Brother in Christ, Gone Home to Jesus

You know, dear reader, I could almost hate three-day summer weekends. On the Labor Day holiday just observed, many places with public computer terminals were closed on Sunday and Monday, and I had to work at Fiesta Texas on Saturday, thus eliminating any opportunity to blog, check e-mail, etc. But anyhow. . . here I am!

Friday evening I attended a memorial service for a man I had only known since moving to San Antonio in '02. At that time Larry West was the pastor of Western Hills Christian Church (Disciples) in the northwest of the city, out beyond the medical district. The first time I visited that church for Sunday worship and met Brother Larry, I got a "good feeling" about him, that HERE was a Man of God! Any time I got to be around him I felt a peace and a joy. When I learned that Brother Larry was a Navy chaplain, I found a strong connection between the two of us, since I'd been a chaplain in the US Army, endorsed by the Disciples of Christ, as he was endorsed for the Navy chaplaincy. On a subsequent Sunday I visited Western Hills CC again; it must have been the Sunday prior to Veterans Day, because all us military vets who were present were recognized. Brother Chaplain Larry was wearing his Navy dress white uniform. Even tho' he was in his sixties and somewhat overweight, he truly looked dashing in that splendid uniform!

Now, the previous Pastor of Western Hills CC was Harold Guess, sponsor for my (pilgrim) Walk to Emmaus, Men's #327 in October '93. When I learned that Bro. Larry was going on HIS pilgrim walk, I made sure to get a ride to Candlelight, and to sign up for the prayer vigil for that Walk. Not long afterward, he retired from the pastoral ministry, and then he had back surgery. Apparently he never fully recovered. . . and now he's gone to be with the Lord.

This is one of those situations when someone I esteem has died, and while cherishing every incident in which our two paths crossed, I also regret that I didn't do more to get to know the person even better, and to express my esteem.

The memorial service in Western Hills Christian Church was just right. There were tears, yes, but a lot more of simply celebrating joyfully Larry West's life, his passions for food (like me!), railroads & model trains (like me again!), family, country and God. He had served in the US Navy 43 years. Forty-three years! Wow!

During the early portion of the service I had mixed feelings of gladness that Bro. Larry no longer suffers in his back or anywhere else, that mild regret about my not doing more to get to know him better (he was quite the role model), and a little envy that he had gone home. It all seemed to coalesce when we began singing as a congregation the hymn "What a Friend we Have in Jesus" -- one of my faves. I was suddenly given a vision of Larry in his Navy dress whites (and still with glasses, too) with the Lord Jesus giving him a welcoming hug into Heaven! Wow!

I was very impressed with a painting that was displayed just outside the door from the lobby into the sanctuary, of Bro. Larry from about the waist up (and arms positioned as tho' he were sitting) in Navy dress blues (the equivalent of the Army's dress greens or "Class A's") above a panorama of Western Hills Christian Church (Disciples) with emphasis on its three monumental iron I-beam crosses. I was told that a member of WHCC painted it for Larry's retirement. It was beautiful, and I felt that it expressed Larry exactly as I will probably best remember him! (Well, granted, I never saw him wearing Navy dress blues, just the whites.)