, August 07, 2006
Life is Fragile -- Handle with Prayer!
No matter how you slice it, life is fragile and must be handled with care and prayer. Praying to God is a great privilege and a special responsibility. One of the best ways to use your time is to pray for others, for your family and for yourself. Prayer is a two-way conversation that works best when grounded in the Scriptures and in strong faith in Jesus Christ. Spend some time quietly listening. Take advantage of this great gift and pray often in the name of Jesus!
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