I Went to a Funeral
As it happened, I went to a funeral today for the father of a very dear friend of mine: Pop. Pop was more officially known as Conrad Corley, and his daughter has been a treasured and faithful friend to me for the past 23 years. This was only the second funeral I've attended in the 4 years since my Mom passed away in 2010, and I was struck in both cases by the impact these men had on their families and all the people whose lives they touched. I knew Pop, "Mr. Corley" to me, and my most enduring memory of him was his love for the Texas Rangers and his retirement job as a Ballpark Usher. They shared today that his pay for ushering was probably less than what it cost him to get to the ballpark. The moral of the story? When you take joy in your work and the people you work with, the money really doesn't matter much.
I'm not writing tonight because of this sweet memory about a man who loved his work and the Rangers, but rather because of the impact I always experience when I attend the funeral of a godly, servant-hearted and loving man. Pop's faithfulness in his love of God and others was demonstrated today in the stories told about the lives he touched. His legacy will continue to reach multiple generations, and has already impacted and changed the lives of his children, his grandchildren and his eight great-grandchildren. The part we miss sometimes? All of the lives touched beyond his family...the friends, and the friends of family and their friends. We often think we don't have much impact on the world, because, we are, all of us, "just one person."
The truth is, Pop has already touched the lives of hundreds and even thousands of people. People that his closest family may never know or see. Who can say how many lives Pop touched during those years he served as an Usher at the Rangers' ballpark? Everyone said "he never knew a stranger...," and that tells me Pop probably touched the lives of many baseball fans.
Pop touched my life. Not because Pop and I talked often, or spent much time together, but because Pop loved his daughter, and his daughter has been a faithful friend to me. Pop taught his daughter to love and to serve, and in her friendship with me, there have been countless times when she has loved me, made me laugh, and served me in ways too many to recount here. Pop's daughter was present when my Mom died, and she loved and served me well.
And so I too have learned from Pop, and from his daughter...and I have seen how the faithfulness and love of a godly father can touch hearts and lives. Pop inspires me. Hearing Pop's stories reminds me that I can touch people's lives. Pop's testimony reminds me that even though I'm single and don't have children or grandchildren, I can still change the lives of people close to me. And if I am godly, and loving and faithful, the people that I touch will go on to have a loving impact on the lives of other people. People that I might know, and even people I don't know.
I understand my tears and sadness today were more for the pain of my friends who were closest to Pop, and that my life will not be dramatically changed by Pop's absence. I remember well what it was like to come home from my Mom's funeral. The absolute emptiness I felt when I walked into her home, her kitchen... The void felt in our hearts when we lose a loved one is a pain unlike any other we experience, and it doesn't ever really go away completely. Still, my Mom was a faithful, loving and godly woman who touched and changed many lives during her time with us, and like Pop, she is still touching lives because of the legacy she left.
And it is that same kind of beautiful and loving legacy that Pop left with his family and his closest friends. His love and good humor, his songs, his stories and his favorite sayings will live on until Jesus comes to take us home. And like my Mom, Pop is still touching lives. Ain't God Good?
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