Uncle Jack

Vandaag ontving ik email van m'n vriendin Margie uit Canada.
Haar oom van ver in de tachtig was recent geschept door een auto en ter plekke overleden. Een abrupt einde van een mensenleven wat naar de mens een tragisch ongeval heet. Maar was dat zo?

Toen ik in de zending in Gambia was en later op bezoek in Canada, heb ik hem ook ontmoet. Uncle Jack" zoals iedereen hem noemde was een man van God. Zijn hele leven single gebleven.

Vandaag ontving ik per email zijn verhaal " Tribute to uncle Jack."
Het maakte indruk op mij en met toestemming van Margie wil ik het graag met jullie delen.

TRIBUTE TO UNCLE JACK – A MAN OF CONTRASTS

The first memory of Uncle Jack I have is that he was tall & carried me on his shoulders & he had to duck through doors. This was in Duncan when I lived with his parents, my g. parents after his sister, my mother passed away in 1942. These meetings with him were few as he joined the RCAF in 1942 & was gone until 1945 so was away when she died.

Some of you will remember the Readers’ Digest article titled “The Most Unforgettable Character I Ever Met”. This was my Uncle Jack. He was definitely a character. He also had Character with a capital C!! His life had the most impact on mine. King David speaking of his Lord said, ‘Thy gentleness has made me great.” I know of no other gentle-man like my Uncle. He was a true gentleman in every sense of the word. He was consistently gentle with every person he met. He never tried to impress anyone, but he always made an impression. He was a man of genuine humility, kindness & patience who took great pride in doing as perfect a job as he possible could. No matter who you were, how old you were or what your background or status in life was, he was a friend Like Jesus, he was a friend of sinners and everyone was his friend. He would gladly lay down his life for his friends, and he often did.

To say that he did not keep a tidy house is to put it very mildly yet I believe, of all the people I know, he had his priorities right. His personal habits testified to this.
- He put God first always in all things
- He put others second
- And he put himself last

1st – God: His Bible was always found open on the table where he sat like he was always ready to meet God. As a matter of fact, I believe he was! The day after he was taken, Wednesday, I found his Bible open to Amos 4:12 “Prepare to meet thy God” was underlined!!! I couldn’t help but think that he was totally prepared that day as he was every other day of his life as a believer in Christ.

2nd – Others: He always had time for others. The qualities of patience, kindness & his genuine interest in others endeared him to countless people all over the world. He was highly esteemed by the Africans in The Gambia, not just respected because of his age which is the norm. I am so glad God gave him the opportunity to spend those 15 months in Africa blessing the African Church.

3rd – Himself: I believe he struggled with low self image but never let it hinder his progress to maturity & contentment in knowing the Lord. Tho he went thru much sadness & loss as a young man he was one of the most joy-filled persons I’ve ever known. Tho’ he suffered the loss of 3 of his immediate family members in the space of 6 years between 1942 -1948, he never allowed those losses to make him bitter.

He lived the proverbial bachelor’s life yet was a man who achieved more contentment than many who have wives to care for them. He had found peace, joy, love & contentment in Jesus.
He was a hoarder! Yet he gave away everything most people value the most – including money!

He loved adventure & had traveled extensively to Europe, Australia, N. Z. & West Africa. He loved music, played the violin and always sang in the choir usually base, until his lungs began to fail which I believe was due to his profession as a builder/painter. Like Jesus he loved working with his hands.

He loved good books, good music, good jokes, good conversation & good food! His favorite comment about the latter was “What a treat!” In fact, to Uncle Jack every day of life was a treat and a gift.

He had a great sense of humor which was the dry. He loved to laugh & literally enjoyed every experience. He never seemed to miss an opportunity to joke and was prone to see the humorous side of life.

I want to tell you about a time in The Gambia when we were traveling from the coast inland about 150 km., a trip which should have taken 3-4 hours max. We actually started out in a bus that was marked Express but had a fender bender before we got out of the parking lot which took 3 hrs to straighten out. This bus only took us half way & we had to get a local taxi which took us another 3 hours as they wait until every seat is full before moving out. We then traveled another 3 hours to the river & then had another few hrs to find a motorized canoe to take us across. When we arrived at our destination 14 hrs later, I was exhausted and fit to be tied. Uncle Jack, quite the opposite, had enjoyed the whole process of the trip & was in good form as usual!!!! He love The Gambia and would have retired out there if I had.

One quality that stood out in every area of his character was faith & faithfulness. You could count on him, and we did.

He was generous to the point of depriving himself that others needs might be met. He was my most faithful supporter as a missionary; money was to be earned & invested in God’s Kingdom. He was a man of prayer and of the Word. He invested well in the only two things that last for eternity:

1: The Word of God – The Bible
2. The Souls of men.

My Uncle enjoyed life!! And right now he is enjoying ETERNAL LIFE and is complete in every way because of what Christ did for him.

I found this poem among his papers and I want to share it with you. It is called STEP BY STEP AFTER Proverbs. 4:12, which in the Hebrew translation says “As thou goest step by step, I will open the way before thee.”


He does not lead me year by year, Not even day by day,
But step by step my path unfolds; My Lord directs my way.

Tomorrow’s plans I do not know, I only know this minute,
But He will say, “This is the way, by faith now walk ye in it.”

And I am glad that it is so, Today’s enough to bear,
And when tomorrow comes, His grace shall far exceed its care.

What need to worry then, or fret?
The God Who gave His Son
Holds all my moments in His hand and gives them one by one.


God tells us to give thanks in all things!

We know how he was taken. I want to ask you to pray for the young driver of the car, that he will come to know Jesus as his Lord & Saviour, because Jesus is the only one who can take away the guilt of wrong-doing & give him peace & joy & a clean conscience.
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I want to end this tribute to my dear Uncle Jack by giving thanks to God for a Life Well Lived, for his shining testimony & the legacy he has left us: the wealth of pointing us to the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. I believe he preached the Gospel every day by his life-style and when it was necessary he used words. He has shown us the way to heaven and eternal life, just like Jesus did! Yes, there is an empty place in our hearts now. Let’s let Jesus fill it. That is what Uncle Jack did and desired for us all.

I shall miss him terribly but I know without a shadow of a doubt that God’s plan for him on earth was finished, that he is in a far better place, and that I shall see him one day in the not too distant future! Rejoice with me!