Celebration of a life well-spent

This past Monday I made a very brief visit to N.E. PA to celebrate the home-going of my old friend Wyman Ritchie. For those who did not have the priviledge to meet Wyman before he was promoted to glory, he was a church planter in Vermont for many years who spent his twilight years in Clarks Summit, PA near Baptist Bible College and Seminary. During my seven years at school there, Wyman and I met for coffee almost every week. He would often share with me his life and ministry experiences, ask me about what I was learning in school, challenge my theology, and hold me accountable in my own spiritual development. To say that he was an important influence in my life is a hopeless understatement.

Wyman had many diverse ministry experiences throughout his life. Most of them will go unnoticed and unrecorded by the world at large, though they are extremlely significant to those of us who were touched by him. Many, undoubtedly, would not even call the time he spent with me and others like me "ministry", but they would be dead wrong. It is of no matter. Wyman's Lord knew what he was up to, and even now he is enjoying the gracious rewards for his labors. Wyman exemplified many godly qualities, but to me the most important were an unwavering devotion to the Word of God and an earnest commitment to live his life consistently according to the pattern he found within its pages.

The last conversation I had with Wyman was just about a week before he left this earth. I can think of no better way to help you understand the man. Sent home from hospice because he wasn't dying fast enough, confined to a hospital-style bed in his living room, and having extreme difficulty breathing, I asked him how he was doing -- a stupid question, I know. In answering, he said not a word about his health, nor even about how he felt about his health. Instead, he told me about the opportunities the Lord had given him to share his faith with the doctors and nurses who had been caring for him. That was Wyman. Though he would strenuously object, nevertheless I aspire to be like him in many ways. I will miss him, but fortunately not for very long.

See you later, Wyman. I'm looking forward to our next conversation.