No, O people, the Lord has
told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to
walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8
On Wednesday we said goodbye to Stan Bingham, a friend and church member. Only time and the unfolding of life’s mystery
and purposes of God will tell the total of Stan’s doing right, loving mercy, and walking humbly with his God. However, I strongly suspect the talley of all
that will not do his memory any harm in his new home, a place not made with hands,
where he sees clearly what he has meant to the countless people his life and
kindness touched, as well as the love with which his Savior, Jesus Christ,
embraced him.
From saving his old dogs from themselves, to more than
170 bills passed in the legislature over 16 years, Stan was always shooting for
doing right, loving mercy, and being humble enough to not care who gets the
credit.
One of the speakers at the service[1], Senate
President Pro Tempore Phil Berger, shared that story in his eulogy, and it
helped continue the theme of a joy-fillled homegoing for a much-loved,
larger-than-life, prank-loving legislator, who was taken home so suddenly. It was a grand send-off.
As a personal note of observation, tempered by 75 years
of watching people, more than 40 of those years being a people-watching pastor,
I can say I was most impressed by a mother and her four daughters, Stan’s
closest family, long used to the press, and the fishbowl of public life, but
less-mindful of the presence of all the trappings of that life, rather focused
on celebrating the joy of a man who loved, and lived his life working for
justice and mercy, all the while walking humbly with his God.
For You Today ,
You might be a good-sized cog in the wheel of life, or, like me, a rather
smallish cog, who gets worn-down easily amongst the bigger cogs; either way,
remember this: you’re a cog that God
loves, and has you in the right place on His wheel.
So take that as seriously as my friend, Stan, by loving God with your
whole heart, poured-into doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with
He who gave you that first, and every breath you take on this planet.
There
are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions libraryI. To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some
of these:
Do What? and Resetting the Compass
[1] Images: Title image courtesy of The Denton Orator, Used with permission by Bingham family
Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©
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