A Lesson From Jim - Learning to love, live and flourish this Easter season and beyond.

By Eric Burtness

Jim.

He was my mentor, my teacher, my friend, my colleague. From him I learned what it meant to work hard and play hard. From him I learned to always look for and expect the best in people and how to always give people the benefit of the doubt. From him I learned that it’s always better to be gullible than cynical. He modeled for me what it means to live, to love, to learn and to flourish in the life that God has so graciously given me.

Jim.

He was my dad.

A little over a year ago he fell at home, hit his head and fractured his C7 vertebrae, which paralyzed him from the sternum down. His subsequent recovery was fraught with complications and infections and gradual deterioration. The next three months were spent in intensive hospital care and therapy. The long-term prognosis was not good, but family members, friends and grandchildren were able to spend precious time with him as his bright and inquisitive mind wanted to know everything that was happening in each person’s life. He never lost the twinkle in his eye or his positive enthusiasm for life, and after three months in intensive hospital care, he went home to hospice care.

On Monday of Holy Week he awoke, asked my mom for some water, leaned his head back and quietly died.

The tributes to Jim’s life started to pour in over the next weeks; both at the Caring Bridge site that helped us regularly communicate his progress with hundreds of people online, and from Luther Seminary, where Jim taught for more than four decades. What struck me about the tributes is not so much the accolades for his advanced degrees, his publications, his books and his scholastic achievements.

What struck me is the difference he made in people’s lives, one at a time, time and time again.

He gave encouragement to students and friends to live out God’s purpose and calling in their lives. He had an endless passion for life and an unquenchable thirst for finding as many ways as possible to say that Jesus Christ means that God and the world have come together.

You don’t have to be a seminary professor to have that kind of influence in people’s lives. What you do need is a deep love and a passion to see the face of Jesus in every person you meet.

Jim’s memorial service was on Easter Monday, the day after his wife, children and grandchildren all gathered together at a glorious Easter worship and proclaimed life over death, faith over doubt and victory over the grave. What a fitting time it was to honor someone who gave thanks every day by fully embracing the life that God gave him.

Easter is about new life that’s promised to us when we die, but also about a full, passionate and abundant life for us while we live here on earth. Make a difference in the lives of your family, your community, your church and in the places you live out your calling as a faithful follower of the risen Christ.

As winter gives way to spring, death gives way to life and darkness gives way to light, it’s time to live, love, learn and flourish.

The Rev. Eric Burtness is a writer and senior pastor at St. Matthew Lutheran Church in Beaverton, Oregon.

CaringBridge

When you or a loved one is facing serious illness or injury, the thought of making dozens of phone calls to update family and friends can be overwhelming. On the other hand, it is the support and prayers of those same people that keep you strong. CaringBridge, a nonprofit based in Eagan, Minnesota, is dedicated to keeping your loved ones informed by implementing personalized, private Web sites where you can display journal entries, get updates on treatments and even share photos. Guests can leave well wishes and words of encouragement in the guest book. Web sites are easy to create and maintain, and because they’re private, can only be viewed by the group you select. To learn more, visit www.thrivent.com/magazine/links.