Uncle Jerry

My Uncle Jerry Dziadul was called home by Christ this morning at age 56. I cannot believe he's gone. He visited here some time back when we had a bad storm & lost our electricity. He went right out & got a camping stove & lantern & made a big time out of it. He had his grand kids with him at the time. I loved watching how he loved them & yet how he refused to lower his standards for them. Instead, time after time, I watched him patiently bring those grandchildren to his standard. It was instructive to say the least.
Uncle Jerry lived in Daytona Beach Florida for all of my memory. He would come home to Connecticut every few years to visit his parents. I was in his wedding as the ring bearer. On one of those visits, I was 14 & he wanted to go pheasant hunting. I told him that I could show him some places. He picked me up early one morning & we hit the woods. We walked & talked for miles that day. He told me the account of his divorce & then he charged me to fight for my marriage with all that is in me. I'll never forget his words, "The pain of divorce far outweighs the pain that is motivating the divorce." I never heard a man talk this way. The regret & remorse were stark and I never forgot it.
During that hunt, Uncle Jerry also shared with me his conversion to Christ. He left home as an older teen & made it to Daytona Beach Florida. He got in with a bad element & got arrested. Somehow a couple showed up & bailed him out of jail. He lived with them for a while and saw them live out the Gospel. It was during that time that God revealed Christ to him & redeemed him from his sin. He shared his heart with me that day & it endeared me to him for the rest of his life. Now I will preach his funeral. Five years ago, I invited him to attend Paul Jr.'s Barmitzvah. He couldn't make it but he did send a hand written letter. In it he told my son that many people say that living the Christian life is hard. To that he responded,"No it isn't. Living like the devil is hard. Hard on you and hard on everyone you love. Living for Christ is easy compared to that road." I never heard it communicated that way before.
In a few days, I will stand before my family & declare the Gospel of Jesus Christ that my Uncle went out into eternity believing. I praise God for the Gospel for it is truly the power of God unto Salvation. And to my dear Uncle Jerry...I'll see you again one day!
Maranatha!