About 20 years ago I met a black man who lives on the North Side of Pittsburgh – his name is Willie.
Willie is one of my clients, and he made his living running a small auto repair shop. We would see Willie about four times a year when he came into our office to pay his insurance premium, and he always was dressed in a blue work uniform and a ball cap, his clothes smelling of grease and oil. Willie always paid in cash, and even the money smelled like an auto repair shop. But we didn’t mind this at all, for he is one of those rare individuals from whom the love of Christ seems to shine like a beacon, and all of us here at the office looked forward to his visits.
Over the years, the story of Willie’s life was revealed to me in short installments delivered at each of his visits. It became apparent that his had not been an easy life. What was most obvious to me as I listened to him talk was that Willie loves the Lord, and that his appreciation for what God has done for him produced an attitude of thankfulness and an indomitable spirit. He was almost certain to say at each visit “The Lord is good. I don’t never forget that.” (Except when Willie said it, it sounded more like “ The Lode is good..”) Willie is now 80 years old.
Over the years, he raised his own children as well as some of his grandchildren. He even managed to pay for the college education of some of those grandchildren. He reads his Bible every night and once told me that if he goes to bed without reading the word, he can’t go to sleep until he gets out of bed and spends some time reading and meditating on the word of God.
In January of 2008, Willie was involved in a car accident when another car slid on ice into his vehicle. His right foot, in which he had suffered frost bite during the Korean war, was injured in the accident. Things did not go well from there. Willie was in a VA hospital for over a year, and when all else failed, his right leg was amputated below the knee. I talked with him a few times while he was in physical therapy, and I never once heard a word of complaint.
Earlier this week, he came to my office for help with some paperwork he had received by mail. A friend drove him to the office, and for the first time in 20 years I saw Willie dressed in “civilian” clothes. It was also the first time I saw him in a wheel chair.
I spent an hour with my friend that day - the paperwork took less than 15 minutes. The rest of the time was in conversation about life, faith, God’s goodness, and His call on Willie’s life. He shared with me how thankful he is that God had brought him through this most recent trial, and he felt that he knew what it was that God wanted him to do. When I asked him what that is, he said “John, I gots to get the young black men to stop killing each other!” I asked how he was going to do that, he explained that he was going out into the neighborhoods he has known all his life and “talk to these boys”. As you may guess, I was wondering how he would be able to get around, so I asked. That’s when he explained to me that he has a prosthetic leg which he puts on at 4 PM each day. When asked , “Why 4 PM?” Willie explained that that is when he plans to go out and walk his neighborhood each day.
I also learned that his adult children are against his intention to minister to the young men in his neighborhood. Willie explained that he told his children that “They could have wacked of both my legs and that wouldn’t stop me. Ain’t nothin’ gonna keep me down.”
Being in Willie’s presence for an hour that day made me feel very small. Here is what I mean:
I was sitting next to a one-legged man, 80 years of age, with at best a high school education, and very little of the world’s possessions. Yet he was determined to do God’s will, no matter what. As I thought of how easily I am dissuaded from doing God’s will, I felt like a very small man in the presence of a very great man of God.
Willie asked that I pray for him, and since he knows our son Jason is also a believer, he requested that I ask Jason to be in prayer for him too. I am sure he would appreciate your prayers as well.
I prayed with my friend before he left the office that day. Fran and I have been praying for him at night. I have also been praying that the Lord would change my heart so that I might grow up to be more like Willie.
May it be so -
In Christ,
John
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