George Samells, the grandfather of my best friend Tyler Wescott, and known to me as “Grandpa George”, passed away this past Thursday, March 22nd. He was born on a farm on Scugog Island, on Ma Brown's Road, and lived much of his life within Scugog. The Wescott and Samells families have always made me feel welcome as one of their own, and Grandpa George was no exception to that. After first meeting Grandpa George and his wife Marilyn, known to Tyler and I as “Marnum”, I went to breakfast a few times with them. I remember Grandpa George would order his toast burnt, since he said no one ever toasted his toast enough, so this would ensure it. Mr. Samells was a character indeed, and I found him easy to like. He was a strong supporter of the newspaper, even after his deteriorating eyesight wouldn't allow him to read it. His weakening eyes, he said, had benefits, since it meant he didn't have to see people's facial hair, something he was often humourously critical of. During the past few years, I would often see Grandpa George and Marnum at the laundromat, or more frequently at Tim Hortons on Reach Street. About once a week I would see them at Timmies and spend a few minutes catching up and talking about Tyler, as Grandpa George made a few jokes about Tyler's beard. One of the last times I saw Grandpa George was at his 91st birthday party. Again, he made me feel like one of the family and shared stories about his life long dedication as a Toronto Maple Leafs fan. In one story, he told us how he would listen to the hockey game on the radio with his father. The radio had one ear phone, with no other way of listening to it. He and his father had an arrangement, where George would listen to the first half of the game and his father would listen to the second. Inevitably though, his father would fall asleep before the second half started and George would get to hear the entire game. In the Bible, in James 4:14, life is compared to a mist that quickly vanishes. We do not know how long our life will be and this can give us great pause to consider our legacy. Unfortunately for many, rather than pausing, we become urgent and afraid our legacy will be lackluster, pushing to ensure we've done all we can to help those who will live on after us to do 'better'. The urgent and those who try hard to make a legacy or leave others better off, rarely achieve any of these goals. Instead of worrying about our legacies, I suggest we do what Grandpa George did, during the time I knew him, make people feel welcome. A quote I mentioned in a previous column, that can never be emphasized enough is, “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” - Maya Angelou. A welcoming heart and a gentlemanly attitude are two of the only legacies for which a man is worth being remembered. And these legacies are lived and earned. Mr. Samells exemplified these things in the time I knew him and that's the legacy I will remember him by. Thank you for making me feel like part of the family, sir. To Marnum, Larry, Linda, Tyler, Brittney, Jake, Bill, Samantha, and Abby, my sincerest sympathy. My prayers are with you now. Thank you for carrying forth Grandpa George's legacy with your warm, welcoming, gentle spirits. God bless you all. Related posts
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Would you condemn Jesus? While it may be a provocative question, it's also one we act out the answer to regularly. And sadly, the answer for all of us, too often, is yes.
Let me explain why I can make this assertion, even though I don't know you. Jesus, while relating a parable said, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” (Matthew 25:40 NIV). Jesus makes the bold claim that what we do or do not do to others, we actually do or do not do to Christ Himself. Putting our interactions into this light, how often have we actually been criticizing Jesus? Yelling at Jesus? Judging Jesus? Jesus further solidified the connection between our actions towards others and Him, elsewhere. In Matthew 18:21-35, Jesus tells a story about a servant who had a debt to pay, but was unable to. In an act of mercy, his master didn't pronounce judgment against the servant, instead he set him free, forgiving him of his burden. But the same servant went out and found someone who owed him money. Rather than showing mercy, he demanded payment. The master found this out, wasn't pleased and so reversed the mercy given to the first servant. The Bible provides a context for this response in Mathew 7:2, “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Jesus said, “if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” (Matthew 6:15). Why is this? When we condemn others for their sins, we're actually condemning Jesus, because He is the one who took their sin, and each of ours, to the cross as his own and paid for it, for all time and eternity. While this concept sounds bizarre at first, approach it simply: when you pay for something, you own it. The Bible takes it a step further, saying, Jesus not only took ownership, He actually became as sin for us. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21). This is why the concept of grace, isn't merely a sweet thought to alleviate the guilt of 'wrong-doers'. Grace is vital to the good news. Presenting the Gospel, which means the 'good news', without grace is dangerous. I'm not just talking about presenting it without the concept of grace, but presenting it without an attitude of grace. If we don't practice what we preach, our words are meaningless. A famous quote, often attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi, says, “Share the gospel at all times, and if necessary, use words.” Our actions and ways of speaking communicate as much, or more, than our words do. The Apostle Paul noted to Titus, the best way to get the gospel across, was living properly, “In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.” (Titus 2:7-8). While our words are important, our conduct often impacts more deeply. Maya Angelou said, “At the end of the day people won't remember what you said or did, they will remember how you made them feel.” It's counter-intuitive to expect someone to respond positively to treating them poorly. According to an article by The Nonverbal Group, “Dr. Albert Mehrabian, author of Silent Messages, conducted several studies on nonverbal communication. He found that 7% of any message is conveyed through words, 38% through certain vocal elements, and 55% through nonverbal elements, [such as] facial expressions, gestures, posture, etc.” If this is true, the tone of our words convey more than five times what our words actually do, and our gestures and body language convey more than half of our overall message. This concerns me when I think about how I treat people. Am I speaking the truth, but not in a loving tone or gesture? This could give the impression, I'm actually judging rather than loving, or even lying to the person. Those aren't messages I want to convey. When we interact with others and treat them certain ways, we're actually treating Jesus that way. I believe this should be a sobering thought we shouldn't move past easily. But, bringing it back around to grace, we need grace for ourselves too. We're going to blow this, as we attempt to practice more true tone or gestures. We also need to treat ourselves like we would Jesus. We're also one of the “least of these” He talks about, in the scriptural quote earlier. Which means when we accuse and abuse ourselves, we're actually accusing and abusing Jesus as well. From this point forward, let's view each other as Jesus, in terms of how we treat each other. Let's also treat ourselves with grace for the times we mess this up. I'm praying for grace and peace for you. God bless! |
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