Today, I attended a funeral. It is the second funeral in the last few months of friends of Just Jump who have personally impacted my life. Even in recent times of failing health for each of them, they along with their spouses chose to affirm, pray for, and invest in Just Jump Ministries, Inc.
They were very different personalities, but God used both of them to impact my life.
Today was the funeral for Sandra Kerns. Sandy volunteered weekly and sometimes twice a week at the church where I served. She was always willing to help with making copies, cutting out various shapes for children’s ministry, making phone calls, and preparing mailings to go out. She might give me a hard time at first about being asked but then always made sure the task was finished. She was a hard worker, and I could count on her to follow through. Often, she would ask about various ministries and how we could pray for our mission partners. It wasn’t uncommon for her to ask where the needs were and how she could help.
I remember talking with our mission partners after our first Global Missions Celebration. They described Sandy and said they were so impressed because she was able to ask them specific things about which she had been praying for them. She listened to what we were communicating and prayed faithfully.
Sandy was one-of- a- kind. You never knew just exactly what would come out of her mouth but you were sure she probably wouldn’t hold back her thoughts. Her voice carried rather well, and there were many days that I sat in my office and shook my head. Sometimes, my face might even turn a little red or my eyebrows go up. She didn’t see a need to use the phone system to let me know I had a call; she chose instead to just yell to my office. I remember one day specifically hearing, “Cara….there’s a guy on the phone for you. I didn’t ask his name.” I was pretty sure she didn’t put the caller on hold either while announcing the call. (There are other stories of conversations I’m thinking of that are making me giggle, but I will refrain from sharing them here.)
In December, I attended the funeral of Owen Fox. I met Owen early on in my time as a Missions Minister. Part of my responsibilities was overseeing Sunday School, and Owen was the Sunday School Director for Adults. I quickly learned of his passion for people to study God’s Word.
Owen had a gift for planting seeds, watering them, and watching them grow. Every year, he shared his tomato crop. He would regularly bring boxes full of tomatoes to the church office, and several times he offered and provided tomatoes for a meal at Community Cafe.
I watched him use this gift in a spiritual sense several times throughout the years. I can remember conversations in which he said, “I think God is preparing so and so to be a SS teacher. I’m not sure they know it yet, but let’s pray and let’s begin equipping them.” He invested in people and was willing to walk alongside them as they grew.
Owen apologized to me several times that he wasn’t signing up for mission trips expressing that he just was not physically able to go but that he would be a faithful prayer warrior. And he was. I never doubted his passion for people to know Christ personally. He was on mission in our community. He and his wife especially invested in some of the older members of our church over the last few years. They were the ones I would often call when we were getting ready to make phone calls or visits for homebound members to make sure we didn’t miss anyone. They had a good pulse on how everyone was doing and where there were needs.
He was also one who encouraged me personally. I could count on Owen to greet me with a smile, a handshake, and a heartfelt word of encouragement. “We sure appreciate you, Cara. God is using you. I just want you to know we’re praying for you.” He had no idea how much I needed to hear those words at times.
As I reflect on the lives of Sandra Kerns and Owen Fox, I am thankful that God put both of them in my life. They both in their own ways encouraged me to keep my eyes on Christ and to keep sharing Him with a world who desperately needs Him.
