A great man died yesterday afternoon. To me Les was a professor, and over the course of the past year we became friends as we were able to spend time away from class together, and as we traveled together to New England this summer. His compassion, pastoral giftedness, intellect, and his hard work will be missed by friends, family, and students and coworkers at Winebrenner Theological Seminary.
As I walked into the Lightner’s house last night, the sorrowed looks of friends and family lasted only long enough to greet me and acknowledge mutual sympathy. However, something more deeply mutual began to take over within seconds. As I hugged Les’s wife Shirley and sat down, she told everyone a story from our trip to Boston this summer which was met with laughter and smiles. Glimmers of joy kept peering through the sorrow that evening, and while grieving and tears found a home in everyones heart, they could not move the deep rooted joy that had its place there already. Binding us together in that house of death, was the promise of life, the reality that Les was not merely somewhere better, but in the best place. Sad as we were, everyone knew that there would be no challenge as to where our comfort would come from, and when grief slipped away for brief moments we laughed. I couldn’t help but think the entire time I was there, “We don’t grieve like those with no hope. We grieve, but not like those with no hope.”
I thank God for giving me the brief time I had to know and learn from Dr. Lightner. I know many others will join me in praying for Les’s wife Shiley, his sons Erik and John, and his daughter Bethany as they ban together in the wake of this passing. I hope everyone will grow to know Christ more and more in the coming weeks, and what it means to grieve like those who have hope.
Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. [1 Thessalonians 4:13-14]
