Our Friend John is Gone....

“Until death do us part…”

37 years ago John and Linda spoke this promise to each other at an altar of a church. They kept this promise up until Wednesday evening this past week – 37 wonderful years. At that moment John slipped away to meet the Lord personally – face to face. He passed away at 60 years of age at home with Linda.

John died of a “Subarachnoid Hemorrhage” that took him in a very short time.

John was someone that I knew as a quiet friend. He didn’t say much and definitely didn’t want to be the center of attention. He listened and responded quietly.

As a Contractor he was faithful and good at all he did. When you visit their home the workmanship of the home that he had built is perfect. There is nothing in the home that his hands had not touched.

Everyone that had hired John loved his work. He was a man of his word and the folk that had contracted John to build or renovate would testify of his quality workmanship.

Over these past years his wife Linda had suffered long and difficult battles with a growing brain tumor. Through operations and treatments of various kinds she has survived the cancer growing within her body. John was always faithful and supported her through it all – a temporary loss of memory, pain, headaches and all that come with this very serious illness.

All the while that Linda walked through this difficult time John also suffered from massive migraine headaches that would debilitate him – often making him lay quietly by himself until the pain lifted. His headaches were there often and for long periods of time.

As I sat with Linda and her two sons yesterday there was a presence of peace. John was gone but he was there with his two great sons – who are with mom all the way. Both boys have done well in there work experience. Both are going to be there for mom. This is John’s heritage. He was so proud of his kids.

I write these words to honor John today.

The memorial service will be private and generally for his family – without great fan fare – no visitation prior. A very few friends may join next week to say their good byes. But this is the way that the boys knew he wanted it.

Together they worked on words to describe their dad. The best one that seemed to describe John was… a “servant’s heart”. He enjoyed serving and loved the things that he was given to do. I agree whole heartedly with that description.

And as I look at his sons – they in turn have developed that “servant’s heart” as well. A multiplication of their dad – what a blessing!

Eight years ago I stood with John and Linda as we buried his father. Brother Kemp senior was a remarkable man that chose to serve people. We had come to know each other because of my work within the prison system. He also had chosen to serve men in prison also.

Not long ago I looked at Mr. Charles Kemp’s file of collected letters from men in prison. They wrote to him sharing their dreams and future visions. After he had met them in jail they began to work on a correspondence course that he administered. They thanked him over and over again for the words of encouragement that he had given them at just the right time in their life. John was a lot like his dad.

My friend John is gone. It will be hard to say goodbye. He was 5 years younger than I am. This is close to home.

There are no great or profound words that I can say today. I am simply blessed with the life that has been before me for these past 10 years.

May God bless you John! Rest easy my friend. We will all see you soon…very soon.

Murray Lincoln ~
www.murraylincoln.com

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subarachnoid_hemorrhage