The Four People I’ve Met on Earth

You’ve heard of the book, “The Five People You Meet in Heaven?”

Well, this post is about “Four People I’ve Met on Earth.”

Seriously, folks. Steve and I get to meet some of the most amazing people in our line of work and I want to highlight a few of them, ending with the story I alluded to in an earlier post about the adopted sister-in-law I’d never met and the guy who has known me longer than Steve.

So are you ready to meet some inspiring folks? Let’s get started!

1. Mark Shear

A couple of weeks ago, Steve and I had lunch with Mark and his wife, Cathy.

Three years ago, Mark was addicted to drugs and alcohol, had lost his driver’s license and was about to lose his marriage and his house. In a last ditch effort at changing his life, he came to Dare Challenge, a faith-based rehab center located here on Roanoke Island. (As I’ve mentioned before, Steve serves on the board of directors and teaches a class there once a week. We also have all the residents come to our house for Thanksgiving Dinner every year.)

Fast forward three years. 

Mark has been reconciled with his wife, is alcohol and drug free, and is the Senior Field Electrical/Instrumentation Engineer with the  FLSmidth company.  His job involves spending several months a year in the mountains of Peru where he works 14-18 hour days in all sorts of frightful weather conditions as he deals with intricate, expensive, mammoth pieces of machinery.

Every couple of weeks, due to the extreme altitude, he has to come down from his mountain work area for several days. After spending the first 24 hours sleeping and recuperating, he spends the rest of his “down time” looking for people to help.

In one instance, he came across a homeless man on the street, booked him into a nice hotel for several nights and bought him meals, and a whole wardrobe of new, warm clothes.

On another visit, he found a family who lived in a very basic hut—they had electricity and running water but not much else.  He took them shopping and bought them a refrigerator and stove and dishes and pans. He said they stood in the middle of the store and just cried.

Another time, when he was approached on the street by a prostitute, he asked her why she did what she did. She said it was so that she could support her two children. He bought her a bus ticket to her home town and gave her enough money to free her up to find another way to make a living.

Some people might say, “Well, how do you know those people will use the money for the right things?”

Mark doesn’t know.  He just knows that God has helped him put his life back together and he has dedicated the rest of his life to helping other people do the same thing.

After we had finished lunch with him and Cathy, and listened to some of his inspiring stories, he made a point of thanking Steve for the investment he had made in him when he was a resident at Dare Challenge.

An amazing story of grace—received and given.

2.  Danielle Smith

Danielle has just turned 24 years old. Last Sunday, she spoke to our church about getting ready to go as a missionary to an Asian country where single women are at risk.  Danielle was raised by missionary parents in Africa so she has invaluable experience living in another culture but nothing can quite prepare a person for what she is about to encounter.  And yet she talks about it with joy and anticipation—there’s nothing she’d rather be doing than pursuing God’s plan for her life. 

3.  Ron and Debbie Wilcox

A couple of years ago, Ron and Debbie Wilcox were living in Florida where they were very active and involved in their local church. After sensing a call to become missionaries, they went through the proper channels with their denomination, receiving training and going to language school. They sold their air conditioning business, put their house up for rent, left behind their children and grandchildren and are now missionaries to Venezuela, with an emphasis on working with needy children.  Ron is also a repairman/handyman and Debbie does bookkeeping so they offer very practical help, as well.

I was especially intrigued as I listened to Ron speak because he is from my hometown of Sparta, Wisconsin; I first met him when I was about nine years old. He was from a family of 14 kids, only seven of which survived into adulthood.  His mother died when he was seven, his dad was an alcoholic, and the seven surviving children basically raised each other. 

Somewhere along the way, Ron met my brothers and then the rest of our family and over the years, he became an unofficially  adopted member of our family. In fact, his name is on my dad’s gravestone, right along with the rest of my siblings

.

I hadn’t seen Ron since my dad’s funeral five years ago. At that point, he’d been married to Debbie for 5 years but she hadn’t been able to make it to the funeral.

And so you can just imagine how special it was for me to have the two of them come to our church and tell their story to our congregation–It was a truly memorable moment.

As I sat and listened to them speak, it occurred to me that one of the reasons Ron had been drawn to the children of Venezuela was because of his own upbringing.  He has been neglected, abandoned, hungry, alone, and afraid, and it is largely because of those experiences that he has such an amazing connection with the kids he and Debbie are reaching out to.

After they had finished speaking,  Steve asked anyone to come forward who would be willing to consider doing a short terms missions trip in the future. Such a great response of people who are willing to help.

Before Ron and Debbie left to drive back to Florida on Tuesday morning, they stopped by the house to say good-bye.

We joined hands in a circle and prayed together and when we finished, Ron (who is almost always cutting up and saying something funny), got serious.  He looked at me and said, “Becky, I just want to tell you how proud I am of who you are, who you have grown up to be, and the woman of God that you are.”

Well, I just got all teary-eyed over that.

What a privilege to have this brother (and newly met sister-in-law) in my life and how inspiring to know that when they head back to Venezuela in four months, they will continue to be a part of making a difference for so many people.

Because isn’t that what our lives are all about?  Not just living for ourselves but living and giving to make a difference for others.

I just ran across a quote from a favorite author of mine, Mary DeMuth. She wrote:

When we walk on the shores of the hereafter, friends, we will finally understand this. That the economy of heaven has little to do with the shimmery stuff or the gold coins we possess. It
has everything to do with walking as Jesus did, finding people to love who the world
shuns, doing the dirty work of love in the trenches of life–far, far away from limelight
or fashion.

In closing, I just want to add that sometimes when I hear stories like the ones I’ve just written about, or when I find out about people who are doing really cool things in really great ways, I tend to think that my own efforts are fruitless.  

So I bring a smile to an elderly woman’s face when I compliment her purple coat?  So I take soup and muffins to a mom who’s feeling bad but still has several children she needs to take care of?  So I give a smile and a brief encouragement to a friend who’s struggling?

Big deal, right?  I’m not taking myself off to a hostile country and putting my life in danger.

But our small actions, in our small towns, in our small circles of influence, we still have the power to make a difference. Don’t ever not do something because it’s not a big thing.

If it lifts a heart, it’s big. If it helps carry a burden, It’s important.

I just wrote about four people I’ve met on earth who are spending their lives, their money, their energies– helping.

We can do that, too. Today. Now. Where we live.

We can become someone’s inspiration.