Broken Masterpieces

February 03, 2004

A Memorial Service

Today was a day we attended a memorial service for a friend of mine, Helyn. She was the wonderful wife of my pastor back in my high school days. She passed away a few days ago after a long bout with cancer.

We stayed in touch on and off through the years and we weren't particularly close but her life had a lasting impact on me. She was one of those people who was the "Real Deal". Many people live with a facade of acting like the perfect little Christian; saying the right things, being offended by the right things, doing this and being that. Back in my teenage days most adults didn't have much time to be friendly with the youth. They were good at telling us the do's and don'ts of life but never got to the level of dealing with you as a person. Fortunately there were people like Helyn, her husband Ron, my youth pastor and his wife and our Campus Life directory and his wife along with a few other family friends.

My parents were great as they let me leave the church they attended because the youth group was neglected. I began attending the church were Helyn's husband was the pastor. There was an honest attempt to reach out to the youth of our area. Helyn was one of those types and was always someone a kid could talk to. For me, her impact on my life was watching her as a wife, mother and person in the spotlight (the pastor's wife at a small church is in the spotlight) handle things will amazing class, dignity and a great sense of humor. She was one of the first cool adults in my life. Her sense of humor was classic.

One of the neat things about a memorial service is catching up with people you should have been caught up with anyway. My friend back from 5th grade who became my college roommate and lifelong friend was able to attend and we hadn't seen each other in six years. Email contact is just not the same as being in the presence of true friends and Adam is one of the few of those that I will ever have.

My old youth pastor and his wife flew down from Oregon. I hadn't seen them in well over 15 years or more. Amazing people that had an incredible impact on my life. A couple more of those cool adults that are the real deal and I am eternally grateful that God put them in my life when I was 16.

I will never forget Helyn and hope that when my kids are teenagers people like her will come across their path. No matter how great of a parent we try to be (and my parents are great) those other people in kids' lives will make a huge impact on them.

He is risen....

Posted by Tim at February 3, 2004 09:46 PM
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