If you don’t know who Gene was, feel free to visit my old blog entry on him here.

Gene was a gentle giant of the faith. You probably wouldn’t know it if you had seen his small-not-even-sure-he’s-5’7″ frame on his AT LEAST 75 year old body. But his mind, sharp as a tack. And he drove a BIG truck. Small man, BIG truck. Maybe that’s how they do it in Oklahoma?

He gave me a ride from the OKC airport to Muskogee when I visited in November 08. We shared 2 1/2 hours of conversation. I could sit and listen to people like Gene all day. I learned about his family, his grand children… he didn’t say what I’m about to say, but through the stories I heard him tell, I also learned about his legacy. A legacy I one day hope to leave.

Because Gene’s legacy isn’t ultimately about him. It was about a family who learned to love and follow Jesus together, and to teach their children to love that same Jesus. To give their lives away for something bigger and grander and better.

Its amazing what you can learn if you listen for 2 1/2 hours.

That week, I got to see Gene a few other times, all short and sweet. He heard me preach on a Sunday night. I got email addresses for people who would commit to pray for Jacob’s Well and my ministry. He didn’t use email.

8 months later, in the summer of 2009, I drove through Muskogee and stopped there to go to FBC’s church gathering the next day. Gene came up to me. “Nate!”

Gene went on to tell me that every Wednesday morning since he gave me a ride in November, he’d prayed for me and Jacob’s Well.

Without words.

Almost tears…

He wasn’t even on my monthly prayer email list… yet faithful to intercede for me, for Jacob’s Well!

Now I know that prayer is a mysterious interaction between man and God. And I know that God is sovereign, and I know that He responds to prayer, and I know it all fits together somehow… this last year we saw 5 people baptized in the Mississippi… we saw more people begin to take following Jesus seriously. We saw lives transformed. MY LIFE is being transformed…

And I just gotta wonder… would it have happened without the prayers of people like Gene? Without Gene’s prayers?… Could Jacob’s Well and everything that has happened… even the stuff we think we got under our control, could the work “we accomplished” really all along have rested on the backs of the prayer warriors who pray for us, and God’s movement through their prayers?… I know its all God’s work… it’s God’s hands, it’s God’s Spirit… God is the initaitor, the mover, the rescuer, the pursuer, the lover… but what if they hadn’t prayed?…

There’s no answer, just some thoughts… but I DO KNOW God responds to the prayers of His people. And I DO KNOW God has been at work in our midst. And I gotta believe the two are intimately connected…

I wrote Gene a while back, and he wrote me back a letter. I’m not going to type it all, but I do want to type this:

Yes I’m still praying for you and your ministry each Wed AM 7 to 8. That hour in the prayer room is really my high-lite for the week.

He then tells me a little about his life and says if I’m in Muskogee, his wife and him would put me up.

I was in Muskogee a few weeks back. I wanted to see Gene. I didn’t know a whole lot about his current condition. He was in tip top shape two years ago, and even when I saw him last summer. I just hoped to see him at FBC. But when I was there on Sunday morning the 15th, Don Jones, one of the pastors, informed me Gene wasn’t doing well at all. He was very sick. I wish I would’ve known a few days before, I would have visited him.

So a few days later, I called Gene. He didn’t answer, but I left him a voicemail reassuring him of the blessing he has been in my life, and letting him know I’m sure he’s also been a blessing in the lives of those around him. It was a long voicemail.

Today I got a call from Don Jones. Don, a little choked up, told me Gene had passed away this morning. Don told me he had given Gene and his wife the note I had given him to pass along.

Don then told me Gene’s family decided that when people give a gift to the family in memory of Gene, the family is going to give the money towards ministry I’m a part of.

Honored. Humbled. Loved. Overwhelmed. Thankful.

2 1/2 hours in a truck.

1 hour of prayer every Wednesday morning.

Even in his death, Gene is a blessing to me.

I am thankful to God for rescuing, purchasing, redeeming, and making Gene His own because of the sacrifice of Jesus. I’m thankful to God that through Gene, many many people have been introduced to Jesus and lives changed FOREVER, because Gene introduced his family to Jesus by the way he lived and loved. I’m thankful to God that Gene left a legacy worth leaving. A legacy, not about building his own personal empire – as Johnny Cash quotes in the NIN song “my empire of dirt” – but Gene cared about the building of a lasting empire. Gene cared about the reign of Jesus, and His kingdom, and about His story, THE STORY, being made known!

I’m thankful. Thank you Gene.

Thank you Jesus.