IN REMEMBRANCE OF JODIE DON MASON 

May 2, 1941 – September 4, 1995  

By his friend Barry L Gilliam Sr.

 

 

From one who believes in the power of words, and more often than not, can find plenty to use, I find myself today struggling to find words, in this sea of emotion, that can express how I feel about Jodie.

I know a Jodie different than his co-workers and perhaps even a little different than his family.

I began as his Pastor, watching him grow and develop in the faith, but soon I discovered a man of vision and wisdom.  He was quiet about his spiritual life except with me.  Few know of his fasting 30 days in pursuit of spiritual wisdom or of his quietly giving money to help others, hoping no one else would know, out of his oil field business.  I’m thankful to have seen his inner heart.  I am grateful for the hours upon hours he and I spent alone together searching the scriptures for God’s truth.

I remember with joy his prayer calling on the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that he be not deceived by the wrong spirit, and he and Carolyn spending days between Sundays checking my sermons against the Word of God to keep me on the straight and narrow.  It was in those days that a bond of friendship began, that exist until this day, that is rare in today’s society.

It is a friendship that saw many times of fun and laughter.

I can still hear Jodie and Carolyn’s laughter as they watched me running from a falling tree in Bobbie’s woods while forgetting to turn the chain saw off.  He and I laughing so hard our rubs hurt on a midnight ride on Lake Texoma.  It was a beautiful moonlit night.  The water was flat.  We decided to test our new boat before our wives came down to the dock.

We got hopelessly lost in the dark.

Finally, finding someone who knew their way around, we learned we were on the wrong side of the lake.  We got directions and opened up the motor to hurry back until About half way across the lake we crashed into something, throwing Jodie and I onto the floor of the boat.  Barely able to see for the darkness, neither of us knew what had happened.

We put on our life jackets.

Thinking the boat might sink, he and I decided I would jump overboard first and see if I could see what we had hit and why the boat wouldn’t move.  Jodie steadied the boat and I jumped feet first, expecting the water to go over my head.  I hit with a thud and almost broke my legs.  We had hit a sandbar in the middle of Lake Texoma.  I sat on that sand bar while Jodie and I laughed our heads off.  Needless to say, we got the boat pushed off the sand bar and made it home, but just last week he and I were still laughing hard remembering that night.

I am so grateful that God allowed him to come and work in the ministry with me.

His insight and wisdom have been invaluable to us all.  We have chased golf balls together this summer, spent hours walking and talking, and we got to go to lunch or dinner together 2 or 3 times a week all summer.  He was so excited to see our first relief effort leave our plant on its way, via ship, to Ghana, West Africa and we made plans for him to travel with me to Africa this fall to see the ongoing work first hand.  I am so grateful that he saw the beginning of the fulfillment of the vision God gave us so long ago.  He must have said to me twenty times last week how excited he was to be part of it.

The tears I have today are really not for him.

My tears are for those of us who remain and must continue on the work of God without his incredible strength to help us.

To my wife and I, he was closer than a brother.

To my children, he will always be Uncle Jodie.

And now I rejoice with him.  His life – lived; his purpose – completed; his destiny – fulfilled.

A thousand years from now . . . with all sorrow gone . . . no doubt he and I will sit with our feet in the River of Life laughing about that crazy night on Lake Texoma.  He was a true man of God.

 

Now, I would like to share a poem from the depths of my heart.

 

How can one man express such deep love for a friend?

If someone knows such words; to me, please lend.

For I am lost in a rolling sea of emotion,

Having lost my best friend of such devotion.

 

Oh, the pain I feel; in grief, I silently suffer.

Oh, Agony: Oh, Agony: is there no buffer?

My cries seem lost in many a tear,

Oh God, help me . . .  for this one I cannot bear.

 

Through trials and joy together we both grew older,

Knowing no mater what . . . we had each other’s shoulder.

So, who now can I lean on and who will lean on me?

For to find a friend like this is such a rarity.

 

 

Be still my spirit and for your friend begin to rejoice.

For now, among angels he lifts his voice.

Praising our God, for his burdens have past,

For he is truly free; free, truly, at last.

 

Jodie, this one last request, of God and you, I make,

When His trumpet sounds, and to Himself me He does take;

Oh, this prayer, I hope is not too late,

That with Jesus, it is you who meets me at the Pearls . . . just inside the Gate.

 

 

 

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