GOD AND FAMILY FIRST

BRENT AND JOYCE GIRDLER
GOD AND FAMILY FIRST

I Timothy 6:11-12 KJV

But thou, O man of God,
flee these things;
and follow after righteousness,
godliness, faith, love,
patience, meekness.
Fight the good fight of faith,
lay hold on eternal life,
whereupon thou art also called,
and hast professed a good profession
before many witnesses.

This week I write to reflect on the beauty of a godly man’s life well-lived, invested with God’s redemptive love into the lives of his family, his wife, his daughters and their families, his children and his great-grandchildren. 

This man grew up in Somerset, Kentucky, the youngest of a big family raised on a lot of love, a lot of hard work, a bit of mischief, some sports and also some strong lessons in faith in the church the family attended. After high school, he chose to join the Navy during the Korean War, and served on a ship, working as a mail man and as a member of a gunner crew. During his service he was also supporting  his widowed mother. 

When he returned he went to work and married his girlfriend, who had also grown up in Somerset. He worked as a butcher and later as a mechanic. Then God called him into the ministry. Then he, his wife and two daughters, assisted by support from his family, moved to Clear Creek Bible School, where they spent three years. During that time they also added another daughter as he trained to be a Baptist Pastor. He grew in his love and understanding of God’s Word. He also began a lifelong dedication to prayer and its power as God deepened his faith and dependence on Him as his Heavenly Father. He worked along with other pastoral students building church pews. After graduation, he began pastoring in another Kentucky town.

Not too long afterward, he received a call to Indiana, in the Muncie area, where pioneer churches were struggling to gain a foothold. Here he served a number of such churches faithfully. He soon learned these small churches could not pay a salary which would support his and his wife’s family of five. God then opened work for him in a grocery chain’s warehouse. He continued working there until he retired. So, all those years he did the work of a bi-vocational pastor. He labored hard and God supplied a steady living for his family. His girls grew up and his wife went to work in a school cafeteria, where she became the manager.

Throughout all of the challenges of raising his daughters, he and his wife depended on their faith, constant prayer, their love for each other, their love for the Lord and lots of hard work, as the foundation for a tight knit family looking to Heaven for their every need.

When I first came into this remarkable family, I noticed how clearly they loved the Lord and each other. I noticed how they fought the battles we all face in living out our faith in this modern world together. I noticed how loyal they remained to each other through their ups and their downs. Then, as I got to know them better, I realized that the faith of this man and his equally strong wife, provided the basis for this love, this resilience in battle and in this unique loyalty to each other.

As I listened to him pray over and over again, my admiration and my gratitude for him and his faith grew deeper and deeper.  He prayed out of an absolute humility before God that touched me deeply. He truly prayed as one of God’s children depending deeply and completely on His Father. He had learned the trust and the faith our Lord Jesus personified in His relation to the Father while Jesus lived upon this earth.

One of those Christmas
Family Photo Shoots

As this man’s family gathered around the table to eat one of his wife’s hardy and delicious home-cooked meals, he would call us all to attention and begin to pray. His whole heart opened up in those prayers. It was during these moments I saw most clearly his mature, yet somehow childlike faith—His total trust in the good of our Heavenly Father. As we ate, he would look around the table lovingly, clearly appreciating each member of his family particularly and uniquely.

This is how he loves each daughter, the two of us sons-in-laws, and for me, most inspirationally, each of his grandchildren and his great-grandchildren. To his oldest grandson he has passed on the torch as a deeply dedicated bi-vocational pastor. How he loves to hear this one preaching God’s Word powerfully, simply and truly—even as he always did, himself. To his next grandson he passed down the basketball sports bug. They have a special bond as he communicates with this excellent athlete his deep spiritual strength. Then to the third, there is this deep, abiding love for family, this godly determination to see that every child finds in this life all of the resources they need to succeed in every way, no matter the obstacles and challenges they may face. Then to the fourth a strength of will, he has passed on a sturdy determination to get the right thing done, no matter how difficult. (In fact, all three daughters, in their own beautiful way reveal this iron will day-to-day as the world tries to have its way. Not for them. Not with God on their side and not as long as they stand.) Interestingly this fourth one is the only girl. And then in the life of the fifth there is joy in the living, wonder in the beauty of all the Lord has created. There is laughter, there is creativity, there is joy in the living. In the sixth there is a kindred wonder, a wholesome goodness, a love for one and all and an ability to get things done. Finally, in the seventh there is a deep heartfelt prayer for the strength of this one who has faced so many unfair battles, to conquer and rise above it all—the devious and hurtful ways-of-the-world which batter us each and everyone.

Now, as I look back upon all of this man’s life investment in the grandchildren’s lives, I have to say there is to found in all of these seven precious grandchildren, a mixture of all of these virtues—much like the delicious results his wife’s cooking creates in all of her dishes, whether they feature meats, sauces, vegetables, breads or desserts. Needless to say, meals at their house are always a celebration, due to the delights on the table and also found in the hearts and lives of the people gathered around the table. How fitting that his prayers before meals draw of all of their goodness together. 

Aren’t they wonderful?
The Great-Grandchildren

Plus One!

Among all of the great-grandchildren there are remarkable athletes, students, artists—in the making due to the goodness of God and the faithfulness of this man and his wife over their many, many years together, entrusting their lives, their family and their service to Him and for His glory.

And among the great-grandchildren there is a wide array of challenges, big-time challenges that life brings their way—but not without the godly resources God provides through Jesus and through their own parents, grandparents and great-grandparents. 

And so it all comes down to this: One great God, His Son, our Savior, the Holy Spirit—together Three-in-One; overflowing the lives of this remarkable couple over a lifetime of years; multiplying and expanding God’s Kingdom within the hearts of this family, and to all those blessed to be around them, preparing for glory together in Heaven and deeply loving their lives in the meantime. 

Praise God! I am blessed to have been welcomed into such a family’s life, led by this one godly man and his wife. Amen!

THIS MAN’S DEEP FAITH