2011 Lexington DJO Training event

2011 Lexington DJO Training event
Getting ready to deploy for a work day with St. Timothy's, Barnes Mountain

Monday, June 6, 2011

Honoring a friend


A good friend lost a valiant fight against the affects of cancer this past Friday. His name is JOhn Miers. And no I didn't misspell it just now, that was how JOhn liked to sign his letters to friends. The cancer may have claimed his life, but his spirit will be unquenchable. He served as Diocesan Jubilee Officer for the Episcopal Diocese of Washington. Though his recent aspiration to pursue the vocational deaconate was not collaborated by diocesan discernment members, there is little doubt that JOhn's was anything but a life of servant leadership. Earlier I excerpted in an announcement to his fellow DJOs( as we call them) to share with them some tidbits of his reflections, attitudes and learnings in life. Today I will elaborate those with more for preservation sake alone, if nothing else.

In his words:
As I reflect upon my spiritual life, I see twists and turns, spirals and possibly a labyrinth, all heading me toward a deeper understanding of not just what God wants me to do in my life, but also the discovery of the gifts and tools that He is furnishing me to perform these tasks. He is also the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel, something I can keep focused on.
My life seemed to take a turn as I had to come to terms with the epilepsy that had plagued me since the age of 12.  It was harder and harder to live with it as the seizures became more frequent.  I had been seeing doctors at NIH for my uncontrolled seizures, and I had become increasingly frustrated.  When I became an inpatient in the hospital at NIH in 1981, I realized that I really wasn’t alone with my disability.  While I was there in the Clinical Center, I spoke with the other patients about how they were feeling.  I invited them to talk to each other and to me.  Since there was a fairly rapid rotation of these patients, it was not long until I was one of the “senior patients” on the ward.  What began as “come over to talk this afternoon” had really become a support group for these other patients; it lasted long after I left! 01-07-10

I wrote last year that Jubilee Ministry was the bridge between loving God and Loving neighbor. Well JOhn was the kind of bridge that gave flesh to the ministry of Jubilee. His was a life that understood its beginning and ending rested in God, that the time in between was his letter to God about a life worth living as he reached out to make all people his neighbor. Certainly there must be rejoicing in heaven today as John is welcomed with those loving words, "Well done my faithful servant."  Well done indeed JOhn. Thank you for your witness among us.