Christian Living

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Larry Lilly's Letter Monday June 29, 2009

An anonymous writer stated:

"Children seldom go around showing snapshots of their grandparents."

With very few exceptions grandparents have or will deal with the painful truth of the above. At a certain age we are just old people whom the grand crumb snatchers hope will make significant contributions to their education, but please don't bother us right now. The man I write of today was dramatically different and I suspect his grandchildren will carry and show snapshots of their beloved grandfather.

Thursday last I participated in the memorial service for my dear and old friend, Pastor Lloyd Shepherd of the Cornerstone Baptist Church in Union City, Indiana. To say this was a most unusual service is an understatement. Lloyd was one of a kind, the bare knuckled man with a heart of gold, yet through Christ in total control of himself. His four sons gave glowing testimony to his prowess as an outstanding father. Lloyd and Becky never had much of what the world admires as to wealth. While the world at large mourns the passing of Michael Jackson, said world would have been far richer inwardly had the inhabitants known Lloyd Shepherd.

In his later months Lloyd's health had gone, he was near blind, wheel chair bound, and finally answered God's home call through the medium of Pancreatic Cancer. I wept when I called and Becky was weeping as she tried to tell me that Lloyd had left this vale of tears just ten minutes prior.

Pastor Keith Hoover presided over the ceremony with elegance and structured the service in a manner that honored Pastor Shepherd's life while remaining true to the Lord Jesus Christ. Keith is a fine young preacher with a future. Dr. Ben Townsend brought tears and dear memories to our heart with his special solo tribute to Lloyd.

In such a service you expect preachers to put it on thick, but in Lloyds case no superfluity was necessary, but the sincerity of the man's life rang though what is usually a staid and boring ceremony. Tickets are not usually sold for funerals.

I was dumbfounded by the power of David, Dan, Jonathan and Joshua Shepherd, the four grown, married, and serving the Lord, sons of Pastor and Mrs. Shepherd. With power and rare form they each testified of their father's courage in overcoming a horrible childhood and going on to earn a Doctorate in Theology and faithfully serving God throughout his adult life. Their tribute to their father confirmed my statement to my son, Jon, when he asked me, "Dad, what one word would you put on Pastor Shepherd's tombstone?" I thought for about 3 nanoseconds before answering "Courageous."

Lloyd had the courage that comes with a true commitment to Christ and when this trait is demonstrated over the years to children from the cradle to full blown adulthood, and the children who have earned their degrees in their respective fields, as grown men and fathers call to remembrance the courage of their father, it stirs the heart of the hearer to know that we have walked in the shade of such a man. One of the sons closed his remarks with the affectionate statement, "The Lion is Dead."

Preachers are strange animals in that a statement often triggers a sermon or the memory of one or a song. I noted "Yes, Pastor Lloyd is physically fettered in the bonds of death, but The Lion Of Judah will break every chain and give to us the victory again, and again."

It was obvious that the throng that gathered in a little over 24 hours were sorrowing, but we sorrowed not as others who have no hope. We watched as the pine box, made with the artistic skill of Joshua was lowered into the ground to await the resurrection, with the steadfast hope in our heart that when the trumpet of the Lord sounds, Lloyd and tiny 4 year old granddaughter Maia who rests in peace beside, will rise, changed from the mortal to the immortal. We also know from the scriptures that, Lloyd and Maia are absent from their earthly bodies, and they are present with the Lord.

In the darkest time of my life and also of Joyce (my wife of soon to be 45 years), Lloyd and Becky joined with a small group of Christians to be our friends in spite of terrible things being said about and happening to us. The first time that Joyce and I were guests in their home, Joyce remarked on the way home, "Larry, why do such regal people as the Shepherds like us and care what happens to us?"

Pastor Shepherd often quoted and talked about the verse, 111John 4, "I have no greater joy that to hear that my children walk in truth." Lloyd's four sons walk powerfully in the truth as do his grandchildren.

Lloyd was delivered from a brutal life when Jesus saved him. He had been an outstanding football player in the Akron, Ohio area, participated in the Golden Gloves championship in that city and went on to being a "enforcer" for a union. Yet, he had a love and tenderness for his wife, Becky and the children as they came along. He as another I have written about; "Set down the suitcase full of the past, and walked on with Jesus." And what a walk it was.

Twenty years ago when I first met Pastor Shepherd, I did what Carl Becker said he did when he studied and wrote of Thomas Jefferson: "I picked a flower from his life and pinned it to my soul."

I think the angels may have repeated the Epitaph placed on the tomb of Sir Isaac Newton: "Let mortals rejoice that so great an ornament of the human race has existed."

Good night, Pastor Lloyd Shepherd, we shall meet in the morning.

Larry Lilly Copyright © 2009 Use with credit.

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