December 27, 2007
I have known Rick for almost two years now. The members of our ministry team visit the Colonial Nursing Home residents several times a month, and Rick and I came to know each other along the way.
In times like this, we stop to look back and consider the person we knew, the person we mourn. For us here today, I believe there is an assortment of thoughts about Rick and the person he was. Who do you picture in your mind when you think about Rick? What attributes do you see?
Perhaps your first thoughts are of a man in the nursing home, slow of speech and set in an electric wheelchair. A kind man, in need of help throughout the day. A person getting along in life, like many of the people he lived with.
Perhaps you remember him as a 19 year old, young and able. You think of Rick as the person he was back then, and recall how life was for you and him. You see the loss he suffered and the life that he had after his accident.
These are reasonable pictures to have of Rick, and yes, they are true.
Our ministry team currently holds a Church service twice a month at Colonial, and each team member is assigned to a resident so they might get to know the resident better and help take care of their needs.
I first came to know Rick when I couldn’t enter the Home without passing his room. He was resident number one in my mind, the first person I would get to see. He didn’t know what to make of me at first, but slowly, our friendship developed. Later, I would also meet Cheryl during her visits.
In our Church services, we follow a predictable schedule – once everyone interested is gathered, we begin singing hymns together, then a message from the Bible, then Communion, and we finish together with prayer. Week after week, we worship God and grow together in our relationships.
This year for our Christmas service, after singing carols with the residents, I asked everyone what one thing every person on earth would experience. Many residents called out answers, including Rick. They ranged from death to taxes, but we finally settled on the answer I was looking for: We will all face God and answer for ourselves, for the life we have lived.
I asked if anyone was scared about that. I explained that I knew some people who were so scared about facing God that they couldn’t even bring themselves to talk about dying. However, as we and the residents all clearly know, everyone can expect to die. The Bible tells us we each will face death, then God.
Some of the residents replied they too were afraid to face God. They were not referring to the act of dying, but to the fact of giving an account to God. All of us know we have disobeyed God, and He can not let our sins pass without penalty. I explained that Jesus offers us forgiveness, and that He paid the penalty for our sins when He faced God for us, on the Cross. I explained that if we accept Jesus’ payment for our penalty, we no longer face a reckoning with God. Jesus will change our relationship to God, and we can be God’s friend. I explained the Bible tells us we don’t need to be afraid of God if He is our friend, through Jesus.
Rick said he understood he had sinned against God. He also said he wasn’t afraid to meet God. People who give their lives to Jesus for His protection and care do not have to be afraid.
In considering Rick myself, I look to my experience with him and the details Cheryl told me. The fact of the matter is, Rick was a whole person who did not cease to exist after his accident. It is true he was changed in many ways, but the personality inside of him, his soul, continued to be and to grow.
He continued to enjoy music, singing, and drama. Always on the go, he was still motivated to live and be active. He was happy-go-lucky and willing to help other people. His wry humor shone forth through his disability and revealed a thinking man. He had his bad days like the rest of us, but overall, he was content. Rick was still a whole person.
How is this? Does anyone here wonder how you might respond to a life situation like this? To face a life like the one lived by Rick? How is it that Rick could be at peace? Likewise, how can we be at peace with God?
In all cases, it seems to begin with facing the facts. Fighting against something we cannot change most often leads to resentment. But in recognizing where we stand and living within that truth, we can apparently find peace. Was Rick at peace? Are you at peace?
The man who wrote the hymn “It Is Well With My Soul” penned those words in 1873 as his ship sailed across the very spot where his four young daughters drowned just weeks before in a tragic shipwreck. Yet despite the horrible reality and loss, he sought and found peace from Jesus, who he personally knew most of his life. Was he a grief stricken fool? Or, was he a man who took Jesus for His word and found peace, and found relief? Apparently, he had learned he could say to Jesus “I trust You. I know You will take care of me.”
We are all personalities, souls most precious and special – the result of a lifetime of experience and growth. Rick was no exception, a unique soul who found peace. We can have peace with God if we will believe Jesus and trust Him.
Rick Spoerhase
Committed, December 27, 2007
It is well with my soul
When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
It is well (It is well) With my soul (With my soul),
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blessed assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.
It is well (It is well) With my soul (With my soul),
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
It is well (It is well) With my soul (With my soul),
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.
It is well (It is well) With my soul (With my soul),
It is well, it is well, with my soul.