He lived in an age when it was an accepted thing for a man to work six days a week, twelve hours a day. Low wages was compensated by keeping three gardens going so that his large family were never short of the more stable food. The gardens filled the storage shed at home and it was a common sight to see a neighbor drop by and be given some of the produce to feed their ever hungry children. Such typified his way of life. Though burdened with the duties of this mortal life ablely assisted by his loving wife, he found time to be an ambassador and preacher of righteousness. A fisher of men and a father of Israel to many. He was always willing to spend and be spent, not to receive adoration from men, but in some humble way to give pleasure to the Almighty in the heavens above.
One of his duties he willingly committed himself to was the visiting of the sick, the lonely and those in distress. For such is “pure religion” to those who take up the cross of Christ. His own children loved him a great deal and yet there seemed little time to share his attention and companionship. So his son when opportunity afforded it would steal a moment here and a moment there of his company. Precious moments collected and stored in ones heart. The son would go with father at times to visit the sick, walking many miles with this heir to Abraham’s promises under the stars that could not be numbered. On one such occasion they had walked for a considerable time and son somewhat weary and concerned for the time wasted when it could have been spent at the bedside of the sick, asked his father, if it would not have been more advantageous to catch the bus. It’s good son now and then to be alone with the Almighty with the canopy of the heavens above to think of those things which are above. Like the Psalmist says “be still and know that I am God.” The road ahead was straight and narrow and he had set his son’s feet firm in that way.
Even in our Ecclesial world we have taken advantage of modern convenience and the movement of our little finger can regulate a thermostat to control the heat to a comfortable temperature for everyone. It was not always this way and Sunday was not a clay of rest but a change of occupation. A few hours before the morning meeting commenced he was seen going to the meeting hall to start a coal fire so when his brethren and sisters arrived they would be welcomed by a warm room. Few knew of this labor of love but his son who journeyed with him received an exhortation before the appointed time. “Faith without works is dead.” “In as much as ye have done it unto one of the least of these brethren, ye have done it unto me.”
Share Your Talents
To be able to jingle a few coins in the pocket was rare yet when the sound was there the guideline for life was never forgotten. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all things will be added unto you.” An aged brother wanted so much to go to a fraternal gathering but funds were not available. In the spirit of the first century ecclesia, the coins were exchanged from hand to hand and the brethren strengthened their fellowship in the act of sharing. And what of you son when you grow to be a man, will you share your talents or will they be hidden in the ground for another day?
He was a “doer of the Word” so when he preached it was with a force of sincerity of one committed, and the listener respected him for it. Having given what some would call “a strong exhortation” encouraging his brethren to get more involved in ecclesial work it was said, by many afterwards, he is one of a few able to give such an exhortation because “he practices what he preaches.” Exhorting on the theme of “Giving” he was heard to say, “we should dig so deep into our pockets to help others that we hurt our coins”. So like the Apostle Paul, he visited especially the smaller ecclesias who seem to be neglected and ministered to them, “not with the excellency of speech or wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.”
A Permanent Smile . . . of Faith
Known as the “whistling Baker” he was seen by the world as a man who had a permanent smile of faith. He told his son once his faith in the Living God had never wavered once in his life. But there was one time his son questioned this. The only time he saw tears in his father’s eyes. Difficulties within the Ecclesia, false accusations questioned whether his efforts to serve his brethren and sisters had been in vain. Had he lost faith, if so it was short lived. With a new dawn, a new day reassured by those close to him that all was well, he was prepared to press on as always to the goal of his high calling.
It was a sad experience for his son to see his father crippled with arthritis in his closing years. Sad to see this giant whose long steps had covered so much ground to spread the gospel message, taking fifteen minutes to cover a few yards from his home to the waiting car. But the same determination that had born him faithfully through his discipleship made it possible for him to go regularly to the House of his Lord and be with the family of his Heavenly Father. This is where his heart was and constant prayer, “Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house ,and the place where thine honour dwelleth.”
At his funeral service the congregation was reminded not to remember him as the aged grey haired brother bent over with the scars of mortality but to share in his hope to be new creatures in Christ that will once again stride out upon this earth when the glory of God will fill the earth as the waters cover the seas.
If he was in the congregation of the living today, he would say, you should not have done this son. But it is done because I want to share a few “stolen moments” I had with my father.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One