October 2 2018 – Click here to listen
Recently I asked you to pray for someone who had gone into hospice. The hospice stay was brief and now she is n heaven. Her daughter who is a tremendous friend of mine recently sent me her obituary. Below is an abbreviated version edited for space:
Elisabeth Beason 88, passed peacefully Thursday, September 27th, 2018 from her home in Vandalia, Ohio to her heavenly home with the Lord; she was surrounded by loved ones. She was born on January 27, 1930 in Ludwigshafen On-the-Rhine, Germany. Elisabeth came to America as the new bride of Carl Beason, a US Army Sergeant stationed near her hometown.
They married in 1952 shortly before coming to America where they settled in Vandalia near family members. No doubt, Elisabeth’s wartime childhood experiences of being raised in Hitler’s Germany gave her a perspective of human suffering that few of us know. She was a great patriot with a deep love for America often reminding us that the peace and freedom offered here was a gift from God.
Learning English and becoming a citizen of the United States was one of her most cherished accomplishments. She lived in Vandalia most of her life and retired from Inland, a Division of General Motors, as a foreman. She was a very involved member of the First Light Church and a giving person who believed in being one of God’s helping hands. She passed out blankets to the homeless in Dayton during the bitter cold winters as well as opening her home for assisted-living to more than 50 people over a 13-year period.
She was an inspiration and a real-time example of love in action! She was fierce in her love and convictions! That’s where she got the name, “mama bear”. She loved her children unconditionally, prayed for them daily and loved them well! Elisabeth loved people and would do all she could to help others in need. She enjoyed knitting and crocheting. In her later years she used that skill to make many hundreds of lap robes for the elderly and forgotten seniors confined to nursing homes. With her softest yarn she made tiny hats for the struggling crack babies and orphans in local nurseries. As she approached her passing she was very excited to know she would soon be joining loved ones who passed before her.
Elisabeth Beason shared her love of Jesus and the hope of eternal life everywhere she went no matter who they were. Now she is with the Lord and we are reminded of 2 Timothy 4: 7-8 “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”
Wow! What a life . . . I wrote a memoir a few years back entitled, Miracle on Luckie Street. I recounted what I dreamed while in a coma after a very serious car crash. I dreamed I was dead, and I saw my obituary as plain as day. Believing I was dead was a weird experience. At the time I was wanted by the police, was a full-fledged meth addict, homeless, and violent criminal who had never done one good thing in my entire life. Here is the abbreviated analysis of the obituary I saw while in a coma:
“I was just 24 when I met my untimely, violent death. There won’t be any visitation because aside from my immediate family no one would come. A memorial service is scheduled for Wednesday, but no one will attend that either. I don’t have any friends.
The obituary has nice things to say about my family. I’m survived by my father and mother and one sibling, an older brother Jim. My father is a retired Air Force major. He currently manages the federal credit union at Columbus Air Force Base. Dad was one of 11 brothers and sisters raised on a Mississippi cotton farm during the Great Depression. He used to chop cotton in the broiling sun for 50 cents per day. He left the family farm at 17 and went into the Army-Air Corps. That is what it used to be called before the two services branched off and separated. He was always in the Air Force side of it. It was his first exposure to electricity, running water, and indoor toilets. He used to tell us that his early life on the farm was “rough as a cob.” I visited the old homestead and discovered they actually used corncobs instead of toilet paper in the outhouse. I assume that’s the source of the saying.
Dad worked his way up through the ranks and later went to school at night and obtained an Associate degree in Psychology and a teacher’s certificate which he never used. He describes himself as a “plodder” – steady and sure, not a quick thinker but a practical thinker with common sense, ultra conservative, not a risk taker, not creative, just steady and sure. He was a perfect fit for the military. He was exceedingly loyal to his superiors and followed orders to the letter. He has a need to be told what to do and my mother serves that purpose in our household. In 1948 he applied for and received a rare commission as an officer in the Air Force as a second lieutenant. This was due in part to his distinguishing himself during the war in his job of training bombardier pilots. He retired as a major and then secured the position of manager of a large federal credit union.
He is successful.
My mother’s childhood did not allow her to get beyond a high school education. Her mother died when she was just eight years old, and her father had to move around the country looking for a job anywhere he could find one. She was in Texas when it was going through some of its toughest days and was referred to as the “Dust Bowl”. He eventually became a long-distance truck driver.
After her mother died, she and her 10-year-old sister, Betty, were passed from relative to relative and her early years were filled with instability and hardship. She met my dad right after she graduated from high school when she was 17 and he was 21. They married not long afterwards. She has a great sense of humor, and she’s beautiful. She’s extremely bright, having read thousands of books, and unlike my father is a fast and creative thinker. My father worships her. She worked as a bank cashier for many years, but eventually got a good job as a cotton buyer and now works for a rich old man who lives in Columbus. He adores her.
She is successful.
My brother Jim is one of the top salespersons with Abbott Laboratories. He sells all kinds of pharmaceutical supplies to hospitals. He’s two years older than me and has been idolized by my parents since birth. Unlike myself, Jim is everything they wanted in a child and was spoiled as a result. My dad describes Jim as a plodder like himself and his father before him – steady and sure, a Williamson through and through. That is one reason he idolizes him. My dad never thought I had the traits of a Williamson. He told me that I took after his mother’s side of the family, the Coons. They weren’t plodders, nor were they steady and sure. They were intellectuals. In his mind, they were too intelligent for their own good, which made them aristocratic.
My brother graduated from Mississippi State University. He was a chemistry major, and my father gave him the sparkling new maroon Malibu that I wrecked as his graduation present. He recently married a nice-looking young girl from New Orleans. He lives in Tennessee, where he works his sales territory of the tri-state area on behalf of Abbott. He is one of their top sales producers and has won several trips and awards.
He is successful.
That’s my full obituary. Short, and come to think of it, not so sweet.
I was unsuccessful.
Ughhh. . . I came as close to death as anyone could after that car crash. At that time I had no use for God and I was full of hate for everyone including myself. I’m so thankful that God not only allowed me to live but radically transformed my life and permitted me time to rewrite my life’s work. Ms. Beason’s obituary recited 2 Timothy 4: 7-8 “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”
I’m one of those who “longs” for His appearing. Though I haven’t finished the race I’m doing my utmost to fight the good fight and I have tremendous faith. I don’t know what people will say about me when I go “toe up,” but I do know God has forgiven my sins and loves me with all of His heart and I love Him with all of mine. His opinion is the one I value.
One day we all will end up in the obituary section of the paper. What will be said about you? More importantly what will God say about you?
Matt. 6:33
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.