Monday, February 22, 2010

...Proud Grandson

…Proud Grandson

So, as you may have read in my previous blog, my last grandfather, Gordon “Papa” Matheny died on Wednesday morning, Feb. 17, 2010. Tonight (Sunday, February 21, 2010) was the funeral at Bethel Church (formerly Bethel Temple) in Tampa, FL. My last blog highlighted a bit of who he was, at least to me. Tonight confirmed that he was all that I stated, and more, to many, many others. There were approximately 500 people at the funeral tonight, with an additional few hundred more who came before to the viewing. It was a celebration of his life and ministry. There were many laughs and many truths. But at one point I saw something that really typified who Papa was to many thousands who were not in attendance.

First, I must precede my point by recounting something my father stated on the cover of Papa’s book (My Life With God) and again tonight; Papa was a rock… just like one that is tossed into a lake or pond, sending ripples thoughout the entire body of water. Papa’s life did just that; he impacted everyone he ever came into contact with for the Kingdom of God (and many times those who he directly affected, touched many others and so on).

Immediately after my father stated this analogy from the pulpit at the funeral, I looked around the sanctuary and noticed (for the first time) the six huge banners hanging to the right and left of the stage, with photos of differing ethnic peoples from around the world. They each were smiling warmly and in that very instance seemed to be smiling at Papa, oh so thankful for the impact he had had on them. It was powerfully symbolic of the tens of thousands (no exageration at all) of people around the world whom he preached to, prayed for, and gave the message of salvation through Jesus Christ to. He never went somewhere to just vacation or visit. He ALWAYS booked at least one service to preach while on vacation. And the far majority of the time preaching the Gospel was the ONLY reason he would go someplace. One of the numerous men who spoke at the funeral stated that Papa loved to preach so much that he would preach at the drop of a hat… and he would knock the hat out of your hand, if needed.

What an amazing man. At this point, there are only two men whom I’ve known that I will spend the rest of my life trying to gain approval from in the way I live my life. One is the late George Tyree. The other is my own “Papa.” I’m very proud to have been his grandson.

I was asked to create a memorial slideshow for the funeral. The following link is to the YouTube presentation of that slideshow. The music is Papa singing a few of his favorite hymns. Please enjoy and honor him.

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