You probably have noticed that I seem to be influenced most
by what most of us would call "ordinary" people. If that is your
assessment you'd be correct.
To be sure I have met over my lifetime some of the giants of
our faith. These are men who I appreciate and who have honor enough for the way
God has used them to touch my life. I
suppose I could become a name dropper and by association imply that I breathed the same thin air as did they.
Suffice it to say, I have known and worked with the greatest
names in the kingdom
of God
But, I have learned that God puts us in the places He wants
us to be. I remember when I registered
for the draft back in the 1960's my dad, among other things, saying to me,
"Son don't volunteer for anything. If the Army wants you to do something
they'll tell you." I sort of feel
that way about God . . . . He puts us where he is going to use us or get us
ready to be used.
I have learned through
the years and as I reflect on my life journey that I have walked among giants and
many of those giants were what we might call "ordinary" men. Jack
Roachell was one of those giants. God placed me in Lomax as Jack's pastor and
used Jack to show me something else important about the work of the real Deacon
. . . . namely, "By their fruits you shall know them."
Well, today, I lost another of my personal giants. His name is Jack Roachell. Jack was a deacon
in one of the four churches where I was privileged to serve as pastor. By trade
he spent his early years as an ordinary laborer and the last half of his life
as a Barber. He was the only man I knew who was strong enough to use an 8#
hammer head with a 1.4 inch rebar handle.
On of my fondest memories of Jack Roachell was standing on
the front porch of the church with him, James Furlow, Jack Briggs, and Dudley
Andrews and I I said, "The grass here at the church sure does look like it
could use cutting." With all four of us looking straight ahead I believe
it was James Furlow who replied, "Well preacher our former pastor used to
cut the grass." I quickly replied, "Well, I spoken with him about
that and he said he didn't think he wanted to do it anymore." I thought Jack was going collapse in laughter.
From that day on we shared many a joke and a lot of understatements.
I used to call him "Jack mustard seed" . . . . a
play on the Johnny Appleseed legend. He
seemed to always have a sack of mustard green seeds from the Smith's La Porte Feed Store and he regularly
seeded every bar ditch from DuPont to Spencer Highway.
He drove a church bus
for years and it was almost like a cartoon as his little 38 passenger bus
bounced up and down the half-paved roads of our little Lomax community. He's
stop by the house on Sunday mornings for coffee and sometimes I'd join him on
that ride.
He'd sing and the kids would join in. It was loud but it was
fun. I remember when we dedicated our new education building and we had a lot
of former members attending that a young
woman asked me, "Is that Jack Roachell over there?" I replied,
"Yes it is." She immediately walked over and gave him a big hug. A few minutes later, Jack knowing I'd
witnessed the whole scene came over and asked me, "Who was that
woman?" I teased him a little about
his bad memory and then pointed out who it was and added, "Jack, she road
your bus to church every week for three or so years and she was telling me how
much you influenced her life." Only
eternity can tell how many other lives were touched in the exact same way.
I mentioned he was a Barber. He cut my hair and every other
preacher in the areas hair as well. No charge was ever made. It was something
he, as an "ordinary" man, could do for those who labored in the
preaching of the gospel. But that's not all. He also regularly cut the hair on
every boy's that lived at Boy's Harbor. Then, somehow he found the time to
visit the local Nursing Home and do the
same for the men who lived there. Oh, an each man there that wanted one got a
"Barber's Shave."
Jack never missed visitation and he was always giving
me a name and address of some troubled
couple. Sometimes he told them I was coming and sometimes (most of the time) he
didn't bother with those kind of minor details.
Hardly a Monday went by that you couldn't find Jack and
myself on Day Lake
I learned a lot of things from my journey with Jack but what
I learned most was what a real Deacon looked like. Jack was not interested in power and
influence in the church. He was content to be a servant. Quietly he was the
hands and feet of our Lord walking in our town doing good. I wish every Deacon
could have had the view of the life of this Godly man as he lived out what it
means to be a real Deacon.
Just before the party ended that evening I told Jack,
"Jack I am going to be praying for you because this move is a big
transition for anyone but it is even bigger when you reach our age." He said,
"I know and I am a little afraid of it but Brother David I have told the
Lord I am going to make the best I can of it." Then he added,
"Besides it will not be that long anyway."
May the Lord give his church more men like Jack Roachell!
For the
foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is
stronger than human strength.Brothers and sisters, think of what you
were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not
many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the
world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the
strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and
the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may
boast before him. It is because of him that you are in
Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness,
holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts
boast in the Lord.”
