Number 10: Henry

Henry is a man I have met many times now.

He has been a preacher for 61 years. He was called to preach when he was 17 years old. You see, his pastor came up to him when he was just 16 and said, "Henry, I want you to get up and preach" and Henry said, "Well pastor I don't know if I can do that" and then his pastor said, "I know you can." A year later God called him to be a preacher.

He attended Howard College, which is now Samford University, and then New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. More than a half-century later, he is still preaching. On Wednesday nights and he figures it is going alright because "no one has run out screaming yet".

That is Henry. Every time you meet Henry, you hear that story. Because that is Henry. There is no Henry apart from that.

Henry remembers that I go to Auburn and that I have a tendency of walking through the front door of the retirement home he lives in on Monday nights. Apart from that I can only say for certain that Henry remembers one other thing. That he is a preacher and has been for 61 years. That he was asked to preach at 16 and called by God to preach at 17. That he attended Howard College, which is now Samford University, and then New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. And that he preaches every Wednesday night for anyone who wants to listen.

In light of this, I have to say that I don't think it is dementia or Alzheimer's which has caused the rest of Henry's life to fade. I think it is a return to what is most true about him. It is his redemption. He exists to preach. And as his life has gone on, it seems he has forgotten that he ever did anything else.

I imagine Henry at his birth. Always on his way to an unexpected sermon at 16. Always on his way to Howard College, which is now Samford University, and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary after that. Always on his way to a Wednesday night chapel service at a retirement home.

I see Henry now. He is a preacher. That is all I know about him. That is all he knows about him. That is him.

It is a beautiful thought to me that we might be so lucky as to live a long life and, at the end of it, only remember what is most true about us. I look forward to the day when all that is left of me is only that which matters most. I pray that in my later years, God might rid me of the memory of my foolish and selfish pursuits and leave me reciting the story of my purpose to anyone who says so much as hello to me.

Henry is a man I have met many times.

He is a preacher. He has been for 61 years now. He was called to preach when he was 17. He attended Howard College, which is now Samford University, and then New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He preaches every Wednesday night for anyone who wants to listen. He figures it is going alright because "no one has run out screaming yet".

That is Henry.
That is all that is left and that is all that matters.