An Ordinary, Imperfect Example

If God had a wife, it would be my Grandmother.  At least that’s what I thought when I was a kid.  She probably did more ministry than any preacher in the little community of Grandfalls, TX.  Her skills as a Registered Nurse were pretty valuable in that west Texas community.  She visited the sick and also visited on behalf of the little Baptist church there.  Rumor has it that folks were afraid to miss church on Sunday because Mrs. Pollard would be at their house on Monday to check on them.

She was a saint in the Biblical sense of the word.  What that means is that she was a follower of Christ and understood that God had selected her for a purpose.  That’s what the word means: “One who has been set apart for God’s purpose.”  And just like those other Biblical saints, she wasn’t perfect.

When my mom was in college, she went through a rough patch.  Grandmother was worried about her and went out to where Granddaddy was working out in the west Texas oilfields.  As Granddaddy told it, she expressed her concern to him and he had an answer for her.  “The only thing wrong with that girl is that she inherited your temper and my temper and the combination of those two is pure hell.” (His words, not mine).  According to his recollection, Grandmother stuck out her chin and said, “I’ll have you know I don’t have a temper!” And then she stomped over to her car, got in and slammed the door, and sped off throwing gravel all the way down that oil patch road.

Grandmother has been gone for 36 years and Granddaddy has been gone for 12, but that is one of the many stories that get repeated, and laughed about, when Mom and I start reminiscing, as we did last weekend. I think I enjoy hearing about the funny predicaments and foibles of my ancestors more than I enjoy hearing about their successes; partly because they are funny and partly because it reminds me that God shows up in ordinary, imperfect people who follow Him.

The Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 11:1, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.”  As one who wrote more than two-thirds of the New Testament and who evangelized most of his known world, he might have been tempted to just say, “Follow my example.”  But his focus was pointing people to Christ.

Grandmother pointed me to Jesus.  An occasional temper flare up can never negate that.  I hope that when my future grandchildren remember the quirks of their ordinary and imperfect grandfather, they remember someone who loved them, pointed them to Jesus, and helped them understand how much their lives matter to God.

I once commented that my kids got their temper from their mother.  She said that must be true because I still have mine.  Oops!

I guess if it works that way, they must have gotten their good looks from me.  After all, she still has hers.