Wesley United Methodist Church, Orange TX

Two good friends that have passed on to a better place.  I hope to get there to be with them once again.  One will show me all the good fishing holes and the other will show me all the good golf courses.  None of us really cared about streets of gold so the great outdoors is where they are waiting for me at.  You know I think Jesus can arrange cabins and boats on the lake and carts on the course just as well as mansions and streets of gold.  Have a great time up there Melvin and Billy.  Tell Jesus hello for me while you are worshiping and praising God. 

Everyone please say a prayer for the Croaker and Hardin families, these were two great guys and will always be missed. Billy has been gone over two years now and Melvin just a week.  Presiding over their funerals was hard but an honor and a blessing that I will always be thankful for.

Gotta go for now, I think I hear sermon preparation calling me, well almost, it was just Jane telling me to get busy.

Randy

Well it has been a long day.  A sad day.  A happy day.  At times a fun day. Saying goodbye to an old friend that you share so many life memories with makes for a day of mixed emotions.  Today I made new friends, a blessing,  renewed old friendships,  and visited with many of Melvin’s friends that I did not know.   It was a full day in more ways than time.  We had a wonderful gathering at Melvin’s home church , Wesley UMC, and we were all reminded of one of Melvin’s favorite pass times, BBQ. Thanks for the great brisket, sausage, boudain and all the other stuff the Double Barrel Cooking team furnished.  Thanks to all the hard-working ladies at Wesley UMC who set up and served.  It was a great way to remember a good friend.

Michael Croaker gave me a scripture to read at the funeral that means a lot to him and I am fond of it too.

Proverbs 3:5-6 says Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight.  In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths.

I believe that if we would all heed this scripture we would be much better off.  Following God, trusting in him, is the way for us to walk.  The really hard part is acknowledging Him in all our ways.  So many times the things we do and the things we say are hard to reconcile with how God wants us to walk.  Our judgement/opinions, our prejudice, our selfishness all come from being swept away by the things in this world that the flesh seeks after.  The more we think about God the more we acknowledge Him and the more we tend to walk in His way.  He sent us His Son to give us a permanent place in His home if we listen to the teachings of Jesus Christ.  Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and He will make your paths straight.

Melvin Croaker trusted in the Lord and received his reward with a big smile on his face.

Have a blessed and peaceful night and a really great day tomorrow,

Randy

A friend is someone who will fly halfway across the country when he doesn’t really feel like it to go to your daughter’s wedding.  Thanks for going old friend.  You have led the way for many of us in so many ways and you lead us again. 

One of the things I ponder is how do you squeeze a lifetime of knowing someone into an hour or so long memorial service.  I can think of many outings where the Croakers, Branchs, Hardins, Schossows and Stevens families were together.  I can think of camping trips, New Braunsfel vacations, Florida vacations, golf trips, fishing trips, softball tournaments, days spent out on the river, picnics at the Croaker camp on the bayou and many other get togethers that were just good times.

How do you sum up a lifetime that was spent helping neighbors and friends on many different projects.  Roofs, car repairs, well drillings and etc, etc, etc….I guess you just do the best you can and know that the friend will love you whatever you do.

Jesus Christ calls on us to Love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and then to love our neighbor as ourself.  None of us live up to those commandments perfectly but we all can live up to them to the best of our ability at any given point in time and that is what Melvin did.  Melvin has now had the opportunity to meet the one who perfects us all.  Melvin and Jesus Christ are worshipping and praising God and so shall we one day.

Have a blessed day, strive for perfection and know that you are forgiven when you fall short.

Randy

Last night I witnessed a time of sadness and joy for the family and friends of Melvin Croaker; a very joyous occasion for one.  Melvin Croaker passed from this world to the next with a smile on his face, he was happy, he was free from pain and he was experiencing a home coming.  His family was sad because they will miss a genuinely good man, a good family man, a loving husband, father, brother, uncle and friend to many.  They too, in their sadness witnessed Melvin’s joy and knew that he was in a much better place than the hospital bed he was confined to.

“[Praise to God for a Living Hope] Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,”- 1 Peter 1:3

Melvin has experienced the fullness of the new birth and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  His smile is proof for all of us who were there to the new birth and the welcoming of Melvin into the arms of Jesus Christ.  There were shouts with tears and shouts with joy because of the hope we all hold.

Michael, Melvin’s son, said that it was like Jesus hollered out to Melvin saying “come on Melvin we have an 8:oo tee time”.  That is a son who knows what his father loved doing and I can just imagine Jesus and Melvin on that #1 Tee Box high fiving each other after hitting some long straight shots right down the middle of a beautiful fairway.  Hey, one man gets streets of gold and another fairways of green.  Sounds like  heaven to me.

Have a blessed day full of hope and promise,  Randy

 The first picture is of the stage area for the speakers and performers and the other is of the beautiful sunset that was there as a fitting tribute to Reggie.

I just wanted to share some thoughts on the service held for Reggie Garrett on Friday night.  The service was a wonderful tribute to Reggie and I am sure that it meant a lot to the family to have such a good turnout of community and friends.  It was well planned and had some really good music, especially the young woman and man who sang the solos.  The student speakers did an outstanding job of relating feelings about Reggie and what he meant to them.  The Principal, Coaches and Pastors all had very inspiring words for all who were in attendance.  Each and every person there could go away from the service with a feeling of having known Reggie for the kind of person he was in his life.

There was much spoken about faith in God and what he meant to each and every person before and after the events surrounding Reggie’s death.  I felt that God was and is a very active part of many peoples lives, both young and old, and though I was sad at the loss of Reggie I was rejoicing that so many people claimed God as a part of their lives.  Reggie represented a lot of positive memories and actions for so many people and God was in the middle of it all.   Young and old we can all learn a very important lesson from Reggie about how we treat people.  A smile and a careful way of speaking, a generally all around pleasant personality and a belief that God is your savior will go a long way to being a person like Reggie Garrett.  A senior at WOSHS and already a man after God’s own heart.

Have a blessed evening and a Holy Sunday; remember, God loves you more than you will ever know,

Randy

This beautiful dove reminds us to send prayers up for all those in need.  Especially remember the Garrett family in their loss of Reggie.

Tragic news like that of Reggie Garrett always make us ask hard questions.  Why Reggie?  Why so young?  Why during a game?  So many whys and so few becauses.   We live precarious lives on this earth and  Reggie’s death shouts to us loud and clear that whether we are young or old we do not have a guarantee of anything.  Not tomorrow, not tonight and not even the next moment.  Living in a world where we are definetly not perfect and are subject to the natural laws God has given us, we must always keep His Spirit with us, praying for forgiveness and understanding.

As we go through these next few weeks keep yourself in prayer, be faithful, treat people with kindness and let others see your faith in the compassion you show for them.  Our lives lived in Christ are the best answer we have for tragedy like the death of Reggie Garrett.  While we cannot say “because”, we can say our God loves us enough to forgive us and accept us into His eternity.

Keep the family, friends and schoolmates in your prayers, 

Randy