"Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master." Matthew 21:21
We were in El Paso, for my first time, in 2010, to celebrate the 100th birthday of Ethie "Gaga" Brill. UTEP was also having its home opener that September, and the opposing team was staying in the same hotel as were we. We got on the elevator with some of the players, and we chatted briefly. I mentioned going to the birthday of a lady turning 100, and the two players looked at me and said, "Ethie?" Cindy and I were surprised they knew. We asked how they knew, and they said, "We went to her place (she was in assisted living), and we met her. She asked us if we knew the Lord." We both chuckled admiringly. That was Ethie.
We spoke on Sunday of reaching out to the lost, and how to reach out to the lost. We also spoke of the urgency, much like Christ did when he sent out the 12 in a harvest that was plentiful (Matthew 10) and the workers few. Ethie could speak of Christ as if he were next to her, in the first person. "I talk to Christ constantly," she once said as we were at the airport waiting on her flight (my brother-in-law took his grandmother, Gaga, and I went along).
I don't doubt that she did. She wasted no energy. She constantly read the bible, even with poor eye sight, caused I understand by singing in the church choir, the strain of which caused some sight problems. She is, in a word, a saint because she knew of service to Christ and that service born from love of Christ in her life. Her husband, a Lutheran minister, left the comfort of Minnesota (really, you just build the church there and it grows, which can be, as my brother-in-law pointed out, a double-edged sword), to establish a mission church in El Paso. Ethie was clearly a partner in that ministry.
Ethie left this earthly life on Sunday near her 105th birthday. Born just after Theodore Roosevelt left office, she enjoyed a full life of marriage, two children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and even great-great grandchildren. She knew Christ, and to everyone she met, she gave us smiles, humor, and faith. We can all learn from her as we seek to minister to others in our own way. Rule one, just do it. Rule two, Christ is there for you, talk to him. Rule three, remember rule two.
The resurrection is the assurance we all have. Ethie leaves us temporarily, but she leaves behind a true legacy. We are assured of being with her, and all of our loved ones, one day. Until then, do you know the Lord?
Hope Men's Ministry
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