Everyday Living

A Living Legacy

~ Faith

“Grandchildren are the crown of the aged,
and the glory of children is their fathers”
Proverbs 17:6

Genuine Christian.  Faithful husband.  Loving father.  Dependable brother.  Patient grandfather. Family man.  Loyal friend.  Alabama football.  Thursday pizza.  Honorable character.  Old recliner. Indisputable integrity. Purple Heart.  Fried okra.  Willing servant.  My postman.  Korean Vet.  Gentle spirit.  Witty humor.  Big-band music.  Daddy.  Pawpaw.  Patriotic.  Consistent.  Content.  Kind.  Honest.

  Coy Davis.  Can you really put into words a man who has lived his life well and is leaving a true legacy? Are there sentences that can encompass the whole of who he is?  I asked the people closest to him to describe him in a few words.  These are just a few.  And today, we celebrate him.  Today is his 84th birthday and if you will allow me, I want to share his life with you.  Again, this is only a glimpse into a life well lived and I hope that we are all encouraged to make our life count on this earth, but also one that echoes into eternity.

During the depths of the Great Depression, in the foothills of the Appalachians, my Daddy was born to your typical Southern, rural, working-class family.  His early childhood was similar to all children growing up during this impoverished era.

2 years old

His days as a child were spent sitting in a little rocking chair around the old wood stove while his mother prepared meals.  He simply attended school and played with his brother, Dwight and sister, Jean.  At an early age, he discovered baseball which he loved to play with his friends.  That was usually followed by an afternoon fishing at the nearest creek bank.  To this day, my Daddy is the most content man that I know.  He still sits contently in a chair as he did when he was a child– only now it isn’t a little rocking chair, it is a recliner!

 

A goat ride with help from big brother                           Age 11

When he entered the tenth grade at Pell City High School, he began playing and lettering in all sports.  He was a halfback on the football team, forward in basketball, and a first baseman on the baseball team.  Upon graduation in 1948, he was given an opportunity to try out for the Auburn basketball team for a scholarship, but since baseball was his passion and his dream, he declined.

Half-back Pell City High School

During the spring of his senior year, he was scouted by the Cleveland Indians and was offered a contract to play professional baseball.  He signed later that year and was sent to spring training in Marietta, Florida.  After two very successful years in Class A, he was transferred to Class AA.

But that was when the draft board notified him.

Minor league baseball (left)

By this time, the Korean War was fully engaged and his country needed him.  Leaving his beloved family and a promising baseball career was secondary to serving his country. Although he loved both, he left without hesitation.  The Army recruits from Northeast Alabama were sent to Gadsden to board a train headed for Camp Chaffee, Arkansas.  Before their long train ride, they ate at a local diner–the Star Cafe on Broad Street.  Working the cash register  that evening was a beautiful, dark-eyed young lady, and in God’s sovereignty, my Daddy had been assigned to take care of the meal expenses.  They spoke casually as he paid and went on his way.  Captivated by him, she wrote down her address and slipped it to the last man leaving and asked him to pass it on to the man that paid the bill.

Camp Chaffee 1951

With strong mathematical skills, Daddy was assigned to a surveyor team for artillery with the Seventh Infantry Division of the U. S. Army.  He arrived in Korea in August of 1951.  His unit was often assigned to work ahead of the front lines and was constantly in harm’s way.  November 5, 1951, dawned a cold and cloudy day as my Daddy,  PVT Davis, and two other surveyors climbed Heartbreak Ridge, slightly north of the Thirty-Eighth parallel in North Korea.  About 1:30 that afternoon, the first man tripped a land mine.  The “Bouncing Betty” immediately exploded and all three men were seriously wounded.  Daddy’s first memory was being transported by helicopter, strapped underneath, to Taegu Hospital.  He received large amounts of shrapnel to his upper body and face and suffered significant loss of blood.  While in the hospital, he was awarded The Purple Heart.  Within a month, Daddy was back to his outfit seeing front-line action on a daily basis.  He left Korea in August 1952 and was honorably discharged October, 1952.  In addition to The Purple Heart, he was awarded the Korean Service Medal and two Bronze Stars.

Re Won Chul, an 11 year old Korean boy that was taken in by my Daddy and his unit.  They provided his food and clothing while he taught them some Korean words.    He had been displaced by the war with no idea of what happened to his family.  This is the horror of war–children left alone to survive on their own.  This is just one example of his heart to love “the least of these”.   Daddy said just this week that he still wonders what happened to him.

Upon his return, he began dating the dark-eyed cashier at the Star Cafe.  He now knew her as the beautiful Shirley Palmer, as she had faithfully corresponded while he served and defended his country.  After a short courtship, they married December 24, 1952.  My parents established a loving home that was Christ-centered.  I only have memories of my Daddy and Mother loving The Lord, each other, my brother and me. Growing up in the 50’s and 60’s, my childhood was as perfect as you can have in this life.  Discipline balanced with love, not material possessions, but the treasures that money will never buy.

Daddy went to work for the U. S. Postal Service in 1955 and retired in 1989,  as an exemplary employee with many accolades and awards of service.  He was known and loved as a postman–and 25 years later, people still recognize him as “their postman”.  As a faithful Christian, Daddy has served as a deacon, Sunday School superintendent, teacher, and trustee.  I can truly say that my daddy’s faith has been unshakable. He is always consistent and even tempered–never angry.

Daddy, me, and Mike–1971

Daddy, me, and Mike–2014

Daddy loves his family. He was always a gentle yet firm hand as he and my Mother raised my brother and me.  He has two grandsons, Joel and Seth, and one granddaughter, Hannah.  He is the proud great-grandfather of three little boys:  Isaiah, Nico, and Benjamin.  Daddy’s beloved wife and my Mother went to be with The Lord in April 2007.

Pawpaw’s surprise 75th birthday party!

As I have been thinking over my Daddy’s life, one thing keeps coming to mind:  all of us are “legacies in progress”.  The legacy we leave is not something established after we die, but it is a work in progress–being created now by our everyday living.  This very brief peek at Daddy’s life is an example of a living legacy, one that has stood the test of time and is worthy of emulating.  My daddy finds joy in the simple things in life and although he has had many achievements, he doesn’t treasure those things. His treasure is in heaven! I am deeply humbled that, by the mystery of God’s mercy, that He planned for me to be born to Coy and Shirley Davis.  Because of the unconditional love of my Daddy, I was able to accept the love of my Abba, Daddy.  I am grateful for and do not take for granted each passing day that my Heavenly Father allows me to to have my earthly Father.

“Listen to your father who gave you life,
and do not despise your mother when she is old”
Proverbs 23:22

An Unexpected Journey

~ Faith, Guest Posts

Our guest on the blog today is our nephew, Joel Davis. Joel and his beautiful wife, Claire, met while they were students at Samford University. They have three precious boys, Isaiah, Benjamin “Benji”, and Nico.  God has given this couple a heart for the orphaned children in our world. As Americans, it is so easy to sit comfortably in our homes and think very little, if at all,  of the “least of these”.  May God speak to our hearts as we read the journey that has taken Joel and Claire half way around the world to some of the darkest places in Africa!

“We adopt not because we are rescuers. No, we adopt because we are the rescued.” – David Platt

photo

Six years ago, my wife and I took our first trip to a home for street children in the jungles of Peru. During that trip, God began to impress James 1:27 on our hearts. Over the next couple years we continued to visit this home, as well as an orphanage in Haiti. Each time, our hearts were drawn more strongly toward the orphans and street children of the world. As we reached a point in our lives where we felt ready for children, God gave us an unexpected desire: to adopt before attempting to have biological children. We met Isaiah on Thanksgiving Day in 2010. Both our lives and his were forever changed that hot and muggy day in the heart of Africa. Isaiah became our son and we are eternally blessed to have him in our family. It wasn’t long after we saw God’s work in Isaiah’s life and our own that we began to feel His calling again. What? How? That’s crazy! We are still paying the exorbitant adoption expenses from Isaiah’s process; still getting used to a two year old and learning to be parents. Are we really ready to put ourselves through this tough process again? But God’s love for the fatherless had been branded on our hearts and there was no question we were adopting again. Through prayer, God led us to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and a little 3 month old boy named Nico. To tell you a little about the Congo; over 5 million people have been killed in civil wars, 30,000 children have been enlisted as child soldiers and it is widely considered the poorest country on earth with 60 million people living on less than $1 a day. Without question, it is one of the most dangerous countries on earth in which to grow up, let alone be an orphan. What we thought would be a one year process turned into a three year odyssey that included the birth of our biological son Benji (now two) and me (Joel) spending nine weeks stuck in the Congo this time last year. Three months ago, God opened an improbable door and Nico was given the final clearance to come home. He is fitting in perfectly and already loves his new brothers.

  You are probably wondering what prompted us to adopt. Our reason for adopting was and is wholly identified in Christ’s love for us. The picture of His love gave us the desire to remove a child permanently from an orphanage and nurture that child as his parents as Christ has his children. There are many things God has used to draw our hearts and move us to adopt; here are a few from His word:

 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. – James 1:27

…In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us… – Ephesians 1:4-6

I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. – John 14:18

Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation. God settles the solitary in a home; he leads out the prisoners to prosperity, but the rebellious dwell in a parched land. – Psalm 68:5-6

 The question I ask you isn’t whether God has called you to serve the orphaned and poor, HE HAS, the question is, are you going to be obedient…

You’ve Got a Friend…

~ Faith

“A friend loves at all times…”
Proverbs 17:17

As summer quickly fades into autumn, I am reminded of the seasons in our life. The “spring“ of our journey stretches from childhood throughout the teen years when we are carefree and without responsibility. “Summer” begins with all its possibilities and promises. So quickly, summer is gone and we begin the “autumn” of life when, just as the leaves begin to change, so do our lives. Finally it is winter and the cold wind begins to blow– doors begin to close. Suddenly, most of life is in the past! But the good news is this: “everyday living, Jesus understands“. As the seasons have changed, God has always given me friends to do life with. While running on Tuesday morning, The Lord prompted me to share some of my friendships with you beginning with my first “real” friend.  This is our story…

My very first deep friendship began in my sixth grade year. A pretty and quiet girl that I had known since we began first grade started attending my church, along with her family. We instantly became friends! As students in the same classroom, we shared a passion for reading. We would go to the library or bookmobile (does anyone remember?) and check out as many books as they allowed, which would always include a Lois Lenski book. This common interest bonded us, along with a love for music. We loved the “top 40” music of the day and started attending WVOK’s “Shower of Stars” (again, does that bring back memories?). We were just two star struck teen-age girls in love with Lou Christie and Mark Lindsay of Paul Revere and the Raiders! (Am I dating myself?) During junior high school, we were cheerleaders and enjoyed pizza at Pasquale’s on Friday evenings and movies at the Pitman Theatre. She drove her parents Volkswagon and we went everywhere together in High School–we could drive all week for a dollar! But our friendship was so much deeper than the fun times as teens.

Fast forward to 1973, my best friend was my maid of honor at our wedding. She could not have been happier for me that I found my life partner. Even though I was now married and she was single, we remained best friends. We didn’t have as much time to talk, but when we did, it was as if no time had passed- we just picked up where we had left off! I began teaching a ladies Sunday School Class and we enjoyed studying God’s Word together. She had an amazing knowledge of scripture and insights into Biblical truths. For the next decade plus, we continued to share our books, our music, and our everyday living at lunch, over the phone, or quick visits.

But in the late 1980’s she was handed devastating news of a rare blood disease. I watched as she suffered horrendous episodes of failing health and as her husband abandoned their marriage. But never once as the storms clouds gathered in her life did I see her lose her joy. How can that be? Her joy and hope were secure in her relationship with The Lord! Jesus Understands. She knew that she could take the cares and anxieties of this world to him and he understood. She knew that he had walked this earth and had experienced the same burdens, heartaches, and abandonment that she was facing. As her condition weakened, she decided to take the medical team’s advice and seek a bone marrow transplant in Seattle in the summer of 1996. While there, she became gravely ill and lapsed into a coma. I would call and her sisters would hold the phone to her ear as I read scripture and prayed. Even though unconscious, they said she would always respond to my voice. My best friend passed away in late August. She was only forty-two.

As I prepared to give the eulogy and sing the old hymn “Blessed Assurance Jesus is Mine” at her memorial service, I thought about her godly character, and why she would choose me as a friend. We never had a cross word in thirty plus years. Why? Not because I am easy to get along with, but because she was. She allowed me to be the boss! She always applauded any successes that I had. She was my biggest cheerleader. She stood quietly in the shadows and allowed me to have my day in the sun, while she smiled and rejoiced with me. Not once did I ever sense one ounce of jealousy in our friendship. To this day, eighteen years later, I miss her beauty, her contagious smile, and her gentle and quiet spirit. Cathy taught me much about friendship. I pray that I never forget her lessons.

One of the many books Cathy gave me with its inscription that always brings tears

“Oil and perfume make the heart glad, and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel”
Proverbs 27:9