En Memorium

I have lost a dear friend. Not so much a friend as a godly role model. Leon Quiggly was 87 when he died on February 22, 2007 and he was a true and genuine Christian right to the end. Married for 65+ years, father, grandfather, great grandfather and great-great grandfather, Leon was a man who had his priorities right. When in his presence your were instantly put at ease. He could carry a conversation and he let you know that he cared about what you had to say. I will always remember many a Sunday looking out into that small congregation at Grace UMC and seeing Leon's head nodding in agreement with the sermon. I often wondered what he was thinking as he sat there???

"Here's this young kid again, that Jason. He's always bringing in new fangled music and he's always trying to mess with our church service. You know, I liked it just fine when I played the organ and took care of the choir. Those were the good old days, back when the kids and their families all came over for Christmas Eve. Oh well, that was back then, and this is now. I guess he's nice enough, and he seems to have good intentions, and he's preaching the gospel so I'll go along with it. (Nodding all along)"

On my last visit to Leon, we talked about the good old days and the times he had with all the preachers who had served at Grace, oh how he missed them. But times do change and Leon understood. When I left him that day, I read from Paul's letter to the Corinthians. As I read I could see him soaking up every word, taking out of each the precious amount of hope that it imparted:

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows." --II Corinthians 1:3-5

Two days later, Leon died, surrounded by his wife and daughters, escorted by his Lord and Savior. He was a man of faith. He was a man who exuded salvation from his every pore, not because of some pious attitude or some holier than thou demeanor. Leon glowed much the way that the virgin Mary must have glowed when she found she was carrying Christ for Leon knew that he was in Christ and Christ was in him. I will surely miss. God be with you, Leon.