In Psalm 68 God is described as a father to the fatherless. It says he sets the lonely in families. Because my dad became ill when I was very young and my family was already quite broken even by that time, this has always been one of my favorite passages. I’m writing tonight to tell you that God is faithful to his Word. This passage is true and that, in addition to actually being Our Father who art in heaven, God does indeed provide both spiritual fathers and families to those in need of such things on earth.
What grace!
Some people think you have to be rich and famous to be great. Some think you’ve got to have fame to be significant and fortune to make a real difference. I know much better, though. I know a man who has none of these things, yet has changed the world around him one person at a time through nothing more than a simple life coupled with great faithfulness.
Last Sunday we attended a reunion dinner for Covenant Baptist Church in Uniontown. It marked 35 years for the lay pastor’s service. For anyone who has not met Dennis Cox, I always describe him as the best man I’ve ever met. Over the 8 years I’ve known him, he has been a spiritual father to both me and my husband.
When I first met Dennis, I had questions about life. I had questions about the church. I had questions about theology. I had questions about the Bible. I would call him every time I had a question. He was never too busy to answer my questions with great patience and wisdom. He began to meet with me and my husband every week in the morning while it was still dark outside to teach us one on one. He shared his vast knowledge line by painstaking line this way with us for the better part of 6 years. No praise. No honor. No glory. Work and personal sacrifice was all there was in it for Dennis. Still, he was always there, sitting with us; teaching us; loving us. He and his wife invited us into their real lives despite our rough and ragged edges. We had dinner together on numerous occasions. He attended our children’s birthdays. He let us drop in on him whenever we were in the neighborhood. He counseled us on many occasions when we were lost, hurt, angry, or just plain wrong. He prayed for us faithfully. He corrected us in ways that never felt condescending. He rescued our marriage more than once. Even when we failed miserably and did all that he’d taught us not to do, he loved us like his very own. Without even a hint of anger or disappointment to shame us, he gently and kindly led us back to the truth.
What grace!
This is a man who has done as much and more for countless others as well. A man who has lived life well because he has lived life right by God. Dennis is a great example to us all and there was a banquet room full of people to prove it.
As he was honored by that room full of grateful people, he spoke of nothing but his own undeservedness. My husband mused that the amount of humility he displays is “almost unbelievable.” That it is – especially for a man who has done so very much for so many. This is a man who has truly changed the world for the good without fame or fortune. This is a man who has truly changed the world for the good with his example of faithfulness and love. It reminds me of another man I know – a man named Jesus.
We ran a race the day of the reunion and I realized something. The moment I saw the first person ahead of me turn the corner toward the home stretch to the finish line, I felt a wave of relief; of encouragement; of inspiration. Even though I was still quite a long way from the finish myself, I began to run faster in anticipation and, as I did, I couldn’t help but think of Dennis. He is so far ahead of us in wisdom, in experience, and in faith. But we can see him turning the corner toward home and it inspires us to follow harder. It encourages us to be better. It relieves our fears.
Thank you for giving so many good things to us and so many others, Dennis. You are the best man we know.
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